The gauntlet has been thrown down in one corner, Nehemiah, in the other corner, Sanbala. Two ideological opposites going toe-to-toe over the walls of Jerusalem. But hang on, a new challenge is approaching. Let's get a clear picture of what this conflict means for our lives coming up right now on the Clear View Today Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr.
Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Welcome to the Clearview Today Show with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah.
If you're listening for the very first time, Dr. Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. Ryan, if you're truly my best friend, you'll tell me where that new challenger approaching reference was from. A new challenger approaching. New challenger approaches.
Come on, Ryan. Oh, man. I know it's on the front of your front. You're going to say it. I'm going to be so mad at myself for not getting this.
I don't remember. Watch Dr. Shah. I get it. Dr.
John D. It's from Zuper Smash Brothers. Oh. That's gotten that. Super Smash Brothers?
I mean, I played. They had the little silhouette. Yeah, I don't know that I would have pulled that out. Dr. Shaw, this was an effort in futility.
Welcome to the show. I know I could not have pulled that one off. I do not know anything about Super Smash Bros. Here's the cool thing: it's always cool to pull out the deep references that if people hear it, they'll get, but then the people who don't know, like, you got to work it in so to win. Like, people are like, okay, that was a good little intro.
That's nice. But the people who know, then they know. The ones who know, know, and the ones who don't have no idea. Dr. Shaw, we've been talking about opposition, right?
We've been talking about the whole last episode, we talked about Sandballot, the Horror Knight, this chief enemy of Nehemiah. And you would think, all right, we're going, you know, one-on-one. This is a battle of the wills, so to speak. But that's not how it really works. Nehemiah went three on one.
In his opposition. Yeah, that's right. First one, of course, Sanbalat, the Horonite, as I mentioned in yesterday's episode, that he represented the Samaritans. These were people who had been placed there or thrown there, really, by the Assyrian, who had a policy of repopulating people. They would take one conquered group, put them somewhere else, and take people from somewhere else and dump them.
in the first place. And this way they took away any kind of loyalty or patriotism or any will to fight for the land. It was not there because this is not my land. This is not my ancestral land. My mother and father's graves are not here.
Nobody bought this. This is just here I am.
So it takes away any chance of rebellion. Mm-hmm. That's how the Samaritans got there. The Bible talks about that. But unfortunately, even though God sent people to evangelize to them, they.
Eventually, you know, got this idea that they were it. I mean, they knew better. They knew that they had been planted here by the Assyrians, of course, all in God's providential plan. But somehow they got this great idea that we're the ones. You know what?
I think we're the chosen people. It's like the Somali boat captain now. I am the captain. Look at me, look at me. I am the captain now.
Yeah, that's what they did. The Jewish people are like, sure, sure. No, no, the Jewish people did not like that. They're like, you're not the captain now. It's so funny because, I mean, we hear that today, don't we?
Oh, yeah. God's people aren't God's people anymore. Yeah, supersessionism or replacement theology. Yeah, it's an old problem. That's right.
And so when Jewish people came back under Cyrus the Great, they're sent back and they kept coming. Not every single Jewish person from exile came, but some began to trickle back in. They rebuilt the temple. Not in its glory like Solomon's temple, but it was there. They.
Cried and wept, and God sent Nehemiah to help rebuild the walls. But when Sanbalad the Horonite, who was one of the rulers in Samaria, the governor of Samaria, north of Jerusalem, and he heard about it. Oof. He opposed that plan. You know, you can't have a story without conflict.
I mean, by definition, there is no story anywhere that exists without conflict. And yet, when conflict and opposition appear in our life, we typically think, well, I've done something wrong. I've made some sort of misstep. Do you want to just, before we get into like the rest of these players in this story, do you want to give us, Dr. Shas, just some encouragement about what to do and how to approach?
Conflict and opposition when we experience it? If you. Go ahead and start expecting it. It will make it easier. I have been in ministry at this church.
This is my first and only church coming up 28 years. And I cannot count the number of times when I naively thought that there won't be opposition. That, whatever I'm doing, I don't know whatever that is, a new series, a new plan. A new vision.
Something That I felt would benefit people. What Expands. the kingdom of God. Anytime I thought that and I walked in With with a good product. With a good plan.
But what? Up with this this naivety thinking Oh, everybody's going to think I'm the greatest thing, or I'm the hero. I'm the one who saves the day. Man, I've been disappointed. Yeah.
