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Nehemiah 6 · a question people ask

Was Shemaiah a prophet?

In the text

The chapter never calls him one. It calls him "Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home" (6:10), and it says what he did: "he pronounced this prophecy against me" (6:12). Then it says two things about that word: "God had not sent him", and "Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him" (6:12). Two verses later Nehemiah does speak of prophets: "the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear" (6:14). So he spoke a prophecy, God had not sent him, and he was paid. The chapter doesn't say how Nehemiah discerned it; it says only, "I discerned, and behold, God had not sent him" (6:12). It also doesn't say why Shemaiah was "shut in at his home" (6:10), and this study doesn't guess.

The verses

“I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home; and he said, “Let us meet together in God’s house, within the temple, and let’s shut the doors of the temple; for they will come to kill you. Yes, in the night they will come to kill you.””
Nehemiah 6:10 · World English Bible
“I discerned, and behold, God had not sent him, but he pronounced this prophecy against me. Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.”
Nehemiah 6:12 · World English Bible
““Remember, my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear.””
Nehemiah 6:14 · 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