Sanballat and Tobiah are giving their last-ditch effort to stop Nehemiah from completing the wall.
Final Tactics Used by Sanballat and Tobiah:
- Deception (vs. 1-4) - They are trying to distract him from the work he was doing.
- Misrepresentation (vs. 5-9) - They send an “open letter” to Nehemiah that was false and was being seen by everyone on delivery to Nehemiah. This could anger Artexerxies and could potentially cause a rebellion. Nehemiah quickly responds to the lie and says it is completely untrue.
- Coercion (vs. 10-14) - They try to create fear in Nehemiah that he would be killed by the authorities if he didn’t cease.
The wall was finished in a total of 52 days. The wall’s length was about 2.5 miles long and 40’ in height and an average thickness of 8’.
