Opposition From Local Leaders In High Places (Nehemiah 2:19-20).
The news that they were to commence building inevitably leaked out, for there were many collaborationists in Jerusalem who had opted to compromise with their neighbours and would gladly therefore win favour by passing on the information. The result was that it reached the ears of Sanballat the Horonite, who was probably even at that time either the acting Governor, or the duly appointed Governor, of the District of Samaria, a District which had formerly included Judah. (He was certainly the duly appointed Governor later as we know from the Elephantine papyri).
He was powerful enough himself, but he also held counsel with his Deputy, Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and with Geshem the Arabian. Geshem was an important ruler over combined tribes of Arabians to the east and south of Judah, which at this time had good relations with the Persian Empire. His name has been found as ‘King of Qedar' on a silver vessel dedicated by his son Qainu to the goddess Han-'Ilat discovered in Lower Egypt (the inscription reads, ‘what Qainu, son of Geshem, king of Qedar, brought (as an offering) to Han-'Ilat'). Geshem may also well have been the one referred to as ‘the King of Qedar' in a Lihyanite inscription. He was thus a formidable opponent. He was probably the Gashmu mentioned in Nehemiah 6:6. His interest in opposing the building of the walls of Jerusalem may well have been his fear that Jerusalem would become a trading centre which would rival his own trading activities. Trading rights were very carefully guarded. And besides, the fortifying of Jerusalem could only add another political power in the area, especially in view of the presence of Nehemiah, a king's favourite. A weak Judah was favoured by all three.
Notice the deliberate way in which Nehemiah demonstrates how the opposition to what he had come to do was gradually increasing. In Nehemiah 2:10 Sanballat and Tobiah had been grieved at the thought of his arrival to assist the Jews, now they were accumulating friends and actually mocking what he was seeking to achieve and suggesting that it was treason. (In Nehemiah 4:1-3 we will learn of their growing anger at what is being achieved, and in Nehemiah 4:7-8 they will actually plan violence against the builders).
‘But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you do? Will you rebel against the king?”
Thus when Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem learned of the plans they jeered at them, not believing that they could achieve them. But they also took steps to ensure that the men of Judah knew that in their view this was nothing less than rebellion against the king of Persia by asking, ‘Will you rebel against the king?'. As the rebuilding of the walls was not seen as a political activity in the eyes of the King of Persia, but rather as a safeguarding of the sepulchres of the ancestors of his favourite, Nehemiah, they may well not have been warned that what was afoot had the backing of the king. They had previously prevented the rebuilding of the walls by warning the king of the danger of fortifying Jerusalem (Ezra 4:11-23), and they probably hoped that this reminder would bring the rebuilding to a halt. No one would wish to be thought of as rebelling against the king. But they had not reckoned on the influence that Nehemiah knew that he had with the king, nor on his confidence as one of the great men of Persia. Nor did they realise the depth of his faith in God. It is this last which is brought out in is reply.
‘Then I answered them, and said to them, “The God of heaven, he will prosper us. Therefore we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, nor right, nor cult-participation rights, in Jerusalem.”
In his reply Nehemiah does not refer to the fact that he had the king's permission. He knew that they were already aware of that. Rather he cites the fact that ‘the God Of Heaven' was on the side of His people. It was He Who would prosper them in the task ahead. On those grounds therefore they would press ahead. As servants of the God of Heaven they would arise and build, whilst their adversaries were to recognise that Jerusalem was none of their business. They had no portion there. It was now a separate district. They had no political rights there. It belonged to Judah. They had no right to participation in the cult there. Jerusalem was for YHWH, and for His faithful people.