Playing Footsie

It’s a familiar scene at the end of many movies and shows. Just when you think the hero has won the day and the people celebrate, the camera reveals something that you didn’t expect. You suddenly realize that evil is still active. The enemy isn’t dead. The story isn’t over. The fight will continue. That’s exactly what’s happening in Jerusalem (Neh 6:17-19). Nehemiah has just led the Jewish people in a miraculous civil engineering project to rebuild the broken walls of the city in just 52 days (Neh 6:15). As the crews hang the final massive gate into position, crowd goes wild! With their newfound protection, the enemies aren’t so cocky anymore. As a matter of fact, the bad guys know without a shadow of a doubt that God is behind the whole deal (Neh 6:16). But look over there. Check out those guys over on the edge of the party. What are they up to? Are they exchanging envelopes? The camera zooms in and film freezes. That letter is addressed to Tobiah! Just when you think the wall is up and the fight is over, Nehemiah knows the enemy still has something up his sleeve. Tobiah’s tentacles run deeply throughout the Jewish people. Certain families are passing notes back and forth with him like kids in study hall. It never ends well when you play footsie with the enemy.

The walls of Jerusalem have been a pile of bricks for almost 150 years since the day Nebuchadnezzar’s army crushed the city and hauled most of the people off to Babylon as slaves. But over the years, the people who remained were easy targets for local bullies. Surrounding kings no doubt put the squeeze on those left behind. When Nehemiah leads the people in rebuilding the walls, there’s a lot more damage left to clean up than just the city’s protective barrier. And it rears its ugly head once the project is complete. “Moreover, in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them” (v17). Don’t forget who Tobiah is. He’s known as “Tobiah the Ammonite” (Neh 2:10). As the leader of the Ammonites, he’s an enemy of God’s people. He’s boys with that snake Sanballat the Horonite. These two have joined forces with another knucklehead named Geshem the Arab to do everything they can to sabotage the Jerusalem wall project and keep the Jewish people under their control. Yeah, so Tobiah is NOT one of the good guys.

So why is this thug exchanging letters with Hebrew muckety-mucks? Let’s be sure of what they are NOT doing. They’re not pen pals. They’re not exchanging Christmas cards. They’re not trading recipes. They’re not playing Words with Friends. Nehemiah lets us in on the fact that Tobiah is telling them exactly what to do. Tobiah’s got them running a PR campaign on his behalf, telling the governor that the leader of the Ammonites is really good guy. He shouldn’t believe what he reads in the papers. And if that’s not enough, they’re reporting back to Tobiah what’s going on inside Jerusalem. Like the puppet master, he’s pulling their strings and watching them dance.  

So what’s the deal? Why would the upper crust of Jewish society be playing footsie with a shady character like Tobiah? “For many in Judah were bound by oath to him” (v18). We’re not exactly sure what he’s holding over their heads, but he clearly has leverage. Think about that for a second. One of the Jewish people’s greatest enemies has a firm grip on some of their most influential families. That’s not good. Not good at all. Remember those lazy nobles from Tekoa who failed to lift a finger during the wall project (Neh 3:8). They could well be among those under Tobiah’s influence. We’ll see that the Ammonite leader is going to use these nobles as a strong lobby for his cause and to gain important intel from the inside.

While we don’t know exactly what he’s holding over their heads, Tobiah’s leverage comes from marrying into a couple of key families. It’s all “because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah: and his son Jehonanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berecaiah as his wife” (v18). The Ammonite ruler’s wife is none other than a lady from one of the Jewish families who returned with Ezra (Ez 2:5). But as they say in the Ginsu knife commercial, but wait there’s more. Tobiah’s boy Jehonanan has also hooked up with one of God’s chosen people, Meshullam’s daughter. This same guy named Meshullam busted his tail during the rebuilding of the wall (Neh 3:4, 30). What he’s worked so hard to build, his daughter may be used in knocking down. A little later we’re going to discover that the High Priest Eliashib is also related to Tobiah somehow (Neh 13:4). Yeah, this thug’s tentacles run deep inside the walls of Jerusalem.

So why should Nehemiah get his undies in a bundle over a couple of marriages? This does NOT mean that God opposes interracial marriage. The Bible is full of cross-cultural couples like Joseph and Aseneth, Moses and Zipporah, Esther and Ahasuerus, as well as Boaz and Ruth. However, it’s a clear and blatant violation of God’s law to walk down the aisle with somebody who doesn’t share your trust in the LORD (Ex 34:16; Dt 7:3). Five hundred years later, the Apostle Paul warns his friends Corinth “not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2Cor 6:14). The LORD gave us these commandments to protect us from ourselves. He knows that conflicting beliefs for a husband and wife become a wedge that not only drives them apart and easily leads a spouse away from their relationship with God. It was this very sin that brought down King Solomon (1Ki 11:1-8). As a matter of fact, one of the idols that Solomon started worshiping through one of his 700 wives and 300 concubines (think about THAT for just a moment!) was the Ammonite god called Molech. Half a century later, an Ammonite named Tobiah is still a cancer on God’s people.

It’s not a stretch to believe Tobiah’s problem with Nehemiah and the Jewish people goes back a few years to Ezra’s leadership in Jerusalem. The Big E absolutely dropped the hammer on religious intermarriage (Ez 9-10). The Hebrew people were hopping in the sack with local hotties. It had a incredibly corrosive effect on Ezra’s efforts to restore the city and the people back to being God’s glorious city on a hill. In his commentary on Nehemiah, Matthew Henry sums up the situation: “A sinful love leads to a sinful league.” We soon discover these marriages have little to do with love and everything to do with espionage. Tobiah uses these compromised Jewish families to his advantage. “Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him” (v19). They never say anything negative about Tobiah to the governor. If that’s not bad enough, they're also tipping him off on inside info. It’s insider trading. These aren’t marriages but moles. In case you’re wondering, you don’t go out of your way to say God’s enemy is playing for God’s team. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Is 5:20) When you play footsie with the enemy, it’s not going to end well.

This Ammonite thug had a single purpose in passing notes to these key Jewish families. “And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid” (v19). He’s doing everything he can to terrorize and intimidate Nehemiah. We see the Hebrew word yare’, which means to fear, terrify, dread, or stand in awe. Don’t miss the fact that the author uses this same word three other times in this chapter alone. During the wall project, the enemies of Jerusalem “all wanted to frighten (Heb. yare’) us” (Neh 6:9). Nehemiah sniffs out Tobiah and Sanballat’s plot to grease the palm of a so-called prophet “that I should be afraid (Heb. yare’)” (Neh 6:13). The governor prays to God for strength to stand against his enemies and the prophets they’ve hired “who wanted to make me afraid (Heb. yare’)” (Neh 6:14). Using his inside info, Tobiah twists Nehemiah’s own words to threaten and bully him.

Did Tobiah’s plan work? Did Nehemiah freak out? Did he begin to question what he was doing? Did he doubt that God had given him this vision in the first place? Possibly. I would even go as far as to say it was probable. The passage doesn’t tell us what the wine-steward-turned-governor does about the secret correspondence with Tobiah. Maybe he uses it to his advantage and starts leaking info that will damage the Ammonite’s plans. But my guess is that he does what he’s done throughout the book. He remembers what God has shown him. He prays for strength and direction. He trusts in God and His provision. He knows what God starts, He finishes.  There’s just one little problem with Tobiah’s scheme. God. And through God’s strength and guidance, Nehemiah cuts off Tobiah’s tentacles and enjoys calamari.