Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nehemiah 6:5
Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand;
5. his servant ] Cf. Neh 4:22.
an open letter in his hand ] ‘Open,’ not sealed. The object of this is obvious. It was intended that the contents of the letter should become public property. The servant himself and the adherents of Sanballat within the walls of Jerusalem (Neh 6:17) would possess themselves of its contents long before it reached the hands of Nehemiah. (1) The charge of treason against Nehemiah and the Jews would terrify the timid from active co-operation in the work, and decide those who were wavering to desist altogether (cf. Neh 6:9). The dissemination of the contents of the letter was therefore an attempt to stay the rebuilding of the walls at the last moment. (2) The effect upon the people which the letter was calculated to produce might decide Nehemiah to concede the proposed interview. Sanballat’s challenge being made public, it was hoped that Nehemiah would find himself compelled to rebut the charges, and to meet his adversaries in the way which they proposed (Neh 6:7). Thus the opportunity would be obtained of seizing his person and of employing to their own advantage the interval of his absence from the city.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The letter was open, in order that the contents might be generally known, and that the Jews, alarmed at the threats contained in it, might refuse to continue the work.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. With an open letter in his hand] This was an insult to a person of Nehemiah’s quality: as letters sent to chiefs and governors in the East are always carefully folded up, and put in costly silken bags, and these carefully sealed. The circumstance is thus marked to show the contempt he (Sanballat) had for him.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thereby bidding open defiance to him, as before he had used secret practices; and intimating that he would do that by manifest force, which he had intended to do by sudden surprise.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5-9. Then sent Sanballat his servant. . . the fifth time with an open letter in his handIn WesternAsia, letters, after being rolled up like a map, are flattened to thebreadth of an inch; and instead of being sealed, they are pasted atthe ends. In Eastern Asia, the Persians make up their letters in theform of a roll about six inches long, and a bit of paper is fastenedround it with gum, and sealed with an impression of ink, whichresembles our printers’ ink, but it is not so thick. Letters were,and are still, sent to persons of distinction in a bag or purse, andeven to equals they are enclosedthe tie being made with a coloredribbon. But to inferiors, or persons who are to be treatedcontemptuously, the letters were sent openthat is, not enclosed ina bag. Nehemiah, accustomed to the punctillious ceremonial of thePersian court, would at once notice the want of the usual formalityand know that it was from designed disrespect. The strain of theletter was equally insolent. It was to this effect: Thefortifications with which he was so busy were intended to strengthenhis position in the view of a meditated revolt: he had engagedprophets to incite the people to enter into his design and supporthis claim to be their native king; and, to stop the circulation ofsuch reports, which would soon reach the court, he was earnestlybesought to come to the wished-for conference. Nehemiah, strong inthe consciousness of his own integrity, and penetrating the purposeof this shallow artifice, replied that there were no rumors of thekind described, that the idea of a revolt and the stimulatingaddresses of hired demagogues were stories of the writer’s owninvention, and that he declined now, as formerly, to leave his work.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time,…. In his own name, neither Tobiah nor Geshem joining with him, he being more solicitous and anxious to get him into his hands than any of them; and it may be, as some think, pretending more friendship for him than the rest, and therefore writes alone, as if they knew nothing of his writing:
with an open letter in his hand: which having in it an intimation of Nehemiah being guilty of treason, anyone that would might read it, and so spread the defamation.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. They try again by spreading rumors of rebellion.
TEXT, Neh. 6:5-9
5
Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same manner a fifth time with an open letter in his hand.
6
In it was written, It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel; therefore you are rebuilding the wall. And you are to be their king, according to these reports.
7
And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem concerning you, A king is in Judah! And now it will be reported to the king according to these reports. So come now, let us take counsel together.
8
Then I sent a message to him saying, Such things as you are saying have not been done, but you are inventing them in your own mind.
9
For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking, They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done. But now, O God, strengthen my hands.
COMMENT
In Neh. 6:5-7, the fifth try introduces two variations: the letter is unsealed, and it contains definite charges.