Every single time. And I don't know why I don't learn the lesson because I think it's like everybody's going to love this. This is great. No. Yeah.
You spend so much time crafting out something that you think everyone's going to love that. I don't know, it just It's one of those things that always seems to slide on the radar. There's always something that I've missed. How do we know the difference between opposition that is natural and expected? And, you know, when you're obeying God, opposition is going to come versus this is God closing the door.
I don't need to go any further. That's a great question. I think that part for me is always solved early on. I'm not going to approach something that I don't feel God is in because I pray over things, I plan, I properly go through the channels that I need to.
So I don't just jump in and say, ah, this is God's will. I'm going to do this now. Oh, wait, it's not working out. Must not be God's will. No, everything that I've done, I have done prayerfully and spent time reflecting and studying and talking to the main.
power brokers, so to speak. to get a buy-in. I've done my research. I've done my work. I've done the groundwork.
But every time I thought, oh, yeah. That's not going to be any problem. There has been a problem. But I know. That if I've done the groundwork properly, That it is God's will.
This is opposition. When I haven't done the groundwork, That's when opposition comes. And And I'm like Oh. Is God in this or is he not? I was just thinking about it.
I had this funny image in my mind when you said that if, you know, if God's not in it, he's going to close the door early on, right? If he doesn't want you going that way, I was thinking about that when Paul was trying to go to Asia Minor and God closed the door. Like, God didn't let him go into Asia Minor, start making connections, establish a relationship, then close the door and say, That was never my plan. Yeah, you weren't supposed to go here where you're already there. You just never let him get that far.
And I know it's like sort of a silly example, but that's where my mind went when you said that. And even if God does take you down a path only to shut that door, it's not that the path was wrong, it's just the destination was different.
So he may take you down a path. I'm not talking about that. He may take you down a path where you may do a research, or you may make some connections, or you may make some investment, and then you go, Whoa, it didn't work out. But wait. I think I'm headed this way.
Okay, God, I see you.
Now, please guide me. Please help me because I am naive. I don't get it. I don't know what I'm doing. Please help me because you're closing doors here, but I see something else is happening there.
So it's not like you're closing doors, you're sort of realigning my life, and that's okay. Mm-hmm. So Personally, it hasn't been as much that God closed the door. as he allowed me to go down a path, learn my lessons, Do what I needed to do to prep me for something bigger and better.
So, for you, it's less about parsing out the source of the opposition because you know that the path that you're on is the one that God would have you be on. Right. That's a good point. That's a good point. That's a good way to think about it.
That changes the way people, I think, approach opposition and conflict in their life. Rather than trying to decide in the moment, is this God closing the door? Should I not have gone down here? Do your groundwork, do the work ahead of time.
Well, also gives.
Okay. I mean, God, you know, the Bible talks about that. Yeah. What kind of Jesus talked about that? What kind of a king there is who, before he goes into battle, doesn't sit down and count his troops?
Yeah. We talk about Nehemiah and these three men who came against him, but I mean, because he knew this was what God was calling him to do, he could have had 15 opponents, he could have had 20, he could have had 30. You know, God's plan was going to come either way. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
So now we come to opponent number two. Sanbalat the the Horonite, number one, Tobiah the Ammonite. Number two.
Now, unlike San Balad, whose name is a Babylonian name, or was a Babylonian name, the moon god Sin has given life. Tobiah is actually a Hebrew name So, this is one of this guy's on the inside. On the inside. He ought to know better. Yeah, Tobiah means Yahweh is good.
Come on, man. This is nothing to do with a singa, not about Baal or Asherah or whatever, whatever. This is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If this is a Hebrew name, why is he. An Ammonite.
What is an Ammonite?
Well, Tobiah came from a family of very powerful Jewish aristocrats. Even though he was Jewish by nationality, he was not one of them. He was the governor of Ammon to the east of Jerusalem.
So once again, he came from a family of very powerful Jewish aristocrats. Even though he was Jewish by nationality, He was not one of them. He was the governor.
So Yes, ethnically he was Jewish. But for all practical purposes, He probably would not have claimed his ancestry.
So, this is like a traitor to your own people type of situation. Innocence, yeah. Yeah. Wow. But he didn't see himself as a traitor.
He saw himself as an opportunist, opportunist, like. Why would I be a traitor? What are we loyal to? Is it like a person whose family is American, but they were born and raised in Europe or something? Ethnically, they're American.
