Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who [was] shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.
Ver. 10. Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah] Perhaps the same that is mentioned Ezra 8:16, but now fallen, as a star from heaven. Blazing stars were never but meteors. Demas not only forsook Paul, but became a priest in an idol's temple at Thessalonica, if Dorotheus may be believed. A priest Shemaiah was, and would seem to be a prophet; but he proved not right, 1 Chronicles 24:6. All is not gold that glitters. It was Tobiah's gold that made him a prophet, as Philip's gold made the oracle of Apollo give what answer he pleased. A house he had in the temple; and there he had reclused and shut up himself, that he might seem some singular devotee, expecting a revelation from heaven; or as one who sequestered himself from the company of others, with a stand further off; come not near, for I am holier than thou; or, lastly, to persuade people that there was a necessity of securing themselves from the night inroads of the enemy. Whatever it was that he was thus, anchoret-like, pent-up, or locked-up, or detained (as Junius rendereth it; see the like said of Doeg, that bloody Edomite, 1Sa 21:7), Nehemiah went to his house to know what was the matter; supposing him to be a friend but finding him bribed by the enemy.
Let us meet together in the house of God] Famous for sanctity and safety: being within God's precincts, we shall surely be under his protection.
And let us shut the doors of the temple] Immure ourselves, and keep out the enemy. But this had been the ready way to invite them, seeing his cowardice; for maximum his periculum qui maxime timent the danger which they fear the most, (saith Sallust), nothing betrays a man sooner than his causeless fear. God helpeth the valiant. Besides, Shemaiah and his false complices, having got Nehemiah to them from his friends and followers, might have done what they pleased with him, as the Romans did by Caesar, in the Senate house.
For they will come to slay thee] And Nehemiah must be made believe that Shemaiah, as a special friend, wished no long life, and was zealous for it; whence he so doubleth his prediction of the danger. O deep dissimulation!