The use of an open letter, in Neh. 6:5, may have had several motives. (1) It may have been designed to frighten Nehemiah because he would observe that its contents were known to others; thus he could not ignore it or dismiss it as easily as he had the others. (2) The people of the city who were aware of its contents might be terrified and might abandon active co-operation in the work to avoid suspicion of rebellion. (3) Some of them might actually try to dispose of Nehemiah seeking to do the king a favor and receive a reward for destroying a traitor; if Sanballat could get someone else to adopt this risky mission, he would be spared its dangers. (4) Meanwhile he would contribute to the spread of rumors and might force Nehemiah to come to him in hopes of resolving the charges.
Neh. 6:6 credits two sources: they say, and Gashmu says. In other words, these were rumors. Gashmu is a dialectical difference in spelling for the name Geshem. There is a similar variation in spelling the name Tobiah as Tobiyahu (2Ch. 17:8), which the English text does not reveal. Many other names (Jeremiah and Hezekiah among them) also have similar variant forms.
The rumor (apparently being initiated by Geshem on the spot) was that you are building the wall (you is singular) as a prelude to leading the Jewish people in a rebellion. Another part of it was that Nehemiah planned to make himself king, which would be treason. If the rumor spread far enough, it might even bring the armies and the king of Persia against Nehemiah!
Neh. 6:7 adds other details to the rumor, that Nehemiah had hired-prophets to proclaim him king and to rally the people behind him. It was always possible that one somewhere might actually be doing this. During Zerubbabels rule some believed that he could be the Messiah promised of God (Hag. 2:23), and later during Jesus ministry some sought to make him king.
The inference which they were making was that the rumors would get to the Persian court unless Nehemiah came to them, whereupon they would be reassured and could clear his name of suspicion and defend him from these charges. If Nehemiah had not been absolutely sure of his standing with the king of Persia, and of Artaxerxes complete confidence in him, he could have been misled.
Neh. 6:8 indicates that he saw through the scheme and dismissed it as coming out of Sanballats imagination. A ruler out of touch with his subjects never could have acted with such confidence.
Neh. 6:9 shows that Nehemiah was aware also of the purpose to discourage and alienate the workers. It concludes with another prayer just a breath long. It is all the more remarkable as an almost unconscious prayer because of the absence of O God, which is inserted by the translators.
WORD STUDIES
REMEMBER (Neh. 6:14 : Zakar): from the idea of pricking or piercing comes the idea of penetrating or infixing; thus remembering, recalling, considering.
GESHEM (Neh. 6:1): violent storm, severe shower.
STRENGTHEN (Neh. 6:9 : Chazaq): the primary idea is to bind fast, to gird tight; then to cleave, or adhere firmly.
Things are strengthened by being bound together; a spear may be made stronger by winding it round with a cord. Ones strength seems greater when he has fastened a girdle about his loins.
A very free translation might be, Give my hands stick-to-it-iveness! Or, Link our hands together (with others, or Yours)! Or, Hitch up my belt! Or just Give me strength.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(5) The fifth time with an open letter in his hand.Four times they strive to induce Nehemiah to meet them, under various pretexts, with the intention of doing him personal harm. Each time his reply was to the effect that he was finishing his own work, not without a touch of irony. This answer has an universal application, which preachers have known how to use. In the fifth letter the tactics are changed: the silken bag containing the missive was not sealed, and it was hoped that Nehemiah would be alarmed by the thought that its contents had been read by the people.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. With an open letter Having failed in all his secret and crafty measures to entrap Nehemiah, Sanballat now proceeds to treat him with contempt and insult, and sends him an open letter, that any one may read. This he probably thought would terrify him, or excite the people against him.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Neh 6:5. With an open letter in his hand Norden tells us, that when he and his company were at Essuaen, an express arrived there, dispatched by an Arab prince, who brought a letter directed to the reys, or master of their bark, enjoining him not to set out with his bark, or carry them any further; adding, that in a day’s time he should be at Essuaen, and would there give his orders respecting them. “The letter, however, according to the usage of the Turks,” says this author, “was open; and, as the reys was not on board, the pilot carried it to one of our fathers to read it.” Sanballat’s sending his servant, therefore, with an open letter, as here specified, did not appear an odd thing, it should seem: but, if it was according to their usages, why is this circumstance complained of, as it visibly is? Why, indeed, is it mentioned at all?Because, however the sending of letters open to common people may be customary in these countries, it is not according to their usages to send them so to people of distinction. So Bishop Pococke, in his account of that very country where Norden was when this letter was brought, gives us, among other things, in the 57th plate, the figure of a Turkish letter put into a sattin bag, to be sent to a great man, with a paper tied to it, directed and sealed, and an ivory button tied on the wax. Indeed, according to D’Arvieux, the great emir of the Arabs was not wont to inclose his letters in these bags, any more than to have them adorned with flourishes; but then this is supposed to have been owing to the unpoliteness of the Arabs: and he tells us, that when he acted as secretary to the emir, he supplied these defects, and that his doing so was highly acceptable to the emir. Had this open letter then come from Geshem, who was an Arab, (Neh 6:1.) it might have passed unnoticed; but as it was from Sanballat, the inclosing it in a handsome bag was a ceremony that Nehemiah had reason to expect from him, since he was a person of distinction in the Persian court, and at that time governor of Judea: and the not doing it was a great insult; insinuating, that though Nehemiah was, according to him, preparing to assume the royal dignity, he should be so far from acknowledging him in that character, that he would not even pay him the compliment due to every person of distinction. See the Observations, p. 295.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(5) Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand; (6) Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words. (7) And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together. (8) Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart. (9) For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.
