Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Sanballat and his allies attempt to lure Nehemiah into a trap and hire a false prophet to frighten him, but Nehemiah sees through the deception; the wall is completed in fifty-two days.
Vulgate Text: 2 Esdrae (Nehemiah) 6:1-19
1. And it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobias, and Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it (though at that time I had not yet set up the doors in the gates), 2. Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying: Come, and let us make a covenant together in the villages in the plain of Ono. But they were planning to do me harm. 3. So I sent messengers to them, saying: I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down, lest perhaps it be neglected when I come and go down to you. 4. And they sent to me according to this word four times: and I answered them according to my former speech. 5. And Sanballat sent to me according to his former word a fifth time by his servant, and he had a letter in his hand written in this manner: 6. It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel, and that therefore you are building the wall, and that you wish to set yourself up as king over them: for which reason, 7. you have also set up prophets to proclaim about you in Jerusalem, saying: There is a king in Judea. The king will hear these words: therefore come now, that we may take counsel together. 8. And I sent to them, saying: Nothing has been done according to these words that you speak: for you are making these things up from your own heart. 9. For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking that our hands would cease from the work and we would rest. For this reason I strengthened my hands all the more: 10. and I entered the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel secretly. Who said: Let us meet together in the house of God, in the midst of the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they are coming to kill you, and at night they will come to slay you. 11. And I said: Should a man like me flee? And who, being as I am, would go into the temple and live? I will not go in. 12. And I perceived that God had not sent him, but that he had spoken prophetically to me, and that Tobias and Sanballat had hired him. 13. For he had received a bribe, so that being frightened I would act and sin, and they would have an evil report with which to reproach me. 14. Remember me, O Lord, concerning Tobias and Sanballat, according to these works of theirs: and also Noadiah the prophetess, and the rest of the prophets who tried to frighten me. 15. And the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. 16. And it came to pass that when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us feared, and they fell greatly in their own estimation, and they knew that this work had been done by God. 17. Moreover, in those days many letters of the nobles of Judah were sent to Tobias, and letters came from Tobias to them. 18. For many in Judah were bound to him by oath, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah, and his son Johanan had married the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah; 19. and they also praised him before me, and reported my words to him: and Tobias sent letters to frighten me.
Verse 2: Let Us Make a Covenant
2. Let us make a covenant in the villages. — So also the Septuagint and Vatablus. But Pagninus retains the Hebrew name as a proper noun, and translates it 'in Kephirim.' Both are true, because Kephirim was the name of a place so called from its abundance of villas and villages. In the plain of Ono. — This plain was near the Jordan in the tribe of Benjamin, and was commonly called 'the Valley of Craftsmen.' So Adrichomius, and this is sufficiently clear from chapter XI, verses 31 and 35. TO DO ME HARM — to capture me or kill me.
Verse 6: You Wish to Set Yourself Up as King
6. AND THAT YOU WISH TO SET YOURSELF UP AS KING OVER THEM — namely, that you, O Nehemiah, wish to exalt yourself over them and make yourself king. This was their accusation and calumny. 7. AND YOU HAVE SET UP PROPHETS WHO PROCLAIM ABOUT YOU IN JERUSALEM, SAYING: THERE IS A KING IN JUDEA. — Understand 'prophets' properly. For they accuse Nehemiah of wanting to make himself king, and therefore of suborning prophets who would prophesy to the people that God Himself wills this, namely that Judea, which has been without kings for so many years, should now have its own king restored. So Sanchez. Others, however, understand 'prophets' to mean heralds, who proclaim Nehemiah as king through the streets.
Verse 10: The House of Shemaiah
10. AND I ENTERED THE HOUSE OF SHEMAIAH THE SON OF DELAIAH THE SON OF MEHETABEL SECRETLY. — Shemaiah was a priest of the course of Delaiah, which was the twenty-third in order, as is clear from I Chronicles XXIV, 18, and he stayed at home as if devoted to study and prayer. Hence Sanballat corrupted him with money, so that as a religious man, indeed a prophet, as is evident from verse 12, he might summon Nehemiah to himself, and as if prophesying strike fear of the enemies into him, and therefore persuade him to flee, and this for the purpose of branding Nehemiah with the shame of cowardice, and making him contemptible to the people; indeed, so that with Nehemiah fearing and fleeing, the people would likewise fear and flee. This is evident from what follows.
Verse 11: Should a Man Like Me Flee
11. AND I SAID: SHOULD A MAN LIKE ME (of great spirit and leader of the people) FLEE? — That is to say: This shameful flight is not fitting for my magnanimity nor my dignity. For if the leader flees, the whole people will flee. AND WHO, BEING AS I AM (like me, great-souled and a prince), WOULD GO INTO THE TEMPLE AND LIVE? — Vatablus renders it: in order to live. As if to say: Not even for the sake of preserving my life is it fitting for me to flee to the temple; for it is better to die nobly than to flee shamefully and bring disgrace upon one's glory, as Judas Maccabeus used to say. Or 'and live,' as if to say: If I flee to the temple, I will not live, but will be killed by the people as a coward and a fugitive, who recklessly threw them into this danger from enemies, and as one conscious of some crime. So Sanchez.
