Tuesday, November 4th, 2025
The story of Nehemiah’s vision and determination to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem after the Israelites’ captivity always fuels the flames of my spirit. His love of God’s laws, his compassion for Jerusalem and its inhabitants, and his persistence in the face of much adversity captures many of the attributes we, as Christians, aspire to live by. There may be a few blogs that come out of this story, but for today, God has put two names on my heart Sanballat and Tobiah. Let’s look at Nehemiah 2:10, 19:
10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?”
First, I want to dig deeper into the meaning of their names. Let’s look at Tobiah. The Bible says he was an Ammonite. These are the descendents of Lot. This shows us that Tobiah, whose name means Jehovah is good, may be of Israelite descent. Tobiah’s book up in heaven told incredible stories of him declaring the goodness of God. But as we can see from his interactions with Nehemiah he chose not to follow the higher calling God had for him.
Sanballat’s name in Hebrew means strength. Again, we see another person who had a specific calling on his life, but chose to carve out a different identity for himself. He may have thought he was strong, but his strength was not sanctified for God’s use.
Final Thoughts…
The gift of free-will is a little bit scary and overwhelming all at the same time. If God forced us to follow and obey Him, love would never be a part of the transaction. It’s out of the fact that He is love that we are given the choice to live the life of His calling or our own navigation. Our heavenly novel contains blessings and fulfillment of promises beyond anything we can comprehend, but it requires sacrifices. We have to crucify our flesh, follow a God we cannot see, and avoid any position that finds itself in opposition to God’s will. What might Sanballat and Tobiah’s lives looked like if they had fulfilled their heavenly novel? Are we actively living out ours? Ask God and listen for His reply.