Sanballat and Tobiah express strong animosity towards the Jewish efforts to rebuild Jerusalem's wall, mocking the Jews and questioning their capability and resources. Despite this ridicule, Nehemiah remains steadfast, praying to God and continuing the work, which progresses to half the height of the wall. The initial hostility, marked by insults, ultimately fails to deter the reconstruction efforts, demonstrating the resilience of Nehemiah and his people.

1. EHEMIAH 4 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
Opposition to the Rebuilding
1 [a]When Sanballat heard that we were
rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was
greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews,
GILL, "But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the
wall,.... Or were building it; for as yet it was not finished, see Neh_4:6,
he was wroth, and took great indignation; inwardly, though outwardly he
pretended to treat the work with contempt, as if it never would be accomplished, which
yet he feared:
and mocked the Jews; as a set of foolish builders, and unable to finish what they had
begun.
HE RY 1-2, "Here is, I. The spiteful scornful reflection which Sanballat and Tobiah
cast upon the Jews for their attempt to build the wall about Jerusalem. The country rang
of it presently; intelligence was brought of it to Samaria, that nest of enemies to the Jews
and their prosperity; and here we are told how they received the tidings. 1. In heart. They
were very angry at the undertaking, and had great indignation, Neh_4:1. It vexed them
that Nehemiah came to seek the welfare of the children of Israel (Neh_2:10); but, when
they heard of this great undertaking for their good, they were out of all patience. They
had hitherto pleased themselves with the thought that while Jerusalem was unwalled
they could swallow it up and make themselves masters of it when they pleased; but, if it
be walled, it will not only be fenced against them, but by degrees become formidable to
them. The strength and safety of the church are the grief and vexation of its enemies. 2.
In word. They despised it, and made it the subject of their ridicule. In this they
sufficiently displayed their malice; but good was brought out of it; for, looking upon it as
a foolish undertaking that would sink under its own weight, they did not go about to
obstruct it till it was too late. Let us see with what pride and malice they set themselves
publicly to banter it. (1.) Sanballat speaks with scorn of the workmen: “These feeble
Jews” (Neh_4:2), “what will they do for materials? Will they revive the stones out of the
rubbish? And what mean they by being so hasty? Do they think to make the walling of a
city but one day's work, and to keep the feast of dedication with sacrifice the next day?

2. Poor silly people! See how ridiculous they make themselves!” (2.) Tobiah speaks with no
less scorn of the work itself. He has his jest too, and must show his wit, Neh_4:3.
Profane scoffers sharpen one another. “Sorry work,” says he, “they are likely to make of
it; they themselves will be ashamed of it: If a fox go up, not with his subtlety, but with
his weight, he will break down their stone wall.” Many a good work has been thus
looked upon with contempt by the proud and haughty scorners.
JAMISO , "Neh_4:1-6. While the enemies scoff, Nehemiah prays to God, and
continues the work.
when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth — The
Samaritan faction showed their bitter animosity to the Jews on discovering the
systematic design of refortifying Jerusalem. Their opposition was confined at first to
scoffs and insults, in heaping which the governors made themselves conspicuous, and
circulated all sorts of disparaging reflections that might increase the feelings of hatred
and contempt for them in their own party. The weakness of the Jews in respect of wealth
and numbers, the absurdity of their purpose apparently to reconstruct the walls and
celebrate the feast of dedication in one day, the idea of raising the walls on their old
foundations, as well as using the charred and moldering debris of the ruins as the
materials for the restored buildings, and the hope of such a parapet as they could raise
being capable of serving as a fortress of defense - these all afforded fertile subjects of
hostile ridicule.
K&D 1-2, "The ridicule of Tobiah and Sanballat. - As soon as Sanballat heard that we
were building (‫ים‬ִ‫ּנ‬ , partic., expresses not merely the resolve or desire to build, but also
the act of commencing), he was wroth and indignant, and vented his anger by ridiculing
the Jews, saying before his brethren, i.e., the rulers of his people, and the army of
Samaria (‫יל‬ ֵ‫,ח‬ like Est_1:3; 2Ki_18:17), - in other words, saying publicly before his
associates and subordinates, - “What do these feeble Jews? will they leave it to
themselves? will they sacrifice? will they finish it to-day? will they revive the stones out
of the heaps that are burned?” ‫ים‬ ִ‫ּשׂ‬‫ע‬ ‫ה‬ ָ‫,מ‬ not, What will they do? (Bertheau), for the
participle is present, and does not stand for the future; but, What are they doing? The
form ‫ל‬ ָ‫ל‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ֲ‫,א‬ withered, powerless, occurs here only. The subject of the four succeeding
interrogative sentences must be the same. And this is enough to render inadmissible the
explanation offered by older expositors of ‫ם‬ ֶ‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ ‫בוּ‬ְ‫ז‬ ַ‫ע‬ַ‫י‬ ֲ‫:ה‬ Will they leave to them, viz., will the
neighbouring nations or the royal prefects allow them to build? Here, as in the case of
the following verbs, the subject can only be the Jews. Hence Ewald seeks, both here and
in Neh_4:8, to give to the verb ‫ב‬ַ‫ז‬ ָ‫ע‬ the meaning to shelter: Will they make a shelter for
themselves, i.e., will they fortify the town? But this is quite arbitrary. Bertheau more
correctly compares the passage, Psa_10:14, ‫ים‬ ִ‫ּה‬‫ל‬ ֱ‫א‬ ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ ‫נוּ‬ ְ‫ב‬ַ‫ז‬ ָ‫,ע‬ we leave it to God; but
incorrectly infers that here also we must supply ‫אלהים‬ ‫,על‬ and that, Will they leave to
themselves? means, Will they commit the matter to God. This mode of completing the
sense, however, can by no means be justified; and Bertheau's conjecture, that the Jews
now assembling in Jerusalem, before commencing the work itself, instituted a
devotional solemnity which Sanballat was ridiculing, is incompatible with the correct

3. rendering of the participle. ‫ב‬ַ‫ז‬ ָ‫ע‬ construed with ְ‫ל‬ means to leave, to commit a matter to
any one, like Psa_10:14, and the sense is: Will they leave the building of the fortified
walls to themselves? i.e., Do they think they are able with their poor resources to carry
out this great work? This is appropriately followed by the next question: Will they
sacrifice? i.e., bring sacrifices to obtain God's miraculous assistance? The ridicule lies in
the circumstance that Sanballat neither credited the Jews with ability to carry out the
work, nor believed in the overruling providence of the God whom the Jews worshipped,
and therefore casts scorn by ‫חוּ‬ ָ ְ‫ז‬ִ‫י‬ ֲ‫ה‬ both upon the faith of the Jews in their God and upon
the living God Himself. As these two questions are internally connected, so also are the
two following, by which Sanballat casts a doubt upon the possibility of the work being
executed. Will they finish (the work) on this day, i.e., to-day, directly? The meaning is: Is
this a matter to be as quickly executed as if it were the work of a single day? The last
question is: Have they even the requisite materials? Will they revive the stones out of the
heaps of rubbish which are burnt? The building-stone of Jerusalem was limestone,
which gets softened by fire, losing its durability, and, so to speak, its vitality. This
explains the use of the verb ‫ה‬ָ ִ‫,ח‬ to revive, bestow strength and durability upon the
softened crumbled stones, to fit the stones into a new building (Ges. Lex.). The
construction ‫ּות‬‫פ‬‫רוּ‬ ְ‫שׂ‬ ‫ה‬ ָ ֵ‫ה‬ְ‫ו‬ is explained by the circumstance that ‫ים‬ִ‫נ‬ ָ‫ב‬ ֲ‫א‬ is by its form
masculine, but by its meaning feminine, and that ‫ה‬ ָ ֵ‫ה‬ agrees with the form ‫.אבנים‬
COFFMA , "Verse 1
BITTER E EMIES OF ISRAEL OPPOSE REBUILDI G THE WALL
Two false interpretations of ehemiah thus far must be rejected. One we have
already noted, namely, the allegation that ehemiah 3 was not written by ehemiah
and that it was "injected" into ehemiah's narrative. The other is the inaccurate
allegation that ehemiah 3:3-6 "suggest the completion of the wall."[1] o such
suggestion is found in ehemiah 3. Oh yes, it says various workers "repaired!" this
or that section of the wall; but that only designates the different assignments to the
forty different companies of workers; and there's not a word in the whole chapter
that even hints that the walls were completed. If ehemiah had intended this third
chapter to indicate the completion of the wall, the dedication of it would have
followed at once.
This chapter records the hostility and bitterness of Israel's neighbors when they
became aware of ehemiah's rebuilding the city's fortifications. "Sanballat in
Samaria on the north, Tobiah and the Ammonites on the east, Geshem and his
Arabs to the south, and the Ashdodites and all the Philistines who had hated Israel
from the times of Saul and David,"[2] - all of these surrounding neighbors were
outraged and disgusted with the prospect of Jerusalem's restoration; and they
opposed it in every way possible.
THE E EMIES BEGI THEIR ATTACK WITH RIDICULE A D MOCKERY
"But it came to pass that, when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he

4. was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. And he spake before
his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing?
will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will
they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, seeing they are burned? ow
Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they are building, if
a fox go up, he shall break down their stone wall. Hear, O our God; for we are
despised: and turn back their reproach upon their own head, and give them up for a
spoil in a land of captivity; 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. So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto half the
height thereof: for the people had a mind to work."
This was only the first phase of Sanballat's efforts to stop the fortification of
Jerusalem. When this failed, he would try other measures. However, except for the
remarkable ability and skill of ehemiah, this initial opposition of laughter, ridicule
and insults might have proved successful. " othing makes the enemies of the Lord's
work any more indignant than the success of God's people."[3]
The nature of the insults heaped upon the Jews here was calculated to discourage
them. They were called, "feeble Jews"; "will they fortify themselves"? was asked in
a tone of unbelief. "The very idea that these people would contemplate such a
thing." "Will they sacrifice"? was a way of asking, "Do they expect their God to do
this for them'? "Will they revive the stones ... seeing they are burned"? "The effect
of fire is to crack and weaken stone";[4] and this insult was merely a charge that the
Jews did not have the material to rebuild the walls. Insults hurt, even if they are
untrue. This one was only true in a very limited frame of reference. The stones from
the vast majority of the ruined walls were in excellent condition. Only those ruined
by the burned wooden gates would have been affected.
"If a fox go up, he shall break down their stone wall" ( ehemiah 4:3). "Foxes were
mentioned, perhaps, from their having been known in large numbers to infest the
ruined walls of Jerusalem, as recorded in Lamentations 5:18)."[5] This insult was
that of Tobiah.
"Hear, O our God, for we are despised ..." ( ehemiah 4:4,5). This writer agrees
with Jamieson that, "This prayer is not marked by hatred, vengeance, nor any other
sinful passion, and that it exhibits a pious and patriotic zeal for the glory of God and
the success of his cause."[6] As we noted in our discussion of the so-called
imprecatory Psalms, many of the things that current scholars are saying about such
prayers evidences a claim of superior righteousness that we believe is unjustified.
Rawlinson wrote that, "Before men were taught to love their enemies and to bless
them that cursed them (Matthew 5:44), they gave vent to their natural feelings of
anger and indignation by the utterance of maledictions in their prayers."[7] "The
violence of ehemiah's imprecations here ( ehemiah 4:4) grates harshly on modern
ears; but it should be remembered that such vehemence against enemies appears
repeatedly in the Psalms (Psalms 79:4-12; 123:3-4, and Psalms 137:7-9)."[8] (We

5. have discussed this fully under those references in our Commentary on The Psalms.)
Christians should remember that when they pray for God's will to be done, for
righteouness and truth to prevail, and for the righteous to be protected and blessed,
that there is most certainly a corollary to such a prayer; and that is that falsehood
shall be repudiated, the wicked defeated, frustrated, and checkmated, and that the
wicked shall indeed be cast into hell. There was nothing in ehemiah's prayer that
is not contained embryonically in every prayer of a Christian today.
" ehemiah's short prayer here is parenthetical; and such prayers form one of the
most striking characteristics of ehemiah's history. This is the first one, and others
are in ehemiah 5:19; 6:9,14; and ehemiah 13:14,22,29,31."[9]
"So we built the wall ... unto half the height thereof" ( ehemiah 4:6). "This means
that the entire continuous wall had been constructed up to one half the
contemplated height."[10] The taunting ridicule and mockery of the neighboring
enemies had not succeeded in stopping construction.
BE SO , "Verse 1-2
ehemiah 4:1-2. And mocked the Jews — Pretending contempt in his words, when
he had grief, anger, and vexation in his heart. And he spake before his brethren —
Before Tobiah, Geshem, and others, whom ehemiah calls his brethren, because of
their conjunction with him in office and interest. And the army in Samaria —
Whom he hereby designed to incense against them, or, at least, whose minds he
thought thus to learn. What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify, &c. — Do they
intend to begin and finish the work, and keep the feast of dedication by sacrifice, all
in one day? For if they spend any long time about it, they cannot think that we and
the rest of their neighbours will suffer them to do it. Thus he persuaded himself and
his companions that their attempt was ridiculous; and this mistake kept him from
giving them any disturbance till it was too late. So did God infatuate him to his own
grief and shame, and to the advantage of the Jews. Will they revive the stones out of
the heaps of rubbish? — Will they pick up their broken stones out of the ruins, and
patch them together? Which are burned — Which stones were burned, and broken
by the Chaldeans, when they took the city.
TRAPP, "Verse 1
ehemiah 4:1 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the
wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.
Ver. 1. But it came to pass] The devil and his imps have ever been utter enemies to
reformation. So do savage beasts bristle up themselves, and make the most fierce
assaults, when they are in danger of losing the prey which they had once seized on.
Jabeshgilead would send in none to help the Lord against the mighty, 21:9. o more
would Meroz, 5:23. Josiah met with much opposition; so did St Paul wherever he
came, to set up evangelical and spiritual worship; which is called a reformation,
Hebrews 9:10. All the world was against Athanasius in his generation, and Luther
in his; rejecting what they attempted, with scorn and slander. Here it is quarrel
enough to ehemiah and his Jews, that they would be no longer miserable. They

6. were not more busy in building than the enemies active in deriding, conspiring,
practising to hinder and overthrow them. A double derision is here recorded; and
both as full of mischief as profane wit or rancoured malice could make them.
He was wroth] Heb. He was enkindled, and all on a light fire; he was as hot as
ebuchadnezzar’s oven, very hot, he took great indignation, and was so
unreasonably enraged, as if he would have fallen forthwith into a frenzy or
apoplexy; as that Roman emperor did, by raging at his servant. He was grieved
before, ehemiah 2:1, but now he was maddened.
And mocked the Jews] By word and gesture, fleering and jeering, flouting and
scoffing at them, as the Pharisees also did at our Saviour, Luke 16:14; David’s
enemies at him, upon their ale bench; Sir Thomas More and other learned Papists,
at the new gospellers. See ehemiah 2:19. This might have dismayed these poor
Jews, and put them out of countenance: for our nature is most impatient with
reproaches; there being none so mean but thinks himself worthy of some regard:
and a reproachful scorn (such as these here) shows an utter disrespect, which
issueth from the very superfluity of malice. If God had not strengthened them, saith
one, it would have made them leave their work, and run away.
CO STABLE, "Verses 1-23
2. The opposition to the workers ch4
Any attempt to fulfill God"s desires will almost certainly draw opposition from
God"s enemies.
"The real test of a leader is how he or she faces crises and reacts to opposition. This
chapter recounts several forms of opposition and how ehemiah confronted them."
[ ote: Breneman, p193.]
The Jews" enemies used ridicule ( ehemiah 4:1-6), as well as armed resistance (
ehemiah 4:8), to oppose the work. A better translation of the Hebrew word
rendered "wealthy" ( ehemiah 4:2) is "army."
"The Hebrew root "mll is occasionally used in the OT to denote the fading or
withering of a plant ( Isaiah 16:8; Isaiah 24:7; etc.). It is also used of people without
any hope ( Isaiah 19:8; Hosea 4:3). It is employed here in ehemiah [translated
"feeble," ehemiah 4:2, ASB, IV] to ridicule the Jews." [ ote: Fensham, p180.]
ehemiah based his imprecatory prayer ( ehemiah 4:4-5) on God"s promise that
He would bless those who blessed Abraham"s descendants, and curse those who
cursed them ( Genesis 12:1-3).
"God"s people should always regard prayer not as a last resort but as our primary
weapon against opposition." [ ote: Breneman, p194.]

