{"id":1538,"date":"2021-04-16T10:56:52","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T10:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revfosu.com\/?p=1538"},"modified":"2021-04-16T10:56:52","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T10:56:52","slug":"knowing-the-strategies-of-the-enemy-by-rev-dr-john-kwasi-fosu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/2021\/04\/16\/knowing-the-strategies-of-the-enemy-by-rev-dr-john-kwasi-fosu\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowing the strategies of the enemy, by Rev Dr John Kwasi Fosu"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nehemiah 2:19-20 brings out the theme of opposition first identified in 2:10. The main opposing figures are two. They are Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite. Later accounts include Geshem the Arabian (Neh 2:19; 4:1). These men were greatly upset that someone had come to help the Israelites with their problems. Like Nehemiah, those serving God will inevitably encounter opposition. In this study, therefore, an attempt is made to look at the strategies that these identified adversaries used to oppose Nehemiah in building the wall of Jerusalem. Accordingly, we will look at how Nehemiah skillfully responded to these adversaries and thus what we can learn from each strategy. Before looking at their strategies, it is important that we briefly study their backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Knowing Nehemiah\u2019s Adversaries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nehemiah\u2019s efforts to building the wall encountered opposition by some people who could be identified as enemies. It is interesting to imagine that some people could just stand out to oppose a good project. Insightfully, it could be observed that these men were all enemies of the Jews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nehemiah 4:2 tells us that Sanballat belonged to the army of Samaria. This presupposes that he was part of the mixed breed of Samaritans who had been brought into the land by the Assyrians after they removed the northern tribes of Israel into captivity. In this case, they were not real Israelites and had no inheritance in Israel (2:20). Worshipping God was a perversion. They professed to serve God but included idol worship. Tobiah was an Ammonite. The Amonites were descendants of Abraham\u2019s nephew Lot. The Ammonites lived near the desert east of the Jordan River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Geshem was an Arab. The Arabians have not been mentioned much in the Old Testament and they appear to have traveled from place to place without settling in any one area. By this time, however, at least some of these people must have lived in or near the area of Jerusalem. So they were not happy to see the Jews prosper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All three of these men had some local authority and influence. It is most probable that they were among the governors because they reacted immediately after Nehemiah reported about his project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is most probable that our human opposers might be influenced by long family history or cultural traditions. It is worth trying to briefly look at some background information of our adversaries for a possible wise response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The strategies that the enemy used to oppose the work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" type=\"1\"><li>Grieving &nbsp;(Neh 2:10)<\/li><li>Mockery (laughter) \u2013 (Neh 2:19)<\/li><li>Wrath and indignation (Neh 4:1-3)<\/li><li>&nbsp;Fighting \u2013 (Neh 4:7-8)<\/li><li>Subtlety or crafty (6:5-7).<\/li><li>Accusation \u2013 (6:5-9)<\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction Nehemiah 2:19-20 brings out the theme of opposition first identified in 2:10. The main opposing figures are two. They [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62474923,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25826],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-studies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4q0JC-oO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1454,"url":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/2021\/02\/12\/essential-themes-in-the-book-of-nehemiah-by-rev-dr-john-kwasi-fosu\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":0},"title":"Essential themes in the book of Nehemiah, by Rev Dr John Kwasi Fosu","author":"revfosu","date":"Februar 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Introduction In our previous studies, we learnt that the book of Nehemiah was written to show the work of God through a godly leader, Nehemiah.\u00a0 This study material aims at highlighting some essential themes one encounters upon reading Nehemiah. Among others, these themes include leadership, vision, prayer, resilience and spiritual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bible Studies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bible Studies","link":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/category\/bible-studies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1496,"url":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/2021\/02\/19\/overview-and-outline-of-the-book-of-nehemiah-by-rev-dr-john-kwasi-fosu\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":1},"title":"Overview and outline of the book of Nehemiah, by Rev Dr John Kwasi Fosu","author":"revfosu","date":"Februar 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Introduction This material looks at the general overview of the book of Nehemiah. By so doing, the general features that include the major characters, key words and division of the book. It is anticipated that this background study will enable us get a balance perspective. Significant features The book of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bible Studies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bible Studies","link":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/category\/bible-studies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4926,"url":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/2026\/08\/16\/relating-with-difficult-people-lessons-from-nehemiah-rev-dr-john-kwasi-fosua\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":2},"title":"Relating with Difficult People:  Lessons from Nehemiah | Rev Dr John Kwasi Fosua","author":"revfosu","date":"August 16, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Amazing Grace Baptist Church, Hamburg Bible Study Material on Emotional Intelligence \u00a0 Introduction Every Christian will meet difficult people. This is also true in the church. We may meet people who criticise, misunderstand, complain, discourage, or oppose us. The challenge is not always to change the difficult person. Often, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bible Studies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bible Studies","link":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/category\/bible-studies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1559,"url":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/2021\/06\/25\/resisting-the-schemes-of-the-enemy-neh-610-14-by-rev-dr-john-kwasi-fosu\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":3},"title":"Resisting the schemes of the enemy (Neh 6:10-14), by Rev Dr. John Kwasi Fosu","author":"revfosu","date":"Juni 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Introduction At this point in our studies on the book of Nehemiah, it has become clear that Nehemiah has faced number of oppositions in his task of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. Yet with a sense of focus, prayer, discipline, hard work and teamwork, Nehemiah has continued to build the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bible Studies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bible Studies","link":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/category\/bible-studies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1500,"url":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/2021\/02\/26\/developing-vision-for-transformation-rev-dr-john-kwasi-fosu\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":4},"title":"DEVELOPING VISION FOR TRANSFORMATION, REV DR JOHN KWASI FOSU","author":"revfosu","date":"Februar 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Studies on Nehemiah 1:1-4, 10 Introduction Having studied the introductory material on the book of Nehemiah, this material begins our verse-by-verse studies of the book. The first chapter of the book gives a detailed account of how Nehemiah developed a passion to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Though in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bible Studies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bible Studies","link":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/category\/bible-studies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1434,"url":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/2021\/02\/05\/introducing-the-book-of-nehemiah-inspired-to-transform-lives-and-communities-by-rev-dr-john-kwasi-fosu\/","url_meta":{"origin":1538,"position":5},"title":"Introducing the book of Nehemiah: Inspired to transform lives and communities, by Rev Dr John Kwasi Fosu","author":"revfosu","date":"Februar 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Introduction Amazing Grace Baptist Church, Hamburg welcomes you to 2021, especially as we embark on the theme of divine transformation. In this year, it is anticipated that the members of the church will be strengthened in their hearts, minds, emotions and actions to the transformation God wants us to be.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bible Studies&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bible Studies","link":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/category\/bible-studies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62474923"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1538"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1540,"href":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1538\/revisions\/1540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazinggbc.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}