Nehemiah 4

Nehemiah 4 is a chapter in the early part of the book of Nehemiah. The opponents who had mocked the plan to rebuild the wall in chapter 2 move beyond ridicule to plotting an attack once the section-by-section construction described in Nehemiah 3 is underway. This chapter describes how the work was defended against that threat.

Outline

• Verses 1–3: Sanballat, greatly enraged, mocks the Jews before the army of Samaria. Tobiah scoffs that even a fox going up on the wall would break it down.
• Verses 4–5: Nehemiah cries out that they are despised and prays that the enemies' reproach be turned upon their own heads.
• Verse 6: The whole wall is joined together to half its height, because the people worked wholeheartedly.
• Verses 7–9: Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites conspire together to fight against Jerusalem. The people pray and set a watch day and night.
• Verses 10–12: The people of Judah grow discouraged, saying that the rubbish is great and the strength of the burden bearers is failing. The enemies plan a surprise attack, and Jews living near them come ten times to warn the builders.
• Verses 13–14: Nehemiah stations the people by families, armed, in the low, open places behind the wall. He tells them to remember the great and terrible Lord and to fight for their families and homes.
• Verses 15–18: The enemies' plan is frustrated, and the people return to the work. From then on, half of Nehemiah's servants work while the other half stand armed. The builders work with one hand and hold a weapon in the other, and the trumpeter stands beside Nehemiah.
• Verses 19–20: Because the work is spread out over a wide area, the people are told to rally wherever the trumpet sounds. Nehemiah declares that God will fight for them.
• Verses 21–23: They work with spears in hand from daybreak until the stars appear, and everyone lodges inside Jerusalem. Nehemiah and his companions do not take off their clothes, and they carry their weapons even when going for water.

Key Verses

• Nehemiah 4:6: "for the people had a mind to work." The text attributes the wall's reaching half its height despite opposition to the people's unity of purpose.
• Nehemiah 4:14: "Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible." In this exhortation Nehemiah grounds the overcoming of fear in God.
• Nehemiah 4:17: "every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon." This picture of working and standing guard at the same time has become emblematic of the chapter.

People and Places

• Nehemiah: Cupbearer to the king of Persia who returned to Judah and led the rebuilding of the wall.
• Sanballat: Leader of the opposition to the rebuilding, introduced in chapter 2 as a Horonite.
• Tobiah: An Ammonite who obstructed the rebuilding alongside Sanballat.
• Samaria: The region whose army was present when Sanballat made his mocking speech.
• Ashdod: A Philistine city whose people joined the plot to attack.
• Jerusalem: The city where the walls were rebuilt.

Interpretive Considerations

• The prayer of verses 4–5: The petition that God not cover the enemies' iniquity resembles the imprecatory psalms. Interpreters therefore differ on how to read it alongside the New Testament teaching on love of enemies. Some read it as a prayer that leaves vengeance to God rather than taking it into one's own hands, linking it with Romans 12:17–21.
• Prayer and preparedness: Verses 9 and 13–23 record prayer and practical vigilance side by side. For this reason the passage is commonly read as teaching that faith and responsible preparation belong together.
• Spiritual application and the text's meaning: The image of "a weapon in one hand" is frequently connected in preaching with the spiritual warfare of Ephesians 6:10–18. What the text itself addresses, however, is military defense against an actual attack.
• Verse division: In the Hebrew Bible, verses 1–6 of this chapter are numbered 3:33–38, so chapter 4 has seventeen verses. Korean Bibles, like English Bibles, divide the chapter into twenty-three verses. The end of verse 23 is difficult in the Hebrew, so its wording varies somewhat among translations.

In the Korean Church

The book of Nehemiah is often used in sermons on church building projects, cooperation within the community, and leadership. In particular, this chapter's scene of working with one hand and holding a weapon with the other is frequently cited to illustrate perseverance in ministry amid hardship.