7. We should probably understand ehemiah"s request that God would not forgive
their sin ( ehemiah 4:5) as referring to their sin of opposing the builders, not all
their sins. John Bright considered ehemiah "not ... an overly modest man." [ ote:
Bright, p373.] This is a minority opinion.
"The iniquities and sins were committed by sneering at the work God had
commanded. The prayer was thus not vindictive because the Jews were insulted, but
because God"s work was ridiculed." [ ote: Fensham, p182.]
"To understand such violent language, we need to appreciate fully the sense of the
divine purpose at work, so that opposition is not seen in human terms but as
opposition to God himself." [ ote: Peter Ackroyd, I and 2 Chronicles ,, Ezra ,,
ehemiah , pp277-78.]
Furthermore, God had already pronounced judgment on Israel"s enemies, so
ehemiah was praying according to God"s will that He would deliver Jerusalem
from her enemies ( Joshua 1:5). Finally, ehemiah was asking God to take
vengeance, which is His work, not the work of ehemiah or other believers (cf.
Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19). [ ote: Gene A. Getz, " ehemiah ," in The
Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, p682.]
ehemiah and the people"s responses to opposition-prayer, continued work, and
self-defense ( ehemiah 4:9)-are the proper ones whenever an enemy seeks to stop
the building of what God has commanded (e.g, His church, cf. Matthew 16:18).
With the added opposition of the Ashdodites, the residents of a formerly Philistine
town ( ehemiah 4:7), the Jews" enemies surrounded them on all sides: north,
south, east, and west. Josephus wrote, "They slew many of the Jews." [ ote: Flavius
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 11:5:8.] The workers became discouraged by their
own fatigue, the immensity of their task, and the threats of their enemies (
ehemiah 4:10-12). ehemiah responded by increasing security, focusing their
attention again on God, and reminding them of their duty to protect their families
and property ( ehemiah 4:13-14). Oliver Cromwell similarly counseled, "Trust in
God and keep your [gun]powder dry." C. H. Spurgeon advised his students, "Pray
as if everything depended on God, then preach as if everything depended on you."
[ ote: Quoted by J. G. McConville, Ezra ,, ehemiah , and Esther , p95.] His
approach proved effective ( ehemiah 4:15-16). The Jews were willing to make
temporary sacrifices and endure some discomfort to finish the work God had given
them to do ( ehemiah 4:17-23). In this they are models for all of us who serve God.
EXPOSITOR'A BIBLE COMME TARY, "O GUARD
ehemiah 2:10;, ehemiah 2:19;, ehemiah 4:1-23
ALL his arrangements for rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem show that ehemiah
was awake to the dangers with which he was surrounded. The secrecy of his night

8. ride was evidently intended to prevent a premature revelation of his plans. The
thorough organisation, the mapping out of the whole line of the wall, and the
dividing of the building operations among forty-two bands of workpeople secured
equal and rapid progress on all sides. Evidently the idea was to "rush" the work,
and to have it fairly well advanced, so as to afford a real protection for the citizens,
before any successful attempts to frustrate it could be carried out. Even with all
these precautions, ehemiah was harassed and hindered for a time by the malignant
devices of his enemies. It was only to be expected that he would meet with
opposition. But a few years before all the Syrian colonists had united in extracting
an order from Artaxerxes for the arrest of the earlier work of building the walls,
because the Jews had made themselves intensely obnoxious to their neighbours by
sending back the wives they had married from among the Gentile peoples. The
jealousy of Samaria, which had taken the lead in Palestine so long as Jerusalem was
in evidence, envenomed this animosity still more. Was it likely then that her
watchful foes would hear with equanimity of the revival of the hated city-a city
which must have seemed to them the very embodiment of the anti-social spirit?
ow, however, since a favourite servant of the Great King had been appointed
governor of Jerusalem, the Satrap of the Syrian provinces could scarcely be
expected to interfere. Therefore the initiative fell into the hands of smaller men, who
found it necessary to abandon the method of direct hostility, and to proceed by
means of intrigues and ambuscades. There were three who made themselves
notorious in this undignified course of procedure. Two of them are mentioned in
connection with the journey of ehemiah up to Jerusalem. [ ehemiah 2:10] The
first, the head of the whole opposition, is Sanballat, who is called the Horonite,
seemingly because he is a native of one of the Beth-horons, and who appears to be
the governor of the city of Samaria, although this is not stated. Throughout the
history he comes before us repeatedly as the foe of the rival governor of Jerusalem.
ext to him comes Tobiah, a chief of the little trans-Jordanic tribe of the
Ammonites, some of whom had got into Samaria in the strange mixing up of peoples
after the Babylonian conquest. He is called the servant, possibly because he once
held some post at court, and if so he may have been personally jealous of
ehemiah’s promotion.
Sanbaltat and his supporter Tobiah were subsequently joined by an Arabian Emir
named Geshem. His presence in the group of conspirators would be surprising if we
had not been unexpectedly supplied with the means of accounting for it in the
recently deciphered inscription which tells how Sargon imported an Arabian colony
into Samaria. The Arab would scent prey in the project of a warlike expedition
The opposition proceeded warily. At first we are only told that when Sanballat and
his friend Tobiah heard of the coming of ehemiah, "grieved them exceedingly that
there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel." [ ehemiah 2:10]
In writing these caustic words ehemiah implies that the jealous men had no
occasion to fear that he meant any harm to them, and that they knew this. It seems
very hard to him, then, that they should begrudge any alleviation of the misery of
the poor citizens of Jerusalem. What was that to them? Jealousy might foresee the

9. possibility of future loss from the recovery of the rival city, and in this they might
find the excuse for their action, an excuse for not anticipating which so fervent a
patriot as ehemiah may be forgiven; nevertheless the most greedy sense of self-
interest on the part of these men is lost sight of in the virulence of their hatred to the
Jews. This is always the case with that cruel infatuation-the Anti-Semitic rage. Here
it is that hatred passes beyond mere anger. Hatred is actually pained at the welfare
of its object. It suffers from a Satanic misery. The venom which it fails to plant in its
victim rankles in its own breast.
At first we only hear of this odious distress of the jealous neighbours. But the
prosecutions of ehemiah’s designs immediately lead to a manifestation of open
hostility-verbal in the beginning. o sooner had the Jews made it evident that they
were responsive to their leader’s appeal and intended to rise and build, than they
were assailed with mockery. The Samaritan and Ammonite leaders were now joined
by the Arabian, and together they sent a message of scorn and contempt, asking the
handful of poor Jews whether they were fortifying the city in order to rebel against
the king. The charge of a similar intention had been the cause of stopping the work
on the previous occasion. [Ezra 4:13] ow that Artaxerxes’ favourite cup-bearer
was at the head of affairs, any suspicion of treason was absurd, but since hatred is
singularly blind-far more blind than love-it is barely possible that the malignant
mockers hoped to raise a suspicion. On the other hand, there is no evidence to show
that they followed the example of the previous opposition and reported to
headquarters. For the present they seem to have contented themselves with bitter
raillery. This is a weapon before which weak men too often give way. But ehemiah
was not so foolish as to succumb beneath a shower of poor, ill-natured jokes.
His answer is firm and dignified. [ ehemiah 2:20] It contains three assertions. The
first is the most important. ehemiah is not ashamed to confess the faith which is
the source of all his confidence. In the eyes of men the Jews may appear but a feeble
folk, quite unequal to the task of holding their ground in the midst of a swarm of
angry foes. If ehemiah had only taken account of the political and military aspects
of affairs, he might have shrunk from proceeding. But it is just the mark of his true
greatness that he always has his eye fixed on a Higher Power. He knows that God is
in the project, and therefore he is sure that it must prosper. When a man can reach
this conviction, mockery and insult do not move him. He has climbed to a serene
altitude, from which he can look down with equanimity on the boiling clouds that
are now far beneath his feet. Having this sublime ground of confidence, ehemiah is
able to proceed to his second point-his assertion of the determination of the Jews to
arise and build. This is quite positive and absolute. The brave man states it, too, in
the clearest possible language. ow the work is about to begin there is to be no
subterfuge or disguise. ehemiah’s unflinching determination is based on the
religious confession that precedes it. The Jews are God’s servants, they are engaged
in His work, they know He will prosper them, therefore they most certainly will not
stay their hand for all the gibes and taunts of their neighbours. Lastly, ehemiah
contemptuously repudiates the claim of these impertinent intruders to interfere in
the work of the Jews, he tells them that they have no excuse for their meddling, for
they own no property in Jerusalem, they have no right of citizenship or of control

10. from without, and there are no tombs of their ancestors in the sacred city.
In this message of ehemiah’s we seem to hear an echo of the old words with which
the temple-builders rejected the offer of assistance from the Samaritans, and which
were the beginning of the whole course of jealous antagonism on the part of the
irritated neighbours. But the circumstances are entirely altered. It is not a friendly
offer of co-operation, but its very opposite, a hostile and insulting message designed
to hinder the Jews, that is here so proudly resented. In the reply of ehemiah we
hear the church refusing to bend to the will of the world, because the world has no
right to trespass on her territory. God’s work is not to be tampered with by insolent
meddlers. Jewish exclusiveness is painfully narrow, at least in our estimation of it,
when it refuses to welcome strangers or to recognise the good that lies outside the
sacred enclosure, but this same characteristic becomes a noble quality, with high
ethical and religious aims, when it firmly refuses to surrender its duty to God at the
bidding of the outside world. The Christian can scarcely imitate ehemiah’s tone
and temper in this matter, and yet if he is loyal to his God he will feel that he must
be equally decided and uncompromising in declining to give up any part of what he
believes to be his service of Christ to please men who unhappily as yet have "no
part, or right, or memorial" in the ew Jerusalem, although, unlike the Jew of old,
he will be only too glad that all men should come in and share his privileges.
After receiving an annoying answer it was only natural that the antagonistic
neighbours of the Jews should be still more embittered in their animosity. At the
first news of his coming to befriend the children of Israel, as ehemiah says,
Sanballat and Tobiah were grieved, but when the building operations were actually
in process the Samaritan leader passed from vexation to rage-"he was wroth and
took great indignation." [ ehemiah 4:1] This man now assumed the lead in
opposition to the Jews. His mockery became more bitter and insulting. In this he
was joined by his friend the Ammonite, who declared that if only one of the foxes
that prowl on the neighbouring hills were to jump upon the wall the creature would
break it down. [ ehemiah 4:3] Perhaps he had received a hint from some of his
spies that the new work that had been so hastily pressed forward was not any too
solid. The "Palestine Exploration Fund" has brought to light the foundations of
what is believed to be a part of ehemiah’s wall at Ophel, and the base of it is seen
to be of rubble, not founded on the rock, but built on the clay above, so that it has
been possible to drive a mine under it from one side to the other-a rough piece of
work, very different from the beautifully finished temple walls.
ehemiah met the renewed shower of insults in a startling manner. He cursed his
enemies. [ ehemiah 4:4] Deploring before God the contempt that was heaped on the
Jews, he prayed that the reproach of the enemies might be turned on their own
head, devoted them to the horrors of a new captivity, and even went so far as to beg
that no atonement might be found for their iniquity, that their sin might not be
blotted out. In a word, instead of himself forgiving his enemies, he besought that
they might not be forgiven by God. We shudder as we read his terrible words. This
is not the Christ spirit. It is even contrary to the less merciful spirit of the Old
Testament. Yet, to be just to ehemiah, we must consider the whole case. It is most

11. unfair to tear his curse out of the history and gibbet it as a specimen of Jewish piety.
Even strong men who will not give way before ridicule may feel its stabs-for
strength is not inconsistent with sensitiveness. Evidently ehemiah was irritated,
but then he was much provoked. For the moment he lost his self-possession. We
must remember that the strain of his great undertaking was most exhausting, and
we must be patient with the utterances of one so sorely tried. If lethargic people
criticise adversely the hasty utterances of a more intense nature, they forget that,
though they may never lose their self-control, neither do they ever rouse themselves
to the daring energy of the man whose failings they blame. Then it was not any
personal insults hurled against himself that ehemiah resented so fiercely. It was his
work that the Samaritans were trying to hinder. This he believed to be really God’s
work, so that the insults offered to the Jews were also directed against God, who
must have been angry also. We cannot justify the curse by the standard of the
Christian law, but it is not reasonable to apply that standard to it. We must set it by
the side of the Maledictory Psalms. From the standpoint of its author it can be fully
accounted for. To say that even in this way it can be defended, however, is to go too
far. We have no occasion to persuade ourselves that any of the Old Testament saints
were immaculate, even in the light of Judaism. ehemiah was a great and good man,
yet he was not an Old Testament Christ.
But now more serious opposition was to be encountered. Such enemies as those
angry men of Samaria were not likely to be content with venting their spleen in idle
mockery. When they saw that the keenest shafts of their wit failed to stop the work
of the citizens of Jerusalem, Sanballat and his friends found it necessary to proceed
to more active measures, and accordingly they entered into a conspiracy for the
double purpose of carrying on actual warfare and of intriguing with disaffected
citizens of Jerusalem-"to cause confusion therein." [ ehemiah 4:8; ehemiah 4:11]
ehemiah was too observant and penetrating a statesman not to become aware of
what was going on, the knowledge that the plots existed revealed the extent of his
danger, and compelled him to make active preparations for thwarting them. We
may notice several important points in the process of the defence.
1. Prayer.- This was the first, and in ehemiah’s mind the most essential defensive
measure. We find him resorting to it in every important juncture of his life. It is his
sheet-anchor. But now "he uses the plural number. Hitherto we have met only with
his private prayers." In the present case he says, "We made our prayer unto our
God." [ ehemiah 4:9] Had the infection of his prayerful spirit reached his fellow-
citizens, so that they now shared it? Was it that the imminence of fearful danger
drove to prayer men who under ordinary circumstances forgot their need of God?
Or were both influences at work? However it was brought about, this association in
prayer of some of the Jews with their governor must have been the greatest comfort
to him, as it was the best ground for the hope that God would not now let them fall
into the hands of the enemy. Hitherto there had been a melancholy solitariness
about the earnest devotion of ehemiah. The success of his mission began to show
itself when the citizens began to participate in the same spirit of devotion.
2. Watchfulness.- ehemiah was not the fanatic to blunder into the delusion that

12. prayer was a substitute for duty, instead of being its inspiration. All that followed
the prayer was really based upon it. The calmness, hope, and courage won in the
high act of communion with God made it possible to take the necessary steps in the
outer world. Since the greatest danger was not expected as an open assault, it was
most necessary that an unbroken watch should be maintained, day and night.
ehemiah had spies out in the surrounding country, who reported to him every
planned attack. So thorough was this system of espionage, that though no less than
ten plots were concocted by the enemy, they were all discovered to ehemiah, and
all frustrated by him.
3. Encouragement.- The Jews were losing heart. The men of Judah came to
ehemiah with the complaint that the labourers who were at work on the great
heaps of rubbish were suffering from exhaustion. The reduction in the numbers of
workmen, owing to the appointment of the guard, would have still further increased
the strain of those who were left to toil among the mounds. But it would have been
fatal to draw back at this juncture. That would have been to invite the enemy to
rush in and complete the discomfiture of the Jews. On ehemiah came the
obligation of cheering the dispirited citizens. Even the leading men who should have
rallied the people, like officers at the head of their troops, shared the general
depression. ehemiah was again alone-or at best supported by the silent sympathy
of his companions in prayer, There was very nearly a panic, and for one man to
stand out under such circumstances as these in solitary courage, not only resisting
the strong contagion of fear, but stemming the tide ant counteracting its movement,
this would be indeed the sublimity of heroism. It was a severe test for ehemiah,
and he came out of it triumphant. His faith was the inspiration of his own courage,
and it became the ground for the encouragement of others. He addressed the people
and their nobles in a spirited appeal. First, he exhorted them to banish fear. The
very tone of his voice must have been reassuring; the presence of one brave man in a
crowd of cowards often shames them out of their weakness. But ehemiah
proceeded to give reasons for his encouragement. Let the men remember their God
Jehovah, how great and terrible He is! The cause is His, and His might and terror
will defend it. Let them think of their people and their families, and fight for
brethren and children, for wives and homes! Cowardice is unbelief and selfishness
combined. Trust in God and a sense of duty to others will master the weakness.
4. Arms.- ehemiah gave the first place to the spiritual and moral defences of
Jerusalem. Yet his material defences were none the less thorough on account of his
prayers to God or his eloquent exhortation of the people and their leaders. They
were most complete.
His arrangements for the military protection of Jerusalem converted the whole city
into an armed camp. Half the citizens in turn were to leave their work, and stand at
arms with swords and spears and bows. Even in the midst of the building operations
the clatter of weapons was heard among the stones, because the masons at work on
the walls and the labourers while they poised on their heads baskets full of rubbish
from the excavations had swords attached to their sashes. Residents of the suburbs
were required to stay in the city instead of returning home for the night, and no

