Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew-Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: Shabbat Shalom. Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah. The passage that we're going to read today found in Nehemiah chapter 4. And I'm going to only deal with the first nine verses of Nehemiah chapter 4. So follow me as I'm reading the first nine verses, beginning with verse one.

Guest (Male): But it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria and said, "What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?"

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him and he said, "Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall."

Hear, O our God, for we are despised, and turn their reproach upon their own head and give them for a prey in the land of captivity. And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.

So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof, for the people had a mind to work.

But it came to pass that when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it. Nevertheless, we made our prayer unto our God and set a watch against them day and night because of them. And I'm going to stop here in the ninth verse of Nehemiah chapter 4.

Gideon Levytam: Now, it's such a privilege to be under the sound of the word, to be able to sit together and hear the word of God for all of us. And if I will not say anything today, we can get up this afternoon and go back to our home. We have heard the word of the Lord. Ultimately, the Spirit of God is able to use the word of the Lord to speak to us and help us in our walk here with the Lord. But nevertheless, I will make my comments today because we want to get some exposition on the passage that we read.

Well, Nehemiah, one of the most wonderful men in biblical history among our Jewish people, a godly man, a man that had his heart for the Lord, for the God of Israel. He loved the people of Israel. He wanted to be a builder, to be the one that will be an encourager in the midst of decline. And the Lord used him. He brought him all the way from Bavel back to the land of Israel. And now you find Nehemiah stirring up the people of Israel, the Jewish community, to build the wall of Jerusalem. And they surely did the building of the walls of Jerusalem and the gates thereof.

We spent a few meetings together studying Nehemiah chapter 3. And we saw how Nehemiah and his brethren, the Jewish people, have builded the wall surrounding the city of Yerushalayim and all those 10 gates that we have spoken about, beginning with the Sheep Gate and ending, of course, with the Gate of Inspection, the Mifkad Gate. Ten gates were erected and placed together. And now as the wall is being builded, you find out that immediately the enemy began its attack.

It is so interesting that throughout the scripture, whether it is in biblical history, namely among the people of Israel, or among the body of Messiah, the church age in which we live in, you will notice that when you're going to start to build something and you want to do something for the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the enemy on an ongoing basis will not want you to build and to be successful.

You and I know it very well in our own experience in our own life. When we came to know Yeshua the Messiah, we know very well how some from our own family rejected us. Some of our own friends despise us. Some people that we used to be good friends with left us and no longer are befriending us as it used to be in the past. And we also find out that we have conflict on the job in our own work situation. We find out there are conflict in our homes. Those of us who go to school find conflict. Wherever we are, we find out that we have enter into a conflict.

And while these Jewish people only wanted to build the wall around the city of Jerusalem, the city which God gave to the Jewish people, and yet opposition began. And so it will always be, as we learn from this, because whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, Romans 15 and verse 4. And all this happen in order to be an example for you and I as believers today, 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 11.

And so we find out immediately, as the walls of Jerusalem begin to be lifted up slowly and surely, stone upon stone is being put all around the city, the gates are being placed—you remember the wood, the bars and everything is getting to be built—immediately the enemy begin to attack. And so I would like you to notice that here we find in Nehemiah chapter 4 the enemies that attack God's people from without. Later on, we will find out that the people of God will also have enemies from within.

But the fourth chapter of Nehemiah deals with the enemies that came from without. And so in the first three verses of Nehemiah chapter 4, we find out about the anger and the mockery by Israel's enemies because people were not happy that the Jewish people are now building the wall around the city of Jerusalem. And it got them angry and upset with the people of God. And so we read as we began in our chapter and verse 1. We find out a man by the name of Sanballat.

It says here in verse 1: "And it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, he was angry, and he took a great indignation and mocked the Jews, the Jewish people." Now, you and I might say, well, why does Sanballat is so angry? What is his problem where the Jewish people are coming to build the walls that will protect the city that was given to the people of Israel, to the Jewish people, by God? But you see, Sanballat is an ancient enemy of the people of God.

In fact, he has a history of his forefathers, which we know them as the Samaritans, the Shomronim. They were a mixture of people that were part of the northern kingdom of Israel and part of the nations around from a great Assyria who were brought to the land of Israel, specifically in Samaria, and they constantly opposed the Jewish people. The Jewish people were not always right. They were many times wrong in the manner of their conduct, and God had to discipline them. But in the case of Nehemiah chapter 4, they were right by coming back to the land to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the wall thereof. But Sanballat was angry.

