Protecting the City
The Opposition (1-3)
As the Jews began to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, Sanballat, the Samaritan leader, became furious and gathered the wealthy and the military leaders to mock the construction effort. He used five rhetorical statements to question and scorn their determination to finish. Tobiah, the Ammonite governor of Jewish descent, joined the taunting by suggesting that even if they did finish the work, the frailest of assaults would easily destroy it (1-3).
The Prayer (4-6)
Nehemiah reacted to Sanballat and Tobiah’s efforts to discourage the Jewish workers with prayer. He asked for God to:
return their mocking with others’ mocking them
have them plundered and taken into captivity
not allow their sin to go on without reprisal (4-5)
Despite all the mocking, the Israelites were not discouraged, and they continued to move the construction forward until the wall reached half its height around the city. They did not build in sections, but they built simultaneously all around the city. They were not deterred because they set their minds to ignore the ridicule and keep their focus on the work (6).
Attack Threatened (7-9)
As was Nehemiah’s concern, Sanballat and Tobiah’s open ridicule rallied support among other nations surrounding Jerusalem. The Ashdodites and Arabs were watching every breach and realized the city would be too fortified to make an easy raid, so they plotted together to come and attack Jerusalem from many sides to create confusion among the workers (7-8). Nehemiah, as was his custom, prayed and also installed a guard 24/7 as a protection against attack (9).
The Construction Challenge (10-11)
With part of the workforce guarding the city, the construction pace slowed. The moving of the rubble for the building became so slow that the Jews could hardly see any progress. The situation seemed so sluggish that they began to doubt they would have the heart or time to complete the wall before some enemy invasion destroyed them and the progress they had made (10).
The enemies of the Jews could easily tell that the work was slacking and the city was vulnerable to attack, with too few guarding the city and too few left to work for measurable progress. The city was essentially defenseless with the workers and the makeshift army vulnerable targets to attack (11).
Jews from Outside the Walls Warn (12-15)
Jews living outside the walls and in other places, who had heard of the impending attack, warned Nehemiah. They told him what was being planned and advised him to have the Jews abandon the city, save their lives, and leave the city to their enemies. They came to Nehemiah 10 times, warning him of the invasion, telling him the attack would come from all directions, as the wall was considered easy to assail by their enemies (12).
Nehemiah then stationed all the workers in places where they could expect an attack and readied them for the defense of the city, reminding them they didn’t need to fear, for it was Yahweh, great and awesome, who was going to fight for them as they fought for each other (13-14).
Eventually, the enemies of the Jews learned that the Jews within the city had heard of their plan to attack from all sides and had prepared themselves to defend the city. The enemies felt they had been frustrated by God Himself, giving the Jews within the city hope, so the whole force of construction workers returned to the walls (15).
Change in Strategy (16-20)
Once Nehemiah knew they were out of immediate danger, he changed strategy.
Nehemiah took his servants and bodyguards and had half of them work on the construction site while the other half were dressed and armed for battle, ready with all weapons for attack.
Nehemiah had the leaders stay at the work site full-time to direct and encourage the workers (16).
Nehemiah had those who carried loads back and forth from the wall carry both tools and weapons, always ready for a fight, with their sword never out of reach as they labored (17).
Nehemiah had all the builders wear a sword while they worked.
Nehemiah stationed a trumpeter always at his side to sound the trumpet (18). Nehemiah told the nobles and the workers that, even though they were scattered all around the wall, when they heard the trumpet, they were to rally to the place where the trumpet was sounding.
Nehemiah then assured them that God would fight for them as they rallied to the sound of the trumpet (19-20).
Nehemiah then summarized what happened. Half his servants and bodyguards kept watch from the time the sun came up until they could see the evening stars, while the other half joined in the work (21-22). He would not let any of his servants or bodyguards leave the city by night, so they guarded by night and worked by day. Lastly, they all slept in their clothes, ready for any attack (23).
Yahweh's Excellent Word
Psalm 119 is a “Wisdom Psalm” whose author is unknown, and yet there is reason to believe it was written by Ezra in the post-exilic times. It is an acrostic Psalm, constructed into twenty-two eight-verse stanzas corresponding to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
The Psalm is self outlined in the sense of the acrostic, so let me fill in the literary background of the Psalm to give it meaning in relationship to the time of its writing. Because the evidence of Ezra's authorship is most likely, I will assume throughout my review that Ezra is the author.
Ezra's main theme in the Psalm is Yahweh (appearing twenty-four times in the text). Ezra's main subject of the Psalm is the “word” which appears 175 times in 176 verses in some form, and it appears in every verse except verses 3, 37, 84, 90, 121, 122, and 132.
The basic words used for “word”:
“Law” 25 times,
“Testimonies” 23 times
“Precepts” 21 times
“Statutes” 22 times
“Commandments” 22 times
“Judgments”/“ordinances” 33 times
“Word” (Hebrew davar, ordevarim) 23 times
“Word” (imrah) 30 times
Ezra uses afflictions as the circumstantial backdrop for his Psalm, the word appearing in verses 8, 20, 22, 23, 25, 28, 39, 42, 50, 51, 53, 61, 67, 69, 71, 75, 78, 81–87, 92, 94, 95, 107, 110, 115, 121– 23, 134, 136, 141, 143, 145–47, 149, 150, 153, 154, 157, 161, 170, and 176.
The aim of Ezra is clear: he is calling upon Yahweh to deliver him, thus Judah, according to His word and for the sake of His lovingkindness, so that those who consider the act of honoring Yahweh and His word fruitless will have their insults buried beneath Yahweh's faithfulness. He further commits to bearing faithful witness to the world concerning Yahweh's promise-keeping nature, and further he is ready to surrender to wholehearted obedience to Yahweh's command.
Place this Psalm against the background of Judah’s returning from Babylon to rebuild the Wall of the City of Jerusalem on the basis of God's word. You can see Ezra writing this Psalm to imprint on the heart and minds of Yahweh's people the great faith they should have in Yahweh to fulfill what He had started, according to His promise.
Observation: This Psalm serves as a motivating song, reviving faith in Yahweh's word against the adversaries wishing to stop Judah's resettlement and rebuilding. After Judah had rebuilt the wall, the nation asked the scribe Ezra to come and read the law. He did so at the Water Gate (Nehemiah 8). A revival of God's word was sweeping the nation at this time. It is hard to imagine this Psalm not being written by Ezra at this time.
Purpose: To show us how to pray when we are partway through God’s completing and fulfilling a word Yahweh has spoken into our lives, restoring and renewing our faith in His promises.