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 everyone. We are studying together the book of Nehemiah, Nechamya in English. In Hebrew, we call him Nechamya, the comfort of Jehovah. I would like you please to turn with me to this book, Nehemiah chapter 6 today, and see if we can cover it all for this ministry meeting.

Nechamya, the servant of the God of Israel, have brought a group of people with him from Babel, the remnant that was away, and then he's coming back to the city of Yerushalayim and he began to build the walls of the city of Jerusalem. And he experienced opposition as he builds the wall with the people of Judah, the people of Jerusalem.

Well, we have arrived to chapter 6. And here we see Israel's enemy's crafty opposition against Nechamya and the Jewish people. And so we read from verse 1.

Guest (Male): Now it came to pass when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates), that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, "Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono." But they thought to do me mischief.

And I sent messengers unto them, saying, "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you?" Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort, and I answered them after the same manner. Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand, wherein was written, "It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel. For which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words."

"And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, 'There is a king in Judah.' And now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together." Then I sent unto him, saying, "There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart." For they all made us afraid, saying, "Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done." Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.

Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up; and he said, "Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple. For they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee." And I said, "Should such a man as I flee? And who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in."

And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me. My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.

So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days. And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes. For they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.

Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them. For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.

Gideon Levytam: This is the end of Nechamya chapter 6. Now, brothers and sisters, you and I need to realize that in every generation we live in, we're never going to have our walk with the Lord without those that will oppose us in anything that we will do for our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

Satan is never for a moment take a rest in order to give the people of God ease and peace and quiet as they seek the walk with the Lord. And you will notice that, as we have mentioned it many times according to the Brit Chadasha teaching, that sometimes he appears as the roaring lion, 1 Peter 5 and verse 8, and sometimes he appears as an angel of light as we read today in 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

He appears in those two ways. If he cannot defeat God's people by force, he defeats God's people by tricking them and causing them to stumble as they seek to walk with the Lord. And anytime we will do a work for God, we will find opposition to the things of the Lord.

Well, we study Nechamya chapter 4. We saw that they have already sought to oppose the people of God by force. We have studied in chapter 5 and we saw how Satan sowed a seed of discord among the brethren. And as we read in chapter 5, that there was a great cry of the people and of their wife against their brethren the Jews.

In other word, what happened sometimes he appears by seeking to force them and to harm them. Other times he is seeking to sow discord among the believers and to cause them to have friction one with another. And oftentimes we know that as believers in Yeshua the Messiah, that frictions do exist at all time among the people of God. And we need to watch ourselves not to allow Satan to use us as a vessel that will cause problems among the people of God.

And so now we come to chapter 6. And in this chapter, you notice how crafty the enemy is. We begin of course with the same old name of a man by the name of Sanballat, his co-friend Tobiah, and their co-friend a man by the name of Geshem. Those three individuals are really those that we would call them the Samaritans, the Shomronim.

Remember how the Samaritans began to be? The Samaritans were those that believe in Jehovah, but they also believe in their own gods. They were a mixture, not only mixed marriage, but there was a mixture of belief. Oh yes, they believe in the Lord a little bit, but they also believe in their own gods.

I just want to read that one verse in 2 Kings chapter 17 and verse 24. Look at this, it says, "And the king Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and for the Sepharvaim, and he placed them in the cities of Samaria." And notice what it says in verse 25, "And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling that they feared not the Lord."

But then if you notice just a little bit down in verse 32, so we don't need to read everything, later on it says, "So they feared the Lord" in verse 32. But at the end it says in verse 33, "They feared the Lord" but notice that, "and they served their own gods." That's what the Samaritans known for. They feared Yehovah, Jehovah, but they also served their own gods.

And they were not happy to see the Jewish people now building the walls of Jerusalem. The temple was already built and protecting themselves from the enemies around. So here we find another way whereby they sought to harm the work of the Lord. And so I want you to notice now first of all, they're making an offer to Nechamya in verses 1 and 2.

It says, "Now it came to pass," this is verse 1, "that Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian and the rest of our enemies, when they heard that I builded the wall, that there was no breach left therein, though at that time I had not yet set up the doors upon the gate, that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me saying, 'Come. Let us meet together in some one of the villages in a plain of Ono.' But they thought to do me mischief."

You see, here you can see immediately once again the enemies of the Jewish people coming to them and offering to them a certain offer. You notice that? It says in Sanballat and Geshem, they said to Nechamya, "Nechamya, you know what, come down to a place that is called Ono and let us discuss things together."

