IN an earlier issue of the Magazine (vol. xxxvi. 401) we have called attention to Nehemiah’s great and successful work in building the wall of Jerusalem but as the inspired narrative contains many points fitted for instruction we make no apology for returning to the discussion of a subject that must always be of interest to the Church of Christ. In doing so we purpose to call attention i. to the character of the man who, under divine encouragement, was entrusted with the work and who was honoured in seeing it successfully carried through; ii. to the opposition with which Nehemiah was faced and iii. to the success with which he carried through the work.
i. The man entrusted with the work of building the wall was Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. At the time the account of his work begins he was cup-bearer to Artaxerxes, the Persian king. News had been brought to Nehemiah by his brother, Hanani, of the “great affliction” of the remnant left in Jerusalem after the captivity. He was also told that “the wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire.” The news caused him great sadness—he sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven. This sadness was noticed by the king and he was quick enough to discern that it was “sadness of heart.” His sorrow for the low state of the Lord’s cause had gone much deeper than the tip of his tongue or the point of his pen as is so often the case with many of us. Nehemiah was not indifferent to what should become of that cause. In his approaches to God he confessed the sins of his people and pled for them—”these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.” He did not spend his time saying that it was no wonder that things were as they were—the love that was in his heart to the Lord’s cause kept him from fault finding—his innermost desire was to see it raised from the ruins that met his eye. This feature of his character of betaking himself to God in his sorrow, difficulties, and perplexities is one of the outstanding characteristics of this God-fearing and courageous Jew. Joined to this he had a very wholesome practical outlook on things. It is not often the two are so prominently combined as we have them in Nehemiah. Some good men are conspicuous by their prayerfulness but may be sadly lacking in a practical outlook. Others again may have this outlook but are lacking in prayerfulness. When the two are joined together they make handsome yoke-fellows in God’s work. The three features of Nehemiah’s character, love to the Lord’s cause, prayerfulness, and his practical outlook, all went to equip him for the arduous task that lay before him in building the wall of Jerusalem and setting up the gates. The broken wall caused Nehemiah grief and he set about to repair the wall. Jerusalem without its wall was exposed to every wanderer that might come the way and the people in the city were liable to be attacked and maltreated by such intruders. Nehemiah’s purpose was to build the wall so that those whom God had redeemed by His great power (Neh. i. 10) might be protected. The wall was not only necessary to protect those who were within but it acted as a barrier to the inroads of those who were without who had no part or lot in the Holy City. The gates were set up so that those who desired to enter in might present their credentials and those who were discontented could walk out. The gates were as necessary as the wall and Nehemiah saw to it that the work was not left unfinished until the wall and gates were set up. This is an interesting part of our subject and has far reaching applications but we cannot dwell on it further at present.
ii. Opposition to the building of the wall. As long as the wall was in ruins there was no opposition and likely there would be none though it lay in that state for three or four hundred years but the moment intelligence of building reached the ears of those who had no love to the Lord’s cause a determined and bitter opposition manifested itself. Why is it that whenever work is being done in strengthening or extending God’s cause in this world there is such formidable opposition? Perhaps that will never be fully revealed until the secrets of all men’s hearts are revealed on the Great Day. What was their motive in attacking God’s cause? Well in this case we are told that when Sanballat and Tobiah heard that there was a man come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel it “grieved them exceedingly.” Their sorrow was of a very different kind from Nehemiah’s. When at length the work was undertaken the enemies increased in number and they laughed Nehemiah and the builders to scorn and circulated lies insinuating that they intended to rebel. Nehemiah was quick enough to see through their thinly disguised attempts and laid his finger unerringly on the plague-spot in the heart of the enemies of God’s cause—”ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.” As the work proceeded the wrath of the enemies increased in intensity and they then resorted to mockery. The part of the scoffer in Satan’s army is an important one—they are his standard-bearers, or to use a modern term, the shock troops of the devil and there is more hope for the most abandoned than for them. Opposition to God’s cause is bad enough but when it comes to scoffing and mockery a stage is reached that must give peculiar delight to the devils in hell. The enemies next tried the favourite plan of detractors of belittling the work that was done—the wall was so slender that even a fox walking on it would break it down. It was quite strong enough, however, to keep out of Jerusalem such foxes as Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem and the Ashdodites. Christ’s cause never stood high in the estimation of the world and it need not be wondered at when it is belittled by men. The enemies next made up their minds, by a secret plot, to use force against the builders but in this they were circumvented and the builders continued the work now with a sword by their side and a trowel in their hands. Strange builders! but nevertheless properly equipped for the work they had to do. When the enemies failed in this plot they cunningly asked Nehemiah to have a conference with them in the plain of Ono. Nehemiah’s reply was short and to the point: “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down; why should the work cease, whilst I leave it and come down to you?” This rebuff was followed on the part of the enemies by lying charges (Neh. vi. 5-7). It is impossible to forestall Satan for truth is nothing to him and the unfortunate thing is that sometimes the lie is so cleverly camouflaged that it is swallowed without the slightest hesitation. It is a dangerous thing when the professing Church so far forgets her mission in the world as to leave her work and hold a conference with the world.
iii. The success with which Nehemiah carried through the work. The opposition we have seen was of a formidable nature; it did not cease in a day; neither was it confined to one quarter; neither did the enemies hesitate to use mockery and falsehood to further their unholy purpose but in all their efforts they failed and Nehemiah could say after they had done their very worst—”so the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul.” Nehemiah, who so courageously went on with the work, was not beyond feeling the jibes and the sneers of his enemies but he came with his trials to God. At first thought one might think that one repulse of the enemies would have disheartened them but it was not so. How often it happens that it is God’s people that are discouraged and cast down while the enemies of His cause hold their heads high as if all is going well with them but the day is coming as surely as it did in Jerusalem of old that the wall will be built and all the efforts of Christ’s enemies will be frustrated. The story of Nehemiah is of lasting interest to Christ’s Church. Many are too ready to come to the conclusion that trials and difficulties connected with His cause are sure signs of Heaven’s displeasure and manifest tokens of His judgments. That is an opinion that may, at times, be very seriously at fault for not once or twice in the Church’s history has it happened that the Church in bearing its testimony against the world has awakened its latent enmity to a white heat.
The thoughts embodied in the foregoing were suggested to our mind in the experience through which our Church recently passed in the press. It is evident from the attacks made upon us that a favourite idol of the world was badly hit and the world was determined to defend its idol however careless of the weapons it would use.