Nehemiah 6:10-12 – Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.”
But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.” And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
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Nehemiah was charged by God to accomplish a great work. As the Jews returned from their exile in Babylon, several important things needed to be accomplished. The temple had to be restored in order that the Jews could continue to worship the LORD. The people had to return to following the law of God in order to avoid again suffering his wrath. Also, the walls of Jerusalem had to be rebuilt and secured in order that the people could live in safety from those who would do them harm. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah led the people to rebuild and restore the temple. Ezra and Malachi led the people back to right practice of the law. And it was Nehemiah who was charged by God with the task of securing Jerusalem.
In the midst of his work, Nehemiah was opposed by men who did not want him to complete his task. Out of their own jealousy and evil intent, these men tried anything they could think of to discourage and distract Nehemiah from doing the work. The account that we read in the verses above is just one example of such a plot.
Above, we read that one man, Shemaiah, told Nehemiah that men were seeking his life. Shemaiah then offers Nehemiah an escape plan. He tells Nehemiah to run into the temple of God, close the doors, and hide from his adversaries. This is a very logical plan, to a point. No way would the Jews allow someone into the temple to find and kill Nehemiah. No way would they even allow the opposition into the temple. Besides, it is highly unlikely that the opposition would think to look in the temple to find Nehemiah. But, the logic of this plan falls apart, as the plan is, in fact, a trap.
Nehemiah’s answer to Shemaiah explains to us the ruse. First, Nehemiah knows that it would be fully inappropriate for him to run and hide. The people of the entire Jewish nation in Jerusalem are taking their cues from Nehemiah. If Nehemiah should shrink back and hide, others would follow suit, and the work would stop.
The second thing that Nehemiah points out, however, is the worse part of the deception of Shemaiah. Nehemiah will not go and hide in the temple because he is not a priest. Only the priests are allowed to go into the temple. For Nehemiah to use the temple as his own personal hiding place would be for him to profane the temple. For Nehemiah to run into the temple to hide would be for him to forfeit his life, because either God or the priests would strike him down. Nehemiah, by the grace of God, recognizes the deception of Shemaiah, and he does not fall victim to any clever scheme.
There are at least two things that I take away from this account for myself. First is Nehemiah’s refusal to use something holy for his own personal protection. It seems so logical to think that, under the extreme circumstances, Nehemiah could have, just that once, fudged a little on the law and hidden in the temple. After all, wasn’t God the one who wanted Nehemiah to stay alive? But Nehemiah recognized that God’s law and God’s temple were more important than even his own life. He recognized that he should never break God’s standards and attempt to compromise God’s holiness for anything, not even to stay alive to fulfill his mission.
We live in a world of pragmatists, people who will use any means necessary so long as the ends they desire are accomplished. Sadly, pragmatism is not only a symptom of the world’s behavior. Many who claim Christ have given into pragmatism, compromising biblical doctrine and commands for the sake of what they consider to be a greater good. But we see here, with Nehemiah, that the right response to a pragmatic suggestion is to first weigh it in the light of God’s word. Did God command that we live or act in a certain way? If we are living from within God’s commands and being honest, pure, and upright in our dealings, then we can enjoy the positive results of our labor. But, even if our labor should suffer, we ought never to go against God’s word and his standards, regardless of how good we think the results could be. Let us learn from Nehemiah not to fall for pragmatism, because pragmatism is a trap from our enemy.
Also, I take from this passage a gentle confidence in the power of God. Nehemiah did not recognize on his own that Shemaiah was trying to pull a fast one on him. However, God helped Nehemiah to see through the trick. Nehemiah was serving God with all his heart. He was committed to doing God’s will, and to doing it without compromise. So, when this plan came along from Shemaiah, Nehemiah smelled a rat. God supernaturally led Nehemiah to feel uncomfortable with the plan proposed to him, helping Nehemiah to see that such a plan would violate the scriptures. Thus Nehemiah was protected by God because of his own delight in God.
For you and me, this is a solid lesson and encouragement. God protects those who are fully committed to him and his glory. We do not need to spend all of our time trying to learn how the evil in the world operate in order to protect ourselves from them (such devotion to studying the enemy could keep us from accomplishing anything). Instead, let us love God with all our hearts. Let us be devoted, first and foremost, to glorifying God in all things by keeping his word. Let us be also committed to fulfilling the mission to which God has called us, but only by obeying his word and never by cutting corners or fudging on the rules. I truly believe that, if we are focused on following and glorifying God with 100% of our hearts, God will help us to see through the crafty schemes of enemies who would tempt us to focus more on the mission than the God who gave us the mission. Let us honor God and reject dangerous forms of pragmatism.
Dear Lord, I thank you for this account that reminds me that you will protect those who are fully committed to your glory. You show here that there is no need to break your laws and follow a pragmatic solution. You will accomplish the work, and we should never go against your commands in order to try to help you along. Our purpose is to honor you and glorify you. You will give us a way to succeed without breaking your laws. And, when you grant that success, you will have all the glory for accomplishing something that the pragmatic-minded world could never believe.
Pastor Travis Peterson 