Seeds for 09/17/2024 - Nehemiah 4:1-3
Scripture:
1 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 2 and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?”
3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”
Observation:
We’ve already met the antagonists in Nehemiah’s story, Sanballat and Tobiah. Well, here they are again. What do we see?
First, the enemies are angered at the successful efforts of the Jews. Nehemiah has mobilized the Jewish people and they are making progress in rebuilding the wall. Sanballat is in the unhappy state of only feeling good about the world when someone else is failing. It isn’t enough for him to do well; the Jews must be doing poorly.
Second, rather than argue the point, Sanballat resorts to personal insults, the go-to tactic of the desperate: “He ridiculed the Jews… he said, ‘What are those feeble Jews doing?’” His litany of questions seem to him clever and definitive. However, they will not age well.
Third, a bully often has a sidekick, and that what it looks like we have in Tobiah. Typical of his kind, he drafts off the perceived power and influence of the head man. Nehemiah and the Jews are pursuing a restorative vision and project. Tobiah’s piling on the insults underscores that success prompts an anxious and antagonistic response from those who dislike or disapprove of you.
Application:
When have you had to ignore personal attacks in order to keep advancing something meaningful?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, grow my perseverance in the face of opposition and childish bullying. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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