Commentary - Nehemiah 6:15-19

Bird's-eye view

This brief passage marks the triumphant completion of the wall of Jerusalem, a monumental achievement accomplished in the face of relentless opposition. Yet, the celebration is immediately tempered by a sobering reality. The work of God is never truly finished simply because a construction project is done. The external threat, represented by Sanballat and Tobiah, is momentarily silenced by the manifest hand of God, but a more insidious threat is revealed to have been festering within the covenant community all along. The nobles of Judah, the very men who should have been leading in faithfulness, were in league with the enemy. This section, therefore, serves as a crucial pivot. It demonstrates that a physical wall is no match for a compromised heart. The real battle for reformation is not ultimately with bricks and mortar, but with the loyalties and allegiances of the people of God. Nehemiah's work was a success, but this passage shows us that the next, and more difficult, phase of the battle was just beginning.

The central lesson is stark: great victories for the church are often followed by the discovery of deep-seated internal corruption. Just when the external enemies are demoralized, the internal rot is exposed. The covenant people had intermarried with their enemies, creating divided loyalties that threatened to undo everything Nehemiah had accomplished. This is a permanent warning against the kind of syncretism and worldly compromise that has plagued the church throughout her history. The wall was finished, but the city was not yet pure.

Outline

Context In Nehemiah

This passage is the climax of the central narrative of the book: the rebuilding of the wall. Chapter 6 opened with the final series of plots by Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem to stop the work by luring Nehemiah into a trap, slandering him with false accusations of rebellion, and hiring false prophets to intimidate him. Nehemiah steadfastly refused to be distracted or frightened, keeping his focus entirely on the great work God had given him to do. The completion of the wall in verse 15 is the direct result of this faithful perseverance. However, this section also sets the stage for the next major movement in the book, which deals with the internal state of the people. Having secured the city physically, Nehemiah, along with Ezra, will turn to securing it spiritually by teaching the law, leading the people in covenant renewal (chapters 8-10), and dealing with the specific compromises, like intermarriage, that are introduced here (chapter 13).

Key Issues

The Finished Wall and the Unfinished Work

There is a great temptation in any work of reformation to mistake a milestone for the finish line. Getting the wall built in fifty-two days was a staggering, miraculous achievement. It was a visible, tangible sign of God's favor and the people's dedication. In our terms, it is the equivalent of a successful building program, a massive evangelistic outreach, or the planting of a new church. These are good things, and they ought to be celebrated. But as Nehemiah shows us, the moment the scaffolding comes down is precisely the moment we discover where the real structural problems are.

The enemy outside the gates is one thing; the enemy who has married your daughter is something else entirely. The problem in Jerusalem was not ultimately a collapsed wall, but a collapsed covenant faithfulness. The wall was a necessary project, but it was only a means to an end. The end was the restoration of a holy people in a holy city, set apart for the worship of the one true God. And as these closing verses of the chapter reveal, many of the leaders in Judah had completely lost sight of that goal. They were trying to serve two masters. They wanted the security of Nehemiah's wall, but they also wanted the social and economic advantages of being in league with Tobiah. This is the perennial temptation: to want the blessings of the covenant without the demands of covenant loyalty.

Verse by Verse Commentary

15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.

This is a wonderfully blunt and matter-of-fact statement of a miracle. The work is done. Despite the mockery, the threats of violence, the conspiracies, the economic pressures, the slander, and the false prophets, the wall is finished. And it was done with astonishing speed. Fifty-two days. This was not the result of brilliant project management, though Nehemiah was certainly a competent leader. This was the result of the good hand of God upon them, and a people who, for a short time at least, had a mind to work. This verse is the capstone on all the frantic activity of the previous chapters. God's will was accomplished, and the taunts of His enemies were silenced by the sound of the final stone being set in place.

16 Now it happened that when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, their confidence fell. And they knew that it was from our God that this work had been accomplished.

