Nehemiah 6 - Summary

Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and their allies attempted four times to lure Nehemiah to a meeting in the plain of Ono, but Nehemiah refused, recognizing their intent to harm him and declaring that he was doing a great work and could not come down. Sanballat then sent an open letter accusing Nehemiah of planning rebellion and setting up prophets to proclaim him king, but Nehemiah denied the fabricated charges and prayed for God to strengthen his hands. The enemies hired Shemaiah to prophesy that assassins were coming and Nehemiah should hide in the temple, but Nehemiah recognized this as an attempt to make him sin by entering the temple as a layman and thereby be discredited; the wall was completed in fifty-two days, and when the surrounding nations saw it, they perceived that the work had been accomplished with God's help, though Tobiah's many allies in Judah, connected through marriage, continued corresponding with him and reporting to him while speaking well of him to Nehemiah and reporting Nehemiah's words back to intimidate him.