Talking Back to the Smack

A lot of folks today think that talking trash is something new. They believe it just started in in the past few years. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? A basketball player flaps his gums about how he’s going to school his opponent. A cocky football player won’t shut his yapper. I’m not saying talking smack is right, but it’s certainly nothing new. A gang of thugs starts chirping, trying to intimidate Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem from rebuilding the city walls (Neh 2:19-20). You might not think that the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes would know how to comeback to their smack. But Nehemiah makes it clear that he knows exactly how to take out the trash.

Before we jump in to the specifics, let’s back up and see exactly what’s going down. The city of Jerusalem is basically a pile of bricks. Back in 586 BC, God sends Nebuchadnezzar’s battalions to level the city and haul the Jews back to Babylon into exile. Over the next 70 years, the LORD coordinates a series of very interesting events. First, the Persians knock the Babylonians off as the world’s superpower. God then uses a series of Persian kings to not only send His people back to the Promised Land but put the full resources of the government behind it. A series of three different resettlement and rebuilding teams make the 1,000 mile trip back to Jerusalem. Zerubbabel leads the first, Ezra the second, and Nehemiah the third. 

Nehemiah is probably the most unlikely leader of the bunch. Zerubbabel is the grandson of King Jehoiachin, the second to last ruler over the southern kingdom of Judah. Ezra is a priest, a scribe, and one of the greatest Bible teachers ever mentioned in the Old Testament. Nehemiah? Just a lowly servant at Artaxerxes’ palace (Neh 1:1). As the “cupbearer to the king” (Neh 1:11), he’s the royal wine steward. But his role is just a little different than the dude with the corkscrew at that high dollar restaurant. His job is to check for poison in the wine. You can figure that there might be some, how shall we say it, “significant turnover” in the cupbearer position when the king has lots of enemies. But his job gives Nehemiah regular access to the most powerful person on the planet. When God breaks his heart over the crisis in Jerusalem, the king’s servant sommelier leverages his position to seek Artaxerxes’ assistance to rebuild the city walls. The next thing you know, the Persian dictator gives this lowly servant everything he asks for. “And the king granted me what I asked for the good hand of God was upon me” (Neh 2:8). Maybe you think there’s no way Jesus could ever do anything through you. Remember, God has a habit of raising up leaders from the most unlikely of places. 

Once in Jerusalem, Nehemiah gets a firsthand look at the condition of the walls during a midnight ride around the city (Neh 2:11-16). It’s bad. REALLY bad. But that doesn’t stop him from sharing with the local leaders what God has laid on his heart. The king’s cupbearer reminds the city’s movers and shakers of just how awful the situation is. We can often become blind to the mess around us when we live in it everyday. He reassures them that not only has the king given them his royal blessing, but that God’s hand has a firm grip on the entire project (Neh 2:17-18). 

As the next scene opens, the music changes. Think the Imperial March from “Star Wars.” We see three bad dudes getting tipped off about what’s about to go down in Jerusalem. We see “Sanballat the Horonoite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Gesham the Arab” (v19). We’ve met the first two thugs earlier in the story (Neh 2:10). They hit the roof when they got wind of Nehemiah’s plan to help the people of Jerusalem. The best guess is that Sanballat and Tobiah rule over areas just outside the city to the north and east. We meet the third member of this unholy trinity. His name is “Geshem the Arab” (v19). He’s the newest member of the enemies’ inner circle. Geshem probably rules the area south of Jerusalem. He’s most likely from the city of Kedar in Arabia. If so, he’s a direct descendant of Ishmael, Abraham’s son by the servant girl Hagar (Gen 25:12-13). 

The gang of three is plugged into the rumor mill. They get wind of Nehemiah’s plan and “hear of it” (v19). Their sources tipped them off when this latest caravan rolled into the area (Neh 2:10). Now they hear of the plan to rebuild the walls just after Nehemiah’s meeting with city leaders. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem clearly have sources deep inside the Jewish leadership. Later, Nehemiah will discover just how deeply their diabolical tentacles extend into the people of Jerusalem (Neh 6:12, 17-19; 13:4-8, 28).

Once Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem find out, they immediately start talking trash. “They jeered at us and despised us” (v19). They hear. They jeer. Earlier we read that the situation is so bad that Jerusalem has become a local joke (Neh 1:3; 2:17). The city that was supposed to be God’s glorious city on a hill has been reduced to a punchline. Think Newark. Think Buffalo. Think Detroit. The crazy thing is that God is behind it all. One of the psalmist writes, “You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us. You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples” (Ps 44:13-14). This is a result of the open rebellion and sin of God’s people against His goodness and grace. The broken walls of Jerusalem provide plenty of material for local comedians. 