Or ethnically he's Jewish. Right. But he he wasn't. Born and raised, I guess, in Israel? Yeah, I mean, he was probably raised during the exile.
So remember the twelve tribes to the north are gone? Twelve tribes, ten tribes to the north have been replaced by the Samaritans, the Sandballads people. To the north they were gone some were scattered here and there. Who went into hiding or went to Egypt? They came back.
But people like Tobiah, Probably were in hiding.
Okay, his ancestors were probably ancestors were probably in hiding. But they pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. maybe send Tobiah to the best schools. The best universities. Give him the best connections.
and saw him rise to the top? And he's like, Yeah, I am I am Jewish. But I I don't care one bit about building Jerusalem again. Could you say, is it too oversimplified to say maybe he's like the darker version of Nehemiah, where Nehemiah is ethnically Jewish, but functionally he is Persian. And yet, where he saw what God was doing, Tobias present.
100%. I mean, this is almost like a. You know, an anti-Nehemiah. Anti-Nehemiah. Yeah, like a nemesis situation, like that, like the evil counterpart, Nehemiah.
Where Nehemiah gets it, Tobiah misses the point, even though their circumstances are similar. Yeah, I mean, you can talk about the Holy Trinity, right? Father, Son, Holy Spirit. But then there's also the evil trinity. You have Satan, the Antichrist, the false prophet.
This is the anti-Trinity.
So that's what's happening here.
So you have Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet, the anti-Trinity. Here, you have the Antichrist, in a sense. Wow. How interesting that, you know, on yesterday's episode, we talked about the comparisons between Nehemiah and Jesus. And now we're talking about Tobiah, who is sort of the dark reflection, like the Antichrist.
There are parallels in the Bible. And I think you've said this, Dr. Shell, where you just... always find something new. And it's not because we're finding new things to invent.
It's that it's there. It's deep. And the more you fall in love with the Bible, the more you just start to naturally see these. That's right. There's no reason for us to think that we can twist the story to mean something deeper than it means.
It's already there. Yeah. Well, just like San Battle, we're going to go a little deeper. Just like Sandballad represented the flesh of the world, Tobiah represents the flesh. And it is the part of us.
Okay, it is part of us, but it's our worst enemy. This is who we are. Right. The old nature. And yet, it is our worst enemy.
Why? Because. There is the salvation part of it. Just like Tobiah was part of God's people. but still living according to the flesh.
Means did not care one bit about the plan of salvation. He only cared about his own comfort, his own wealth, his own goals, his own plans. the plan of salvation can crash and burn, That's fine. Yeah. Who cares?
Well, God gave a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our forefathers. Yeah, whatever. God gave promises to the Babylonians. God gave promises to the Assyrians. God gave promises to the Egyptians.
What's your point? God gave promises to the Persians. I don't care. God gave promises to me too. I'm sure he mocked the promises of God.
Yeah, this is that flippant attitude that none of us want to admit lives within us in our flesh. We all want to, I know, I do. We want to pretend that we don't struggle with those thoughts. But I think you're exactly right. He represents that dark part of us.
That we have to wrestle against.
Well, and how much of a slap in the face that his name means Yahweh is good. Yeah. I mean, aren't we walking around with Jesus' name as Christians and we carry this same attitude of like, God made promises to me, God made promises to this person, who cares? Yeah. We might not ever articulate that, but it comes through in our actions, it comes through in our attitude and in our belief about who God is.
Do you see these types of people in the church? Oh, yes. These are people who. Look like Believers, they sound like believers, and they may even be believers. I'm not quite sure.
But Whatever their past was, Okay. They never truly got over it. They went through some things in their life. That fundamentally altered their thinking, their perspective on the world, their perspective on God and His plan. And because of that happening, they are forever, I hate to use the word damaged.
Now, believe me. God can heal, God can restore. God can give us second chances, but there are some people they have been so damaged by life that they just can't seem to move forward. And if somebody listening today You feel like, man, you're talking about me. I hope you realize that we're not trying to be hateful, we're not trying to make you feel bad.
or purposely Make you Feel like You're the problem. We're not doing that. We're just hoping you will take a hard look in the mirror. That's right. And if you're that tobaya, Who is ethnically God's people But practically, against God's people, then you need to do some repenting.
That's right. That's right. Tobias' story is written. Yeah. I mean, your story is still being written.
