Nehemiah 6:2
That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief.
Sanballat and Geshem, with their allies, invited Nehemiah to meet them in one of the villages in the plain of Ono while he was rebuilding Jerusalem's wall as it neared completion. The invitation was framed as a friendly meeting and conference, a proposal for compromise, and a request for counsel and cooperation. It was only pretense concealing a hostile plot to do mischief.
Their thought was to draw him away from the work so as to delay it, to get him into their power in order to trap him, and to kill or imprison him, thereby harming both him and the work. The plot belonged to wider schemes to confuse the builders, weaken the courage of the Jews, and stir distrust, aided by false-hearted Jews among them. This included the false report that Nehemiah planned to rebel against the Persian king, to make himself king over Israel, and to turn his supporters into traitors.
God by the Holy Spirit enabled Nehemiah to discern their real purpose, and he refused their repeated invitations. The episode sets Sanballat's hatred, falsehood, and treachery against Nehemiah's nobility, devotion, and self-sacrifice. Nehemiah's response is an example that God's workers should not let attacks or deceptive invitations divert them from duty or draw them into a dangerous alliance with determined opponents.
Those who claim piety yet urge union with God's opponents should likewise be shunned, because their counsel can unsettle the faith of God's people. As the time of the end draws near, Satan will use human agents to try to distract God's workers in this way, but truth and right will prevail.