A big part of their smack includes the charge of sedition against the Persian Empire. “Are you rebelling against the king?” (v19). Rebellion is a REALLY big deal back in the ancient Near East. Dynasties would drop the hammer in a New York minute on any rumor of insurrection. Artaxerxes had heard this garbage before and shut down the Jerusalem project (Ez 4:12-22). It seems that Geshem is the source of the rumors of rebellion by the Israelites. We read later that Sanballat credits Geshem for telling him Nehemiah and the Jews are rebuilding the walls is in order to rebel against King Artaxerxes the Persian Empire (Neh 6:1-6).

So what does Nehemiah do? How does he respond to their trash talk? How does comeback to the smack? Does he buckle under their intimidation and bullying tactics? Not hardly. “Then I replied to them, ‘The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we His servants will arise and build’” (v20). “The God of heaven” is a name of God used a lot in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah to make the point that the LORD is the ruler over international situations. This trio of local toadies is certainly no match for the God who rules the universe from heaven. Nehemiah goes to “the God of heaven” in prayer. When King Artaxerxes asks his cupbearer what is bothering him, Nehemiah throws a quick prayer to “the God of heaven” (Neh 2:4). When challenged by these goons, he doesn’t tell them that he has the king’s support. He simply points out that God is behind the project. Nehemiah didn’t just have the king’s permission, he had God’s protection and provision. They won’t just make progress. Yahweh will make sure they prosper. 

Nehemiah then makes it clear to his enemies just exactly where they stand when it comes to what happens in the city. “You have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem” (v20). He draws a very clear and bold line between God’s people and His enemies. Once it’s obvious that Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem oppose the good of Jerusalem, Nehemiah tells them to put a sock in it. Zerubbabel and his crew had a very similar comeback when local thugs tried to intimidate their efforts to rebuild the temple. “You have nothing to do with us in building the house of our God” (Ez 4:3).

So what exactly does Nehemiah mean when he talks about their portion, right, and claim? A “portion” is an allocated share. It’s something given or granted (Josh 18:5-6; 19:9). It’s a term also used as a way to describe of belonging to something (2Sam 20:1). Nehemiah tells these bullies to back off because the city was never given to you. God graciously gave it to His people. This points to the fact that ultimately God grants us our portion in Jesus. Remember our Savior’s words to Martha when she got her undies in a bundle over her sister Mary’s lack of help. While Martha flies around the house trying to impress everyone as the First Century version of Martha Stewart, Mary parks herself right in front of the radical Rabbi/Carpenter. Jesus tells her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Lk 10:41-42). Jesus is our portion.

Nehemiah lets these knuckleheads know that they also have no legal leg to stand on when it comes to Jerusalem. A “right” is an entitlement or lawful requirement. No law ever entitled these outsiders to the city. And finally they have absolutely no claim on Jerusalem. A “claim” literally means a memorial or something based on an ancient tradition. They have no historic tie or link to this town. One commentator thinks this could describe a right to come and worship in Jerusalem. There’s no historic connection to the city and no reason to come and worship. The only One to be worshiped in this place is the God of Israel. 

It’s always important to place ourselves in the story. How do we fit in to what we read? I would love to put myself in the place of Nehemiah. And why wouldn’t I? He appears to be the hero riding over the hill to save the day just in the nick of time. He boldly stands up to these thugs and puts them in their place. Or maybe I’m a citizen of the holy city who’s inspired to get to work rebuilding the walls. But I think the best role for me in this story is one of the evil three, Sanballat, Tobiah, or Geshem. Without Jesus, I have no portion in God. Without Jesus, I have to right to salvation. Without Jesus, I have to claim God’s kingdom. I’m an outsider looking in. I’ve laughed at people who’ve chosen to follow Jesus. I’ve made them a convenient punchline. I’ve completely failed to obey God’s law. But Christ changes everything. He lives the perfect life when I’ve absolutely fallen flat on my face. He dies the death on a Roman cross for my sin that most certainly should have died. He rises to a jaw-dropping new life that in no way deserve. By placing my trust in Christ, He grants me a portion, right, and claim in His kingdom. Without Him, I’m standing alongside Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, on the outside looking in.