Now Nechamya knew that from the past already, that those were the enemies of God's people. You notice it says in verse 1, "the rest of our enemies." They were not our friends. They were not people who intended to be a blessing to the people of Judah, to the people of Israel. They were the enemies of the people of Israel.

But what Sanballat and Tobiah is trying to do now, which they could not do up till this time, they are now trying to trick Nechamya to leave the work and to go all the way to the place called the plain of Ono, and there they wanted to meet with him and to counsel together as if they had some things in common.

And so the invitation is there. And by the way, Ono is in the area that belong to the tribe of Benjamin. It is mentioned in 1 Chronicles chapter 8 and verse 12. And so they're inviting him, "Leave the walls, leave the work and come out because we want to counsel with you together."

You know, this is tell us something very important. If you do something for the Lord and you're occupied with the things of the Lord, one has to be extremely careful how we allow others to cause us to stop to do the work of the Lord. You see like it says here in verse 2, "But they sought to do me mischief." They really didn't care for the things of the Lord, of the God of Israel. They had no interest in being a blessing to the people of God, but they seek to do mischief to the servants of the Lord.

And you know, this is amazing. It happened to the Apostle Paul. 2 Corinthians teaches us how oftentimes the Apostle Paul had those that sought to do him mischief. They were not really interested in furthering the gospel or not interested in furthering the body of Messiah, the body of Messiah, but they sought always to cause him to stumble.

It's the same thing in a history of our Jewish people Israel. There were always those, whether it is from without or whether it is from within, that instead of helping to build the house of God, helping to encourage the believers, they sought to cause him to stumble. What a sad condition.

But you see Nechamya had to be wise. He had to think things through and he had to always be in communication with the Lord. "Lord, what should I do? How can I handle a situation like that?" And you know, we are fragile. We are not perfect. We are very easily getting stumble. Hebrews tell us the sin which does so easily beset us. We are constantly liable to stumble and to fall.

And Satan always want to help us to do so. And many times, beloved brothers and sisters, he's successful because we haven't been on our watch. We haven't been close to the Lord. But Nechamya was. And in this time, he was wise enough to know how to handle the situation.

By the way, the word for mischief, it's really the Hebrew word ra'a. Ra'a means evil. Not only mischief, a trick. It's really their purpose was to do ra'a, evil. They did not have any interest with the walls of Jerusalem, the people of Jerusalem and the people of God. They sought to do him mischief.

And so notice the response. It's so beautiful to see Nechamya was a wise man. In verse 3 and 4, Nechamya refuses to listen to the advice and the invitation of these men by the name of Sanballat, Geshem, and Tobiah. He simply refuses to respond to their invitation.

And so we read in verse 3 and 4, two things Nechamya is saying to them. Number one he says, "I am doing a great work." Notice that, it says in verse 3, "And I sent messengers unto them," and he said number one, "Look, I am doing a great work. I'm working for God. I'm serving the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the Jewish remnant that came back and the rest of the Jewish people who lived in that land at that time. This is the work that God had given me to do."

Secondly he says, "Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you?" Two things he says to them. Number one, "I'm busy with a good work, with a ministry for God, ministry for the Lord. Why should the work suffer?" Notice twice the word "work" is mentioned here. They work "avoda," I'm doing a good service for the Lord. I'm ministering to God's people. I'm doing the work of the Lord. And why should the work suffer by me leaving the work and coming to you?

You see, this is an amazing truth that we have to learn and apply this to our own self. God's servants always have to be careful how much energy and time they take away from the ministry and the work that the Lord have called them to do.

I want you to turn to Jude and verse 3 and 4. It says, "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Why? "For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained unto condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace of our God unto lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah."

See, Jude was writing to the early believers who were Jewish believers. He says, "Listen brethren, you know, you have to be very careful to be earnestly contending for the faith, for the work that God had called you and the ministry that God had called you but the truth that God have taught you. And don't allow others to pull you away and to take you away from those things which you have learned."

Now notice if you turn back a little bit to 1 Peter chapter 3, Shimon Petros also wrote these warning to the believers. In verse 15 it says, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that ask you of the reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and with fear."

Always be ready. Why? Because there will be always opposition, those that will seek to hinder you from walking with the Lord. And it's not only men or women or people, but Satan is the one that is so deceitful who is using, and you will see it at the end of the chapter, men and women among the people of God to be drawn away after them.

