EXILE & RETURN

Shemaiah son of Delaiah. Urged Nehemiah to hide in the temple; Nehemiah saw that he had been hired.

SCRIPTURE SAYS

Hired by Tobiah and Sanballat: “God had not sent him” (Nehemiah 6:12)

ERA

Exile & return 586–430 BC

IN THE DAYS OF

Nehemiah · Artaxerxes

BOOK

None bears the name

HOW HE SPOKE

Nehemiah says Shemaiah “pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him”, so that Nehemiah would be afraid and sin, and his enemies have “matter for an evil report”.

THE CALL

How he spoke

  • Nehemiah says Shemaiah “pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him”, so that Nehemiah would be afraid and sin, and his enemies have “matter for an evil report”. Nehemiah 6:12–13
  • When Nehemiah came to his house, Shemaiah “was shut up”. Nehemiah 6:10

BEFORE THE KINGS

Before two rulers

GOVERNOR OF JUDAH

Nehemiah, governor of Judah

“Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.”

Nehemiah 6:11 (KJV) →

KING OF PERSIA

Artaxerxes

THE WORD GIVEN

What he prophesied

Flee into the temple

“Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee”

Nehemiah 6:10 (KJV) →

THE WORD TO …

To whom the word was spoken

TO NEHEMIAH

“yea, in the night will they come to slay thee”

Nehemiah 6:10 (KJV) →

  • Jerusalem · The house of God, where Shemaiah urged Nehemiah to hide.

COMPANIONS AND OPPONENTS

Who stood with him, and against him

Delaiah

Mehetabeel

Tobiah

Sanballat

Nehemiah

Noadiah

HOW THE STORY ENDS

Scripture says, tradition says

SCRIPTURE SAYS

  • From the textScripture says no more of Shemaiah after Nehemiah 6. Nehemiah 6:10–14

TRADITION SAYS

No tradition is recorded here.

OPEN QUESTIONS

Where readers have differed

Ceremonially unclean

Ewald, as reported by C. F. Keil (1873)

Keil reports this reading and rejects it. Nehemiah 6:10 [26]

Held by a higher power, so that Nehemiah had to come to him

Bertheau, as reported by C. F. Keil (1873)

Keil reports Bertheau's reading, “overpowered by the hand of Jahve”, and answers that Shemaiah's own proposal to go to the temple shows he was not prevented from leaving home. Nehemiah 6:10 [26]

Shut in his house, feigning that his own life was in danger, perhaps as a sign

C. F. Keil (1873)

Keil holds that “he had shut himself in his house, to intimate to Nehemiah that also he felt his life in danger”; whether this was feigned or a symbolic act, “either view is possible”. Nehemiah 6:10–12 [26]

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 1

Nehemiah 6

PASSAGES · 1

Nehemiah 6:1–19

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • Nehemiah does not say how he perceived that God had not sent Shemaiah.
  • Scripture does not say what became of Shemaiah.