And not only that, he took great indignation. He was so upset that the Jewish people are now coming to rebuild that wall. But you see, we learn a lot about Sanballat. If you just go back for a moment to chapter 2 and verse 10, when Nehemiah had arrived with a group of Jewish people who came from Babylon, when he came back at 444, 445 BC, when Sanballat heard—look at this, it says here in verse 10: "When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, when they heard of it..." What did they hear? They heard that some Jewish people came to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, that it grieved him exceedingly that some man would seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

It grieved him. He was an enemy of the people of God, the Jewish people. It grieved him that somebody actually cared for the people of Israel. He was satisfied to see that the wall are broken down, the gates are burnt with fire, the Jewish people are scattered, unhappy, have problems in their life. He was pleased with it. But when somebody came to build and to help them, it immediately grieved him exceedingly in his own heart.

So you see what we find out, that it begin in the heart. There is a condition that was wrong in this person by the name of Sanballat. And now by the time we get to chapter 4, he really getting upset because the walls now are starting to climb up. The gates are already set up, and he is starting to say, "Wait a minute, this is serious. They're really going to do the job." You notice in chapter 2 and verse 19, there is another verse about Sanballat. It says, "When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian heard it, they laughed us to scorn and they despised us."

You see, that's how it begins. When you see God's people walking with the Lord and starting to build and carrying on in the things of the Lord, they begin to mock and to laugh at the people of God. And they said, "What is this thing that they do? Will they rebel against the king?" he said in chapter 2 and verse 19. Now we find out in chapter 4 and verse 1, Sanballat was angry. He was wroth and he did not want to see the people of Israel progressing in building the wall and setting up the gates of Yerushalayim.

And isn't it so, brothers and sisters? It is sad, but when we become believers in Yeshua the Messiah and we enter into the body of Messiah, I can assure you that there are those who are not happy to see you growing spiritually, to see that you want to build the body of Messiah, you want to take your effort, your time, your energy, your means, and you want to think to build the things of God. There will always be those that are the enemies of the people of God who will not be happy with anything that is done for Yeshua the Messiah.

And by the way, we know it very well that behind the scene there is that old enemy of God, Satan himself, who influence men to oppose anything that is done for the Lord Jesus the Messiah, anything that is done for God. The enemy is constantly opposing it. Now, if you will notice in continuing in the first three verses, the anger and mockery of the enemies of Israel, you notice that in verse 2, we have the additional individuals that were opposing the Jewish community. We find out, in fact, in verse 2—and you can see that these are really the mixture, the Samaritan—it says that he spoke before his brethren and the armies of Samaria. In Hebrew, the word *tzva Shomronim*. He has spoken to his brethren. Apparently, he must have been a man of influence.

And he said, beloved brothers and sisters, notice how he mocking the people of Israel, the Jewish people. He says, "What do these feeble Jews?" And indeed, brothers and sisters, these Jewish people who came from Bavel, first of all, some of them came with Zerubbabel, then more people came with Ezra, and now the third group coming with Nehemiah, they were really feeble. They were not that great nation with power like in the day of Shlomo, the king of Israel. They were in a feeble situation because earlier some 70, 80, 90 years before, they have gone astray from the God of Israel. They disobeyed the Lord, and the Lord sent them captive to Bavel.

And now finally He's restoring them, and He restore a feeble remnant, a small group of Jewish people. Fifty thousand with Zerubbabel, another few thousand with Ezra, and now about a thousand with Nehemiah. They were feeble group of people. God's people were feeble, but they wanted to come back to the things of the Lord and to rebuild Jerusalem and to worship God in a right way. And I tell you, this is so true with all the condition that existing in Christendom today. Those who really want to stand for the truth of God and the truth of His word are but a few, and they're really feeble in many ways just the same like our forefathers, the Jewish people here in Nehemiah chapter 4. They're feeble, but God is with them. And God's going to show through them His strength on behalf of His people.

And that's why we learn here a great lesson. Maybe the world look at you and look at us and say, "What are you telling me about this Jesus the Messiah? And why do you want so much to follow after Him and to read His Bible and to learn from Him and to meet with other believers together? Look at the multitude of people who go elsewhere and do other things." And yet the people of God are feeble. I think of the verse that we read in Matthew 18 and verse 20: "Where two or three are gathered together unto my name," Yeshua said, "I promise to be in the midst."

Why didn't He say 200,000 or 300,000? Why did He go as low as possible? Because He's satisfied with those who desire to be under the sound of His word and allow Him to have authority over their lives. Even if there are two or three, He's pleased to be in the midst of them. And you see, brothers and sisters, in Nehemiah's days, it was a days of small things. And I can suggest to you today, in the days of the Laodicean in which you and I live in at the end of the church age, we also live in a days of small things, feeble. But God is in the midst of His own. He promised a blessing to His own people.

I'm sometimes fascinated when I watch some programs about people who come to see a movie star. Thousands of people, young people looking at that movie star and they're getting crazy over that movie star or singer. But I say to myself, I wish there would be so many people will follow the Lord and they will go crazy for Yeshua the Messiah. But the truth of the matter is that it's not so. The Lord is working in individuals' heart one by one and drawing us to Himself.

