And it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we built the wall, he was angry and very indignant, and mocked the Jews.
The wall of Jerusalem is going up again, and word of the work reaches Sanballat. Two questions follow: why should a repaired wall enrage a man, and what should the builders do when the mockery starts?
What stirred him now was not the plan but the progress.
It was bad enough to find the work was begun. It was a great deal worse to find that it was going on, and that Nehemiah was not so easily frightened. Sanballat had threatened to report him as a rebel against the king. But where the heart is simple, there is no reason for such alarm. The more firmly Nehemiah honoured the authorities set over him, the more he could afford to ignore Sanballat's threats and scorn.
This wrath is one step in a longer series that runs through the whole book:
So we have very briefly examined the seven stages of opposition to God's own work. The grief of the enemy (Neh. 2:10); the laughter of the enemy (Neh. 2:19); his wrath (Neh. 4:1); mocking (Neh. 4:3); fighting (Neh. 4:8); scheming from outside (Neh. 5:1-9); scheming and danger from within (Neh. 6:10). And many a reader of this tract will say, "I have seen all seven in the opposition to God's work in our own day."
Sanballat was no plain outsider.
These relentless enemies of the Jews hated them all the more because they themselves had some knowledge of the true God. Sanballat led the forces of Samaria, where their idol worship was not completely separated from the worship of the Lord. In religion, mixing the true with the false is far more hostile to Christian testimony than plain paganism. A world that has taken its religion from the Bible and the Gospels often leads this opposition. It has made its creed out of certain scriptural truths. It cannot bear those who build the wall and the gates of the city of God, for these defences are against itself.
Anger came first, but ridicule was what he spoke aloud.
It is worth noticing that, while hatred of God and His will lies underneath, mockery is a common means. No method is more available to shallow people or more effective with the coarse. And we can see in Scripture and in experience that what is high and holy is especially open to ridicule. Some have so little conscience that they indulge in it, and others too little to resent the offence.
Rossier notes that the world's hostility "begins by mockery, which frightens the timid more than hatred does." We feel its pull, he adds, when our hearts have not broken with the world.
The scorn was a mask.
At first, however, the opposers try to hide their real rage. They pretend to despise a feeble people and their puny efforts, which, they say, a fox would bring to nothing. If that were really the case, they need not have troubled themselves further. They could very well leave the matter to the fox to deal with.
His taunting questions each betray something he wanted to prevent:
"Will they fortify themselves?" he asked. His very attitude showed that they did need to fortify themselves against him! Also, "Will they offer sacrifices?" In other words, he did not want them to honour God by sacrificing to Him. "Will they complete it in a day?" He feared the energy with which they were working.
Nehemiah neither argued nor retaliated. He took the insult straight to God, and the ground of his appeal is worth noticing.
He simply turned to God, sure that He cared for His people. God would be their defence and their shield, for they were busy in His own service. And it is always a blessed thing when we can take all the enemy's revilings to God and leave them with Him. In our natural energy and impatience we too often try to meet the enemy in our own strength. But faith turns the eye upward and commits everything to the Lord… And notice his plea — "For we are despised." God's people are precious in His sight, and to despise them is to despise Him.
The outcome settles the argument the mockers started:
Opposition did not stop the work: in fact, "the people had a mind to work." May we too keep on in the work of the Lord despite all opposition. God gives special grace at such times.
- Progress provokes. The wall being begun annoyed Sanballat; the wall going on enraged him. Opposition rising is a sign the work is real, not a sign it is wrong.
- Nearness sharpens hatred. Sanballat knew something of the true God. That mix of true and false proved more hostile than plain paganism.
- Mockery is cheap. Hatred sits underneath, but ridicule is spoken aloud. It is easy for the shallow, effective with the coarse, and frightening to the timid.
- Scorn hides fear. If the builders were truly feeble, the enemy could have left them to the fox; the sneer itself proves he was afraid.
- Prayer answers reproach. Nehemiah handed the insult to God: "we are despised." To despise God's people is to despise Him — and the work went on.
And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? shall they be permitted to go on? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, when they are burned?
The wall of Jerusalem is going up, and the first counter-attack is not a sword but a speech. Sanballat mocks the builders before the army of Samaria — yet why bother mocking work that is going nowhere?
One commentator points out that the sneer contradicts itself.
The language of both Sanballat and Tobiah did not match their feelings. It is in verse 1 that we find their real state of mind. Wrath and indignation filled their souls. They knew very well what the work of the Israelites meant. But when they spoke, they hid their anger behind pretended contempt. But suppose the "feeble Jews" were working for nothing. Suppose the wall they were building was a worthless thing. Then why the anger of Sanballat and Tobiah?
Notice where Sanballat stood when he spoke: "before his brothers and the army of Samaria."
These relentless enemies of the Jews hated them all the more because they themselves had some knowledge of the true God. Sanballat led the forces of Samaria. There the worship of idols was never fully separated from the worship of Jehovah. This is what we will always find. The mixture of the true with the false, in religion, is far more hostile to Christian testimony than plain paganism is.
Another writer asks who such men represent.
They were active, boastful, clever men of authority in the land, but not of it. Do they not, then, represent the active, boastful, clever men of authority inside the professing church? They are really strangers to God, and not of the church at all. They are the enemies and opposers of those who want to carry on the work of God.
Mockery does its damage inside us, not outside.
The world's hostility begins with mockery, which frightens the timid more than hatred does. Mockery easily takes hold of us all, if our hearts have not broken with our old ties to the world. Then we will fear ridicule and scorn. We will pull back from open fellowship with this humbled people, "these weak Jews," who claim to repair the breaches.