Verse 12: I Perceived That God Had Not Sent Him
12. And I perceived — either by God's revelation, or by the shrewdness and sagacity of my own mind from the words and gestures of Shemaiah, that he was claiming to be a prophet and, as such, prophesying threats from the enemies, when in reality he was a false prophet suborned with a bribe by Sanballat, to make me contemptible and hateful to the people by frightening me. 13. SO THAT BEING FRIGHTENED (by a fictitious oracle of imminent danger) I WOULD ACT (as he was urging, namely flee to the temple like a coward; or as one conscious of some crime take refuge in the temple as in a sanctuary) AND SIN — both against God through distrust, against myself through cowardly flight, and against the people, by striking them with panic through my flight and driving them to flee.
Verse 14: Remember Me, O Lord
14. REMEMBER ME, O LORD, CONCERNING TOBIAS AND SANBALLAT, ACCORDING TO THESE WORKS OF THEIRS — that You may deliver me from them and chastise them, so that either they themselves, or others by their example and chastisement, may learn wisdom, and learn not to harass upright men, nor to lay snares for them.
AND ALSO NOADIAH THE PROPHETESS. — In Hebrew, prophetess (for she was a woman), that is, a false prophetess corrupted with a bribe by Sanballat, who cast similar threats and fears upon me. Repeat: 'Remember, O Lord, that You may chastise her according to her merits, and by chastising amend either her or others by her example.' Nehemiah said these things out of just grief and zeal, not for private revenge, but for public justice.
Verse 15: The Wall Was Completed in Fifty-Two Days
15. And the wall was completed on the 25th day of the month ELUL (the sixth month, which corresponds partly to our August, partly to September) IN 52 DAYS. — Some begin these 52 days not from the start of the construction, but from these threats and ambushes devised by Sanballat against Nehemiah: hence Josephus asserts that the construction of the walls was completed in two years and three months, in the 28th year of Xerxes, that is, Artaxerxes. The Scholastic Historians, Cajetan, Vatablus, and Mariana follow Josephus. It is more correct that these 52 days should be counted from the beginning of the construction, as Lyra, Dionysius, Villalpando, and Sanchez hold. For if the wall construction had lasted for two years, Sanballat would certainly have solicited the neighboring nations, raised an army, and prevented it. Therefore Nehemiah pressed on and urged the work to be completed immediately. And this could be done in 52 days, both because all applied themselves to the work strenuously and ardently, and the work was distributed in an orderly manner to each individual, with no one excepted; and because the foundations of the walls, which the Chaldeans had been unable to demolish, remained, indeed in many places the walls were intact. For the Chaldeans had only destroyed the walls in various places, that is, had made breaches in them, as is evident from IV Kings, last chapter, verses 4 and 10. The gates also had not been demolished, but only their doors burned, as is evident from I Ezra 3, so only the doors needed to be restored. Moreover, they built with stone that was not cut and polished, but rough and unfinished, indeed from stones found in the ruins and rubble of the old walls. Finally, God favored them, so that within 52 days they completed the walls. So Alexander the Great erected the walls of the new Alexandria on the Tanais, sixty stadia in length, in the space of 17 days, as Quintus Curtius reports; or twenty, as Arrian narrates. So today the Dutch besieging large cities surround them on all sides within twenty days with such a rampart that they cannot be relieved. For in the Roman manner, each soldier carries along with his weapons a pickaxe or trowel for digging or building. And so many hands joined together quickly complete an enormous work.
Verse 16: All the Nations Feared
16. SO THAT ALL THE NATIONS FEARED — us and our construction, which they saw had been completed so quickly that they themselves acknowledged this to be the work of God rather than of men.
Verse 17: Letters to Tobias
17. MANY LETTERS OF THE NOBLES OF JUDAH WERE SENT TO TOBIAS. — These were traitors to their homeland, who had conspired with the enemies against Nehemiah, and wrote to them about Nehemiah's deeds and plans, so that they might frustrate them. He adds the reason: 18. FOR MANY IN JUDEA WERE BOUND TO HIM BY OATH — that is to say: Many of the Jews had sworn to Tobias, and had pledged their loyalty to him by oath, namely that they would be his friends and faithful allies, and therefore had conspired with him against me and their own homeland. BECAUSE (Tobias) WAS THE SON-IN-LAW OF SHECANIAH — that is to say: The reason why many of the Jews favored Tobias, an enemy of the Jews, was that they had contracted kinship with him and his allies through mutual marriages. For AND JOHANAN HIS SON (Tobias's) HAD MARRIED THE DAUGHTER OF MESHULLAM THE SON OF BERECHIAH — who were Jews and nobles among the Jews.
Verse 19: They Praised Him Before Me
19. AND THEY ALSO PRAISED HIM (Tobias) BEFORE ME. — The Hebrew has: indeed, they praised his goodness (or benefactions, or generosities) before me. They allude to the name Tobias, which in Hebrew signifies 'the goodness of God,' as if to say: He truly is Tobias according to his name, who shows himself good and beneficent toward all. So Vatablus. This was the greatest iniquity of the Jews, and the greatest injury and affliction to Nehemiah, namely the treachery of his own citizens, which nevertheless he overcame by dissimulating, by patience, counsel, and constancy.