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The Plans of the Adversaries
v. 1. But it came to pass that, when Sanballat, the Samaritan leader, heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, being filled with jealous rage, and mocked the Jews, not daring to use violence on account of the favor shown the Jews by the Persian monarch.
v. 2. And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, for he may actually have brought an armed force in sight of Jerusalem to intimidate the Jews, and said, What do these feeble Jews? They were weak both as to wealth and as to numbers. Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? that is, Will they accomplish it by day, openly? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? He tried to show the absurdity of Nehemiah's undertaking in raising the walls on the old foundations, in using the charred, moldered, and broken stones of the first wall.
v. 3. Now, Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, Neh_2:10, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. Tobiah seconded his master in the attempted ridicule by declaring that the strength of a fox, many of which had made their dens on Mount Zion during the exile, Lam_5:18, was sufficient to overthrow the wall. At this point Nehemiah inserts a personal remark.
v. 4. Hear, O our God; for we are despised; and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity,
v. 5. and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before Thee; for they have provoked Thee to anger before the builders, in the sight of the Jews engaged in the work of building the walls, or, vexed with alarm the builders. It was not a vindictive utterance, but a prophetic prayer flowing from pious and patriotic zeal for the glory of God and the success of His cause.
v. 6. So built we the wall, continuing in spite of all the efforts of the enemies to discourage them; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof, the half of the intended height; for the people had a mind to work, with the exception of a few, who were related to the Samaritans, they worked with a will. Those who undertake the work of the Lord in true faith will not permit the ridicule of the enemies to discourage them, but will piously trust in the power of God to support them.