13. man could put off a single article of clothing when he lay down to sleep. or was this
martial array deemed sufficient without some special provision against a surprise.
ehemiah therefore went about with a trumpeter, ready to summon all hands to any
point of danger on the first alarm.
Still, though the Jews were hampered with these preparations for battle, tired with
toil and watching, and troubled by dreadful apprehensions, the work went on. This
is a great proof of the excellency of ehemiah’s generalship. He did not sacrifice the
building to the fighting. The former was itself designed to produce a permanent
defence, while the arms were only for temporary use. When the walls were up the
citizens could give the laugh back to their foes. But in itself the very act of working
was reassuring. Idleness is a prey to fears which industry has no time to entertain.
Every man who tries to do his duty as a servant of God is unconsciously building a
wall about himself that will be his shelter in the hour of peril.
PARKER, " ehemiah 4
"But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was
wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews" ( ehemiah 4:1).
How ehemiah Built the Wall
WE have heard of Sanballat before. We heard of him in the second chapter, where
we read the following words: "When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the
servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come
a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel." The word in that verse is
"grieved"; the men were sore of heart, they were annoyed. There is nothing
particular in the way of activity in the feeling—it is rather a passive emotion; but in
the verse under consideration we find that the same Sanballat was not grieved in the
passive sense of the term, but he was wroth and took great indignation. Was
ehemiah turned aside by his grief? o. But ehemiah cowered and trembled
before the wrath and great indignation of the Horonite, did he not? ever. What
was it that sustained him in the midst of this passive opposition, and this active
hostility? Why, it was keeping his eye upon the Eternal—there was a great purpose,
a supreme and dominating conviction in the man"s soul, and it was that which gave
him steadiness and constancy and determination, so that he could run through a
troop and leap over a wall. If you are taking your line of life from some low centre,
then you will be disturbed and fretted by every little accident that may occur on the
road; you will have to apologise for your existence and consult everybody as to
whether you are to live tomorrow. But if you live in God, if you drink water from
the rock-spring—if you feed upon the bread of heaven, then you will turn neither to
the right hand nor to the left—you will write the old Latin motto on your right hand
and on your left—"Per diem, per noctem"—" ight and day—on!" Who wrote the
programme of your life? In what ink is it written? From what source do you derive
your inspiration? Here is a man who was not turned aside by the grief, the wrath,
the indignation of his enemies; he went straight on as if the whole universe were
applauding his march. Let us endeavour to find out the secret of his inspiration: to

14. draw the inspiration of our life from the same source, and to live as far above all
incidental disturbance and superficial frets as ehemiah did—right away up
yonder, near the sun, where God is—where his blessing rests perpetually upon those
who serve him.
Let us see how the Horonite expresses his wrath and indignation. Will he have
anything original in his speech? Did the devil ever teach his scholars a single new
speech? He has only one speech, only one great black lie—it may be pronounced in
this key or in that, but it is the same old villainous story, false from end to end, every
syllable of it saturated with falsehood! still it will be instructive to hear what a
mocking man has to say. When a man is in mocking mood he usually speaks with
some pungency of accent.
PETT, "Verses 1-6
Sanballat Arouses The eighbours Of The Jews To Ridicule Their Attempts To
Rebuild The Walls, But Without Effect ( ehemiah 4:1-6).
We note here the deepening of the already revealed opposition to the Jews and to
the building of the walls. otice the growth in the antagonistic attitude of those who
were opposed to them, each time expressed in accordance with a pattern:
o 2:10 ‘And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the
Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them greatly, in that there was come a man to seek
the welfare of the children of Israel.’
o 2:19 ‘But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the
Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and
despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you do? Will you rebel against the
king?”
o 4:1 ‘But it came about that, when Sanballat heard that we were building the
wall, he was furious, and took great umbrage, and mocked the Jews, and spoke
before his brothers and the army of Samaria.’
o 4:7-8 ‘But it came about that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians,
and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of
Jerusalem went forward, that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very
angry, and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem,
and to cause confusion in it.’
otice the pattern, ‘and when they/he heard of it’, and the growth in feeling, ‘it
grieved them greatly’, ‘they laughed us to scorn, and despised us’, ‘he was furious,
and took great umbrage’, ‘they conspired to come and fight against Jerusalem’.
We may also notice the growth in ehemiah’s response:
o In ehemiah 2:10 he simply carried on with his purpose.
o In ehemiah 2:20 he responded by pointing out that the God of Heaven was
with them, and that they had no part in it.
o In ehemiah 4:4-5 he specifically calls on God to deal with them severely.
o In ehemiah 4:9 he prays to God and sets up a watch against them.

15. ehemiah 4:1
‘But it came about that, when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he
was furious, and took great umbrage, and mocked the Jews.’
In his attempts to thwart the work an angry Sanballat, who was probably already
governor of the district of Samaria, turned to insults, mocking the attempts of ‘the
Jews’ (the returnees and those who had involved themselves with them in the pure
worship of YHWH). The significance of the building of the walls is brought out by
his fury. It was no light matter. It represented a new political force arising in the
area, and one which was separatist based on its exclusive Temple worship (see Ezra
4:1-6). It thus represented the weakening of his authority, and was an affront to his
own particular views. For he saw himself as a Yahwist, and was angry that the Jews
would not accept him as such.
There is in fact no more potent weapon than ridicule when used against those who
want to be well thought of. It can turn half-hearted people from their purposes, and
prevent others from joining them. Many a Christian’s progress has been halted by
such methods. But in this case it failed because ‘the people had a mind to work’.
They were confident that they were doing the work of God. And it consequently
only left the alternative of violence ( ehemiah 4:7). The mockery was indirect
( ehemiah 4:2), although it certainly reached ehemiah’s ears. The aim was to
build up a huge feeling of contempt concerning the activities of the Jews. It was also
aimed at bolstering his own self-esteem.
PETT, "Verses 1-14
Continual Opposition To The Building Of The Wall And Problems Related To It
( ehemiah 4:1 to ehemiah 6:14).
Meanwhile the work did not go on unopposed. Powerful men were involved in
seeking to ensure that the walls were not rebuilt, and that Jerusalem was not re-
established. We have already had three of these described to us in ehemiah 2:19.
They were formidable opponents. We now learn about their activity in more detail.
o Initially they operated by using ridicule and threats ( ehemiah 2:19;
ehemiah 4:1-3). They had grave doubts about whether the objective would be
achieved. It was after all a massive operation, and there was no one with the
authority to enforce the rebuilding by using slave gangs and taskmasters. That was
not within ehemiah’s remit. It depended on voluntary cooperation and popular
enthusiasm. They could not believe that the initial enthusiasm would be maintained.
But as things progressed they began to fear that they might be wrong.
o Thus when that failed they turned to the idea of using extreme violence
( ehemiah 4:7-11). But that too failed because of the vigilance of ehemiah, and the
stout-heartedness of God’s people, who worked with their swords in their hands.
o Then they five times ( ehemiah 6:4-5) sought to entice ehemiah to a place
where they would be able to do him mischief ( ehemiah 6:2). But he was no fool and
once again they found themselves thwarted.
o As a consequence they resorted to suggestions to ehemiah that in their view
treason was involved in the building of the walls which they intended to report to

16. the king of Persia himself along with a report of the activities of treasonable
prophets ( ehemiah 6:6-7). To these suggestions ehemiah gave short shrift. He was
confident that his royal master would rely on his trustworthiness.
o This was followed by an invidious attempt through someone who pretended
to be friendly to persuade him to act in a cowardly way in order to protect his own
life by taking refuge in the Temple along with him ( ehemiah 6:10). But ehemiah
was no coward and roundly dismissed such an idea.
Combined with these activities was the problem of the extreme poverty that resulted
for many due to their dedication to the building of the walls. Many had been living
on the breadline for decades, scratching an existence from their limited resources,
but now the concentration on the building of the walls had tipped them over the
edge. They found themselves hungry, and even enslaved by debt, and that by their
fellow Jews ( ehemiah 5:1-6). This too was something that ehemiah had to remedy
( ehemiah 5:7-13).
Meanwhile the work on the wall progressed until it was finally accomplished.
Jerusalem was once more a walled city, with its gates secure.
PULPIT, "Verses 1-6
EXPOSTIO
OPE OPPOSITIO OFFERED TO THE WORK BY SA BALLAT A D
TOBIAH, A D ARRA GEME TS MADE BY EHEMIAH TO MEET IT
( ehemiah 4:1-23.). It would seem that Sanballat and his friends, when they first
heard that the wall was actually being restored, the working parties formed, and the
work taken in hand, could scarcely bring themselves to believe it. "What! These
feeble Jews undertake so heavy a task, attempt a work that must occupy so long a
time, and for which they had not even the necessary materials? ( ehemiah 4:2).
Impossible! Such a wall as they could build would be so weak, that if a fox tried to
get over it he would break it down" ( ehemiah 4:3). But when, despite their scoffs,
the working parties laboured steadily, and the whole wall was brought to half the
intended height ( ehemiah 4:6), and the gaps made in it by the Babylonians were
filled up ( ehemiah 4:7), they changed their tone, admitted the seriousness of the
undertaking, and the probability that it would succeed unless steps were taken to
prevent it. The natural course to pursue, if they really believed that rebellion was
intended ( ehemiah 2:19), or that the permission of Artaxerxes had not been
obtained, was to act as Rehum and Shimshai had acted in the time of the Pseudo-
Smerdis, and address a letter to the king informing him of ehemiah's proceedings,
and recommending that a stop should be put to them (see Ezra 4:11 -522). But
probably they had by this time become aware that Artaxerxes was privy to the
proceedings of his cupbearer, and would not easily be induced to interfere with
them. The letter to Asaph which ehemiah had obtained ( ehemiah 2:8) must have
been delivered to him, and would become known; the fact that the king had
sanctioned the restoration of the wall would be apparent; and all hope of a check
from this quarter, if it ever existed, would be swept away. Besides, at the rate at
which the work was progressing under ehemiah's skilful arrangements, it would

17. be accomplished before the court could be communicated with, unless other steps
were taken. Accordingly, it was resolved to stop the building by main force.
Sanballat and Tobiah, his Ammonite hanger-on, entered into a league with the
neighbouring peoples, the Philistines of Ashdod, the Ammonites, and some Arab
tribe or tribes, and agreed with them that a conjoint attack should be made upon
Jerusalem by a confederate army ( ehemiah 3:7, ehemiah 3:8). It was hoped to
take the working parties by surprise, and to effect their complete destruction (ibid.
verse 11). But ehemiah, having learnt what was intended, made preparations to
meet and repulse the assailants. He began by setting a watch day and night (verse 9)
on the side on which the attack was expected. When an assault seemed imminent, he
stopped the work, and drew up the whole people in battle array, with swords,
spears, and bows, behind the wall, but in conspicuous places, so that they could be
seen from a distance, and in this attitude awaited the enemy (verse 13). The result
was that no actual assault was delivered. Sanballat and his allies, when they found
such preparations made to receive them, came to the conclusion that discretion was
the better part of valour, and drew off without proceeding to blows (verse 15). The
work was then resumed, but under additional precautions. The labourers were
compelled to work either with a weapon in one hand, or at the least with a sword at
their side (verses 17, 18). ehemiah's private attendants were armed and formed
into two bands, one of which worked on the wall, while the other kept guard, and
held the arms, offensive and defensive, of their fellow-servants (verse 16). At night
the working parties retired to rest within the city, but ehemiah himself, his
brothers, his servants, and his bodyguard, remained outside, keeping watch by
turns, and sleeping in their clothes, until the wall was finished (verses 22, 23).
BI 1-4, "But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he
was wroth.
Sanballat: a study in party spirit
You must clearly understand, to begin with, that Samaria was already, even in that early
day, the deadly rival of Jerusalem; and also that Sanballat was the governor of Samaria.
And Sanballat was a man of this kind, that he was not content with doing his very best to
make Samaria both prosperous and powerful, but he must also do his very best to keep
Jerusalem downtrodden and destroyed. And thus it was that, when Sanballat heard that
Nehemiah had come from Shushan with a commission from Artaxerxes to rebuild the
walls of Jerusalem, the exasperating news drove Sanballat absolutely beside himself.
And thus it is that such a large part of Nehemiah’s autobiography is taken up with
Sanballat’s diabolical plots and conspiracies both to murder Nehemiah and to destroy
the new Jerusalem. We see in Sanballat an outstanding instance of the sleepless malice
of all unprincipled party spirit.
1. Now, in the first place, diabolically wicked as party spirit too often becomes, this
must be clearly understood about party spirit, that, after all, it is but the excess, and
the perversion, and the depravity of an originally natural and a perfectly proper
principle in our hearts. It was of God, and it was of human nature as God had made
it, that Sanballat should love and serve Samaria best; and that Nehemiah should love
and serve Jerusalem best. And all party spirit among ourselves also, at its beginning,
is but our natural and dutiful love for our own land, and for our own city, and for our
own Church, and for those who think with us, and work with us, and love us.

18. 2. But then, when it comes to its worst, as it too often does come, party spirit is the
complete destruction both of truth and of love. The truth is hateful to the out-and-
out partisan. We all know that in ourselves. As many lies as you like, but not the
truth. It exasperates us to hear it. You are henceforth our enemy if you will insist on
speaking it. It is not truth that divides us up into such opposed parties as we see all
around us in Church and State, it is far more lies. It is not principle once in ten times.
Nine times out of ten it is pure party spirit. And I cling to that bad spirit, and to all its
works, as if it were my life. I feel unhappy when you tell me the truth, if it is good
truth, about my rival. And where truth is hated in that way love can have no possible
home. Truth is love in the mind, just as love is truth in the heart. Trample on the one
and you crush the other to death. Now the full-blown party spirit is utter poison to
the spirit of love as well as to the spirit of truth. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love
rejoiceth not in iniquity, etc. But party spirit is the clean contradiction of an that.
3. By the just and righteous ordination of Almighty God all our sins carry their own
punishment immediately and inseparably with them. And party spirit, being such a
wicked spirit, it infallibly inflicts a very swift and a very severe punishment on the
man who entertains it. You know yourselves how party spirit hardens your heart,
and narrows, and imprisons, and impoverishes your mind. You must all know how
party spirit poisons your feelings, and fills you with antipathy at men you never saw,
as well as at men all around you who never hurt a hair of your head, and would not if
they could.
4. Another Divine punishment of party spirit is seen in the way that it provokes
retaliation, and thus reproduces and perpetuates itself till the iniquity of the fathers
is visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate the
truth and murder love. And, inheriting no little good from our contending
forefathers, we have inherited too many of their injuries, and retaliations, and
antipathies, and alienations also. And the worst of it is that we look on it as true
patriotism, and the perfection of religious principle, to keep up and perpetuate all
those ancient misunderstandings, and injuries, and recriminations, and alienations.
5. Who, then, is a wise man, and endued with wisdom among you? Who would fain
be such a man? Who would behave to his rivals and enemies, not as Nehemiah, good
man though he was, behaved to the Samaritans, but as Jesus Christ behaved to
them? Who, in one word, would escape the sin, and the misery, and the long-lasting
mischief of party spirit? Butler has an inimitable way of saying some of his very best
and very deepest things. And here is one of his great sayings that has helped me
more in this matter than I can tell you.
4. “Let us remember,” he says, “that we differ as much from other men as they differ
from us.” What a lamp to our feet is that sentence as we go through this world! And
then, when at any time, and towards any party, or towards any person whatsoever,
you find in yourself that you are growing in love, and in peace, and in patience, and
in toleration, and in goodwill, and in good wishes, acknowledge it to yourself; see it,
understand it, and confess it. Do not be afraid to admit it, for that is God within your
heart. That is the Divine Nature—that is the Holy Ghost. Just go on in that Spirit,
and ere ever you are aware you will be caught up and taken home to that Holy Land
where there is neither Jerusalem nor Samaria. There will be no party spirit there.
There will be no controversy there. (A. Whyte, D. D.)

