Book of Nehemiah Series #8
The Enemy Within
By Pastor Jim May
When Sanballat couldn’t succeed, and Tobiah was stopped in his tracks, another enemy stepped forward. This enemy was more dangerous than either Sanballat or Tobiah and threatened to unravel the very fiber of the rebuilding process.
Let’s read the account of the rising of this new enemy of God’s people and see if you can figure out just who, or what, that enemy is.
Nehemiah 5:1-6, "And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live. Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards. And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words."
What was the enemy? Who was the enemy? Did you see him raise his ugly head? The enemy is called Dissention in the Ranks or Division in the Camp.
Regardless of how much we try, we cannot help but form classes within our society. America was founded upon the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It was founded as a land where all men are created equal. Those principles are great, and the idea of a classless society where no one is above the law, and all have equal opportunities, is a wonderful idea. But that’s all it is, an idea! Reality soon reveals that man always finds a way to gain power and control over the lives of other men. Whether it’s an overbearing parent, with a spouse and children under their thumb, or a dictator of a nation, controlling everything and everyone in that nation with the use of force and threat of death, there is always someone who wants the power and others who allow them to have it.
Sanballat tried to attack from the outside with mind games, then with physical threats, but neither had the desired effect for long. Nehemiah and the builders soon overcame these threats and continued to build. But this last enemy came from within.
Satan knew the scriptures and he understands God’s very nature. He knew what Jesus would say during his earthly ministry in Matthew 12:25, "… Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand…" The devil knows that if he can cause division in the ranks of God’s army, the battle will soon be over.
Satan still uses that same device today. I don’t think there is anyone who has served the Lord for very long, and cannot relate a story of how a church was split, a ministry destroyed or a work of the Lord ceased to be simply because of dissention and division.
It can happen over the simplest of things. It can happen over the color of the carpet in a new building, the type of rod we use to hang the curtain, which pair of shoes a minister wears behind the pulpit or how short Sister Weeblewop cuts her hair, or Brother Ginglehopper clips his fingernails during church. I’ve seen it happen and so have you. We all get our feelings out on our sleeve once in a while, or we let things get on our nerves, until finally we blow our cool and the fight is on. Divisions are just about always triggered by pride, self-gratification, my rights, your rights or what we feel is fair.
That’s what was threatening to stop the building of the Wall of the city of Jerusalem now! It wasn’t the devil doing any direct attacks, it wasn’t the outside powers of the worldly crowd, it was fellow next door who was laying his brick in a different fashion, or the woman on the next gate who thought that her gate was better than your gate.
For whatever the reason, classes and distinction between the “haves” and “have-nots” began to surface with a vengeance. If Nehemiah couldn’t get this latest “enemy” under control; if he couldn’t stop the Jews from fighting among themselves, the wall would never be completed, the Temple would never be rebuilt and Jerusalem would remain as rubble. It would be a condemning testimony against God’s own chosen nation, that they couldn’t even get along with one another, much less reach out to a lost and dying world with the knowledge of the One True God.
The first shot was fired in this battle with Nehemiah’s leadership as the target. If he didn’t have the skill and leadership abilities to solve the problem, the Jews would no longer follow him.
Those who were of the poorer class, the ordinary worker who carried the stones, nailed the boards in place, dug the holes for the foundation and carried the water to the workers, were the first to voice their complaint. They complained of the richer Jews, their brothers and sisters in the land, that they had been unfair in their business dealings, trying to gain usury, or to make a profit off of their own friends and family.
It wasn’t just the men who had followed Nehemiah back from Persia; they had brought their whole families with them. The Jews considered it a blessing to have many children.
King David once wrote these words in Psalms 127:3-5, "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them…."
With these large families and so many mouths to feed, finding food was a never-ending task, especially in a land where the enemy had stripped most everything of real value.
No doubt there were a few Jews who had remained around Jerusalem during the captivity so that they could keep the land occupied and create an economy where Persia could glean some taxes. There could have also been some among Nehemiah’s own workers who had lands, farms and homes nearby, and were allowed to go and work their lands.
Wherever they came from, there were some of the more affluent Jews who saw the need of their brothers as an opportunity to make a quick profit.
Isn’t that always the case? It doesn’t matter whether it’s a hurricane, a war, or an economic downturn, there’s always someone who finds a way to make a profit from it.
Regardless of how you believe, it is a fact. Some make profits because their services or products are vital, while others just learn to jack up the prices using supply and demand as a reason gouge others.
During the storms of last fall, we saw and heard of a number of incidents when this very thing was going on. People charging $5 or more for a gallon of gasoline. Stores that increased the prices on the shelves of just about every item, just because they knew they could get what they wanted from frightened and hungry neighbors.
That’s the way it was in Jerusalem while Nehemiah was working on the wall. The poor were hard pressed to find food, and when they did, the prices were exorbitant. It was so bad that many had to mortgage their homes and even sign their children as collateral to get the loan to buy food. Of course many would default on their loans and their homes were being seized and even children seized and placed as servants and slaves to pay the debt.
