I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Nehemiah 4-6.

    Today’s passage tells us about the obstacles which the returned exiles had rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls. First of all they faced external opposition. The external opposition ridiculed them and tried to get them to give up out of embarrassment. When that did not work, the opposition attempted to frighten them into giving up. Nehemiah met both of these assaults head on. He reminded the workers that they were doing God’s work and that God would cause those who mocked His people to experience mockery. In a subtle way Nehemiah reminded the workers that the best way to repay those who mocked their efforts was to succeed. As for dealing with the threats, Nehemiah put some of his own work force on guard and encouraged everyone to be prepared to respond if attacked. We do not know if the enemies only ever planned on trying to frighten the Jews with the threat of attack, or if they gave up their plans when they saw the preparations to meet them when they attacked, but the attack never came. Finally, when they realized that Nehemiah could keep the worker’s spirits up in the face of their attacks, they went after him directly. First, they attempted to lure him out to a place where they could arrange for something to befall him. When that failed, they attempted to get him to act frightened by taking security measures which the workers would be unable to duplicate. Nehemiah refused to give their lies any credence (the ones they used in their attempt to lure him out), and he refused to allow them to intimidate him. He took the same risks which the workers took.

    The other obstacle which the Jews faced in rebuilding the walls was internal. The nobles and other wealthy individuals were making themselves richer at the expense of their poorer brethren. When the people came to Nehemiah to complain his initial reaction was anger, but he took the time to think things through before he acted. Once he came to an understanding of the problem he called for a public meeting. There he confronted those who were guilty of creating this problem, and even acknowledged that he had been guilty to some extent. He proposed a solution and applied it to himself as well as asking others to step up. Nehemiah did not use his position to make himself richer.