19. What do these feeble Jews?—
Feeble agencies not to be despised
When we behold a wide, turf-covered expanse, we should remember that its smoothness,
on which so much of its beauty depends, is mainly due to all the inequalities having been
slowly levelled by worms. It is a marvellous reflection that the whole of the superficial
mould over any such expanse has passed, and will pass again, every few years, through
the bodies of worms. The plough is one of the most ancient and most valuable of man’s
inventions; but long before he existed the land was, in fact, regularly ploughed by earth-
worms. It may be doubted whether there are any other animals which have played so
important a part in the history of the world as have these lowly organised creatures.
Some other animal, however, still more lowly organised—namely, corals, have done far
more conspicuous work in having constructed innumerable reefs and islands in the great
oceans; but these are almost confined to the tropical zones. (Charles Darwin.)
Intrinsic energy not to be gauged by magnitude
Remember that lofty trees grow from diminutive seeds; copious rivers flow from small
fountains; slender wires often sustain ponderous weights; injury to the smallest nerves
may occasion the most agonising sensation; the derangement of the least wheel or pivot
may render useless the greatest machine of which it is a part; an immense crop of errors
may spring from the least root of falsehood; a glorious intellectual light may be kindled
by the minutest spark of truth; and every principle is more diffusive and operative by
reason of its intrinsic energy than of its magnitude. (J. Gregory.)
Censure should not interfere with duty
Be not diverted from your duty by any idle reflections the silly world may make on you,
for their censures are not in your power, and consequently should be no part of your
concern. (Epictetus.)
Fool’s-bolts should be disregarded
What action was ever so good, or so completely done, as to be well taken on all hands? It
concerns every wise Christian to settle his heart in a resolved confidence of his own holy
and just grounds, and then to go on in a constant course of his well-warranted judgment
and practice, with a careless disregard of those fool’s-bolts which will be sure to be shot
at him, which way soever he goes. (Bp. Hall.)
Petty criticism should be disregarded
It is often more difficult to endure the stinging of insects than to face the bravest perils.
Explorers in tropical countries find these tiny, noxious creatures much more destructive
of their peace and comfort than the larger and more deadly animals which sometimes
beset them. Many a man faces courageously a grave peril who becomes a coward when a
set of petty annoyances have worn his nerves out and irritated him to the point of loss of
self-control. Every man who attempts an independent course of life, whether of thought,

20. habit, or action, finds himself beset by a cloud of petty critics, who are, for the most part,
without malice, but whose stings, inspired by ignorance, are quite as hard to bear as they
would be if inspired by hate. The misrepresentations and misconceptions which good
men suffer are a part of the pathos of life. The real answer to criticism is a man’s life and
work. A busy man has no time to stop and meet his critics in detail; he must do his work,
and let that be his answer to criticism. (Christian Age.)
2 and in the presence of his associates and the
army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble
Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will
they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day?
Can they bring the stones back to life from those
heaps of rubble—burned as they are?”
CLARKE, "The army of Samaria - As he was governor, he had the command of
the army, and he wished to excite the soldiers to second his views against Nehemiah and
his men.
What do these feeble Jews? - We may remark here, in general, that the enemies of
God’s work endeavor by all means to discredit and destroy it, and those who are
employed in it.
1. They despise the workmen: What do these feeble Jews?
2. They endeavor to turn all into ridicule: Will they fortify themselves?
3. They have recourse to lying: If a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone
wall.
4. They sometimes use fair but deceitful speeches; see Neh_6:2, etc.
GILL, "And he spake before his brethren,.... Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem
the Arabian, and perhaps some other governors of the king of Persia in those parts:
and before the army of Samaria: which, and the inhabitants of it, were implacable
enemies of the Jews:
and said, what do these feeble Jews? what do they pretend to do, or what can they

21. do?
will they fortify themselves? by building a wall about their city; can they think they
shall ever be able to do this, or that it will be allowed?
will they sacrifice? meaning not their daily sacrifice, as Jarchi, that they had done a
long time, but for the dedication of their building, as Aben Ezra:
will they make an end in a day? they seem to be in as great a hurry and haste as if
they meant it; and indeed, unless they can do it very quickly, they never will: they will
soon be stopped:
will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burnt?
where will they find materials? do they imagine that they can make burnt stones firm
and strong again, or harden the dust and rubbish into stones, or make that, which is as if
dead, alive? to do this is the same as to revive a dead man, and they may as well think of
doing the one as the other; burnt stones being reckoned as dead, as Eben Ezra observes.
COKE, " ehemiah 4:2. What do these feeble Jews, &c.— Mr. Peters observes upon
this passage, which is remarkable for its phraseology, that it seems to give no
obscure intimation, that the doctrine of the resurrection was the popular belief of
the Jews in these days. "Reviving of stones," says he, "is a very easy metaphor to
those who are acquainted with the doctrine of the resurrection; but, otherwise, not
so easy or obvious." The word ‫היחיו‬ hayechaiiu, vivisicabunt, is the very same that is
used for raising the dead. Out of the heaps of rubble, is, in the Hebrew, heaps of
dust ‫ערמות‬ ‫עפר‬ areimoth apar, another word often used when speaking of a
resurrection; and what follows with an emphasis, and yet these same stones are
burnt, points out to us the method of funeral [by burning] used particularly among
those who had no belief or expectation of a resurrection.
The Jews to this day charge the poor remnant of the sect of Samaritans with the
disbelief of a future resurrection; though, on the other hand, they deny and disavow
the charge. It is highly probable, that in our Saviour's time they believed it; for they
worshipped the same God, and had the same expectation of a Messiah, as appears
from the Samaritan woman's discourse with our Lord, John 4:25. But in the days of
ehemiah they seem to have been little better than heathens; a sort of mixed breed,
out of the scum of many nations. ehemiah tells them, ch. ehemiah 2:20 that they
had no right or portion in Jerusalem, being of a different religion from the Jews; it
is highly probable, therefore, that they disbelieved a resurrection. ow if Sanballat,
in that vein of mirth and buffoonery which he and his friend Tobiah appear at this
time to be in, meant to ridicule this doctrine of the Jewish faith, as well as laugh at
their attempt in building, we see a plain reason of that indignation which ehemiah
presently conceived at it, and which drew from him that solemn address to God,
ehemiah 4:4. Hear O our God; for we, thy worshippers, are despised, &c. Had
there been no more in Sanballat's speech than in that of Tobiah which follows, (who
with a scorn, perhaps, more affected than real, says, that a fox, if he were to jump
upon it, might break down their stone walls,) so wise and good a man as ehemiah,

22. probably, would have treated it with silence and contempt: but we find, that he
resents it in another manner; beseeches God to turn their reproach upon their own
head; speaks of it as a sin or iniquity of the first magnitude; ehemiah 4:5 for they
have provoked thee to anger before the builders; that is, in the most public manner,
and in the face of God's people, had dared to utter their impieties, and ridicule that
faith which they professed.
LA GE, " ehemiah 4:2. Before his brethren,i.e., Tobiah and his brethren in
council. The army of Samaria.—It is likely that Sanballat had actually brought an
armed force in sight of the city to intimidate the Jews. In a speech to his officers he
uses the language of mockery here given, Will they fortify themselves?—Perhaps,
will they help themselves? Keil, comparing Psalm 10:14, reads it “will they leave it
to themselves?” which is harsh. (See on ehemiah 3:8 for the use of this word azab).
Will they make an end in a day? Rather, will they make an end (i.e., accomplish it)
by day (i.e., openly). So bayyom in Genesis 31:40; Proverbs 12:16; Judges 13:10.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria,
and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they
sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps
of the rubbish which are burned?
Ver. 2. And he spake before his brethren] i.e., before his companions and
acomplices, who would second him and say the same, his Aiones and egones, as
one calleth such.
And the army of Samaria] The garrison soldiers; or those that lay there billeted, to
observe the people.
What do these feeble Jews?] These beggarly shiftless fellows, these Asinarii (as
Molon and Appion of Alexandria disgracefully called the Jews); like as Tertullian
tells us that the Pagans painted the God of the Christians with an ass’s head and a
book in his hand; to note that they were silly and despicable people. Bishop Jewell,
in a sermon of his, citeth this out of Tertullian, and addeth, Do not our adversaries
the like at this day against all that profess the gospel?
Will they fortify themselves?] Heb. Will they leave to themselves, sc. anything to
trust unto? Junius renders An sinerent eos? should they (sc. the officers and
soldiers) suffer them thus to do?
Will they sacrifice?] sc. at the dedication of their new walls? Will they do this all at
once? and think they, without more ado, to have the liberty of their sanctuary?

23. Will they make an end in a day?] It should seem so by their Cito, Cito, quick
despatch of their parts and task, &c.
Praecipita tempus; mors atra impendet agenti (Sil. Ital.).
Will they revive the stones, &c.] Stones they lack for their new wall: where will they
have them? will they glue together the old stones, and ?
WHEDO , "2. His brethren — His associates in office.
The army of Samaria — Of which he seems to have been the chief commander.
Will they fortify themselves — Literally, Will they leave to them? The meaning is
not clear, but seems most naturally brought out if we allow the verb a passive sense:
Shall they be left to themselves? This is the thought conveyed both by the Septuagint
and Vulgate, although those versions present no literal translation of the Hebrew.
The Septuagint has the following: “Is this the power of Samaria, that these Jews
build their city?” Vulgate: “Shall the nations let them go?” that is, shall the
surrounding nations let them go on with their building their city walls?
Will they sacrifice — Will they presume to renew and perpetuate their ancient
cultus?
Make an end in a day — Do they imagine they can so speedily rebuild their city that
no one will find it out before it is complete?
Revive the stones — He speaks of the great stones of Jerusalem as having been
destroyed by fire, broken, and ruined, so that the attempt of a feeble band of exiles
to restore them (Hebrews, make them live) from their heaps of… rubbish was to his
mind the height of folly.
PETT, " ehemiah 4:2
‘And he spoke before his allies (brothers) and the army of Samaria, and said, “What
are the feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will
they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish,
seeing they are burned?”
The word ‘brothers’ almost certainly means ‘allies’ (compare Amos 1:9), those in
brotherly union with him as adversaries of the Jews. The army of Samaria would be
a local military contingent such as a governor would necessarily require as a kind of
police force (compare Ezra 4:23). The mention of the latter is significant as
preparing for the intended violence that will follow. Sanballat thus makes his views
widely known among those who have some authority, and those who will enforce his
decisions. He is bolstering them up as well as himself.

24. His questions are clearly derogatory, based on his contemptuous view of their
weakness and feebleness. What did such feeble people really think that they could
achieve? As we know they had been constantly struggling against hard times and
had been finding life difficult ( ehemiah 1:3), something partly due to Sanballat
and his cronies. The question brings home how necessary the powerful leadership of
ehemiah, combined with the strength of his escort, was to the ailing Jews. They
provided some kind of backbone.
The first two questions can be seen as referring to their attempts to make themselves
secure, ‘will they fortify themselves?’ or ‘depend on themselves?’ (ensuring their
own protection)), ‘will they sacrifice?’ (thus ensuring God’s protection). The second
set of questions then demonstrates that he saw that as a vain hope based on
inadequate foundations. They may be seen as a chiasmus:
A ‘Will they fortify themselves?’ (Or ‘will they leave it to themselves?’).
B ‘Will they sacrifice?’
B ‘Will they make an end (of their problems) in a day?’ (by calling on God).
A ‘Will they make renewed stones out of the heaps of burned rubbish?’
In this case ‘fortifying themselves’ or ‘leaving it to themselves’ is paralleled by
‘making the burned stones live’, in other words relying on themselves and hoping
for a miracle as they use inadequate materials for their fortifications. Sacrificing is
paralleled with anticipating instantaneous results as a response. In this last there
may be an echo of Zechariah 3:9, ‘I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day’.
Did they really think that offering sacrifices could remove their sin in one day?
On the other hand we may see them as two couplets:
o ‘Will they leave themselves (in the hands of God), will they sacrifice?’
o ‘Will they make an end (of building) in a day, will they make burned stones
live?’
The overall picture is the same. His claim is that they are relying on themselves and
on an inadequate God, and are anticipating the achievement of a quick fix while
relying on inadequate materials. Among other things he has in mind how long the
building of such walls could be expected to take, especially given their lack of
expertise, and the uselessness of using burned limestone, which would easily
crumble, for building purposes. He considers that they are just not aware of the
problems. The writer knows, of course, that his readers are aware that it has
meanwhile been accomplished satisfactorily.
The regular meaning of ‘azab is to ‘leave, abandon’. Thus the translation ‘will they
(vainly) leave themselves (in the hands of God)?’ (compare Psalms 10:14), or ‘will
they leave (it to) themselves?’. This is then followed by ‘will they (vainly) sacrifice?’
But at Ugarit a secondary meaning for ‘azah was found which translates as ‘to
build, renovate, restore’. Thus the translation, ‘Will they fortify themselves?’ In
other words, ‘will they make a vain attempt to render themselves secure using
inadequate materials?’ This latter would then indicate that by ‘will they sacrifice?’
he is also indicating the uselessness of their sacrifices which are also inadequate. He

25. probably saw their version of Yahwism as lacking in depth and quality, with its
failure to unite Him with other gods (in contrast with the heretical Jews at
Elephantine). Thus overall he is stressing that they are relying on inadequate things:
on their own feeble activity, on their equally feeble sacrifices, on their confidence
that they could complete the work quickly against all odds, and on their confidence
that they could make useless materials useable. They were hoping for the
impossible.
PARKER, ""And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said,
What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they
make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish
which are burned?" ( ehemiah 4:2.)
That was an irreligious view of a religious work—it is very well put indeed from his
own point of view. First of all the Jews are feeble. As a matter of fact they certainly
are without any peculiar strength. Will they fortify themselves? What will they do?
Will they pluck dock-leaves and use them as breast-plates? Will they search the
fields round about Jerusalem for nettles, and use those stinging herbs as implements
and instruments of war? What will they do? Will they revive the stones out of the
heaps of the rubbish which are burned? There is no stone to be had—no open
quarries—no rocks inviting them; how will they get the stones? Why, they will
revive the rubbish—put the mud together with their wet hands, and thus they will
make stones. Ha, ha! That was his speech to the army. Is that a speech sufficient to
stir the blood of an army? The army heard it and turned over on the other side, to
have a little more sleep and a little more slumber, and a little folding of the hands
together.
We do not wonder at men looking at Christian agencies and laughing at them. You
have laughed when you saw a young man walking along with his Bible under his
arm. Well, it did look exceedingly humble, very modest, and wholly unlikely that a
man with a gilt-edged book "under his arm was going to do anything at all in the
world. But in that book he had the whole panoply of God—he had the book that
moves the world, say what men will. They burn it: they come to rake over the hot
ashes; there it Isaiah , the smell of fire has not passed upon it. It is God"s delight to
choose foolish things in order to pull down things that are strong. Search the divine
history through and through, and you will find that this is God"s principle—base
things of the world hath he chosen and foolish things and things that are not, to
bring to nought things that are. There is a giant to be struck down—a pebble will do
it: there is an army to be surprised—a lamp and pitcher will be enough. God"s law
is the law of simplicity; man"s law is the law of round-aboutness. Man does not like
the straight and simple course—he likes a very great deal of elaboration and
intricacy and puzzle, so that no other man shall be able to find out the secret and the
key of his patent. He likes to keep a small key in his pocket, and to take it out now
and then to pay adoration to it as to an idol. God says the simplest plan is the best—
go straight at it—a pebble for armour, a pitcher and lamp for use in war, yea, and
things that are not—an army of nothing—to bring to nought things that are.

