Sanballat and Geshem had invited Nehemiah to meet with them together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono. He turned down their proposal to meet four successively times. But just as determined to distract Nehemiah, Sanballat sent a messenger to him a fifth time but this time with an open letter as well. It was a letter of a malicious rumor accusing Nehemiah and the Jews of plotting a revolt against the king of Persia. It said that Nehemiah had appointed prophets to proclaim him as king of the Jews once the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt. Deceptively, Sanballat tried to get Nehemiah to meet with him. He told Nehemiah that he wanted to confer with him to hear his side of the account first before he would report them to the king of Persia.
The intention of Sanballat was patently clear. Firstly, he sent an
open letter which meant that the content of it could be read by anyone. In fact,
official letters between governors were usually sealed and classified but he deliberately
left this one unsealed. Secondly, he insisted that Nehemiah should meet with
him to give his account of the matter proving his intention. If what he had insinuated
were true, he would have gone directly to the king. Why should he want to alert
Nehemiah to it? The king would certainly be swift to act to squelch it once the
report had reached him.
Being an astute leader, Nehemiah must have smelled a rat. His
response to Sanballat was straightforward. Through a messenger, he simply
denied it. His exact words to Sanballat captured in verse 8 are, “Such things
as you are saying have not been done, but you are inventing them in
your own mind.” Nehemiah literally
accused Sanballat of being the source of the rumors saying that it was the
figment of the imagination of his mind. He exposed him for fabricating those lies.
In verse 9 Nehemiah then went on to expose Sanballat’s motive. He knew the latter was attempting to stop the work of rebuilding the
walls. Without hesitation, Nehemiah shot an urgent prayer to the Lord saying, “O God, strengthen my hands”
Rumors and accusations are common tricks of the enemies to distract
us from the work God has assigned us, especially when we are progressing well
in the Lord. Rumors and accusations are often intended to take our attention away from the task to solve an imagined situation. We would be on a wild goose
chase when we take the bait. One sure way to take care of rumors is to take care of our character. When we are known for our character, we will have no
fear for our reputation. Let’s take care of our character and it will take care
of our reputation.
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