Nehemiah 6:2

2 - Sanballat and Geshem sent this message: "Come and meet with us at Kephirim in the valley of Ono."

Nehemiah 6:2 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 6:2

Then Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me
Messengers:

saying, come, let us meet together in some one of the villages;
in Cephirim, which Jarchi takes to be the name of a place, perhaps the same with Cephirah, a city in the tribe of Benjamin, ( Joshua 18:26 )

in the plain of Ono;
which was in the same tribe, see ( 1 Chronicles 8:12 ) , they might pretend a friendly meeting, to accommodate differences between them, or to converse together about the general interest of the king of Persia in those parts:

but they thought to do me mischief;
to kill him, or at least to confine him; this he either conjectured from their general character and behaviour, or he had intelligence of their design.

Nehemiah 6:2 In-Context

1 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that there were no more breaks in it - even though I hadn't yet installed the gates

2 - Sanballat and Geshem sent this message: "Come and meet with us at Kephirim in the valley of Ono."

3 so I sent messengers back with this: "I'm doing a great work; I can't come down. Why should the work come to a standstill just so I can come down to see you?"

4 Four times they sent this message and four times I gave them my answer.

5 The fifth time - same messenger, same message - Sanballat sent an unsealed letter