Building With One Hand, Fighting With the Other

The enemies of Israel were filled with rage. They had not dared use violence, for they knew of the king’s orders and feared that actively opposing Nehemiah might bring on them the monarch’s displeasure. But now they themselves became guilty of the crime of which they had accused Nehemiah. “All of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem.” At the same time some of the leading Jews turned against the project and tried to discourage Nehemiah. “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.”RR 226.4

Discouragement came from still another source. “The Jews who dwelt near them,” taking no part in the work, repeated the reports of their enemies to create discontent. But ridicule and threats only inspired Nehemiah to greater watchfulness. His courage remained high. “We made our prayer to our God,” he declares, “and set a watch against them day and night.” “Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I ... said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, ‘Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.’”RR 226.5

“All of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked on construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor. ... Those who carried burdens loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon.”RR 226.6

Priests were stationed on different parts of the wall, bearing the sacred trumpets. They sounded the alarm if danger approached any part of the wall. “So we labored in the work, and half of the men held the spears from daybreak until the stars appeared.”RR 227.1

Nehemiah now required those who had been living outside Jerusalem to camp within the walls, to guard the work and to be ready for duty in the morning. This would prevent the enemy from attacking the workmen as they went to and from their homes. Not even during the short time given to sleep did Nehemiah and his companions put off their clothing or lay aside their armor.RR 227.2

The opposition that the builders in Nehemiah’s day met from open enemies and pretended friends is an example of the experience that people who work for God today will have. Enemies and friends hurl scorn and accusations at them, and if conditions allow, the enemy uses more cruel and violent measures.RR 227.3

Among those who profess to support God’s cause are those who lay His cause open to the attacks of His bitterest foes. Even some who desire the work of God to prosper will weaken the hands of His servants by reporting and half believing the slanders of His adversaries. But, like Nehemiah, God’s people are neither to fear their enemies nor despise them. Putting their trust in God, they are to go steadily forward, committing to His care the cause for which they stand.RR 227.4

In every crisis God’s people may confidently declare, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31. However craftily Satan may lay his plots, God can bring all the schemes to nothing. He is in the work, and no one can prevent its ultimate success.RR 227.5