The Work Ridiculed
Sanballat and Tobiah mock the Jews in public, calling their effort weak, rushed, and doomed to collapse. Their ridicule is meant to shame the builders and make the work look impossible.
N1ow when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he was furious and filled with indignation. He ridiculed the Jews 2before his associates and the army of Samaria, saying, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Can they restore the wall by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones back to life from the mounds of rubble?” 3Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, “If even a fox were to climb up on what they are building, it would break down their wall of stones!”
Nehemiah answers the scorn with prayer, asking God to judge those who despise the builders. The people go on with the work, and the wall reaches half its height because their resolve holds.
4Hear us, O God, for we are despised. Turn their scorn back upon their own heads, and let them be taken as plunder to a land of captivity. 5Do not cover up their iniquity or let their sin be blotted out from Your sight, for they have provoked the builders. 6So we rebuilt the wall until all of it was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.
As the repairs continue and the gaps begin to close, the surrounding enemies grow angrier. Their mockery gathers into a plan to attack Jerusalem and stop the work by force.
7When Sanballat and Tobiah, together with the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites, heard that the repair to the walls of Jerusalem was progressing and that the gaps were being closed, they were furious, 8and all of them conspired to come and fight against Jerusalem and create a hindrance.