Nehemiah 4:21
So we continued the work, while half of the men held spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out.
Sermons
The Building of the Wall of JerusalemR.A. Redford Nehemiah 4:1-23
The Work and Warfare of the ChurchJ.S. Exell Nehemiah 4:1-23
The Wisdom of the Christian Workman in the Hour of PerilW. Clarkson Nehemiah 4:7-23














We are reminded here of -

I. THE PROGRESS OF SIN IN ITS COURSE (ver. 8). From sneers the enemies of Israel passed on to plots; from taunts to a mischievous conspiracy. They "conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it." This advance of theirs was brought about by their hearing that the walls of Jerusalem were "made up." The steadfast labour of the good led, incidentally, to the development of evil in the unholy. The relations of David with Saul, and of the Apostle Paul with his unbelieving countrymen, and, indeed, those of our Master himself with the religious leaders of his day, show that speaking the truth or doing the work of God may prove the occasion of the growth and outbreak of sin - the occasion, but not the responsible cause. We must not be deterred from speaking or doing the will and work of God by fear about incidental consequences on the part of the great enemy.

II. THE PERIL TO THE WORK OF THE CHURCH (vers. 10, 11, 12). The good work of Nehemiah was in serious danger from two causes: -

1. The craft and violence of its foes. The enemy said, "They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease" (ver. 11). Here was force combined with subtlety; the enemy would surprise and slay them.

2. The faint-heartedness of its friends. Judah, from whom better things might have been expected, said, "The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed," etc. (ver. 10); and the neighbouring Jews who had come in to help kept saying ("ten times," ver. 12) that they must return, fearing the wrath of the Samaritans. In every work of God there are sure to be some if not "many adversaries" (1 Corinthians 16:9). This we must expect whenever we "put our hand to the plough" in the field of Christian labour. And happy shall we be if we have not to contend with the feebleness and pusillanimity of our friends, fainting long before reaping-time (Galatians 6:9), or even shrinking at the first alarm, and talking about "giving up."

III. THE WISDOM OF THE CHURCH IN THE HOUR OF DANGER. The first thing to do when the work of the Lord is threatened is that which Nehemiah did.

1. Mindfulness of God. "We made our prayer unto our God" (ver. 9). "Remember the Lord, who is great and terrible" (ver. 14). An appeal to him for help, and the recollection of the fact that "greater is he that is for us than all they that can be against us." "Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee," etc. (Psalm 50:15).

2. Realisation of the great issues which are at stake (ver. 14). "Fight for your brethren, your sons," etc. When we are working or fighting for the cause of God we are engaged on behalf of the truest, highest, and most enduring interests of those who are dearest to us, and of our own also. The cause of Christ is the cause of ourselves, of our families, of our country, as well as of our race.

3. Defence (vers. 16-18). We must fight as well as pray and work. Nehemiah's servants wrought with their weapon of defence in one hand and their instrument of labour in the other (ver. 17). Or, while one was building, his fellow stood ready behind with a spear to put at once into the labourer's hand. Usually our work is rather to build than to strike, but there are times when we must be ready to fight our foes or aid those who are engaged in conflict. In the wide field of the Church's work there is always some work for the Christian soldier as well as for the Christian labourer. Let the one be the cheerful and appreciative co-operator with the other. The spear and the trowel are both wanted. The apologist and the preacher, the theologian and the evangelist, are both accepted servants of Christ.

4. Vigilance (ver. 9). We "set a watch against them day and night." The Christian motto must ever be the memorable words, "Watch and pray."

5. Industry. Patient (ver. 21): "We laboured in the work... from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared." United (ver. 15): "All of us,... every one to his work." Self-forgetting (ver. 23): "None of us put off our clothes," etc.

6. Order (vers. 13, 19, 20). Everything was done in perfect order. Men were placed where most required (ver. 13); those whose homes were outside came in (ver. 22); arrangements were made to concentrate in case of attack (vers. 19, 20). All must work cordially under the human as well as under the Divine leader. - C.

