Chapter 6 –
The carrier of discouragement was not always Sanballat or one of
his cronies, directly; in one instance it was what could possibly be called
“the enemy within” – Shemaiah, one of the inhabitants of Jerusalem (my Bible
Dictionary says he was a prophet), having been bribed by Sanballat and Tobiah,
tried to get Nehemiah to (as Eugene Petersen in The Message has it), “scare me off – trick me – a
layman, into desecrating The Temple and ruining my good reputation so they
could accuse me.”
As always Nehemiah talked with God and his fears were
allayed. And the work went on.
Uhoh! One of the “enemies” was a woman! Verse 14
speaks of the prophetess Noadiah as one of those who “would have put me in
fear.”
The wall was finished in 52 days. But, hey! The book
goes on for 7 more chapters. What more can there be to say?
Joyce Voysey
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