Here is a yet deeper-laid plot of Nehemiah’s foes, out of which the Lord brought him. Reader! it is sweet and profitable to watch our deliverances. Some, indeed, nay multitudes, no doubt, of Jesus’s gracious interpositions, we are unconscious of. But some are revealed to us. And oh! how precious they are. When a soul can look back and say, Here my God interposed; and there he rescued me from the temptation of the devil. It realizes that blessed promise. 1Co 10:13 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Neh 6:5 Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand;
Ver. 5. Then sent Sanballat the fifth time] So restless are wicked persons; their souls are violently tossed about, as in a sling, 1Sa 25:29 , Etsi non aliqua docuissent, &c. although they would not be taught by anything, Satan, their taskmaster, urgeth them; and when thou seest them most importunate and outrageous, Scito quia ab accensore suo daemone perurgentur, saith Bernard, know thou that the devil pricks them, and kicks them on to it.
With an open letter in his hand
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
servant = young man.
open letter. That others might read it.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
with an open letter: This was a gross insult to a person of Nehemiah’s quality; as the letters sent to chiefs and governors in the East are always carefully folded up, put in silk bags, and then sealed. 2Ki 18:26-28, 2Co 2:11, 2Co 11:13-15, Eph 6:11, 2Th 2:10
Reciprocal: 1Ki 21:8 – she wrote 2Ch 32:17 – He wrote Jer 29:25 – Because Act 24:5 – and a mover
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Neh 6:5-6. With an open letter in his hand Before, the message was delivered by word of mouth, but now by letter; yet open, as speaking of a thing commonly known, or in order that every one might see of what he was accused. It is reported among the heathen The neighbouring people, whom you proudly and disdainfully call heathen. And Gashmu saith it Probably the same as Geshem, mentioned Neh 6:1. That thou and the Jews think to rebel Thus he endeavours to possess Nehemiah with an apprehension that his undertaking to build the walls of Jerusalem was generally considered as a factious and seditious proceeding, and would be resented accordingly at court. Some of the best men, even in their most innocent and excellent performances, have lain under a similar imputation. That thou mayest be king, according to these words That is, according to these reports; or, according to these things, namely, when these things, which thou art now doing, shall be finished.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The plot to discredit Nehemiah 6:5-9
Sanballat sent his "open letter" (Neh 6:6) to all the Jews, not just to Nehemiah. Its purpose was doubtless to create division among the Jews who might begin to wonder if their leader’s motive really was as Sanballat suggested.
"Another proof of Sanballat’s dishonest intentions is that he sent an open letter, i.e., not sealed, as was the custom in those days. With the open letter, which could be read by anyone on the way, he was responsible for the further spreading of the rumor." [Note: Fensham, p. 202.]
"Gashmu" (Neh 6:6) is a variant spelling of Geshem (Neh 6:1). Nehemiah did not let this threat intimidate him and flatly denied the charge (Neh 6:8). Since Nehemiah had a reputation as a man of integrity among the Jews, this seed of doubt did not take root in their minds.