I can’t say that I agree with those who attempted to make such high profits, but neither can the fault all be theirs. The fact is that the only reason any of this existed in the first place was that all of Israel had failed to serve the Lord and they were still reaping the seeds of distrust and discord that they had sown nearly 100 years earlier. God’s Law will not be ignored. His laws on sowing and reaping will be fulfilled.
What is sown in one generation may take many generations before the reaping comes to an end.
How many of you remember the feud between the Hatfield’s and the Mc Coy’s? There is a prime example of sowing and reaping if there ever was one and the whole thing began over a little thing called greed. Can anyone tell me what triggered the feud?
The Hatfields lived on the West Virginia side of Tug Fork, and the McCoys lived on the Kentucky side. Both families were part of the first wave of pioneers to settle the Tug Valley and both were involved in manufacturing and selling illegal whiskey. The Hatfields were led by William Anderson, also known as "Devil Anse" Hatfield. The McCoys were led by "Ole Ran’l" McCoy.
In 1878 the fued began with a fight about the ownership of a hog. Floyd Hatfield had it, and Ole Ran’l McCoy said it was his. They went to court and the McCoys lost due to the testimony of someone who was kin to both families. Two years later that relative was killed by two McCoy’s.
The feud really blew in 1882, when another Hatfield, was murdered by three of the McCoy’s who stabbed him 26 times and finished him off with a shot. The 3 McCoys were themselves murdered in vengeance. In 2 years the feud claimed more than a dozen members of these families, becoming headline news around the country and compelling the governors of both Kentucky and West Virginia to call up the National Guard to restore order.
After 8 more Hatfields were either imprisoned or hanged for the murder of a female member of the McCoys, the families finally agreed to disagree in 1891 and ended the feud, but not before a lot of Hatfields and Mc Coys had died; all because of a hog.
How far will greed take us? How far will the seed we sow today continue to bear fruit?
In Exodus 20:5 when God told the Children of Israel to serve Him only and to stay away from idols, he said, "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me…"
Israel and the Jews were already suffering from the captivity of the past 70 years in Babylon and Persia, and only now were beginning to rebuild the walls of the city, but had they really learned anything? What would God have to do to get their attention?
Is it not so even in our churches sometimes? We have seen what dissention and division can do, and how much it hinders the work of the Lord and injures the Body of Christ and yet people still persist in “having their way” and “claiming their rights”. We still see brothers and sisters in the Lord who hate others in the church and refuse to even speak to them. We see those in the church who would be the “lord of the church” instead of allowing Jesus to be the head. Some churches will never be what they could have been simply because too many of God’s own people shoot themselves in the foot and stop the move of God in their midst.
What could Nehemiah do? How could he stop this division and allow the work on the walls to continue?
Nehemiah 5:7-13, "Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them. And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer. Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies? I likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury. Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them. Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise. Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD. And the people did according to this promise."
Nehemiah didn’t call a meeting of the church Board of Elders. He consulted with himself, meaning that he thought about, prayed about it, and listened for the voice of the Lord to tell him what to do, and once he reached a determination on the proper course of action, he went to work to solve the problems.
He set up court with a huge number of Jews that acted as the jury and began to put the profiteers on trial before them all. When confronted with the issues, those who had been cheating their brothers had no answer to give. Nehemiah then commanded that they give back every ill-gotten gain and set free those who they had made into servants.
To their credit, the Jews settled their differences and the work continued on the wall. I wish I could say the same for the modern church world. We aren’t as quick to forgive and forget as those Jews were. Could it be that we have lost sight of the reason for our work? Is not building the Kingdom of God and our testimony for the Lord more important than all of the minor things that bring division in the church?
Nehemiah 5:14-19, "Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor. But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God. Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work. Moreover there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, beside those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us. Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people. Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people."
In 52 days the walls were completed and Nehemiah returned to King Cyrus to make his report. Because of Nehemiah’s wisdom in handling the dissention among the Jews and continuing the work of rebuilding, King Cyrus appointed him as the governor of the land of Judah where Nehemiah served for 12 years.
All of those who had served in Judah as governors over the land under King Cyrus had exacted payment from the people, but Nehemiah and his leaders did not.
Theirs was a labor of love for God, and for their nation; not of profit or gain at the expense of the people.
They didn’t try to become land barons even though they could have easily done so for land was cheap and they could have easily taken advantage of the situation for their own good.
Mark those who labor among you. Are they there for personal gain, or because they work out of a heart of love for God and his people? Many wolves in sheep’s clothing are out there today, fleecing god’s people for everything they can get out of them.
The work of the Lord is important and the scripture says in 1 Corinthians 9:14, "Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel."
In another place, Luke 10:2-8 the Jesus told his disciple, "…The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you…"
Let us have the mindset that Nehemiah had while we build the Kingdom of God together. He didn’t look for worldly wealth from his fellowman. He looked for the honor that only God can give for a faithful worker. While we may be blessed and honored by men, our true honor and our most desired provisions can only come from God.
We will stop here for tonight and continue on this journey with Nehemiah next week.
