Page 42 - Principles of Leadership - Nehemiah

these burnt stones back to life from the mounds of rubble?” 3 Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside
him, said, “Indeed, even if a fox climbed up what they are building, he would break down their stone wall!”

To understand this passage, I want to take you back to the mindset of the day. Lamentations captures the
mood following the Babylonian destruction of 586 BC. Lamentations 5:15-18 Joy is gone from our hearts; our
dancing has turned to mourning. The crown has fallen from our heads. Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because
of this, our hearts are faint; our eyes grow dim for Mount Zion, which lies desolate. These words reflect the true
nature of the feelings of the people. Sanballat and Tobiah are going to focus on these past feelings. “What was
missing from their understanding was that the curse had indeed been reversed. Starting with the first return,
continued under the second return, and now under Nehemiah’s leadership, the community is convinced that
Yahweh is indeed restoring his promises, as announced by Jeremiah in his letter to the exiles. (Jeremiah 29, Ezra
1) Thus, the accusations of Sanballat and Tobiah strike a raw nerve since they are based on partial or half-
truths; the enemy of Zion tries to intimidate the people by reinforcing the idea that nothing has changed, and
curses upon Zion are irreversible. The truth, however, lies completely elsewhere and serves as a powerful
reminder that half-truths are a mere disguise for outright lies.” 143

These thoughts bring us to an important application question. Do we live today as if we are still in bondage, or
do we live as if the bondage and the curse have been lifted? We must realize that no person can consistently
behave inconsistently with how they perceive themselves to be. We must realize that no “delete button erases
past programming… The most important belief that we possess is a true knowledge of who God is. The second
most important belief is who we are as children of God, because we cannot consistently behave in a way that is
inconsistent with how we perceive ourselves. And if we do not see ourselves as God sees us, then to that
degree, we suffer from a wrong identity and a poor image of who we really are.” 144 Nehemiah was determined
not to allow Judah to believe the lies of the enemy, and therefore, he became a bondage breaker. Will we allow
the Holy Spirit to take the word of God and shatter the lies we believe? Oh, that we would be a modern-day
bondage breaker.

As this crisis begins to escalate, a few important points are worth noting.
• There is repeated progress in the building program, which leads to.
• The coalition of opposition increases, and new names are added. (2:10, 19, 4:1,3, 7 Ashdod, Arabs and
Ammonites)
• There is a noted escalation from a war of words to a threat of armed conflict. (verse 8)

Sanballat and other leaders were losing their influence in the area. Therefore, this group of leaders began to
ridicule the Jews openly and publicly. They are only thinking of themselves at the expense of others. This leads
us to this question: Are you concerned about others, or are you only concerned about yourself? When
Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious. He mocked the Jews 2 before his
colleagues and the powerful men of Samaria and said, “What are these pathetic Jews doing? Can they restore
⌊it⌋ by themselves? Sanballat was saying that these pathetic Jews think that they can rebuild the walls by
themselves. But they have underestimated the enormous task that is before them. I can't see how they will
ever finish it. Can't they see how these burnt stones could never be brought back to life from the mounds of
rubble! Next, Tobiah, the Ammonite, begins to ridicule and condemn the Jews for not building a structurally
sound wall. He proclaims that, indeed, even if a fox climbed up what they are building, he would break down
their stone wall! But their responses beg the question: if they were so certain of their failure, why were they so
determined to sabotage their efforts with all the ridicule? Leadership must always remember that any time you
try to move people onto God's agenda, it will bring ridicule your way. Those who would ridicule you are certain
that what you are doing is pathetic. And they will do whatever they can to begin the process of ridiculing your
God-given agenda. We need to learn Nehemiah's lesson when burnt bricks of criticism were thrown his way; he
built a wall out of that criticism. How can we build a wall out of burnt bricks of criticism? Nehemiah's solution is
found in the next section.

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