How To Handle A Sanballat

https://hillsidechurchofchrist.com/how-to-handle-sanballat-and-tobiah/

Usually, when we have a sermon from Nehemiah 4, we fixate on a single verse: “The wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” (Neh. 4:6)

We then dissect this verse and what it means to have a “mind to work.” I love those sermons, I think those types of sermons are valuable, precisely because they represent an attitude that we should have to the work at hand, even if you’re not building a wall.

The fact that the people built the wall in 52 days is incredible, especially in that day when cranes and bulldozers and all that stuff wasn’t readily accessible.

I would argue that building the wall as fast as they did wasn’t nearly as impressive as the conditions that they built it in.

Remember, this is not a group of “skilled laborers.” This is an “all hands on deck” scenario, where everyone with a pulse is called upon to contribute to the effort.

The list of workers in Nehemiah 3 consists of goldsmiths, perfumers, state officials — anyone but skilled laborers.

But what about the discouragement that they faced throughout, did you ever consider that? It’s hard enough to complete this great work as it is, but when you’re doing it in the face of constant discouragement, that makes it even harder.

I’m thinking primarily of two individuals: Sanballat and Tobiah (Nehemiah 2:9-10; 4:1-3).

What was the purpose of their discouragement? It’s probably not as personal as it may seem. Nehemiah 4 indicates that Sanballat is a Samaritan, which had not so great dealings with the jews, and is most likely a leader of some kind given how he’s able to talk to everyone.

Rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem then would be a direct blow to his belief that Samaria should reign supreme.

George Bernard Shaw - “Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being intimidated.”

Sanballat sets out to discourage them (Neh. 4:4-8). The whole point of their efforts was to stop them from finishing the wall — however it needed to happen.

Neh. 4:11-12 - They threaten to come and kill the workers.

Neh. 6:1-2 - They ask Nehemiah to meet them in what is essentially an ambush.

Neh. 6:6-8 - Stirred up false rumors as to their loyalty

Side note: Later in Sanballat’s life, he actually goes against Darius to align himself with Alexander the Great and compels him to build a temple in Samaria that he knows will rile up the Jews. He’s an opportunist, if nothing else.

Nehemiah sees right through all of that and finishes the wall.

This can’t have been easy for Nehemiah, despite how it may look. It’s hard enough to accomplish anything of value in this life, but especially when you’re dealing with discouragement at such close proximity.

We all have Sanballats and Tobiahs in our life. We all deal with discouragement on a daily basis, usually the kind that generates from people who don’t really have an agenda except to stop you from accomplishing yours.

That was exactly the problem with Cain and Abel. 1 John 3:12 states that the reason Cain killed Abel was because Abel’s deeds were righteous and Cain’s wasn’t. Instead of handling it himself, he lures Abel into the field — just like these two guys wanted to do with Nehemiah — and kills him. Didn’t want to fix himself; would rather hurt others to bring them down to his level.

There’s a lot you can learn about how to handle such severe discouragement from what Nehemiah does.

Pray. A lot.

Nehemiah is a highly emotional person (Nehemiah 1:1-4, 5-11)

As a matter of fact, Nehemiah prays the exact same prayer seven times in this book alone. All seven times he says simply, “Remember, O God.”

What he asks God to remember is different every time. Sometimes its to remember us, to remember Sanballat and Tobiah, or to remember himself for good).

The reason for this is very simple: Nehemiah knew that the only way this would be accomplished would be by God’s help (Nehemiah 2:17-20).

The reason they have no right or portion is because they’re found to be fighting against God.

This isn’t just about asking God to strengthen us against our enemies. It’s not personal in that way. This is about asking for God’s strength in accomplishing the tasks that we know we need to be doing for Him. Everything that doesn’t go with Him will eventually come to not.

Anticipate the Unthinkable

It’s hard for us to consider just how real the threat was. We’re used to hearing stories about the Samaritans and Jews not liking each other, but we forget that at least in this time period, the difference wasn’t that far off.

The race of “Samaritans” at this time period was more Jew than anything else. It was only 100 years before that the people went into exile, and so they thought that those who were able to stay in Israel through that made up the real race of God’s people.