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

  • S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (2nd ed., New York 1892; first published 1891) (1891), ch. XI (Daniel), pp. 458–483.
  • S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (2nd ed., New York 1892; first published 1891) (1891), ch. V (Ezekiel), pp. 260–279.
  • S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (2nd ed., New York 1892; first published 1891) (1891), ch. VI §10 (Haggai), pp. 320–321.
  • S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (2nd ed., New York 1892; first published 1891) (1891), ch. VI §11 (Zechariah), pp. 322–333.
  • S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (2nd ed., New York 1892; first published 1891) (1891), ch. VI §12 (Malachi), pp. 333–336.
  • E. B. Pusey, Daniel the Prophet: Nine Lectures Delivered in the Divinity School of the University of Oxford (1864), Lecture I, p. 1, and the table of contents, pp. xxxi–xxxvii.
  • E. B. Pusey, Daniel the Prophet: Nine Lectures Delivered in the Divinity School of the University of Oxford (1864), Lecture III, pp. 103–105.
  • E. B. Pusey, Daniel the Prophet: Nine Lectures Delivered in the Divinity School of the University of Oxford (1864), Lecture IV, pp. 169–170.
  • J. A. Montgomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (International Critical Commentary) (1927), Introduction §2, pp. 2–3.
  • J. A. Montgomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (International Critical Commentary) (1927), Introduction §19, pp. 60–61.
  • J. A. Montgomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (International Critical Commentary) (1927), Introduction, 'The dating of the two sections', pp. 96–97.
  • J. A. Montgomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (International Critical Commentary) (1927), on Dan 9:24–27, pp. 393–394.
  • G. A. Smith, The Book of the Twelve Prophets, vol. 2 (The Expositor's Bible) (1898), Preface, p. viii.
  • G. A. Smith, The Book of the Twelve Prophets, vol. 2 (The Expositor's Bible) (1898), ch. XXIII, pp. 331–333.
  • C. F. Keil, tr. M. G. Easton, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1872), Introduction (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. M. G. Easton, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1872), note on Dan 2:39–40 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. M. G. Easton, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1872), notes on Dan 9:24–27 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. M. G. Easton, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1872), note on Dan 11:36–45 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1876), note on Ezek 1:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1876), the survey of chs. 40–48 (read on Bible Hub, printed with Ezekiel 1).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1876), note on Ezek 14:14 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1876), note on Ezek 29:17–21 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. James Martin, The Twelve Minor Prophets, vol. 2 (Keil and Delitzsch) (1868), note on Hag 2:7 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. James Martin, The Twelve Minor Prophets, vol. 2 (Keil and Delitzsch) (1868), introduction to Zechariah, on 1:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. James Martin, The Twelve Minor Prophets, vol. 2 (Keil and Delitzsch) (1868), introduction to Malachi, on 1:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. Sophia Taylor, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (Keil and Delitzsch) (1873), note on Neh 6:10–14 (read on Bible Hub).
  • R. Dick Wilson, "Daniel, Book of", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), sections VII (Genuineness) and VIII (Interpretation).
  • George L. Robinson, "Zechariah, Book of", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), sections 1, 4 and 6.
  • Benjamin of Tudela, tr. M. N. Adler, The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela (1907), pp. 43–44 (Ezekiel's sepulchre) and 52–53 (Daniel's sepulchre at Shushan).
  • E. G. Hirsch, K. H. Cornill, S. Schechter and L. Ginzberg, "Ezekiel", Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 5 (1903), pp. 313–316.
  • S. Schechter and L. Ginzberg, "Ezekiel's Tomb", Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 5 (1903).
  • E. G. Hirsch, "Haggai", Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 6 (1904).
  • I. Singer and A. Guttmacher, "Malachi, Book of", Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (1904), In Rabbinical Literature; Critical View.
  • K. Kohler and L. Blau, "Bat Ḳol", Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 2 (1902).
  • Tertullian, tr. Peter Holmes (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3), On the Resurrection of the Flesh (1885), chapters 29–30.
  • Augustine, tr. S. D. F. Salmond (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6), The Harmony of the Gospels (1888), book 3, chapter 7, §§28–31.
  • R. A. Parker and W. H. Dubberstein, Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C.–A.D. 45 (Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 24; dates cited as facts only) (1942), p. 28 (table of years: Darius I, years 1–4).
  • John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament (1748–1763), note on Ezek 4:4 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), Pulpit Commentary: Ezekiel (1880–1897), note on Ezek 4:4 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A Bible Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on Hag 2:7 (read on Bible Hub).
  • R. Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and D. Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (1871), note on Hag 2:7 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), Pulpit Commentary: Haggai (1880–1897), note on Hag 2:7 (read on Bible Hub).
  • John Gill, An Exposition of the New Testament (1746–1748), note on Matt 27:9 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A New Testament Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on Matt 27:9 (read on Bible Hub).
  • R. Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and D. Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (1871), note on Matt 27:9, quoting John Lightfoot (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A New Testament Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on Matt 23:35 (read on Bible Hub).
  • A. B. Bruce, The Synoptic Gospels (The Expositor's Greek Testament, vol. 1) (1897), note on Matt 23:35 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. E. Ryle, The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1893), note on Neh 6:14 (read on Bible Hub).
  • John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament (1748–1763), note on Neh 6:14 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), Pulpit Commentary: Nehemiah (1880–1897), note on Neh 6:14 (read on Bible Hub).
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1683–1685), note on Neh 6:14 (read on Bible Hub).

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