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(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Nehemiah 2:9–20, “Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire. Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned. And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king? Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.”
Nehemiah had permission from the king and all the proper certificates and documents. The king sent him with a military escort and he arrived in Jerusalem, the ancient capital of his homeland, in good time. The public servants who were already in place had, previously, argued with the Jews about building the Temple. They wanted to be accepted as Israelis but they didn’t have the right qualifications. They worshipped their own gods along with the Lord, which was not acceptable to the Lord God. They were hostile to any effort to rebuild Jerusalem’s because that would protect the rebuilt Temple from their attentions. Nehemiah knew the situation so he didn’t tell anyone about his plans to rebuild the walls of the city. Instead, he went out by night and inspected the walls and the rest of the city that had been sacked and burned by the Babylonians many years before. Nehemiah encouraged the Jews to begin rebuilding the walls but the local Samaritans mocked them and told them they wouldn’t be able to build anything worthwhile. Nehemiah told them the Lord would help them in the work and they would succeed.
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