26. Are you building character? You will be laughed at. Are you attempting to start on
a new course of life? Sanballat will make a mocking speech about you. You once
said, " ow, God helping me, I am going to begin: give me a pen and ink," and you
took it and wrote your name to a vow. And the next day Sanballat began to say to
you, "Why, you don"t mean to say you are going through that sort of thing? I
wouldn"t if I were you—it will never do for you. Come along and go with your old
folks, stand by your old comrades, and we will see you through." It was a crisis in
your history. If you said, " o, God helping me, I stand by the book and by the
name, and I will look at those poor, crooked, rude letters, and out of their ink shall
come inspiration to my poor heart again and again," then you did well. Hold on: do
not be mocked out of your godliness—do not be laughed into hell What will these
mocking people do for you in the swellings of Jordan?
There was another man with Sanballat—we have heard of him—it was Tobiah. And
Tobiah has a little speech to make about the wall that is being built. Tobiah put his
case figuratively—he looked round at those who sat by him and he said, "Even that
which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall." Tobiah
therefore said, "Gentlemen, sit down, there is no occasion for you to distress
yourselves: the very first cat that goes out in stepping on the stone wall will throw it
down."
These are not the men who will make any great impression in the world. There is
not the right tone there—there is not the right sound. We can tell an earnest man by
the mere tone of his voice. The whimperer does nothing, the mocker does nothing,
the man of mere irony and jeering power does nothing. If any great positive lasting
work is to be done in the world, it must be done by men of conviction, solidity of
judgment, reality of character, divinity of spirit. And one such man is an army in
himself—a multitude, a conqueror. That is what we want now—we want amongst us
earnest men, men who believe something, men who will sacrifice something for their
convictions, men who know right from wrong, the right hand from the left, and who
will go straight on, whoever may jeer, satirise, mock, condemn, despise. God send us
such men!
It will be interesting to know how ehemiah deports himself under these mocking
speeches. Are we going too far in saying that such speeches would have blown a
great deal of the bloom off our piety? Are we going too far in saying that mocking
speeches like these would have frightened you off your knees, frightened you into
cowardice, saying, "I don"t make much profession of religion; I like to go to church
now and then, just as a way of putting off the time"? Are we going too far in saying
that you could not have stood the assault made by such men as Sanballat and
Tobiah? Let us see how ehemiah bore it. These speeches were reported to him, and
what did he say? "We can jeer as well as they—we can return sharp messages to
their foolish speeches—we can argue with them, and control as well as they by sheer
force of argumentative power?" o. When he heard their mockery and their
reviling, he lifted up that grand face,—lined, ridged, wrinkled face, with age in it,
and yet with immortal youth in it, too, and said, "Hear, O our God!" He made his

27. appeal to heaven—he handed the speech upward—he put it into the hands of God to
answer—he said in effect, "O thou God of Israel, answer these mocking men
thyself." Yes, it is better that God should answer our enemies than that we should
answer them. We have something better to do, and though we might outshine them
in wit, outvie them in mockery, slay them with their own weapons, it is better not to
do so; let us leave our enemies in the hands of God.
What did ehemiah then proceed to do? He says with great simplicity, "So built we
the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof." Why? "For the
people had a mind to work." That is the secret of success. It will be a secret worth
your learning, young Prayer of Manasseh , just having begun business—have a
mind to work.
How is it in the building of the great Christian wall? There is the Independent, or
Congregationalist, building his little bit, and yonder is the Episcopalian, and yonder
is the Baptist, and yonder is somebody else, and they will not lend one another a
spoonful of lime. Do let us remember that it is one wall, it is one Zion, it is one
Jerusalem—why not work together magnanimously in the spirit of brothers,
realising the true ideal of patriotic and Christian fellowship and brotherhood, and
let the wall rise from all points simultaneously, all compact, solid, indestructible
masonry. Wherever there is a good Prayer of Manasseh , whatever his particular
denomination or badge may be, we should work heart and soul with him; or
otherwise, God forgive us! for we sin against the spirit of the cross of his Son.
PULPIT, " ehemiah 4:2
Before his brethren. By "his brethren" would seem to be meant his chief
counsellors—probably Tobiah among them. The army of Samaria. Some
understand by this a Persian garrison, stationed in Samaria under its own
commander, with which Sanballat had influence, but there is no real ground for
such a supposition. Psalms 83:1-18, belongs probably to David's time; and as
Samaria had doubtless its own native force of armed citizens, who were Sanballat's
subjects, it is quite unnecessary to suppose that he addressed himself to any other
"army" than this. The Persians would maintain a force in Damascus, but scarcely in
Samaria; and Persian soldiers, had there been any in that city, would have been
more likely to support a royal cupbearer than a petty governor with no influence at
court. We can really only explain the disturbed state of things and approach to open
hostility which appears in ehemiah's narrative, by the weakness of Persia in these
parts, and the consequent power of the native races to act pretty much as they
pleased—even to the extent of making war one upon another. Will they fortify
themselves? o other rendering is tenable. Ewald defends it successfully. Will they
sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? The meaning seems to be, "Will they
begin and make an end in a day?" It is assumed that they will begin by offering a
sacrifice to inaugurate their work. Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the
rubbish which are burned? Rather, "Will they revive the burnt stones (the stones
that are burned) out of the heaps of the rubbish?" Will they do what is im-possible-
solidify and make into real stone the calcined and crumbling blocks which are all

28. that they will find in the heaps of rubbish? If not, how are they to procure material?
3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said,
“What they are building—even a fox climbing up
on it would break down their wall of stones!”
GILL, "Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him,.... Who was one of his brethren
he spake before, Neh_4:2,
and he said; in the like contemptuous and scoffing manner:
even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall break down their stone
wall; signifying not only that it was so low that a fox could easily get up to it, or leap
over it; but that the materials were so bad, and the work so poorly done, that the weight
of a fox would break it down; of which creatures many were thereabout, since Jerusalem
was desolate, see Lam_5:18.
JAMISO , "if a fox go up — The foxes were mentioned because they were known to
infest in great numbers the ruined and desolate places in the mount and city of Zion
(Lam_5:18).
K&D, "Tobiah the Ammonite, standing near Sanballat, and joining in in his raillery,
adds: “Even that which they build, if a fox go up he will break their stone wall;” i.e., even
if they build up walls, the light footsteps of the stealthy fox will suffice to tread them
down, and to make breaches in their work.
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:3. If a fox go up — He mentions foxes because they were
very numerous in those parts, and because in the late desolation of Jerusalem, the
foxes did frequent the mount and city of Zion, (Lamentations 5:18,) wherewith he
seems to upbraid them. He shall even break down their stone wall — It is so low
that a fox can easily ascend to the top of it, and so weak, and built so hastily and
carelessly, that the least weight or thrust will tumble it down.

29. TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:3 ow Tobiah the Ammonite [was] by him, and he said, Even
that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.
Ver. 3. ow Tobiah the Ammonite] This was one of Sanballat’s good brethren,
ehemiah 4:2. A bird of the same feather, a loaf of the same leaven, his fellow
scoffer, and so homine peior, saith Chrysostom, worse than a man; as the scoffed
that beareth it well, is Angelis par, saith he, an angel’s peer.
Even that which they build, if a fox go up, &c.] It was some such bitter jeer that
Remus uttered in contempt of Romulus’s new wall, and was knocked on the head
for it. Hae sannae leniter volant, non leniter violant.
PETT, " ehemiah 4:3
‘ ow Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, “Even what they are building,
if a fox go up, he will break down their stone wall.”
Tobiah, who was standing by him, joined in the derision claiming that if even a fox
were to climb on the walls it would cause them to break down. He too has in mind
the inadequacy of the materials, the shortage of time and the lack of expertise of the
builders. He considers that they are incapable of achieving their purpose.
PULPIT, " ehemiah 4:3
Tobiah the Ammonite was by him. The presence of Tobiah on this occasion, before
the alliance was made with the Ammonites ( ehemiah 4:8), is a strong indication
that his position was not one of independent authority, but of dependence upon
Sanballat. There is nothing to show that he was more than a favourite slave of the
Samaritan governor. A fox. Or, "a jackal," which would be more likely than a fox to
stray over a ruined wall into a town.
4 Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn
their insults back on their own heads. Give them
over as plunder in a land of captivity.

30. BAR ES, "The parenthetical prayers of Nehemiah form one of the most striking
characteristics of his history. Here we have the first. Other examples are Neh_5:19;
Neh_6:9, Neh_6:14; Neh_13:14, Neh_13:22, Neh_13:29, Neh_13:31.
CLARKE, "Turn their reproach upon their own head - A prayer of this kind,
understood literally, is not lawful for any Christian. Jesus, our great master, has said,
“Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you; and pray for them that despitefully
use you.” Such sayings as the above are excusable in the mouth of a Jew, under severe
irritation. See the next verse, Neh_4:5 (note).
GILL, "Hear, O our God, for we are despised,.... Here begins the prayer of
Nehemiah, who had been informed of what these men said in contempt of him, and his
builders, and to whom he sent no answer, but applied to God:
and turn their reproach upon their own head; as they have despised and
reproached us, let them be despised and reproached by their neighbours:
give them for a prey in the land of captivity; let them be carried captive, as we
have been, and become a prey and booty to their enemies.
HE RY, " Nehemiah's humble and devout address to God when he heard of these
reflections. He had notice brought him of what they said. It is probable that they
themselves sent him a message to this purport, to discourage him, hoping to jeer him
out of his attempt; but he did not answer these fools according to their folly; he did not
upbraid them with their weakness, but looked up to God by prayer.
1. He begs of God to take notice of the indignities that were done them (Neh_4:4), and
in this we are to imitate him: Hear, O our God! for we are despised. Note, (1.) God's
people have often been a despised people, and loaded with contempt. (2.) God does, and
will, hear all the slights that are put upon his people, and it is their comfort that he does
so and a good reason why they should be as though they were deaf, Psa_38:13, Psa_
38:15. “Thou art our God to whom we appeal; our cause needs no more than a fair
hearing.”
JAMISO , "Hear, O our God; for we are despised — The imprecations invoked
here may seem harsh, cruel, and vindictive; but it must be remembered that Nehemiah
and his friends regarded those Samaritan leaders as enemies to the cause of God and His
people, and therefore as deserving to be visited with heavy judgments. The prayer,
therefore, is to be considered as emanating from hearts in which neither hatred, revenge,
nor any inferior passion, but a pious and patriotic zeal for the glory of God and the
success of His cause, held the ascendant sway.
K&D, "When Nehemiah heard of these contemptuous words, he committed the
matter to God, entreating Him to hear how they (the Jews) were become a scorn, i.e., a

31. subject of contempt, to turn the reproach of the enemies upon their own head, and to
give them up the plunder in a land of captivity, i.e., in a land in which they would dwell
as captives. He supplicates, moreover, that God would not cover, i.e., forgive (Psa_85:3),
their iniquity, and that their sin might not be blotted out from before His face, i.e., might
not remain unpunished, “for they have provoked to wrath before the builders,” i.e.,
openly challenged the wrath of God, by despising Him before the builders, so that they
heard it. ‫ים‬ ִ‫ע‬ ְ‫כ‬ ִ‫ה‬ without an object, spoken of provoking the divine wrath by grievous sins;
comp. 2Ki_21:6 with 2Ch_33:6.
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:4-5. Hear, O our God — ehemiah here interrupts the
relation, to mention the prayer he made on the occasion. Turn their reproach upon
their own head — Let them really be as contemptible as they represent us to be.
This and the following requests must seem harsh to us, who are taught by the Lord
Jesus to love our enemies, to bless those that curse us, and pray for those that
despitefully use and persecute us. Probably they were uttered rather by a spirit of
prophecy than a spirit of prayer, and are to be considered as declaratory of the
judgments of God against persecutors. They certainly had their accomplishment in
the subsequent doom of these nations. And give them for a prey in the land of their
captivity — Let them be removed from our neighbourhood, and carried into
captivity; and there let them find no favour, but further severity. Or, give them for a
prey to their enemies, and let these carry them into the land of captivity. And cover
not their iniquity — Let their wickedness be in thy sight, so as to bring down
judgments upon them, that either they may be reformed, or others may be warned
by their example. God is said to cover or hide sin, when he forbears to punish it. For
they have provoked thee — They have not only provoked us builders, but thee also.
Or, they have provoked, or derided, the builders to their face; that is, openly and
impudently, in contempt of God, and of this work, which is done by his direction
and encouragement. ehemiah, in these petitions, if they be petitions, and not rather
predictions, as has just been intimated, is not to be imitated by us, but rather he,
whose disciples we profess to be, and who, when upon the cross, and under the
bitterest agonies, prayed most fervently for the forgiveness of those that crucified
him.
LA GE, " ehemiah 4:4. Hear, O our God.—Eight times in this book ehemiah
interjects a prayer. They are prayers while writing, not while acting. The grounds of
this prayer are, (1) God’s people are despised; (2) excited to fear by the enemy. As in
the imprecatory Psalm, there is a prophetic power in this prayer. The prayer
anticipates God’s justice.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:4 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:
Ver. 4. Hear, O our God] These mocks and menaces lay so heavy upon ehemiah’s
spirit, that he could not ease himself but by breathing heavenward; and turning
them over to God to take an order with them. His prayer is not long, but full. A
child may not chat in his father’s presence: his words must be humble, earnest,

32. direct to the point, avoiding vain babblings and tedious drawn out affairs.
For we are despised] Heb. We are contempt in the abstract. ot vilified we are only,
but nullified, as a company of ουτιδανοι, no bodies. So Paul (the most precious man
upon earth) and his companions (the glory of Christ, and a royal diadem in the
hand of Jehovah, Isaiah 62:3) were looked upon as the filth of the world, and the
offscouring of all things, 1 Corinthians 4:13. What matter is it, then, what becometh
of us? We have a God to turn us to, and Demetrius hath testimony of the truth; that
is enough, let Diotrephes prate what he pleaseth, 3 John 1:9.
And turn their reproach upon their own heads] Surely God scorneth these scorners,
saith Solomon, Proverbs 3:34; that is, saith Rabbi Levi upon that text, he casts them
into some calamity, and so makes them a laughing stock to those whom they have
laughed at. God loves to retaliate, to pay men home in their own coin. Thus he dealt
by Appion of Alexandria; who, scoffing at religion (and especially at circumcision),
had an ulcer the same time and in the same place (Josephus). The like ill end befell
Julian the apostate, whose daily practice was to scoff at Christ and his people.
Dioclesian the emperor (as Volaterran writes) had a jester called Genesius, who
used to make him merry at meals, and, among their devices, would scoff and squib
at Christians; but God plagued him, for example to others. And the like he did to
Morgan, that mocking bishop of St David’s; to John Apowel, who derided William
Mauldon for his devotion; and lastly, to one Lever, of Brightwell, in Berkshire, who
said that he saw that ill-favoured knave Latimer when he was burned at Oxford,
and that he had teeth like a horse. But the Lord suffered not this scorn and
contempt of his servant to pass unpunished; for that very day, and about the same
hour, that Lever spake these words, his son wickedly hanged himself, saith mine
author. Lege, cave. Read and take note!
And give them for a prey, &c.] A heavy curse, and, as not causeless (against
implacable enemies to God and goodness), so nor fruitless. Woe be to such as against
whom the saints, moved with a zeal of God, shall imprecate vengeance. God usually
inflicts what they denounce against his and their irreconcilable adversaries. Fire
proceeds out of their mouths, &c., Revelation 11:5.
PETT, " ehemiah 4:4-5
“Hear, O our God, for we are despised. And turn back their reproach on their own
head, and give them up for a spoil in a land of captivity, and do not cover their
iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before you, for they have
provoked (you) to anger before (in front of) the builders.”
ehemiah’s response emphasises the fact that Sanballat’s questions were intended
to be an insult against the God of the Jews, as well as a reproach on His people. He
calls on God to hear what has been said. They have despised His people, and have
provoked Him to anger in front of His people. Thus he prays that what had