So, if you're listening to this and you feel like in your heart of hearts, even though I'll never admit it and I'll never come out and say it, that this is me, that I may have once accepted Christ or I may have been raised in the church, there's still hope. And there's still, and we can maybe lead that prayer of salvation or that prayer of repentance at the end of the episode. Yeah. Yeah. So we have Sam Ballot, who represents the world, and we have Tobiah that represents our flesh.
There's a third person. This one is Gesham. Geshem the Arab. Who in the world was this guy? Gesham.
So you have you have Sandballad covering northern Israel, which we know as Samaria. Then you have Tobiah, the Ammonite. He was controlling the territory east of the Jordan River. Right? The Transjordan, okay.
And then you have Geshem the Arab. Geshem the Arab. There's an inscription with that name that was found in northwestern Arabia. Same person. Yeah, Geshem the Arab.
Wow. And it described Geshem as the governor. Of Didan.
So all these people are political peop these are all p politically powerful people. They're all governors. Yes, they were real people. These are real historical individuals. These are not mythological characters.
Right. And based on where they're from, we end up with Nehemiah receiving an assault. Pretty much from all sides. Yep. Yeah.
There was another inscription found in Egypt described him as the king of Kadar. Gesham the Arab. Didon and Kedar occupy the eastern desert region of Syria. Northern Arabia, Sinai, and northern Egypt.
So this man had a very large territory. Yeah, he's got a big reach.
So if Sanbala the Horonite was Samaria, northern Israel, If Tobiah the Ammonite was the Transjordanian area, which was east of the Jordan River. Then Geshem the Arab. was everything From the south of modern-day Tel Aviv, south of Jerusalem, south of the Dead Sea, going all the way into the northern Arabian region. That's pretty big. That's a pretty big reach.
Like, we've landed in Tel Aviv and we have driven down to the Dead Sea and beyond. And that's a long drive. Yeah, that's a long drive, especially thinking like in ancient times, like that's a lot of ground to cover. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
And this is Geshem's land, this is his territory. Yeah, wow. And he must have been a very powerful ruler. who was afraid that Nehemiah's coming would interfere with his lucrative trade in myrrh and frankincense, because this region was known for myrrh, And frankincense.
So kind of like Sam Ballet, like this is going to be bad for business. Right. Jerusalem's walls get rebuilt. That's right. And so he was upset.
Now, think about the coming of Jesus Christ. The three wise men, they brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh. What you're seeing here is the Geshem the Arab. was trying to steal Myrrh and frankincense, and you could probably add gold to it. Yeah.
I mean, if it's a business, you could infer that gold would be a part of it. That's right. So he's narratively, he's the thief. He's the one that wants the king's gifts for himself. Yeah, he represents a devil.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He is at church every morning. He wants to bring disunity and division.
He only cares about himself. He doesn't have any sense of loyalty. Kinda like Sand Ballad the Horror Night. Maybe not quite like Tobiah the Ammonite. He is in a class by himself.
He's working in your life, and his purpose is to destroy your life, your marriage, your family. He wants to expand his territory. He works by intimidation and ridicule.
So there's someone listening who goes, okay, wait, for the first two, I'm on board with you. There are people who don't want me messing up their business. There's this dark part of me that still struggles to come out. By God's grace, I keep it at bay. But it's hard for me to believe that there are people in my life who want to see me destroyed.
It kind of goes back to that first conversation we had where it's like, I'm not big enough or impactful enough to have real, tangible enemies. How do you address someone who thinks that way?
Well, when people think that way, that I don't have a real tangible enemy, you are naive because you do. Anytime you step out to do something significant, you are going to have opposition.
So you've got the world? Right. You've got the flesh, our flesh, and then you've got the devil, these external and one internal. How do you say, sources of opposition? That's right.
This ancient evil trio of forces that opposes and distracts and seeks to destroy believers and God's people. What is the game plan? What is you've got these three forces working against this? And this reminds me a lot of the conversation we had through Romans. This would be a great time if you're listening for more, if you're treating this more as a podcast than a radio show, this is a great time for you to go back and listen to our series.
He talks a lot about the world, the flesh, and the devil. Yes, absolutely. How does it work? How do they, what is their, their MO, their, their modus operandi? Yeah.
First things first, they mocked him. Mm. Just know when you begin to do something like this, someone somewhere is gonna sneer, they're going to laugh, they're gonna smirk, they're gonna look at you and look at you like. Yeah. We know what you're up to.
