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Back and Forth

             When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?”

 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”

Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.

So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart. (Nehemiah 4:1-6)

 

Today, we return to the back-and-forth with the opposition, or, rather, the forth but not back. Sanballat and Tobiah noticed what the Jews were doing and had to comment.[1] While it says that Sanballat and Tobiah were together and that they said this among Sanballat’s “associates and the army of Samaria,” the text suggests that these things weren’t whispered in a tent, or said back in Samaria. These things seem to have been said about the way a Shakespearean actor tells a secret to another actor on stage. It’s said to impress the real audience, not the other actors, so it’s said in a way that ensures the audience hears it.

What they do is the sort of thing a group might do while waiting to receive permission to take more decisive action. Earlier, Sanballat and Tobiah claimed the Jews were rebelling. No doubt, they sent word to the king. While they wait for word from the king, they gather their troops and loom. When threats and looming don’t produce the desired response, the jeering begins.

When Sanballat and Tobiah didn’t like what Nehemiah and the Jews were doing, they told on them to Artaxerxes, the king. When Nehemiah didn’t like what Sanballat and Tobiah were doing, he told on them to God, the King,1 probably in the hearing of the Jews and Sanballat, Tobiah, and company.  That done, the Jews continued their work.

In fact, the jeering produced an effect opposite of what Sanballat and Tobiah had hoped. They wanted to see the Jews run and cower. Instead, the Jews worked harder. That’s one clue to achieving your goals: use the negative from others as motivation to show them how big, brave, and determined they were. This is a natural response. Years ago, I rounded a corner and found a turkey vulture perched at the top of a dead tree. It spread its wings but didn’t fly away. Another time, I rode my bike around a corner and found a groundhog along the path. It reared up and raised its front paws and claws. In both cases, they were doing the defensive “see how big, brave, and strong I am?” routine.

With folks like these that are negatively motivated (or just plain contrary) if you tell them not to do something, or that they can’t do something, you need to step out of their way, but stick around and watch.


[1]  Oops. Note to self…

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