Led by Rev Suzanne Nockels
Bible Study- Nehemiah Dealing with Opposition
I can remember talking with an activist who said that rights were not granted but hard won. Building-up something new, restoring something valuable, fighting for justice or developing your inner spiritual life can be a hard slog. The Bible makes it clear that when we work with God to build the kingdom, something good, there will be opposition. In fact, ‘Satan’ in Hebrew means ‘Adversary’.
1-Have you been part of a long campaign to build something good? What were the successes and
setbacks? Does it help to know that opposition is part of the course?
Nehemiah has permission from the King of Persia to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city of Jerusalem.
He rallies the people in chapter 3 and everyone gets involved (even the priests do the building). However,
in chapter 4 there are setbacks and opposition. Nehemiah is not a straight path to success.
Read Nehemiah 4: 1-9
Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs (remember this is pre-Islam!), the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod are all local peoples who do not want to see Jerusalem rebuilt and the Jews strong in the region again. They unite in opposition to retain what control they have.
2- What forms does their opposition take? (e.g. anger, fear, intimidation etc.)
3- Have you ever faced opposition like that when you were trying to do something good? Does it help to know what fears are fuelling people’s opposition?
4- What do you think of Nehemiah’s prayer?
Read Nehemiah 4: 10-23
5- How does the attitude of the workers change? Why? (notice that just as opposition from outside scales up so does opposition from within)
6- How does Nehemiah respond? He prays to God and…….Do we ‘pray to God and….’
Read Luke 4: 16-30
7- What similarities can you see between Jesus and Nehemiah?