Nehemiah 6-7

Sanballat, Tobiah & Geshem the Arab (along with other enemies of Israel) continued their attempts to derail the wall project (even though now all was done except the doors/gates). Their first attempt, in this section, was to call a meeting of local politicians with Nehemiah. 5 attempts at this failed because Nehemiah believed they were actually trying to harm him. Though almost certainly correct, we are not told how Nehemiah knew this information. The possibilities include:

1. Common sense based on past history
2. Secret military intelligence
3. Gut instinct
4. Holy Spirit's leading
5. Other/Combination
* in any case, verses 2 & 9 both show this predictive insight

Their second attempt was to blackmail Nehemiah into accepting the meeting invitation. They threatened to report false information to the Persians if he would not attend. But Nehemiah refused to negotiate with people making false allegations and using immoral practices. Instead, he prayed for strength to complete his task.

Their third attempt was to hire Jewish 'prophets' to make false prophecies that Nehemiah should either 1) run or 2) hide in the temple. Both courses of action would have been devastating to Nehemiah's leadership. If he ran, why/how would the people stay and finish the project? If he hid in the temple, which was illegal, the people may have turned on him. So Nehemiah simply continued to pray for deliverance and justice.

Fourth, Tobiah, in particular, attempted to undermine Nehemiah's leadership by maintaining close communication/relations with Israeli nobles. Tobiah had, in fact, married into Israel. Tobiah sent letters in attempt to intimidate Nehemiah.

Having tried and failed
1. Bureaucracy
2. Blackmail
3. Bribery
4. Behind the back antics
The enemies of Nehemiah were left to watch the project reach its completion
The enemies of Nehemiah were left afraid and lost their self-confidence b/c they knew God was active in the project

Nehemiah took special precaution in protecting the city by hiring trust-worthy men in leadership and by establishing policies (like in 7:3) that minimized risk. Nehemiah also found ways to increase the population within the city (Josephus records that some/most of this was done at his own expense). The remainder of chapter 7 provides a list of the original returnees. This list is very similar, though far from identical, with the list in Ezra 2. Possible reasons for the differences are:

1. Copyist mistakes
2. Records were recorded at slightly different times
3. Ezra is inspired and accurate whereas Nehemiah is a copy of faulty information
4. Other explanation unknown to me
* some of the math can be explained by the fact that the numbers account for 'men'

Mention is made in 7:65 of the Urim & Thummim. We simply don't know a lot about these artifacts. Urim has been understood to mean lights, revelation, oracle, curses and/or guilt. Thummin has been understood to mean perfections, truth, command, blameless and/or innocence. In any case, it seems that Urim & Thummim were used to discern God's will. Possibly, the method consisted of a pouch with Urim & Thummim inside. When an important decision was being made, the Priest would reach in and pull out one or the other, similar to casting lots. Also see Exodus 28:30, 1 Samuel 14:44 & 28:6.