The effect on the outside world was immediate and profound. All the enemies who had mocked them, saying a fox could knock the wall down, were now confronted with a finished and formidable reality. The result was that their confidence fell, or as some translations put it, they were cast down in their own eyes. They were publicly humiliated. Their schemes had come to nothing. More than that, they were forced to a theological conclusion. They knew, in that way that even the ungodly are sometimes forced to recognize the obvious, that this was not a merely human achievement. This work had been accomplished from our God. God's mighty acts are a testimony, not just to His people, but to the pagan nations as well. When God's people work together in faith and obedience, the world is compelled to sit up and take notice. The fear of God fell on them because the glory of God was made visible in the restored walls of Jerusalem.

17 Also in those days many letters went from the nobles of Judah to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them.

The scene shifts abruptly from the public victory to a secret treachery. The conjunction "Also" is jarring. At the very same time that the pagans were acknowledging the hand of God, the leaders of God's people were in correspondence with the enemy. The "nobles of Judah," the social and political elite, were writing letters to Tobiah the Ammonite, the chief antagonist. This was not a one-way street; it was a regular, ongoing communication. While Nehemiah was fighting Tobiah on the wall, the leaders of Judah were collaborating with him behind Nehemiah's back. This is the definition of a fifth column. The greatest threat to the reformation was not the army outside, but the traitors inside the council room.

18 For many in Judah were sworn by oath to him because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as a wife.

Here is the reason for the treason. The loyalties of the nobles were compromised by covenantal ties. Tobiah had shrewdly integrated himself into the leadership of Judah through intermarriage. He was married into one prominent family, and his son was married into another. Notice the names: Meshullam son of Berechiah had been a faithful wall-builder (Neh 3:4, 30). This shows how deep the compromise went. These were not marginal figures; they were key players. The nobles were "sworn by oath to him." They had entered into a covenant with an enemy of God. This is precisely what the law of God forbade (Deut 7:2-4). They had prioritized family connections and political expediency over their covenant with Yahweh. Their oaths to Tobiah put them in direct conflict with their duty to God and to the governor He had appointed.

19 Moreover, they were speaking about his good deeds in my presence and bringing my words to him. Then Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.

The treachery had two facets. First, these nobles were engaged in a public relations campaign on behalf of a wicked man. They would come to Nehemiah and talk about all of Tobiah's "good deeds." They were trying to soften Nehemiah's stance, to get him to see Tobiah as a reasonable man, a potential partner. This is how compromise always works; it seeks to blur the lines between righteousness and unrighteousness. Second, they were acting as informants, taking Nehemiah's words and plans and reporting them straight to the enemy. At the same time, Tobiah was continuing his own campaign of psychological warfare, sending letters directly to Nehemiah to frighten him. So Nehemiah was beset on all sides: by an external enemy trying to intimidate him, and by internal "allies" who were trying to subvert him while feeding intelligence to that same enemy. It is a wonder the man could stand at all.

Application

This passage is a potent reminder that the church's greatest victories are often pregnant with her greatest dangers. When God grants a great work, like the finishing of the wall, it is a time for thanksgiving, but not a time to lay down our arms. The enemy never quits. And when he is defeated in open battle, he redoubles his efforts at infiltration and subversion.

The modern church is filled with "nobles of Judah" who are in league with Tobiah. These are the leaders who have made covenants of marriage, business, and ideology with the world. Their loyalties are divided. They may sit on our church boards and praise the work of God with their lips, but they are carrying on a steady correspondence with the world, its values, and its priorities. They speak of the "good deeds" of the world in the presence of the faithful, urging us to be more understanding, more tolerant, more accommodating. They tell us that our sharp-edged biblical convictions are unhelpful. All the while, they are acting as informants, carrying the church's words and plans back to the world, ensuring that we are never able to mount a truly effective resistance.

Nehemiah's response to this was not to despair, nor was it to compromise. He noted the facts, and as we see later in the book, he dealt with them decisively. We must do the same. We must recognize that the battle for the church is not just against the Sanballats of secularism outside the walls, but against the Tobiahs who have married into our leading families. We must learn to distinguish between true and false loyalty, and we must insist that all our lesser covenants be subordinated to the great covenant we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. The wall is finished in Christ's resurrection, but the work of purifying the city continues, and it will continue until He returns.