Sanballat's Indignation Nehemiah 4

Nehemiah 4:14 "And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people. Be not ye afraid of them, remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses."

Nehemiah certainly gave them good reasons for fighting the enemy.

We start off with Sanballat escalating things. At first, he and his puppet servant just laughed at the children of Israel for building the wall. Now, however, the wall is coming together and they are filling the breaches so that the city is actually protected from attack. Sanballat has the soldiers of Samaria so he is feeling pretty brave.

v8 "And conspired all of them togather to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it. v9 Nevertheless we made our prayer to God, and set a watch against them day and night."

Word came that the men of Sanballat were planning an attack and were laying in wait for those who went to and fro doing the work. So Nehemiah armed the workers and alternated the men as fighters, watchers and workers. They strapped on their swords and continued to build.

v18 "For the builders, everyone had his sword girded by his side and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me."

Nehemiah kept watch to see if an attack was coming. If one was discovered, the trumpet was blown and everyone came to the area being attacked.

Nehemiah also had everyone move into Jerusalem for protection. The kept watch all the time. In fact he says in the last verse that they kept their clothes on all the time except to wash.

v23 "So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that everyone put them off for washing."

Now the wall is becoming a reality. At first the enemy just made fun but now they are worried.

Isaiah 30:18 "And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you; for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him."

Nehemiah fights off the enemy while building the wall of Jerusalem.