Who is sanballat in nehemiah

This man is only mentioned in one book of the Bible—Nehemiah. This Samarian governor lived and reigned in the mid-to-late fifth century b.

Harran was a prominent ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia, which today is located near the border between Turkey and Syria. The Horonites were likely among the series of different peoples transported to Samaria by the Assyrians around b.

The Samaritan people sought to join Zerubbabel and the Jews in their rebuilding Ezra In reality, however, the Samaritans were ethnically separate, and their religion was a mixture of paganized Israelite and Babylonian teachings 2 Kings In Nehemiah 2, Sanballat and two other governors laughed the Jews to scorn and despised their plan to build a wall verse He even went as far as to hire an inside man to try to get Nehemiah to commit a sinful act in order to be banished by the Jews.

Nehemiah Once Nehemiah returned, he offered Manasseh the chance to break off his relationship with his foreign wife—but Manasseh refused, so he was banished from Yehud and went to Samaria. This played a crucial role in the formation of the Samaritan priesthood, with its own holy mountain, holy book and high priest.

A collection of ancient documents, known as the Elephantine Papyri, contains one in particular—the Elephantine Papyrus No. On Nov. This letter, or rather a draft or copy of it, was found among the collection of documents in excavations in Elephantine in Papyrus No. Perhaps he was still ruling but his two sons were taking on part of his responsibilities. Nehemiah mentions both Delaiah and Shelemiah in his account.

Although these names cannot with certainty be linked to these two specific sons of Sanballat, they do attest to the prominence of such names during this time period. And this matches the biblical account. Nehemiah finished his first term as governor and returned to Artaxerxes in b. This letter was written 26 years after Nehemiah went back to serve Artaxerxes. However, if the letter was indeed written after the schism had already occurred, perhaps it was still recent enough that the full implications had not been felt yet, especially to this far-reaching colony.

Similar documents to the Elephantine Papyri were found in a cave at Wadi Daliyeh, 14 kilometers north of Jericho. In this cave, archaeologists discovered at least 18 Aramaic documents, clay seals, several coins and the skeletal remains of people. The artifacts date from the early to late s b. Most of the 18 papyri documents dealt with slave trades or other sales. That's right, 2, years have passed, and it's the same argument!

Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 Under Nehemiah's command, the Jerusalemites begin rebuilding the gates and walls of the city. Geshem, Sanballat, and Tobiah continue to mock and scheme. To be fair to Geshem, the other two are much nastier. Sanballat, for example, mutters, "What are the miserable Jews doing? It's reminiscent of Iraq: The security situation is so bad that they can't get any reconstruction done.

Eventually, Nehemiah sends his men back to the walls, but half of them have to provide security while the other half piles stones.

Chapter 5 Nehemiah is not simply a great builder, he's also an economic populist. The wealthiest Jews exploit a famine by buying the land and crops of the poor at cut-rate prices, leaving most Jews broke and landless. Nehemiah hectors the rich elite to return the land. As far as I can remember, this is the only mention of Jewish class divisions in the Bible. We've seen tribes and families fighting each other, and conflicts between kings and prophets and the people, but not class struggle.

I suspect the economic strife is rooted in the return from exile. The exile surely shattered the traditional bonds that defined Israelites—tribal bonds, notably—and economic allegiances arose to replace them. Nehemiah is officially appointed governor and serves for 12 years. He's utterly incorruptible—a dollar-a-year man : He refuses the official food allowance and doesn't exploit the office to acquire land or wealth. Four times they attempt to lure him to a meeting where they can harm him.

They goad him by accusing him of rebelling against the Persian king. They send a double agent who's supposed to dupe Nehemiah into entering the Temple's holy of holies and, thus, contaminating himself. Nehemiah, who's as canny as they come, easily foils their tricks, then manages to complete the wall in just 52 days. Chapter 7 Nehemiah takes a census, which is identical to the one in Ezra, Chapter 2.

Chapter 8 Ezra kicks off the celebration of the wall's completion by reading the whole Torah to the assembly. The book inspires the Israelites, who realize while they listen that it's time for the Torah-mandated holiday of Sukkot, which they haven't kept for generations.

The whole country stops to observe the holiday—the same holiday that Jews celebrate today. It's fascinating—and rather humbling—to realize that it is the book that guarantees Jewish survival. By reading the Torah, the Jerusalemites are able to make themselves Jewish again.

Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 All the Jews wear sackcloth, fast, and publicly confess their sins. They planned to come and fight against the city. And we put guards on the walls to watch day and night so that we could be ready to meet them. There is too much dirt and trash in the way.

We cannot continue to build the wall. We will kill them and that will stop the work. They are everywhere we turn. I put families together, with their swords, spears, and bows. Remember the Lord, who is great and powerful! You must fight for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters! You must fight for your wives and your homes!

They knew that God ruined their plans. So we all went back to work on the wall. Everyone went back to their own place and did their part. The other half of my men were on guard, ready with spears, shields, bows, and armor.

The army officers stood behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. The man who blew the trumpet to warn the people stayed next to me.