Sanballat and Tobiah were angry at the rebuilding of Jerusalem and sought to mock the efforts of the Jews. Today there is derision against the church.
What was Nehemiah's reaction? First he turned to God. This is what we should always do, and we need to appreciate the importance of doing this, for we are in a relationship with the Lord. Israel's repeated mistake was to turn to anything and anyone else except God in times of trouble. Then he calls for judgement upon Sanballat and his associates. Now in our wishy washy Christianity we may react against this, but we are wrong to do so. Jesus was quite clear about the consequences of sin, as was Paul. Note also that Nehemiah calls on God to judge them, he does not take judgement into his own hands. There needs to be a recognition of sin for what it is.
So good progress was made and the wall reached half its height.
The plotters heard about the progress and were even angrier. Other nations had joined Sanballat and Tobiah. So they plotted against Jerusalem. Nehemiah's reaction was again to pray to the Lord and to post guards. Prayer and action go together, it is not prayer or action.
However, while progress had been made the size of the task was starting to overwhelm the people, along with the threats from their enemies. This is a normal and natural reaction.
So Nehemiah posted extra armed guards at the weakest points. Then he also encouraged the people to trust in the Lord. The enemies heard of the action that Nehemiah had taken and they gave up for a time.
So the people continued to build, with some building and some guarding. They worked together to complete the task.
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