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“When Sanballat, Tobiah, and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the repair to the walls of Jerusalem was progressing and that the gaps were being closed, they became furious. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw it into confusion.”
[Nehemiah 4:7-8 HCSB]
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Unhinged
Why have the non-Jews in Nehemiah 4 become so unhinged? It’s pretty simple. When you refuse to kowtow to false narratives, it makes those desiring power and/or sin very angry. Nehemiah contends that the Jews have every legal right to serve God and establish Jerusalem.
He’s correct. But that doesn’t fit the popular narrative of his neighbors. They believe that a strong Jerusalem is bad for business. They don’t want YHWH worshipped. They don’t want believers in absolute truth in their area. Thus, they have made up a false narrative that pretends the Jews have no right to exist in Judah.
Public presence
Of course, this problem is not limited to the 5
th c. B.C. [or in the vernacular of a currently popular false narrative, B.C.E.] For example, just consider open public witness to God. Nehemiah 4 displays Gentiles particularly upset over the idea of public worship of YHWH in Jerusalem; that’s why they mention sacrifices. One can easily find their spiritual descendants today. Just post an article mentioning God and then read the comments below. You’ll find that the mocking response is very similar to what you read in Nehemiah. People are grudgingly OK with you privately worshipping. But if you try to build any kind of presence, if you live out your worship in the public square, they will attack.
Everywhere
Further, this dynamic extends beyond church. Heather Heying, who describes herself as a committed non-Christian socialist, knows that when you refuse to bite on false narratives, it makes those desiring power very angry. Last year, Dr. Heying was fired from her university because she refused to violate clear scientific facts. Look at what she wrote in response:
Postmodernism [has] abandoned rigor and replaced it with “lived experience” as the primary source of knowledge. Little credence is given to the idea of objective reality…our protestors said scientists are particularly prone to racism…because scientists persist in using terms like “genetic” and “phenotype” when discussing humans. First, they came for the biologists… – Heather Heying
Dedicated plots to overthrow absolute truth and sow confusion occur in all fields – even journalism. For example, Michael Cieply was a reporter for the New York Times who left to join an online news service. Asked why he left the Times, Cieply said, “We [reporters at the Times] were required to match stories with what internally was often called ‘the narrative.'” – Michael Cieply
In the face of such antagonism, wise people will learn from Nehemiah. Empowered by God, the Jews refused the false narrative, choosing God’s absolute truth instead. They swam upstream and achieved great success while always remaining true to truth. By God’s grace, our stories can be the same.
As Bruce Riley Ashford recently wrote in a news piece titled “Christian Shaming:”
In response to Christian shaming, Americans should be clear…there is nothing in the world wrong with being Christian in public. For Christians, our beliefs are deeply held convictions that should shape our identities, organize our lives, and motivate us to be good neighbors and citizens. There is nothing wrong with Mike Pence, Tim Tebow, Nick Foles, or Tony Dungy making a connection between their faith and their public lives.
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