A Biblical Study


 The Years of Return

        Nehemiah 4

 

DEFENDING THE WALL

     F.Y.I. CORNER

1.

SANBALLAT - (Assyr. Sin-uballit, the god Sin has given life);  a Horonite, a man of Bethoron;  an influential Samaritan who tried unsuccessfully to keep the walls from being built (4:1ff) and to assassinate Nehemiah (6:5-14);  his daughter married into the family of Eliashib during the time of annulment of mixed marriages forbidden by Law (13:28);  he was governor of Samaria.

2.

WALL (Heb. 2346) - a wall of protection

3.

CONTEMPT (Heb.937) - despised, shamed.

 

“Be Ye Not Afraid of Them, Remember the Lord”

 

NEHEMIAH 4

1.        What was Sanballat’s response when he found out the Jews were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem?  (4:1)                                                      

2.        How did Nehemiah handle it?  (vs. 4-5)                                                                                                                    

·         How does human nature want to respond once jeered at?                                                                                                      

3.        What did the opponents of Judah plan to do when they heard the walls were being restored?  (4:8)                                                                 

4.        Did the people of Judah think they could continue to build?  (4:10)                                                                                      

5.        What did Nehemiah plan to do?  (4:13)                                                                                                                                    

6.        What did Nehemiah say to the people?  (4:14)  “Be not ye ____________ of them:  remember the ______________, which is ____________ and ____________, and        ___________ for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”                                                                                                                    

7.        In 4:15 we read, “God had brought their counsel to nought.”  What does this mean?                                                                  

8.        What fraction worked, and what fraction defended while they worked?  (4:16)                                                                                     

9.        Since the distance between the defenders on the wall was so great, what would be sounded as a warning of attack?  (4:20)                                                                                                                                                                     

·         What was Nehemiah’s sure confidence?     

 

·         Why the “sound of the trumpet”?                                                                                                                          1)  Ex. 19:12-13                                                                                                                                                    2)  Ps. 47:1-5                                                                                                                                                                 3)  Zeph. 1:14-16                                                                                                                                                       4)  Matt. 24:30-31                                 

10.     How long did the people work to defend the city and rebuild the walls?   (4:21)                                  

 

 

“They Will Also Persecute You”

           


1.        REVIEW:  What kind of spiritual walls need defending?                                                                                                1)  Isaiah 26:1-2    ___________________                                                                                                                 2)  Matthew 16:18 ___________________                                                                                                                     3)  Nehemiah 4:14 ___________________           

2.        READ a prayer similar to Nehemiah’s, written by David:   Psalm 123:3-4                                                                                                                     

3.        What kind of “contempt” do we face while “defending the wall”?  

       1)  Proverbs 18:3

       2)  Psalm 31:17-18                         

·         Why should we expect contempt?                                                                                                                                  1)  Isaiah 53:3                                                                                                                                                              2)  John 15:20                                                       

4.        Who does the defending? 

·         Zachariah 12:8

·         Nehemiah 4:20                                                                                                                                                                             


5.        DISCUSS:  How do we rebuild and/or defend the “walls” to a Christian home? 

·         For how long?

 

 

VERSE OF THE WEEK

 “Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the Most High:

And call upon me in the day of trouble:  I will deliver thee, and thou shall glorify me.”                                         -Psalm 50:14-15


                                                               

SUGGESTION FOR PRAYER
 

Pray that God will help us defend the spiritual walls we must build around our family.    

 

NEXT WEEK…                  Read Nehemiah 5-6 for the study.