Yesterday I preached from Nehemiah 6 - you can get the audio here if you're interested. The opposition to the rebuilding project takes a personal turn, as the enemies of Jerusalem focus in on Nehemiah himself as the leader of the work. Here are a couple of things that didn't make it into the sermon.
1. It is striking to me that Nehemiah's opponents first try to lure him away from Jerusalem (verses 1 to 8), and then try to frighten him into fleeing into the temple (verses 9 to 14). I don't know if it's pushing application too far to say that the devil in his opposition to Christians would prefer to be able to take them away from safety and do them harm, but if he can't manage that he is content to see them retreat into piety and religious observance without presence and action in the world. So long as Christians are not working on the wall, the enemy is relatively content. The call is therefore not to desert your post, wherever that post is.
2. The structure of the passage is interesting. Verses 15 and 16 feel like a conclusion. Despite opposition, the wall is built. Despite the enemies of God's people trying to cause fear (verse 9), in the end it is the surrounding nations who are afraid. But... Tobiah has links with families in Jerusalem that can't be cut off by the wall. This is a foreshadowing of the ultimate failure of Nehemiah's mission, which points to the need for a greater Restorer and Rebuilder. It is perhaps also a pointer to the fact that there is some opposition which more easily slides by our defences. Maybe the natural melancholic is prone to despair; the naturally anxious prone to fear. Maybe our situation in life - family, career, whatever - makes us vulnerable in different ways. We need to be aware that just because the wall is built - just because our defences are up - opposition can still come in a powerful way.
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