33. previously happened to God’s own people because they had despised God, should
now be done to these equally sinful people. Let their sin not be overlooked. Let them
too be taken into exile.
Some modern translations have ignored the preposition ‘before’, translating ‘have
provoked the builders to anger’. But this is to alter the clear significance of the text.
‘Before’ cannot be ignored, nor can it be taken adverbially. But there are a number
of examples where ‘provoke to anger’ refers to God even when He is not mentioned
(e.g. 1 Kings 21:22; 2 Kings 21:6; 2 Kings 23:19; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Psalms 106:29;
Hosea 12:14).
‘And do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before
you.’ Compare Psalms 109:14; Jeremiah 18:23, which demonstrate that his prayer
in such circumstances was on a parallel with that of other godly men. For the idea of
having iniquity ‘covered’ (casah) see Psalms 85:2. (The word casah means to put a
cover over, but it is not the word that usually signifies atonement which is caphar).
For to ‘have sins blotted out’ see Psalms 51:1; Psalms 51:9; Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah
44:22. These benefits were the prerogatives of God’s redeemed people when they
came to God in God’s way.
But while recognising that ehemiah falls short of the ideal of Christ’s teaching
(‘love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’), we should note in his
defence that ehemiah was not praying that they would never find true forgiveness.
He was praying rather that they would receive what their sins deserved while they
remained in their present condition. For by their very attitude they were revealing
that they had no true knowledge of YHWH (a knowledge that they claimed) and
therefore had no rights to the benefits that they claimed through their own
sacrificial system. These words are the negative side of ‘turn back their reproach on
their own head, and give them up for a spoil in a land of captivity’. He was not
seeking to remove their right to forgiveness if they approached God on God’s terms
(by renouncing idolatry and truly submitting to YHWH and His covenant), only
praying that they would not find ‘easy forgiveness’ through their own ritual. Let
them, in their unrepentant state, receive the due reward for their sins (we can
compare the cry of the martyred saints in Revelation 6:10).
‘For they have provoked (You) to anger before the builders.’ And his grounds for
his prayer were that they had by their behaviour provoked God to anger. Their sin
had not been against man, but against God. This need not mean that Sanballat and
his cronies had actually openly spoken in front of the builders. Only that what they
had been propagating had reached the ears of the builders. The builders had been
made aware of the general mockery that accompanied their work, shaming them
and thus provoking YHWH to anger because it was His work that they were doing.
WHEDO , "4. Hear, O our God — The bitter scorn and derision of the enemy
causes ehemiah to break out with an imprecatory prayer.
Turn their reproach — Let them fall under the reproach and scorn that now afflict

34. us.
A prey in the land of captivity — Bring them to suffer violence and abuse in
captivity. The land of captivity is to be understood of any land in which the persons
referred to might dwell as captives.
PULPIT, " ehemiah 4:4
Hear, O our God. Compare Ezra's parenthetic burst of thanksgiving (Ezra 7:27,
Ezra 7:28). That which in Ezra was a sudden impulse has become a settled habit
with ehemiah (comp. ehemiah 5:19; ehemiah 6:9, ehemiah 6:14; ehemiah
13:14, ehemiah 13:22, ehemiah 13:29, ehemiah 13:31). Turn their reproach
upon their own head. The imprecations of ehemiah are no pattern to Christians,
any more than are those of the Psalmists (Psalms 69:22-28; Psalms 79:12; Psalms
109:6-20, etc.); but it cannot be denied that they are imprecations. Before men were
taught to "love their enemies," and "bless those that cursed them" (Matthew 5:44),
they gave vent to their natural feelings of anger and indignation by the utterance of
maledictions. ehemiah's spirit was hot and hasty; and as he records of himself
( ehemiah 13:25) that he "cursed" certain Jews who had taken foreign wives, so it
is not to be wondered at that he uttered imprecations against his persistent enemies.
5 Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins
from your sight, for they have thrown insults in
the face of[b] the builders.
CLARKE, "Let not their sin be blotted out - These are the most terrible
imprecations; but probably we should understand them as declaratory, for the same
form of the verb, in the Hebrew, is used as precative and imperative. Turn their
reproach - Their reproach shall be turned. Give them for a prey - They shall be given for
a prey. Cover not their iniquity - Their iniquity shall not be covered. Let not their sin be
blotted out - Their sin shall not be blotted out. All who know the genius of the Hebrew
language, know that the future tense is used to express all these senses. Besides, we may
rest assured that Nehemiah’s curses, or declaration of God’s judgments, had respect only
to their bodies, and to their life: not to their souls and the world to come. And then they
amount to no more than this: What a man soweth that he shall reap.

35. GILL, "And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from
before thee,.... Let it not go unpunished, and even let it not be pardoned; which is
spoken, not from a private spirit of revenge, but from a public spirit for the glory of God,
and his justice; and not as a mere imprecation, but as a prophecy of what would be the
case, in like manner as many of David's petitions in the Psalms; and for this there was a
good foundation, since God had threatened the Moabites and Ammonites with utter
destruction:
for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders; by despising his
people, and mocking at the work the Lord had called them to; and this they did publicly,
and on purpose to discourage the workmen.
HE RY, "He begs of God to avenge their cause and turn the reproach upon the
enemies themselves (Neh_4:4, Neh_4:5); and this was spoken rather by a spirit of
prophecy than by a spirit of prayer, and is not to be imitated by us who are taught of
Christ to pray for those that despitefully use and persecute us. Christ himself prayed for
those that reproached him: Father, forgive them. Nehemiah here prays, Cover not their
iniquity. Note, (1.) Those that cast contempt on God's people do but prepare everlasting
shame for themselves. (2.) It is a sin from which sinners are seldom recovered.
Doubtless Nehemiah had reason to think the hearts of those sinners were desperately
hardened, so that they would never repent of it, else he would not have prayed that it
might never be blotted out. The reason he gives is not, They have abused us, but, They
have provoked thee, and that before the builders, to whom, it is likely, they sent a
spiteful message. Note, We should be angry at the malice of persecutors, not because it is
abusive to us, but because it is offensive to God; and on that we may ground an
expectation that God will appear against it, Psa_74:18, Psa_74:22.
JAMISO , "Hear, O our God; for we are despised — The imprecations invoked
here may seem harsh, cruel, and vindictive; but it must be remembered that Nehemiah
and his friends regarded those Samaritan leaders as enemies to the cause of God and His
people, and therefore as deserving to be visited with heavy judgments. The prayer,
therefore, is to be considered as emanating from hearts in which neither hatred, revenge,
nor any inferior passion, but a pious and patriotic zeal for the glory of God and the
success of His cause, held the ascendant sway.
K&D, "When Nehemiah heard of these contemptuous words, he committed the
matter to God, entreating Him to hear how they (the Jews) were become a scorn, i.e., a
subject of contempt, to turn the reproach of the enemies upon their own head, and to
give them up the plunder in a land of captivity, i.e., in a land in which they would dwell
as captives. He supplicates, moreover, that God would not cover, i.e., forgive (Psa_85:3),
their iniquity, and that their sin might not be blotted out from before His face, i.e., might
not remain unpunished, “for they have provoked to wrath before the builders,” i.e.,
openly challenged the wrath of God, by despising Him before the builders, so that they
heard it. ‫ים‬ ִ‫ע‬ ְ‫כ‬ ִ‫ה‬ without an object, spoken of provoking the divine wrath by grievous sins;
comp. 2Ki_21:6 with 2Ch_33:6.

36. TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:5 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.
Ver 5. And cover not their iniquity.] O fearful imprecation! Surely if they only are
blessed whose sin is covered, Psalms 32:1, what shall become of those that are in a
contrary condition? If pardon of sin be such a voluminous mercy, as having many
other mercies bound up with it, think what a misery it is to have sin imputed; and
get a cover speedily, for that abominable filth, and to God himself an eye sore.
For they have provoked thee to anger, &c.] This was it that ehemiah so stomached;
and that drew from him these dreadful imprecations, viz. God’s glory, and not any
self-concern: he hated and cursed non virum, sed virium, &c.
WHEDO , "5. Cover not — That is, forgive not; do not pardon.
Let not their sin be blotted out — All these imprecations of ehemiah are to be
understood and explained, like the imprecatory psalms, as the voice of down-
trodden humanity and injured innocence uttering by a divine inspiration the
judgments of righteousness upon the wicked oppressor. Such psalms as the one
hundred and twenty-third and the one hundred and twenty-fourth were probably
written on this occasion.
PULPIT, " ehemiah 4:5
Cover not their iniquity, etc. Some of David's imprecations are very similar (Psalms
109:7, Psalms 109:14, Psalms 109:15, etc.), as also some of Jeremiah's (Jeremiah
18:23). They have provoked thee to anger before the builders. It is not as if they had
merely "thought scorn" of thee, or insulted thee before one or two. They have
uttered their insult publicly, so that it is known to the whole body of the builders.
Therefore they deserve not to be forgiven.
6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its
height, for the people worked with all their heart.

37. BAR ES, "Unto the half thereof - i. e. to half the intended height.
CLARKE, "For the people had a mind to work - The original is very emphatic:
‫לעשות‬ ‫לעם‬ ‫לב‬ ‫ויהי‬ vayehi leb leam laasoth, “For the people had a heart to work.” Their hearts
were engaged in it; and where the heart is engaged, the work of God goes on well. The
whole of this 6th verse is omitted by the Septuagint.
GILL, "So built we the wall,.... Went on in building it, notwithstanding their scoffs
and threats:
and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof; it was carried all
round the city to half the height of it:
for the people had a mind to work; their heart was in it, they had a good will to it,
and they made haste to finish it.
HE RY, "The vigour of the builders, notwithstanding these reflections, Neh_4:6.
They made such good speed that in a little time they had run up the wall to half its
height, for the people had a mind to work; their hearts were upon it, and they would
have it forwarded. Note, 1. Good work goes on well when people have a mind to it. 2. The
reproaches of enemies should rather quicken us to our duty than drive us from it.
JAMISO , "all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof — The
whole circuit of the wall had been distributed in sections to various companies of the
people, and was completed to the half of the intended height.
K&D 6-8, "The Jews continued to build without heeding the ridicule of their enemies,
”and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof,” i.e., the wall was so far
repaired throughout its whole circumference, that no breach or gap was left up to half its
height; “and the people had a heart to work,” i.e., the restoration went on so quickly
because the people had a mind to work.
The attempts of the enemies to hinder the work by force, and Nehemiah's precautions
against them. - When the enemies learnt that the restoration of the wall was evidently
getting on, they conspired together to fight against Jerusalem (Neh_4:1 and Neh_4:2).
The Jews then prayed to God, and set a watch (Neh_4:3). When the courage of the
people began to fail, and their enemies spread a report of sudden attack being imminent,
Nehemiah furnished the people on the wall with weapons, and encouraged the nobles
and rulers to fight boldly for their brethren, their children, and their possessions (vv. 4-
8). The Arabians, Ammonites, and Ashdodites are here enumerated as enemies, besides
Sanballat and Tobiah (vv. 2, 10, 19). The Arabians were incited to hostilities against the
Jews by Geshem (vv. 11, 19), and the Ammonites by Tobiah; the Ashdodites, the
inhabitants of the city and territory of Ashdod, in the coast district of Philistia, were

38. perhaps encouraged to renew their old hatred of Judah by Sanballat the Horonite. When
these enemies heard that the walls of Jerusalem were bandaged, i.e., that the breaches
and damages in the wall were repaired, they were filled with wrath. The biblical
expression, to lay on a bandage, here and 2Ch_24:13; Jer_8:22; Jer_30:17; Jer_33:6, is
derived from the healing of wounds by means of a bandage, and is explained by the
sentence following: that the breaches began to be closed or stopped. The enemies
conspired together to march against Jerusalem and injure it. ‫ּו‬‫ל‬, because the people of
the town are meant. ‫ה‬ ָ‫ּוע‬ occurs but once more, viz., in Isa_32:6, in the sense of error;
here it signifies calamities, for, as Aben Ezra well remarks, qui in angustiis constitutus
est, est velut errans, qui nescit quid agat quove se vertat.
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:6. All the wall was joined unto the half thereof — That is,
the wall was built round the whole city, there being no space unbuilt, and it was
carried up to half the height that it was intended to be. For the people had a mind to
work — Were very much set upon it, and went about it cheerfully, notwithstanding
the jeers and scoffs of their enemies.
LA GE, " ehemiah 4:6. Unto the half thereof in height. The people had a mind to
work.—The disaffected (including probably the high-priest or at least many of his
family) were a few, and they had to yield to the zeal of the great mass. Patriotism,
piety and security made the wall-building a popular work. (The fourth chapter in
the Heb divisions begins here).
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:6 So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together
unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
Ver. 6. So built we the wall] This followed upon his prayer, as a gracious answer to
it; the people were encouraged, and the wall finished. Faithful prayer is never
ineffectual. Reproaching is a heart breaking, Psalms 66:20, but so long as a
Christian can pray he is not without his cordial. "I came for thy prayer," Daniel
10:12.
And all the wall was joined together] ot with gold indeed (as Cassiodorus saith the
walls of Susa in Persia were), but with that which was better than gold, faith in
God’s goodness and zeal of his glory.
Unto the half thereof] Unto half the height, for they could not do all at once: neither
can we in the spiritual building; but grow up and increase with the increase of God,
Colossians 2:19.
For the people had a mind to work] And the more mind because they met with so
much opposition. A free spirit is most seen, saith one, when there be most rubs in

39. the way; when he that moves by outward poises will stick and be dull: as when a
bowl runs up a hill, every bounce slows it; but when downhill, a bounce quickeneth
it.
PULPIT, "So built we the wall. Rather, "and we (still) built the wall" Insults and
gibes had no effect on us—did not touch us. Despite of them we steadily kept on our
building, and the result was that soon all the wall was joined together unto the half
thereof—the whole continuous line of wall was completed to half the contemplated
height. For the people had a mind to work. Literally, "there was a heart to the
people to work." They wrought, as we should say, "with a will"—they had their
heart in the work. Insult and gibe rather stimulated than daunted them.
PETT, " ehemiah 4:6
‘So we built the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its (height), for the
people had a mind to work.’
‘So we built the wall.’ In the face of the opposition, and with confidence in the One
to Whom ehemiah had prayed, the work on the walls continued apace until within
a comparatively short time Jerusalem was encircled by a wall which was overall half
the height of that finally intended. This would provide some defence in itself. o
longer could people creep in anywhere at will. (The full height would be revealed by
those parts of the wall which had survived the catastrophe). And this was the result
of the exertions of men who were determined to get the job done, and had laboured
accordingly.
WHEDO , "6. Unto the half thereof — That is, until it was half completed. Some
understand this of half way around the city, others of half the height of the wall.
The latter seems to be the true meaning, inasmuch as the work was going on at all
points in the city at the same time, so that the workmen were greatly scattered.
ehemiah 4:19. So, also, the previous chapter shows that the different families or
classes of the people had each a distinct portion of the work, so that the rebuilding
of the wall would be prosecuted on all sides at the same time.
SIMEO , "THE EFFICACY OF ZEAL A D DILIGE CE
ehemiah 4:6. The people had a mind to work.
GREAT and useful undertakings are often declined, from an idea that we are not
able to carry them into effect, when, in fact, nothing is wanting to ensure success in
them, but zeal and diligence. The history before us strongly exemplifies this remark.
The walls of Jerusalem still continued in their desolate condition, notwithstanding
the Jews had returned thither about ninety years: but, at the instigation of one
single man, the people combined; and engaging heartily in the work, they effected in
a short space of time what had appeared utterly impracticable: ehemiah says, “So
built we the wall; for the people had a mind to work.”
Let us consider,

