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Nehemiah 6 · a question people ask

Was there anything to the charge that Nehemiah wanted to be king?

In the text

The open letter said so: "you and the Jews intend to rebel. Because of that, you are building the wall. You would be their king, according to these words" (6:6), and "You have also appointed prophets to proclaim of you at Jerusalem" (6:7). It gives its sources as "It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it" (6:6). Nehemiah's answer is short: "There are no such things done as you say, but you imagine them out of your own heart" (6:8). The book shows him as governor: "from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah" (5:14), and he had come with "the king’s letters" (2:9). The chapter reports no prophets proclaiming him king. The charge wasn't new: in chapter 2 Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem had asked, "Will you rebel against the king?" (2:19).

The verses

“in which was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel. Because of that, you are building the wall. You would be their king, according to these words. You have also appointed prophets to proclaim of you at Jerusalem, saying, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now it will be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let’s take counsel together.” Then I sent to him, saying, “There are no such things done as you say, but you imagine them out of your own heart.””
Nehemiah 6:6-8 · World English Bible
“Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor.”
Nehemiah 5:14 · World English Bible
“Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.”
Nehemiah 2:9 · World English Bible
“But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they ridiculed us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?””
Nehemiah 2:19 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Nehemiah 6

Nehemiah 6: I am doing a great work

Nehemiah 6 is a chapter of sending: in Hebrew one verb runs from Sanballat's invitations to Tobiah's letters, and among them stands the man God "had not sent" (6:12). And four times the chapter names fear as what those against Nehemiah were after (6:9, 6:13, 6:14, 6:19).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions