---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Tobiah and some of the Jewish nobles, 16-19. NOTES ON CHAP. VI Verse Nehemiah 6:2. Come, let us meet together in - the plain of Ono. — They wished to get"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/nehemiah/6"
---

*Tobiah and some of the Jewish nobles*, 16-19.
NOTES ON CHAP. VI

Verse [Nehemiah 6:2](../../../kjv/nehemiah/6/2). ***Come, let us meet together in - the plain of Ono.*** — They wished to get him out of Jerusalem from among his friends, that they might either carry him off, or murder him. *Ono* is supposed to have been in the tribe of Benjamin, near Jordan.

Verse [Nehemiah 6:3](../../../kjv/nehemiah/6/3). ***I*****am*****doing a great work*** — Though he knew their design, he does not think it prudent to mention it. Had he done so, they would probably have gone to extremities, finding that they were discovered; and perhaps in a formidable body attacked Jerusalem, when ill provided to sustain such a shock. They wished to effect their purpose rather by *treachery* than by open *violence*. I know not any language which a man who is employed on important labours can use more suitably, as an answer to the thousand invitations and provocations he may have to remit his work, enter into useless or trivial conferences, or notice weak, wicked, and malicious attacks on his work and his motives: "I am doing a great work, so I cannot *stoop* to your nonsense, or notice your malevolence. Why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come *down* to such as *you*?"

Verse [Nehemiah 6:5](../../../kjv/nehemiah/6/5). ***With an open letter in his hand*** — This was an insult to a person of Nehemiah's quality: as letters sent to chiefs and governors in the East are always carefully folded up, and put in costly silken bags, and these carefully sealed. The circumstance is thus marked to show the contempt he (Sanballat) had for him.

Verse [Nehemiah 6:6](../../../kjv/nehemiah/6/6). ***And Gashmu saith*****it**] You are accused of crimes against the state, and *Geshem*, the Arabian, is your accuser.

Verse [Nehemiah 6:7](../../../kjv/nehemiah/6/7). ***Thou hast also appointed prophets*** — Persons who pretend to be commissioned to preach to the people, and say, *Nehemiah reigneth*!
***Come now therefore, and let us take counsel*** — Come and justify yourself before me. This was a trick to get Nehemiah into his power.

Verse [Nehemiah 6:8](../../../kjv/nehemiah/6/8). ***There are no such things done*** — You well know that what you say is false: I shall not, therefore, trouble myself about a false charge.

Verse [Nehemiah 6:10](../../../kjv/nehemiah/6/10). ***Who*****was*****shut up*** — Lived in a sequestered, solitary state; pretending to sanctity, and to close intercourse with God.
***Let us meet together in the house of God*** — The meaning is, "Shut yourself up in the temple; appear to have taken sanctuary there, for in it alone can you find safety." This he said to discourage and disgrace him, and to ruin the people; for, had Nehemiah taken his advice, the people would have been without a *leader*, their enemies would have come upon them at once, and they would have been an easy prey. Besides, had Nehemiah done this, he would have been shut up in the temple, his government would have been declared at an end, and Sanballat would have assumed the reins.

Verse [Nehemiah 6:11](../../../kjv/nehemiah/6/11). ***Should such a man as I flee?*** — Shall *I*, who am governor of the people, appointed both by God and the king, shall I betray my trust, and leave the flock without a shepherd? Shall I be a traitor, and abandon the office to which I am appointed? - No! Who, in my situation, with such responsibility, and such prospects, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not: I will stand at my post, and be ready to receive my enemies whensoever they come; so let Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem look to themselves.

Verse 14. ***And on the prophetess Noadiah*** — Whether this was a *prophet* or *prophetess*, we cannot tell; the *Hebrew* text only makes her a *prophetess*; all the *versions* have *Noadiah the prophet,* except the *Arabic* which has [Arabic] *Younadaa the prophet*. I think the ה *he* at the end of נביאה *nebiah* is a *mistake*, and that we should read *Noadiah the prophet*.

Verse 15. ***The twenty and fifth - of - Elul*** — This Jewish month answers to a part of our *August* and *September*.
***Fifty and two days.*** — I see no difficulty in supposing that several thousand workmen, each of whom was working *as for God*, should be able to complete this wall in *fifty-two* days. There is little doubt that several parts of the old wall were entire; in many places the foundations still remained; there were all the *materials* of the old wall still at hand; and though they had to clear and carry away much rubbish, yet they do not appear to have had any stones to quarry. The work mentioned here was little when compared to what *Caesar* did in Gaul and other places; and to what *Titus* did at Jerusalem, who built a wall round Jerusalem of *five* *thousand* paces in three days, besides, *thirteen towers* of *ten* *stadia* in circuit. And *Quintus Curtius* and *Arrian* inform us that Alexander the Great built the walls of Alexandria, on the Tanais, which were nearly *eight miles* in compass, in the space of between *twenty* and *thirty days*. Nehemiah therefore had time sufficient in *fifty-two* days to repair and restore the walls of Jerusalem. See *Calmet* on this place.

Verse 16. ***This work was wrought of our God.*** — This is an additional reason why we should not wonder at the *shortness* of the time in which so great a work was done, for God helped them by an especial providence; and this was so very observable, that their *carnal* enemies could discover it.

Verse 17. ***The nobles of Judah sent many letters*** — The circumstances marked in this and the following verses show still more clearly the difficulties which Nehemiah had to encounter; he had enemies *without* and false friends *within*. A treacherous correspondence was carried on between the nobles of Judah and the Ammonites; and had almost any other man been at the head of the Jewish affairs, Jerusalem had never been re-established.

Verse [Nehemiah 6:18](../../../kjv/nehemiah/6/18). ***He was the son-in-law of Shechaniah*** — Previously to the coming of Nehemiah, the Jews seemed to be fast intermixing with the heathen, by *intermarriages* with *Ashdodites, Ammonites*, and *Moabites*; see [Nehemiah 13:23](../../../kjv/nehemiah/13/23). Ezra had many evils of this kind to redress, ([Ezra 9:3](../../../kjv/ezra/9/3), c.,) chiefly among the common people, though there were both chiefs and priests in that trespass. But here we find the heathen and Jewish nobles interlinked and the latter were so far imbued with the spirit of idolatry, that they forgot God, his service, their brethren, and their own souls.

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/nehemiah/6#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/images/missing.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/images/missing.jpg","width":640,"height":370,"caption":"Clarke's Commentary -  Nehemiah 6"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/nehemiah/6#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/nehemiah/6","name":"Clarke's Commentary -  Nehemiah 6","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/nehemiah/6#primaryimage"},"datePublished":null,"dateModified":null,"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Tobiah and some of the Jewish nobles, 16-19. NOTES ON CHAP. VI Verse Nehemiah 6:2. Come, let us meet together in - the plain of Ono. — They wished to get","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/nehemiah/6#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/nehemiah/6"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/nehemiah/6#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries","name":"Commentaries"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary","name":"Clarke's Commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/nehemiah","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/nehemiah","name":"Nehemiah"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/nehemiah/6","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/nehemiah/6","name":"6"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]}
```