And that's the dumbest thing we ever heard. You ever been trying to lead people, and there's always that one or two people in the back? Like, what are you talking about, dude? It says right here: they laughed at us and despised us. Hmm.
You don't have what it takes. You're gonna build these walls with what? And do you really think they're gonna stand back and not say anything or do anything? I remember this one time when we were Very small church, struggling. I remember Uh this This person from another church wrote.
A letter to our leaders, our deacons at the time, asking us to merge with them. Went underneath you? Like, went? Oh, yeah, they just kind of bypassed you. Bypass, you don't, you don't matter.
Yeah. Wow. And so I asked him, I called up this person. He was a pastor, actually. He's not here anymore.
He's been gone. He was there another year or so, and he was. flew away. I didn't know what you meant by gone, like rest in peace, gone. No, no, no, no, no.
He went away somewhere.
Now, he may have been resting in peace for years, for all I know. But no, as far as I know. He he he left after a year. But I remember calling him and I'm saying Hey, you you sent a letter to our leaders. And you did not inform me.
And you asked them to merge Our church With your church. To use the question. Who's going to be the pastor? And it was funny, he was like Oh, I don't know. I mean, I was like, you didn't think through that.
Is it going to be you or is it going to be me? I mean, brother, let me just tell you. I mean, I haven't thought that far ahead. Yes, you've thought that far ahead. You've thought that far ahead.
I just want to paint this picture clearly. There's a pastor who bypasses you, doesn't have a conversation with you, who the pastor of this church doesn't talk to you at all, goes straight to the deacons and says, Essentially, we want to absorb your church. Right. Not let's work together, let's share resources. No, no, you will be a part of us and you will cease to have an independent identity.
But I ain't thought that far ahead about who the pastor is going to be like. You know, good. Tell me what he was planning to be the pastor. Tell me with 1% sincerity that, no, there was a chance that I was going to let you be the pastor and I was going to step back. Nuggets.
I ain't going to be a little bit of a.
So these three, this trinity of evil, they laughed at Nehemiah and the people who were willing to stand up, rise up, and build the walls around Jerusalem. They despised us, they hated us. It means you have come here. To to to give us false hope You're come here to take advantage of us. and you are not good for us.
That's exactly what the enemy will do. Anytime you step up to do something that is important, that is life-changing, that is kingdom-building, somebody's going to stand up and say, You are a problem. And they will laugh at you. Like, you really think you're going to do something?
Well, I hate that we're running out of time because I'm really into this conversation. But what if someone's saying that's me right now? I got a bad, bad enemy right now working against me, trying to bring me to tear my church down. What do I do? Just know.
That you are in good company. God's people throughout the ages. who have done something significant for God with God, Through God have gone through similar situations.
So don't think that you're the first pioneer, you're the first one to strike out and facing. Uh these kind of problems. No, sir. There are many who have gone before you and have experienced this, and it's painful. It's painful, especially when there's a Tobiah the Ammonite.
It's painful, especially when it is Sanbal the Horonite, the illegitimate ruler. It's painful, especially when there is a Geshem the Arab who controls such vast territory, so powerful. And it seems like, man, there's no way I can win against this person. You know, Jerry Faldwell, I've talked about him before. He said one time, he said, you do not determine a man's greatness.
by his talent or wealth. As the world does, but rather, About what it takes to discourage him. That's right. Wow. That's right.
So, let me ask you this this day. What does it take to discourage you? One wrong comment? One sideway look. One correction?
What does it take to discourage you? Yeah, great question. I pray that our listeners are examining themselves. And I know that we are here on the show, taking a good hard look at how you handle opposition. And we're going to dig further into Nehemiah's response to these three men who have mounted this attack against him.
How does Nehemiah respond? What does he do? And how does he push through for the mission that God has called him to? That's right. If you're going through opposition right now, the best thing you can do is to walk with God.
Second best thing you can do is to keep listening to the show because we're going to address it on the next episode. That's right. Make sure you're sharing these episodes with your friends. You can do that if you're listening to this as a podcast or listening through something like Spotify or on Pray.com. You can share these episodes with your friends and family.
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It's the New Testament in the original Greek. We've got a link in the description right below so you can pre-order your copy. Original orders or main orders will be available. Available very soon on Amazon, on clearviewbc.org, and on Abadanshah.com. And in the meantime, while you're waiting, make sure you're checking out all of our original content over on YouTube, on iTunes, Spotify.
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