So we laboured in the work.
The builders not only began well, but they persevered to the end of their work. Perseverance is s great element of success. It was George Stephenson's motto, "Persevere"; and the celebrated mathematician, Arago, tells us that his master in mathematics gave a word of advice which he found in the binding of one of his text-books. Puzzled and discouraged by the difficulties he met with in his early studies, he was almost ready to give up the pursuit. Some words which he found on the waste leaf used to stiffen the cover of his paper-bound text-book caught his eye, and interested him. It proved to be a short letter from D'Alembert to a young person disheartened, like himself, by the difficulties of mathematical study, and who had written to him for counsel. "Go on, go on, sir," was the counsel which D'Alembert gave him. "The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance." This maxim followed out made him one of the greatest astronomers of his day. And Christians must persevere in the work of God.

(J. M. Randall.)

A Christian man was once asked the meaning of perseverance, and he said, "Masse, me think it mean hang on, hold fast, and no let go." And when some one questioned John Wesley on the remarkable success of his followers, "Sir," he said, "they are all at it, and always at it."

(J. M. Randall.)

People
Ammonites, Arabians, Ashdodites, Sanballat, Tobiah, Tobijah
Places
Jerusalem, Samaria, Sheep Gate
Topics
Appeared, Break, Business, Carried, Dawn, Forth, Half, Hands, Held, Hold, Holding, Keeping, Labored, Laboured, Morning, Rising, Spears, Stars, Till, Worked, Working, Wrought
Outline
1. While the enemies scoff, Nehemiah prays and continues the work
7. Understanding the wrath and secrets of the enemy, he sets a watch
13. He arms the laborers
19. and gives military precepts

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Nehemiah 4:21

     4918   dawn

Nehemiah 4:16-22

     7924   fellowship, in service

Nehemiah 4:21-23

     5569   suffering, hardship
     8225   devotion
     8410   decision-making, examples

Library
Discouragements and Courage
'Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them. 10. And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall. 11. And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease. 12. And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, From all
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Two Guards, Praying and Watching
"Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them."--Nehemiah 4:9. Nehemiah, and the Jews with him, were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Sanballat and others were angry with them, and tried to stop the work. They determined to pounce upon the people on a sudden, and slay them, and so to put an end to what they were doing. Our text tells us what Nehemiah and his companions did in this emergency: "Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 38: 1892

Centenary Commemoration of the Consecration of Bishop Seabury. 1884.
THE RT. REV. SAMUEL SEABURY, D.D. WAS CONSECRATED FIRST BISHOP OF CONNECTICUT AT ABERDEEN, NOVEMBER 14, 1784. The Diocesan Convention of 1884 met on the tenth day of June in St. James's Church, New London. Morning Prayer was read at 9 o'clock by the Rev. William B. Buckingham, Rector of the Parish, the Rev. Samuel H. Giesy, D.D., Rector of Christ Church, Norwich, and the Rev. Storrs O. Seymour, Rector of Trinity Church, Hartford. At 10-1/2 o'clock, after the singing of the 138th Hymn, the service
Various—The Sermons And Addresses At The Seabury Centenary

Letter xxxiv. To Marcella.
In reply to a request from Marcella for information concerning two phrases in Ps. cxxvii. ("bread of sorrow," v. 2, and "children of the shaken off," A.V. "of the youth," v. 4). Jerome, after lamenting that Origen's notes on the psalm are no longer extant, gives the following explanations: The Hebrew phrase "bread of sorrow" is rendered by the LXX. "bread of idols"; by Aquila, "bread of troubles"; by Symmachus, "bread of misery." Theodotion follows the LXX. So does Origen's Fifth Version. The Sixth
St. Jerome—The Principal Works of St. Jerome

"If So be that the Spirit of God Dwell in You. Now if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ, He is None of His. "
Rom. viii. 9.--"If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." "But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?" 2 Chron. vi. 18. It was the wonder of one of the wisest of men, and indeed, considering his infinite highness above the height of heavens, his immense and incomprehensible greatness, that the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, and then the baseness, emptiness, and worthlessness of man, it may be a wonder to the
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Ezra-Nehemiah
Some of the most complicated problems in Hebrew history as well as in the literary criticism of the Old Testament gather about the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Apart from these books, all that we know of the origin and early history of Judaism is inferential. They are our only historical sources for that period; and if in them we have, as we seem to have, authentic memoirs, fragmentary though they be, written by the two men who, more than any other, gave permanent shape and direction to Judaism, then
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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