Nehemiah 6:1-4

The plot to distract Nehemiah 6:1-4

The plain of Ono, to which Nehemiah’s adversaries invited him for a meeting (Nehemiah 6:2), lay about 25 miles west and a little north of Jerusalem near Ashdod and Judah’s border with Samaria. Israel’s present international airport at Lod, just east of Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean coast, is very close to this site. It was in a kind of no-man’s land between Judah and Samaria. If Nehemiah had accepted this invitation he would have been many miles from Jerusalem for at least two days. This would have given the people of the land opportunity to attack the Jewish workmen.

"Chephirim" (Nehemiah 6:2) may be the proper name of a town. However since it is the plural of the Hebrew word for village it may be a general reference to the towns on the Ono plain. Another possibility is that this Hebrew word should be translated "with the lions" and that this is a figurative reference to the princes of the surrounding provinces. [Note: Richard Schiemann, "Covenanting with the Princes: Neh. VI:2," Vetus Testamentum 17 (July 1967):367-69.] Nehemiah turned down four invitations to this meeting (Nehemiah 6:4).