And Nechamya could say, "You know what, wait a minute, I'll stop the work. I will not finish the wall of Jerusalem. I'm going to go see what Sanballat has in mind for me." But he knew very well Sanballat. He has already experienced what he have done in the past.

In fact if you just go back to Nechamya chapter 2 it says in verse 10 of chapter 2, "When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel." When Nechamya came already years earlier, Sanballat heart was grieved because he came to help the Jewish brethren.

No wonder why Nechamya who was discerning enough to know, wait a minute, this individual is not for us. He's only trying to stumble us. He's not trying to build, he's trying to cause us to stumble and that the Jewish people will not build the wall of the city of Jerusalem.

And that was sad to see how this man had been so insisting on having his own way in doing what he did. And you see beloved brothers and sisters, Sanballat tried to do so. Nechamya says, "I'm doing a great work. Why should the work stop because you call me to come to counsel and to visit with you?"

Notice, "Let us meet together" in verse 2. "Let us have some time together and have a conversation." It was not for the interest of Nechamya. It was not for the blessing of Israel. It was simply a way to seek to divert him from doing the work of the Lord.

And again I'm emphasizing, you and I will experience this in our own life whenever we're going to do something for Yeshua the Messiah. Whenever we will seek to be faithful with all our failure, with all our shortcoming, Satan will help you to divert your life from the Lord and to do things that are not for him. And he will seek to stop us from building the work of the Lord.

So look at this, it says in verse 4, four time he send the same kind of invitation and four time Nechamya says, "No, I'm not coming." Notice verse 4 says, "Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort and I answered them after the same manner."

Somebody said it like this. They wanted Nechamya to come to the plain of Ono and Nechamya says, "Oh no." I'm not coming. I'm discerning what you have in mind to do. And you see he was a wise man. I wish we had this wisdom in our own life as believers that we would discern to say no at time to that which takes us away from the Lord.

And brothers and sisters, we need builders. We don't need destroyers. We need to work together to build the body of Messiah. And I can tell you that the Lord will hold us accountable when we hinder the work of the Lord. We will have to do with God because God's work and God's people belong to God. And whenever we hinder the work of the Lord, whenever we allow someone even to hinder the work of the Lord, we will have to do with God because this is God's work. This is God's business.

And he, he is jealous over his work and over his people. Those who oppose him, they will have to deal with the Lord. And that's why it is important for us to bear this in our own mind.

Now notice the third thing that we find out in verses 5, 6, and 7. Here is the accusation of Israel's enemy. You see, in a beginning they tried to trick him to come down to Ono. But now see how the reality come to the surface.

First notice verse 5. Sanballat writes and he send an open letter. It says, "Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand." You see an open letter in Hebrew we call it "igeret ptucha."

When you send a letter to somebody, usually you seal it. In biblical time, you seal the letter and you said "This is for Nechamya." Nobody can open it because it's intended to arrive to Nechamya. But this man Sanballat send a letter, he didn't seal it. He kept it open. So as the letter was passed from messenger to messenger, everybody said, "Let me read what this letter is saying."

In other word, again is another form of trickiness that he was trying now to sow a seed in the Jewish community against Nechamya. "You know, after all this Nechamya he has an intention here to be exalting himself."

And notice what the words of the open letter found in verse 6 and 7. It says, "Wherein it was written, 'It is reported among the heathen and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel. For which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king according to these words. And that thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee in Yerushalayim saying, "There is a king in Judah." And now shall it be reported to the king according to these words.'"

You see what he is really saying to him in the open letter and everybody could read it as the letter passed from one servant to another. Whoever handed out this letter and they opening this letter and they read it and said, "Ah, wait a minute, Nechamya actually has a selfish motive behind here. He's really want to be the king of Israel."

"He want to be the ruler of the people of Israel. He want to be promoting himself. You see, he doesn't care really for us." This man by the name of Sanballat was intending to do by sending this open letter. The Hebrew word again is igeret ptucha. Igeret simply mean a letter or a passage that's open for everyone to read it.

Well, he was sending this letter that he wanted everyone to see it. And you know, isn't it true talking about emails? You know, somebody write an email and somebody just forward it and we'll have everybody else know what somebody said in his own email.

And brothers and sisters again I would like to challenge you and challenge myself. Are we interested in building the people of God and seeing the body of the Messiah growing? Well sometimes even if somebody does something wrong, is better not to spread it like cancer because cancer we are able to harm each other and to hurt the things of the Lord.

Guest (Male): You have been listening to Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levytam. Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411, Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com.

You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM and Saturdays at 1:00 PM at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you. Shalom, shalom.