40. I. The reason assigned for their success—
The work which the people had to perform was attended with many difficulties—
[The removal of the rubbish [ ote: ver. 2.] was of itself no inconsiderable labour,
considering how few hands there were to engage in it. But beside this, the enemies of
the Jews exerted themselves by ridicule, by menaces, and by various other devices
[ ote: ehemiah 2:10; ehemiah 2:19 and ehemiah 4:1; ehemiah 4:3; ehemiah
4:7-8 and ehemiah 6:8-9.], to discourage the undertaking, and to prevent the
execution of it. The treachery and supineness of some among the Jews themselves
[ ote: ver. 10, 12 and ehemiah 6:18-19.] formed also a very formidable obstacle in
the way of those who desired to accomplish the work.]
But by zeal and diligence they were enabled to accomplish it with incredible
despatch—
[Arduous as the work was, it was all finished in two and fifty days [ ote: ehemiah
6:15.]. But how was it effected so soon? We are told, in the text; “The people had a
mind to the work:” every one engaged in it with his whole heart: they regarded
neither fatigue nor danger: they would not so much as take off their clothes during
the whole time, except for the sake of cleanliness [ ote: ver. 23.]; and they wore
their swords by their side while they wrought with their hands [ ote: ver. 16–18.],
that they might be ready to resist their enemies in case of an attack. By this union of
courageous zeal and unremitting diligence they effected their purpose, to the
astonishment and confusion of all their enemies [ ote: ehemiah 6:16.].]
To shew that this subject is capable of very useful improvement, we shall notice,
II. The instruction we may gather from it—
There are two truths that may justly be deduced from this history;
1. In every thing we have to do for God, zeal and diligence are necessary—
[The Jews at that time were actuated by a religious zeal, and exerted themselves for
God [ ote: ehemiah 2:17-18.]. And the work which we have to do for God is by no
means dissimilar, if only we consider what a typical aspect there was in the whole of
their captivity and restoration [ ote: See Isaiah 40:2; Isaiah 52:9-10; Isaiah 65:18.].
We may at least be permitted to accommodate this subject to the reparation of the
soul for God, after the desolations it has suffered through the incursions of sin. We
see that year after year the souls of men lie in ruins; that the generality have no
heart to seek their restoration to their primitive grandeur; and that the greater part
of those who begin to labour in this work, make little progress. But to what is this
owing? The truth is, “they have no mind to the work:” they do not love their work:
repentance is a burthen: prayer is a task: self-denial is a drudgery: they would
rather be excused from every part of their duty: they would not think of communion

41. with God, or of conformity to his image, if they were not driven to it by an
imperious necessity, a fear of everlasting torments. Hence their exertions are weak
and intermitted; and their enemies are suffered to pull down their work, as fast as
they build it up: so that, after an interval of months and years, little, if any, progress
is made in their work. Ah! think of this, ye who are complaining of the low state of
your souls! It would have been thus with respect to the walls of Jerusalem, if the
people had been as lukewarm as you: but “they had a mind to work;” and so must
you, if you would do any thing with effect: “Whatever your hand findeth to do, you
must do it with your might [ ote: Ecclesiastes 9:10.].”]
2. In every thing we have to do for God, zeal and diligence will ensure success—
[In the work of our souls we have to encounter difficulties not unlike to those which
the Jews had to cope with; we have much rubbish to be removed, many reproaches
and menaces to withstand, and many discouragements from weak or false brethren
to surmount. But we need not fear: if we engage heartily in our work, we shall
assuredly succeed. othing shall be able to obstruct our progress: yea, the
opposition we meet with shall but inflame our ardour, and increase our energy; and
we shall proceed triumphantly, in spite of the assaults either of men or devils. We do
not mean to say, that our own arm can effect these things: we know full well that it
cannot; and that, of ourselves, we cannot do any thing that is good: but if we go
forth with zeal and diligence in a humble dependence upon God, he will enable us to
fulfil his will; yea, “through His strength we shall be able to do all things [ ote:
Philippians 4:13.].” He is pledged to assit those who trust in him [ ote: Psalms
125:1.]; and the weakest that relies on him shall be “more than conqueror:” yea, the
weaker we are in ourselves, the more shall “his strength be perfected in our
weakness [ ote: 2 Corinthians 12:9.].” Let us but trust in him, and “the wall shall
be built, though in troublous times [ ote: Daniel 9:25.];” and “what has been begun
in grace shall soon be perfected in glory [ ote: Philippians 1:6.].”]
Address,
1. Those who make excuses for not engaging in the work of their souls—
[The generality are saying, “The time for the Lord’s work is not yet come [ ote:
Haggai 1:2.].” But whatever excuses men urge for their delay, the true and only
reason of it is, “They have no mind to the work.” Be assured, my Brethren, that
when God shall call you into judgment, the veil with which you cover your
hypocrisy will be found thinner than the spider’s web. Rest not then any longer in
such dangerous delusions; but arise, and set yourselves to the work without delay.]
2. To those who have entered on the Lord’s work—
[To exert yourselves with effect, there is need not only of individual zeal, but also of
general and cordial co-operation. The builders all had their proper work assigned
them: and of some it is said, “They built before their own houses [ ote: ehemiah
3:28-30.]:” and though the work seemed but ill adapted for females, some wrought

42. in “concert with their daughters [ ote: ehemiah 3:12.].” How prosperous would
our exertions be, if we would imitate them in these respects! See, Beloved, what
work you have to do near your own houses. If all who profess to be engaged in this
good work would attend diligently to their children, their servants, their
dependents; if they would visit their sick neighbours, and labour to instruct those to
whom they can gain easy and familiar access; methinks the wall would soon be built,
to the admiration of men, and the confusion of devils. Let there then be a general
zeal amongst you, and a determination to co-operate in every labour of love. It is
mentioned to the disgrace of the nobles, that “they put not their necks to the work of
the Lord [ ote: ehemiah 3:5.].” O let there not be any such amongst you! Rather,
let the example of ehemiah and his followers animate us all: then shall the work
proceed rapidly around us, and our “Jerusalem shall soon become a praise in the
earth [ ote: Isaiah 62:7.].”]
7 But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the
Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that
the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead
and that the gaps were being closed, they were
very angry.
BAR ES, "The Arabians ... - Probably a band, composed largely of Arabians,
Ammonites, and Ashdodites, which Sanballat maintained as a guard to his person, and
which formed a portion of “the army of Samaria” Neh_4:2. A quarrel between such a
band and the people of Jerusalem might be overlooked by the Persian king.
CLARKE, "The walls of Jerusalem were made up - That is, they were made up
to the half height of the wall; for the preceding verse seems to intimate that the whole
wall was thus far built; not half of the wall completed, but the whole wall built to half its
height.
GILL, "And it came to pass that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the
Arabians,.... Who were under and influenced by Geshem the Arabian:

43. and the Ammonites; over whom Tobiah was governor:
and the Ashdodites; who were of Ashdod or Azotus, one of the principalities of the
Philistines, who were always enemies to the Jews:
heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up; or "the length of them went up"
(d); that is, the height of them; that they rose up high apace, and were got up to, or
almost to their proper height:
and that the breaches began to be stopped; for the walls were not all thrown down
by the Chaldeans, but breaches made here and there, which were now repaired:
then they were very wroth; and could not avoid showing it; before they mocked
them, as attempting what they could not go through with; but now, perceiving the work
went on with great success, they were enraged.
HE RY 7-8, "I. The conspiracy which the Jews' enemies formed against them, to
stay the building by slaying the builders. The conspirators were not only Sanballat and
Tobiah, but other neighbouring people whom they had drawn into the plot. They
flattered themselves with a fancy that the work would soon stand still of itself; but, when
they heard that it went on a prospered, they were angry at the Jews for being so hasty to
push the work forward and angry at themselves for being so slow in opposing it (Neh_
4:7): They were very wroth. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath,
for it was cruel. Nothing would serve but they would fight against Jerusalem, Neh_4:8.
Why, what quarrel had they with the Jews? Had they done them any wrong? Or did they
design them any? No, they lived peaceably by them; but it was merely out of envy and
malice; they hated the Jews' piety, and were therefore vexed at their prosperity and
sought their ruin. Observe, 1. How unanimous they were: They conspired all of them
together, though of different interests among themselves, yet one in their opposition to
the work of God. 2. How close they were; they said, “They shall not know, neither see, till
we have them at our mercy.” Thus they took crafty counsel, and digged deep to hide it
from the Lord, and promised themselves security and success from the secresy of their
management. 3. How cruel they were: We will come and slay them. If nothing less than
the murder of the workmen will put a stop to the work, they will not stick at that; nay, it
is their blood they thirst for, and they are glad of any pretence to glut themselves with it.
4. What the design was and how confident they were of success: it was to cause the work
to cease (Neh_4:11), and this they were confident that they should effect. The hindering
of good work is that which bad men aim at and promise themselves; but good work is
God's work, and it shall prosper.
JAMISO , "Neh_4:7-23. He sets a watch.
But ... when Sanballat ... heard that the walls ... were made up, and ... the
breaches ... stopped — The rapid progress of the fortifications, despite all their
predictions to the contrary, goaded the Samaritans to frenzy. So they, dreading danger
from the growing greatness of the Jews, formed a conspiracy to surprise them, demolish
their works, and disperse or intimidate the builders. The plot being discovered,
Nehemiah adopted the most energetic measures for ensuring the common safety, as well
as the uninterrupted building of the walls. Hitherto the governor, for the sake of
dispatch, had set all his attendants and guards on the work - now half of them were
withdrawn to be constantly in arms. The workmen labored with a trowel in one hand

44. and a sword in the other; and as, in so large a circuit, they were far removed from each
other, Nehemiah (who was night and day on the spot, and, by his pious exhortations and
example, animated the minds of his people) kept a trumpeter by his side, so that, on any
intelligence of a surprise being brought to him, an alarm might be immediately sounded,
and assistance rendered to the most distant detachment of their brethren. By these
vigilant precautions, the counsels of the enemy were defeated, and the work was carried
on apace. God, when He has important public work to do, never fails to raise up
instruments for accomplishing it, and in the person of Nehemiah, who, to great natural
acuteness and energy added fervent piety and heroic devotion, He provided a leader,
whose high qualities fitted him for the demands of the crisis. Nehemiah’s vigilance
anticipated every difficulty, his prudent measures defeated every obstruction, and with
astonishing rapidity this Jerusalem was made again “a city fortified.”
COFFMA , "Verse 7
SA BALLAT THREATE S VIOLE CE AGAI ST THE BUILDERS
"And it came to pass that, when Sanballat and Tobiah, and the Arabians and the
Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem
went forward, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very
wroth; and they conspired, all of them together, to come and fight against
Jerusalem, and to cause confusion therein. But we made our prayer unto God, and
set a watch against them day and night, because of them. And Judah said, the
strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we
are not able to build the wall. And our adversaries said, They shall not know,
neither see, till we come into the midst of them, and slay them, and cause the work
to cease. And it came to pass that, when the Jews that dwelt by them came, they said
unto us ten times from all places, ye must return unto us. Therefore set I in the
lowest parts of the space behind the walls, in the open places, I set there the people
after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked,
and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the
people, Be not afraid of them: remember the Lord who is great and terrible, and
fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your
houses."
"The Arabians" ( ehemiah 4:7). The identity of these is questionable. "Some
believe they were the descendants of one of the racial groups that Sargon planted in
Samaria. This is possible, but they might also have been one of the desert tribes of
Arabians induced to come forward in the hope of plunder, being influenced by the
Ammonites, their neighbors."[11]
Oesterley has a summary of the crisis presented in these verses:
"This was a very critical time. The Jews were getting weary of the ceaseless work;
their enemies had planted fear in the workers living beyond the walls by telling
them of their plans suddenly to appear and kill the workers; the Jews from the
surrounding area appealed to their neighbors at work on the wall to return home,
abandoning the work. ehemiah's presence of mind and firmness alone saved the
situation." [12]

45. ote the manner in which ehemiah moved to meet this crisis: (1) He prayed to God
( ehemiah 4:9). (2) He set a watch day and night ( ehemiah 4:9). (3) He set armed
men at "the lowest parts," places were the walls might be most easily attacked
( ehemiah 4:13). (4) He brought in the Jews with their families from the outlying
areas, armed them and kept them overnight in the city. (5) He stationed armed men
throughout the city near the construction workers. (6) He kept a close eye himself
upon the situation. (7) He kept a trumpeter by his side, so that in case of an attack,
he could promptly order all hands to repel it ( ehemiah 4:18). (8) He called the
whole assembly together, saying, "Be not afraid of them ... Remember the Lord who
is great and terrible" ( ehemiah 4:14). (9) He commanded the people to be ready to
fight ( ehemiah 4:14). (10) And he ordered the work to go on full speed ahead!
What a leader he proved to be!
" ehemiah with faith in God, skillfully arming and arranging his men, drove
straight ahead with the work; and in spite of all obstacles, the Wall was finished in
52 days; and Jerusalem was again a fortified city, 142 years after its destruction by
ebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C."[13]
"We prayed ... and set a watch" ( ehemiah 4:9). Prayer to God does not eliminate
the need for Christians to be alert and prepared to face emergencies. The old song
from World War II, was, Praise the Lord, and Pass the Ammunition.
"They shall not know, or see, till we come and slay them" ( ehemiah 4:11).
Sanballat by these threats was speaking as if he had an army at his disposal; but,
"This was probably nothing more than the customary armed guard by which the
satraps protected themselves; and Sanballat probably gambled that the king of
Persia might overlook a skirmish between such a band and the Jews."[14] As it
turned out, his threatening words were only a bluff.
This chapter has some of the text that is corrupted, and "The chronology of the
things mentioned here is not fully clear."[15]
"They said unto us ten times ... Ye must return unto us" ( ehemiah 4:12). "Ten
Times is the equivalent here of over and over, or repeatedly."[16] The Jews from the
surrounding area were being intimidated and frightened by Sanballat. ehemiah
countered this by bringing the people into Jerusalem.
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:7-8. That the breaches began to be stopped — That is, the
breaches which the Chaldeans had made and left in the walls were well nigh
repaired. Then they were very wroth — They had flattered themselves with a notion
that the work would soon stand still of itself; but when they heard that it went on
and prospered, they were angry at the Jews for pushing it forward so hastily, and at
themselves for being so slow in opposing it. And conspired all of them together —
Though of different interests among themselves, yet they were unanimous in their
opposition to the work of God. To come and fight against Jerusalem — Why? what
quarrel had they with the Jews? Had the Jews done them any wrong, or did they
design them any? o: they lived peaceably by them; but it was merely out of envy

46. and malice that this Sanballat and his brethren opposed and persecuted them. They
hated the piety of the Jews, and were therefore vexed at their prosperity, and sought
their ruin. And to hinder it — Or, to cause the work to cease, as it is expressed
ehemiah 4:11, which they doubted not but they should be able to effect. The
hindering of a good work is that which bad men aim at, and promise themselves;
but as a good work is God’s work, it shall prosper.
COKE, "Verse 7-8
ehemiah 4:7-8. When Sanballat and Tobiah, &c.— The ingenious publisher of the
Ruins of Balbeck tells us, that in Palestine he has often seen the husbandman
sowing, accompanied by an armed friend, to prevent his being robbed of the seed by
the Arabs. This robbing the husbandman of his seed seems to have been an ancient
practice of theirs, and to have been referred to, Psalms 126:5-6 and made an image
by the Psalmist of the happy issue of the first essays of the Jews to re-people their
country. For surely it is much more natural to suppose that these verses referred to
a violence of this sort, than to imagine, with many interpreters who have treated
upon this circumstance, that they allude to a countryman's anxiety, who sows his
corn in a very scarce time, and is afraid of the failure of his next crop. The Israelites,
who returned to Babylon upon the proclamation of Cyrus, were undoubtedly in
similar circumstances to husbandmen sowing their corn amidst surrounding
encampments of oppressive Arabs. Their rebuilding their towns and their temple
resembled a time of sowing; for from these things they were willing to hope for a
great increase of people; but they who continued in Babylon had reason to be
jealous that the neighbouring nations would defeat these efforts, and destroy these
rising settlements. The sacred historian, in this passage, expressly mentions such
difficulties; nor was it difficult to foresee these oppositions: the Arabs had,
undoubtedly, pastured their flocks and herds, and pitched their tents all over Judea,
when left desolate; and perhaps others of the neighbouring nations had seized upon
some of the dispeopled districts which lay most convenient for them: it was the
interest then of the Arabs, and of such other nations, to discourage, as far as in them
lay, the return of Israel in any numbers into the country of their fathers. In
opposition to this jealousy, the prophet expresses, perhaps predicts, his hope, that
there would be a happy issue of these beginnings to re-people their country: "Make
the people of our captivity to return, O Lord! into their country; and, like the
streams of the south, to cause these desarts to flourish again. Let them be persuaded,
that, though they lay these foundations of re-peopling their country with an anxiety
like that of a poor husbandman, who goes forth weeping, for fear he should be
robbed of his seed, they shall feel a joy hereafter, like his, when he brings back his
sheaves with rejoicing, in the so thoroughly re-establishing Israel in Judea, as to
have no cause to apprehend any thing from the surrounding nations."
Observations, p. 52.
LA GE, " ehemiah 4:7. The Arabians.—Those in Samaria. See on ehemiah
2:19.The Ammonites.—Tobiah’s influence had probably induced many Ammonites
to take active part with Sanballat in opposing the Jews. If Sanballat was a Moabite
(as we suppose), that fact would account for an Ammonitish alliance, as the two
nations of Moab and Ammon were always closely united, especially against Israel.