And you and I are really brought, even in the very fact that we are coming to a ministry meeting and we are coming to a Bible class and we're here in the word of God, it's nothing but the grace of God. Because there are hundreds of thousand that reject the message of the gospel today, while a few here and there are drawn by Him. And so it is nothing but the grace of God who work in our life. And you can see Sanballat is going to his Samaritan brethren and he is saying now to them, he says, "What are they doing?" And notice the four times the word "will they." Notice it says in verse 2b, "Will they fortify themselves?" Number one. Number two, "Will they sacrifice?" Number three, "Will they make an end in a day?" Number four, "Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?"

And humanly speaking, you might say, how can they do it? How they're going to be able to do it? Enemies all surrounding them, and they're really feeble. Sanballat recognized that, and he asking, and actually it is in mockery. He says, "Will they do these things? Will they be able to fortify the city of Yerushalayim and continue in the sacrificial system?" In other words, he was laughing at them. And you know many who wanted to serve the Lord, and people say, "Ha! You think you're going to be able to do it? This is too big of a work for you ever to be able to be successful in doing that."

Well, of course, without the Lord, we can't do anything. Remember Yeshua said, "Without me, ye can do nothing." But with the Lord's help, we are able to continue on and to build for the Lord and for the Lord's house. And that's why we can see here that the enemy opposes while God is able to help His people to build the house of the Lord. And here you can see the mockery of the people of God.

I want you to turn for a moment to 1 Corinthians chapter 16. The apostle Paul said this already in the first early days of the church age. He said in verse 9, "For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, but there are many adversaries." The Lord preparing blessing for mankind, but there are so many enemies. Can you imagine the apostle Paul, this Jewish servant who was called to serve among the Goyim, the Gentile world? Can you imagine the suffering that he had experienced when he was going from city to city to Asia Minor presenting the gospel of Yeshua the Messiah? Can you imagine how much opposition he have experienced in his life?

We have no idea what the apostle Paul have experienced in his life, the suffering that he have experienced because he wanted to build the body of Messiah, he wanted to share the gospel with the world. I don't have to give it the list, but there are lists of the sufferings that the apostle Paul have experienced in his life. Just to read to you a couple of verses in 2 Corinthians chapter 6. It says in verse 4, "But in all things approving ourselves as the servants of God, the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distress, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, fastings;"

"by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by love unfeigned, by the word of the truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things."

Shaul Paul said it to the Corinthian when he told them about the fact that he was presenting the Lord's word and yet so much opposition he experienced in his life. So the Jewish people in Nehemiah also have experienced already enemies that have sought to destroy the work of the Lord. And so you notice that it is the Samaritan in verse 2. Those are not only a mixture of physical relationship between some of them were from the 10 tribes of Israel and some of them were from the nations of the world, but was a mixture of believing in the true and living God, but also believing in false gods, in idols and other things that were contrary to the word of God. They became enemies of the people of Judah when Israel were building the walls around the city of Jerusalem.

Notice that we find out about Tobiah also in verse 3 of Nehemiah chapter 4. "Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, 'Even that which they build, if a fox will go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.'" You see, he was laughing at these Jewish people. He says, "You know what? Even if a fox will just sit on it, he will cause it to crumble." They will not be able to have these stones pile up so the wall will be finished. It will not stand. Again, another way of mockery, telling Israel, "You're not going to be successful. Everything that you will try to do, it will crumble to pieces."

And so we know very well that anything that we do with the strength of the Lord, He is able to help us to carry on in His ministry, in the work. But everything that we do with the energy of the flesh, that will crumble, that will not be successful. But thank God that the Lord was with them. Thank God that the Lord had sent them. You see, Nehemiah didn't go on his own. The Jewish people didn't go on their own. They were returning now to rebuild what God have intended for them to build.

Let me remind you that when Yeshua promised that He is going to build the assembly in Matthew chapter 16, He said to Shimon Peter, Shimon Petros, He said, "You are Peter, and upon your confession, upon this rock, I will build my assembly, my ecclesia." And then He continue and says, "And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." And I can tell you, I can assure you, because it is the plan of God for the church, for the assembly, it is a plan of God for Israel, eventually God is going to bring about His promises that He have made to His own people. And so even though there are enemies, nevertheless God's promises will come to pass. He will give the necessary strength for the people of God.

Now, what would you do in a case like that? You can get very discouraged when there are so many enemies. You know, I was told by a godly brother years ago that many men who call them pastor or spiritual leaders have given up. They said, "What's the use? I have no energy to carry on to work and to carry on because they have been so many enemies against them, so much opposition they have given up." And sometimes you and I can say because we are so discouraged because there are so many enemies coming on every hand, that we can also say, "Well, what's the use to spend my time and my energy and to participate in building the things of the Lord? What's the use? The world is against us, the flesh is against us, Satan is against us. So what's the use?"