Who were Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem?

All this brings before us for the first time Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah, the servant, the Ammonite. Now, as these and their companions are brought before us throughout this book as the enemies and opposers of Nehemiah, and his work for God in building the wall, it is important to know who they were, and whom they represent. They were, then, Horonites, Ammonites, and Arabians. But they were dwelling in the land of Israel in Nehemiah 4:2: Sanballat spake, before his brethren and the army of Samaria; and Samaria in the beginning formed part of the land of Israel — they were active, boastful, subtle, men of authority in the land, but not of it. Do they not, then, represent the active, boastful, subtle men of authority who are in the professing church, but who are really strangers to God, and not of the church at all, but are the enemies and opposers of those desirous of carrying on the work of God, in caring for the saints, and in building the wall of separation to God?

But, immediately there is action, as the result of devotion and some understanding, opposition is sure to appear. It had been so when at the start of the revival Zerubbabel and his party went back; it was so again, as verse 10 reveals, though the men who led the opposition were different. Sanballat was an Horonite; that is, we understand, an inhabitant of Horonaim, a town of Moab; while Tobiah was an Ammonite. So here we have representatives of the two sons of Lot, begotten under shameful circumstances, as recorded in Genesis 19, setting themselves against what God was doing. A man had come 'to seek the welfare of the children of Israel', which at that moment God had in view, and therefore the adversary was against it, and used these two men, who as to their origins were distant relations of Israel. It has often been the case, sad to say, that those nearly related to the saints of God have been foremost in their opposition against them.

Sanballat (hate in disguise) is called the Horonite, an inhabitant of Horonaim, which was a southern Moabite city (Isa. 15:5; Jer. 48:3, 5, 34) and Tobiah, the servant, an Ammonite. They came from Moab and Ammon, blood-relations of Israel, being bastard offspring of Lot. The Moabite and Ammonite were not to come into the congregation of God forever; the curse rested upon them. They did not meet Israel with bread and water when they came forth from Egypt. They hated the people of God, and had hired Balaam the son of Beor to curse Israel (Deut. 23:3-6). They were the bitter enemies of Israel, which explains the displeasure of Sanballat and Tobiah when Nehemiah came with the king's credentials. They represented typically those who profess to be children of God, but are not born again; their profession is spurious and carnal, and as mere religionists, with a form of godliness but destitute of its power, they are the enemies of the cross of Christ and of the real people of God.

Sanballat, Tobiah and a third one, Geshem the Arabian (an Ishmaelite) were at hand with their sneers. "They laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? Will ye rebel against the king?" They realized that Nehemiah had come to build the wall of exclusion, and bring the people back to their God-given separation; therefore these outsiders began at once to antagonize the messenger of God. Magnificent is Nehemiah's answer. "The God of heaven, He will prosper us." He puts God first. Knowing that they were doing His will in rebuilding the wall, he had the confidence and assurance that God was on their side and none could hinder. "Therefore we His servants will arise and build." This was their determination to do the work. "But ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem." It is the refusal of their fellow help. Though they might have claimed a relationship with the people of God, yet did they not belong to Israel. Their help was not wanted. What a contrast with the unseparated condition which prevails in the professing church in what is termed "work for the Lord" in which the unsaved and ungodly are asked to participate!

Nehemiah was the cupbearer in the palace of Shushan, serving Artaxerxes the King. When he learned the deplorable condition of the people in the land of his fathers, he sat down, wept and prayed. The king discovered the source of Nehemiah's sorrow, and permitted him to go, giving him full authority to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and to help his people. This was in the year 445 B.C. Nehemiah reached the city the same year, and was for twelve years actively engaged in the welfare work of Jerusalem. The city wall was finished and the work done in spite of the many hindrances and obstacles the enemy put in the way. Sanballat, the Moabite, and Tobiah, the Ammonite, were Nehemiah's chief enemies. With them were allied the Arabians, Ammonites and Ashdodites. They tried to hinder the work by mocking the workmen, then by threatening them with violence. When their attempts failed to arrest the restoration of the wall, then they tried craft. Nehemiah came out victorious. And there were also internal troubles among the people, threatening disruption. Thus as Daniel the prophet had announced, the wall was rebuilt and the work finished in troublous times (Dan. 9:25).

A Horonite, who seemed to act as a governor under the Persian king when Nehemiah returned from exile to rebuild Jerusalem. He was an enemy of the Jews, and by plots and guile hindered the work as far as he could. A descendant of the priests had become his son-in-law, whom Nehemiah rejected. His case is an illustration of the way in which, whenever God has work in progress, Satan finds an agent to oppose it. Neh. 2:10, 19; Neh. 4:1, 7; Neh. 6:1-14; Neh. 13:28. See SAMARIA.

On arriving at Jerusalem, Nehemiah was opposed by Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite, who were grieved that a man had come "to seek the welfare of the children of Israel." But this only the more stirred up the energy of Nehemiah, and the work of rebuilding the wall proceeded.

Immediately Nehemiah arrived at Jerusalem, however, there was a threat of opposition, for we read that Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official "were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel" (v. 10). These enemies of God were anxious to keep Israel in a state of misery, just as Satan desires to keep believers from enjoying the blessing of the Lord.

These implacable enemies of the Jews hated them so much the more as they themselves had some knowledge of the true God. Sanballat was at the head of the forces of Samaria, where their idolatrous system of worship was not completely separated from the worship of Jehovah. This is what we will always find. The mixture of the true with the false, in the domain of religion, is much more hostile to the Christian testimony than simple paganism. The world which has drawn its religion from the Bible and the gospels, and has made its credo from certain scriptural truths, is frequently at the head of this opposition. It cannot endure those who build the wall and the gates of the city of God, for these defenses are against itself. The world's hostility begins by mockery, which frightens the timid more than hatred does. This was one of Sanballat's weapons (Neh. 2:19; 4:1). We all easily feel the influence of mockery if our hearts have not broken former associations with the world. In such a case we will fear ridicule and disdain and we will draw back from public communion with this humbled people, "these weak Jews", who claim to repair the breaches and help their brothers to rebuff the attacks of the enemy.

Next we find him at Jerusalem, stirring up the remnant to zeal and energy, and stirring up too the opposition of God’s enemy, so that it was said of Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite, “it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.”