Sanballat asks four questions — about the work, the worship, the speed, and the burnt stones. The ESV reads the first as "Will they restore it for themselves?"; the older wording quoted below is "Shall they be permitted to go on?" None of the four is a pure lie.
Looking only at the outward circumstances, the enemy could call this little remnant "feeble" with some show of truth. They could fairly ask whether these people would be allowed to go on. Would they sacrifice? Would they "finish"? Would they "revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish"? But in asking such questions they left out God and His grace. They talked nonsense about a fox.
The striking thing is everything Nehemiah does not do.
The course Nehemiah takes to meet this attack is simple and instructive. He faces the rage of Sanballat, "his brothers, and the army of Samaria." He refuses to be drawn into any argument with them. He makes no appeal to them. He suggests no compromise with them. He does not go out to fight them. He turns to God.
His prayer rests on one ground: the insult falls on people God values.
Notice his plea — "for we are despised." God's people are precious in His sight, and to despise them is to despise Him. Nehemiah had grasped this, and so made his appeal to the heart of God.
One writer sets the enemy's boast beside the builders' record.
Tobiah says, "If a fox went up, it would break down their stone wall." But Nehemiah says, "we built the wall." The Jebusites said to David, "You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will drive you back." Yet "David took the stronghold of Zion."
The taunt still gets repeated, and one writer calls it an honour to hear it.
Men may mock the little, feeble company. They may say, "What are these feeble Jews doing?" as we seek to build the wall, or set up the temple and the altar, separated from everything that is not of God. But if Christ's glory fills the heart, we long to bear His reproach — it is an honour.
- Rage first. The mockery is a mask. Verse 1 shows the real feeling; if the work were truly worthless, no one would bother sneering at it.
- Rage from religion. The attack comes out of Samaria, where religion blended truth with error. That blend fights God's work harder than open unbelief.
- Rage half right. "Feeble," "burnt stones," "in a day" — the facts were roughly right. What the taunt left out was God and His grace.
- Rage answered by prayer. Nehemiah argues nothing and offers no compromise. He turns to God: to despise His people is to despise Him.
- Rage outbuilt. Tobiah predicted a fox could flatten it. The record reads: we built the wall.
And Tobijah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox went up, it would break down their stone wall. --
Tobiah stands at Sanballat's elbow as the wall of Jerusalem rises. He adds his own jab: a fox would flatten that stonework. Behind the joke lie two questions for anyone doing God's work. Why does the enemy reach for ridicule, and how do the builders answer it?
The sneer does not match the mood it came from. Read the verses before it, and the real feeling is anger; the contempt is a costume.
The language of both Sanballat and Tobiah did not match their feelings. It is in verse 1 that we find their real state of mind. Wrath and indignation filled their souls. They knew very well what the activity of the children of Israel meant. But when they spoke, they hid their anger behind pretended contempt.
The taunt also argues against itself. If the wall were that flimsy, why fight it at all?
At first the opposers try to cover their real feelings of rage. They pretend contempt for a feeble people and their puny efforts, which, they say, a fox would bring to nothing. If that were true, there would have been no need to trouble themselves further. They could very well leave the matter to the fox.
The insult works by an image. Picture a fox on the stonework, and you have Tobiah's estimate of the builders' work.
Tobiah joined in. "If a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall" was his biting taunt. A fox springs lightly. What sort of wall would it be if his spring broke it down? A dry stone dyke — no bonding, no strength — weakness itself.
Scorn is chosen because it lands where threats do not. It works on people who still care what the other side thinks of them.
The world's hostility begins with mockery, which frightens the timid more than hatred does. We all feel the influence of mockery easily if our hearts have not broken with former ties to the world. In that case we will fear ridicule and disdain. We will draw back from openly joining this humbled people, "these weak Jews", who claim to repair the breaches.
Measured by resources alone, the mockers had a case. Their mistake was in what they never entered into the sum.
Looking only at the outward circumstances, the enemy can with some show of truth call this little remnant "feeble." They can well ask whether this remnant will be allowed to go on — to sacrifice, to finish, to raise the stones again out of the heaps of rubbish. But in such questions they left out God and His grace, and talked folly about a fox.
Nehemiah does not answer Tobiah at all. He takes the insult straight to God, and the apostles later did the same.
What does Nehemiah say? At once he turns to the Lord — "Hear, O our God, for we are despised." So it was also in the early days of the church of God. The apostles were beaten and threatened, but what did they do? They spread it out before the Lord, and the Lord answered. He answers with His own power. The Spirit shakes the building where they are, and with great power He gave them to witness for Him.
Nehemiah had known disgrace before, but of an opposite kind. The same word covers two very different situations.
The enemy left God out; Nehemiah brings God in. He admits that the people are despised and under "reproach." When he was in Babylon he had admitted the same reproach. But how different the circumstances! Then they were in reproach because the wall lay in ruins. Now they are in reproach because they are building it. In the first case reproach was to their shame; now it is to their honour.
The taunt gets no argument in reply, only a record of what was done. Boast and outcome stand side by side — twice.
Tobiah says: "If a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall." But Nehemiah says, "we built the wall." The Jebusites said to David: "You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off." But "David took the stronghold of Zion."
- Mask — The contempt in the taunt is a costume. Verse 1 shows the real feeling: rage. Mockery is only the first weapon reached for.
- Bluff — A wall a fox could flatten needs no enemy. The trouble they take gives their contempt away.
- Omission — Count the outward circumstances and the enemy's sum looks right. It leaves out God and His grace.
- Appeal — Nehemiah answers neither insult nor insulter. He tells God, "we are despised," as the apostles later spread threats before the Lord.
- Honour — Reproach for a ruined wall is shame; reproach for building it is honour. And the chapter's own verdict on the fox is short: "we built the wall."