Just so is it in the service of God.  There are, sad to say, many copper-kettle-boiling-water Christians, hot and earnest in the work of God one moment, but in the next they have cooled down, and are ready to leave the work to take care of itself.

But Nehemiah was no copper-kettle-boiling-water man, he comes before us as a man faithful to his post, standing firm to his duty, a man whom no one could draw from his work, or cause to swerve from what he knew to be right.

The Samaritans have made a mighty effort to stop Nehemiah’s great work, the building of the walls of Jerusalem.  They began with ridicule; but the builders took no notice of the shouts of laughter, but built on as before.  Then they tried to stop the work by force; but they found the whole company of builders changed, as by a magic wand, into an army of soldiers, ready and waiting for their attack.  Now the news reaches them, chap. vi. 1., that the walls are progressing, that the gaps are filled up, the different pieces are joined together, and that nothing now remains but to put up the gates in the various gateways.

They feel accordingly that no time is to be lost; they must, in some way or other, put a stop to Nehemiah and his work at once.  They determine, therefore, to try a new plan, they will entrap Nehemiah by stratagem and deceit.  So they send an invitation to Jerusalem, begging him to meet them in a certain place, that there they may settle their differences by a friendly conference.

Sanballat is to be there as the head of the Samaritans, Geshem as the head of the Arabians, and Nehemiah as the head of the Jews; and surely, meeting in a friendly way, and embued with a friendly spirit, nothing will be easier than quietly and peacefully to confer together, and then to arrange matters in a comfortable and satisfactory manner.

The place appointed for the meeting is the Plain of Ono—­the green, beautiful plain between the Judean hills and the Mediterranean—­called elsewhere the Plain of Sharon.  There in later days stood Lydda, the place where St. Peter healed Aeneas; there stood Joppa, from which Jonah embarked; there, at the present day, may be seen fields of melons and cucumbers, groves of orange and lemon trees, and fields of waving corn.  Nehemiah would have a journey of about thirty miles before he reached the appointed meeting-place.

Sanballat’s proposal sounded very fine and even very friendly, but it was a trap.  His real desire was to tempt Nehemiah from behind the walls of Jerusalem, to entice him to a safe distance from his brave friends and companions, and then to have him secretly assassinated.  Who then would ever hear again of the power of Jerusalem?  Who then would ever see the gates put in their places?

Is Nehemiah moved from his post of duty by Sanballat’s message?  Does he leave his work at once, and set off for the Plain of Ono?  Look at his decided answer.

’I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down:  why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?’