Nehemiah 6 Study Notes

6:11-13 Nehemiah saw through this religious ruse intended to intimidate and discredit him. Moreover, had he entered the temple he could have been executed since by law only the priests could enter the temple (Nm 18:7).

6:14 Nehemiah knew that behind Shemaiah’s “prophecy” were Tobiah and Sanballat, who evidently had persuaded others to do their bidding. Noadiah is mentioned only here in the OT.

6:15-16 In spite of myriad problems, the wall was completed in fifty-two days. The date of the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul probably was October 2, 445 BC. In less than six months, Nehemiah had traveled from Susa in Persia (modern-day Iran) to Jerusalem and had completed his mission of restoring the wall around the city. While Nehemiah’s enemies had tried to intimidate him (vv. 9,14,19), they themselves were intimidated. They reluctantly understood that the completion of such a formidable task was due to God’s help.

6:17-19 During those days suggests that this third attempt to intimidate Nehemiah may have been parallel to the other actions of intimidation. Verse 17 also explains why Nehemiah’s enemies were so well informed of conditions within Jerusalem, because the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah. The term letters (Hb ’iggereth, from Akk egirtu) occurs only a dozen times in the OT, all in postexilic texts. These “nobles” were bound by oath (Hb ba‘alay-shevu‘ah; lit “masters of the oath”) to Tobiah through marriage. Those aligned with Tobiah tried to convince Nehemiah of Tobiah’s good deeds, yet his letters were an attempt to intimidate Nehemiah.