47. The Ashdodites, with the Philistine traditional hatred, remained hostile to the Jews
until Jonathan, brother of Judas Maccabeus, three hundred years after this,
destroyed Ashdod at the defeat of Apollonius.
That the walls of Jerusalem were made up.—Lit, that a bandage was applied to the
walls of Jerusalem. So in 2 Chronicles 24:13.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:7 But it came to pass, [that] when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and
the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of
Jerusalem were made up, [and] that the breaches began to be stopped, then they
were very wroth,
Ver. 7. And the Arabians’ and the Ammonites] A rabble of malignants meet and
make head. Sanballat, by the help of Tobiah, had now gotten a great band of
soldiers, and specially of Arabians, Ammonites, and Ashdodites, to fight for him
against this feeble folk, but yet armed with God, and that had him for their
champion. So we may see how readily one wicked man will be drawn to help
another; and how the wickedness of one will infect another that will give ear to it.
Read Psalms 83:6-8, Revelation 16:16-17, &c.
Heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up] Heb. That health (or as the old
translation hath it, a salve) ascended upon the walls. A metaphor from surgeons,
who when they heal wounds by salves or plasters, join the flesh together again
which before was cut in sunder: so the breaches of the walls, which afore lay gaping
open, were joined together, and made sound, as though it were one entire wall, et
quasi tota moles in tantam magnitudinem ex unico ingenti lapide tam magnifice
consurgeret.
Then they were very wroth] That old enmity, Genesis 3:15, stirred in them, and they
were soon kindled; Satan being the boute-feu, or kindle coal. See ehemiah 4:1.
WHEDO , "7. The Arabians — Headed probably by Geshem. See on chapter
ehemiah 2:19.
Ashdodites — Inhabitants of Ashdod, one of the great cities of the Philistine plain. It
was besieged and captured by the Assyrians in the time of Sargon, (Isaiah 20:1,) but
had so far recovered its strength as now to enter into confederacy with the
Samaritans against the Jews.
That the walls… were made up — Literally, That there arose healing to the walls.
The broken walls are spoken of as wounded, and the rebuilding was a healing, or
restoring them to health. The thought is amplified by the additional clause, the
breaches began to be stopped — Places where the wall had been violently broken
through were closed up.

48. PULPIT, " ehemiah 4:7
It came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, at Samaria, and the Arabians,
and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, in their respective residences, heard that
the walls of Jerusalem were made up, or "that the (entire) wall of Jerusalem was of
a (good) height," they were wroth. Observe that Tobiah is here quite separated from
the nation of the Ammonites, and in no way represented as their leader. Jealousy of
Jerusalem on the part of the Ammonites and Philistines is quite natural; and, if the
Arabs are the Edomites, their opposition would be equally a matter of course
(Psalms 137:7; Ezekiel 25:12; Amos 1:11; Obadiah 1:10, Obadiah 1:14); but the
Edomites are not called Arabs in Scripture, nor do Arabs appear very often among
the enemies of the Jews. It has been suggested that the "Arabians" here mentioned
are the descendants of a colony which Sargon planted in Samaria itself. This, of
course, is possible; but they may perhaps have been one of the desert tribes, induced
to come forward by the hope of plunder (Ewald), and influenced by the Ammonites,
their neighbours.
PARKER, ""But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the
Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of
Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were
very wroth, and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against
Jerusalem, and to hinder it" [rather, to do it hurt] ( ehemiah 4:7-8).
If the enemy thinks it worth while to be in earnest, let us take a hint from his policy.
The enemy is up earlier in the morning than we are. The dram shop is open before
the drapery house. Does the house of ill-fame ever put its candle out? Is the bad
place ever locked up so that we cannot get into it? Our churches are fastened up,
instead of being open early in the morning so that some men passing might call in
for a few minutes. Is that earnestness—is that meaning it? Let any Prayer of
Manasseh , who ever was able in business to put one penny on the top of another by
sheer industry, answer the flippant question. The enemies conspired. To conspire is
to blow, to breathe together. But there is a better word than conspiracy, and that is
union. Union is conspiracy, and something more: it is conspiracy sanctified—
conspiracy assured—conspiracy made permanent. The conspiracy of bad men is but
a momentary arrangement—the conspiracy or union of good men ought to be a
perpetual glory and satisfaction.
If there was conspiracy on one side there was union on the other. What does
ehemiah say, now that Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arabian, have all
been joined by the Arabians and Ammonites and Ashdodites—what does he say
now? With marvellous constancy of purpose he turns up his face heavenward, and
says, " evertheless, we made our prayer unto our God." These were times in which
a man could pray. It is difficult to pray now—we are not in any crisis that tears the
soul, we are not in any peril amounting to personal agony, things are going pretty
smoothly and comfortably, and it is difficult to pray in stagnant water. Great
litanies, mighty shouts have gone up through the howling wind and screaming
tempest, through the billows of the troubled sea, through the thunders of the

49. agitated air. In great sorrows men pray; in great trials men intercede; when the
enemy draws a cordon round and round—then they pray. Under other
circumstances they hold small controversies about prayer, and put perplexing
riddles to one another on the theological conception of the divine relation to law; but
when they are pursued by wolves, and their hearts turn into great flaming agonies,
then the long metaphysical words go right out of them, and they come to simple
language—to direct, face to face, hand to hand contact with God. Have we ever
prayed so? Then there is no possibility of shaking our faith by any wordy
controversy or syllable-mongering and hammering of insane metaphysicians.
ehemiah set the people to watch. Having prayed he appointed them their places—
set the people with their families, with their swords, their spears, their bows. "I
looked and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the
people------" We have heard Sanballat"s mocking speech, Tobiah"s jeering remarks
about the fox"s putting his fore-paw upon the wall and pulling it down; let us hear
ehemiah. Up to this time he had been talking upward—praying to God; now he is
going to make a speech to the people, and to the nobles, and the rulers, and it runs
thus: "Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible;
and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your
houses." What will they do? They will fight. This speech is one that must touch
them; read it again. "Remember the Lord, which is great and terrible;"—that is the
religious aspect—"and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your
wives, and your houses,"—your hearthstones; fight for all that is near and dear to
you. A speech like that is as a word of the Lord. It cannot return to the speaker void.
Earnestness always accomplishes great results. After this, "the half of my servants
wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields,
and the bows, and the habergeons." Understand the picture—half building, half
watching. Affirmative work, and service lying in wait, kept in reserve. Builders—
soldiers—sword, spear, trowel, hammer—a beautiful and useful division.
We are mistaken in our view of life if we suppose that there is nothing of that kind
going on to-day, even in civilised countries. This is an exact, even literal, picture of
the things that are round about us. Do you say, ehemiah"s men had a sword in one
hand and a trowel in the other—I have only a trowel and not a sword, so how can it
be a literal picture of what is taking place in my own time and in my own land? In
this way. Other people are holding the sword for us whilst we are building. An
enemy always occasions tremendous loss of power, waste of talent. The policemen
are watching, the soldiers are fighting; that is the picture of civilisation as known to
ourselves. Men can only return to their business every morning because the
policemen parade the streets all night. That is the picture of civilisation. We are at
peace with all the world; but we dare not disband the army, dissolve the navy, and
send the volunteers and reserve forces home, to merchandise, to mechanism, to art
and science.
We think that all is going on well because we are at church twice a day; we say,
"Well, thank God, everything is very nice in England, sitting under our own vine
and fig-tree, none daring to make us afraid." It is because we have in London alone

50. some thousands of men with helmets, with batons, with defences about their
persons—we have set them to watch the elements that would set fire to our social
fabric in a moment: that would overpass the lines of social division and family
defence and household security, and make a havoc amidst the social beauty of our
privileged land. We have only edged these people out of sight—they are all there; we
have crowded them into the back slums—but they are all there. And we walk down
the thoroughfare and say—"Peaceful evening—very calm—very comfortable; our
own vine, our own fig-tree, and great improvements in social life, great progress in
the arts and sciences, great advancement in civilisation since I was a boy." In one
point of view that is right enough—within its own proper limits it is a true picture,
and one to be admired and to occasion mutual felicitation amongst Englishmen; but
there are forces in London that want to rob, and ravish, and destroy London, and
they are only kept back by men who represent the spirit of social order and law.
Break down that boundary, and where is our English civilisation? So we repeat—
the picture we have of ehemiah"s building the wall, with the sword and trowel, is a
picture of English life at the present day.
ehemiah had a man beside him—who was it? "He that sounded the trumpet was
by me." What was the use of a trumpeter now? What was the use of having a man
to take up a brass instrument, and make a noise in the air? A decorative piece of
humanity—nothing more. You are wrong. "We are far apart one from another: we
must have a signal: when you hear a blast from the trumpet, come together—mass
yourselves, the enemy is there." And so we must in society have men in high political
places, in high military places, in high ecclesiastical places—trumpeting men, men
who can sound a blast, make a cry, set up a signal, float a banner, give the
watchword, congregate and mass the people into one patriotic solidity. And these
are men that are truly of the working classes. Some say, "What does a preacher do
for his living—what does a newspaper writer do for his living—what does a
bootmaker do for his living—what do we want of Song of Solomon , lyrics, ballads,
odes? We are the working men, hammering iron, building stones and bricks up."
That is a narrow and mistaken view. We are all necessary—builder, architect,
painter, writer, preacher, schoolmaster, and doctor—we are all necessary to one
another, and we ought to recognise the men who are ahead of us all, who can see
farther than we can, and who sound the blast when there is any occasion for our
coming together to a common rendezvous, to make a common front to face the
common foe.
PETT, "Verses 7-23
Sanballat And His Allies Determine Violence Against the Builders Of The Walls
With The Aim Of Preventing Their Completion Only To Be Thwarted By
ehemiah’s Precautions ( ehemiah 4:7-23).
Their derision having failed in its purpose, and their anger still being aroused,
Sanballat and his allies now determined to bring the work to a stop by using
violence. To the already formidable opponents were added the Ammonites to the
east of Judah (although Tobias was an Ammonite) and the Ashdodites to the west.
Ashdod was the name of the overall province that included former Philistine

51. territory. These plotted an incursion into Jerusalem with the hope of causing
confusion. ehemiah responded by praying to God and setting a watch, with half
his builders ready at arms, and all his builders armed in case they were needed.
ehemiah 4:7
‘But it came about that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the
Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem
went forward, that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very angry,’
The frequency with which Jerusalem must have suffered unofficial raids is
suggested by the number of adversaries who were angry at the repairing of the
breaches in the walls. They realised that any future plans that they might have for
unofficial raids were now being thwarted. Furthermore it indicated that Jerusalem
was once again becoming a power in the land.
The phrase ‘the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem’ in Hebrew uses the figure of
bandaging up a wound. For this metaphor compare 2 Chronicles 24:13; Isaiah
30:26; Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 30:17; Jeremiah 33:6. Its similar use in 2 Chronicles
24:13 may suggest that it was a common phrase, a reminder that YHWH is the One
Who heals them (Exodus 15:26)
The fact that Tobias (the Ammonite) is mentioned separately from the Ammonites
would appear to be against the suggestion that he was governor over the
Ammonites, although he may well have had influence among them. Thus the
Ammonites and the Ashdodites were ‘new’ enemies. It is worthwhile considering the
strength of the opposition:
o Sanballat, with his deputy Tobias, would appear to have been governor and
deputy governor over Samaria, to the north.
o The Arabians, headed by their paramount chieftain Geshem (see on
ehemiah 2:19) would be to the east and south, and would be a formidable foe.
They probably included the Idumaeans/Edomites now settled in southern Judah.
o The Ammonites were to the east of Judah. That Tobias, although an
Ammonite, was not their governor is suggested by the order given for the
adversaries, but he would almost certainly have had influence among them. They
were a fierce, only half civilised tribal nation. Members of a Tobiad family (who
may not, however, have been related to Tobias) were certainly governors of Ammon
in later centuries.
o The Ashdodites represented the peoples to the west, for Ashdod was the
name of the Persian province (taken over from the Assyrians) which included the
whole of former Philistia.

52. 8 They all plotted together to come and fight
against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.
GILL, "And conspired all of them together,.... All the above men and people
entered into a confederacy and combination:
to come and to fight against Jerusalem; to bring an army with them, and by force
cause the Jews to desist; the Jews (e) pretend they came to war, and brought with them
an army of 180,000 men, which is not probable:
and to hinder it; the building of the walls of it; or "to make a wandering for him" (f);
for Nehemiah, or the people, or both, to, cause them to stray from their work, to frighten
them from it, that they might become like men at their wits end, not knowing what to do,
where to turn themselves, or what course to steer, but to wander about as persons out of
their senses; so Aben Ezra. De Dieu joins this clause to the next verse, to cause everyone
of them to wander, we prayed, &c.
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:9. We made our prayer unto God — They committed
themselves to the protection of God, whose servants they were, and whom they
considered as being engaged for them. This was the way of good ehemiah and his
associates: all their cares, all their griefs, all their fears, they spread before God, and
thereby made themselves easy. And set a watch against them day and night — They
seconded their prayers by their endeavours, and kept a constant watch, that they
might not be surprised by their enemies, for they knew them to be very vigilant to
do mischief.
LA GE, " ehemiah 4:8. To hinder it.—Lit, to do wickedness to it. (So the word to’
ah in Isaiah 32:6). These various nationalities might suppose that by acting in
concert, they could show to the Persian king they were only acting in his behalf for
the safety of the empire against an insurrectionary movement of the Jews. An attack
of Sanballat alone might readily be understood at court as a matter of personal
jealousy and aggrandizement. Hence the confederacy.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:8 And conspired all of them together to come [and] to fight
against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.
Ver. 8. And conspired all of them together] All of them, and together; and yet this
was not unity, but conspiracy; such as is that among devils, Mark 5:9, among
Antichristians, Revelation 17:13, among Turks, who have as little dissension in their
religion as any. But well may that garment have no seam that hath no shape. The
army of ineveh was quiet, ahum 1:12, no falling out nor complaining in their

53. hosts; hence their king marched on, passed through. But so did not these
conspirators, because they met with those that were no less well combined and far
better resolved than themselves. The Thebans had a band of men they called Sacra
Cohors, sacred cohorts, ιερος λοχος (Athen. 1.3), consisting of such only as were
joined in the bonds of love, and resolved to live and die together. These Jews under
the command of ehemiah were none other, and were therefore insuperable.
To come and to fight] To turn their works into knocks.
And to hinder it] Heb. To make an error in it. The Hebrew word is used both of the
error of the heart and of the foot, Isaiah 63:17, Psalms 119:176. It may be rendered
here, to hinder him, to make an error in him; to make ehemiah at a stand, or
rather to run away, to creep into corners, and give over the work
PETT, " ehemiah 4:8
‘And they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and
to cause confusion in it.’
The different groups described conspired together to send bands of armed men
against Jerusalem in order to cause confusion among the builders ( ehemiah 4:8),
and kill some of them ( ehemiah 4:11), thus hoping to disillusion them and bring
about a cessation of their labours. These were apparently to be lightning strikes,
totally unexpected by the builders, and taking them by surprise. What was planned
was thus not an invasion or war against Judah in the normal sense (something
which the Persian overall authorities would not have permitted) but a series of
incursions only against Jerusalem, causing destruction and death, something which
was intended to prevent the walls being built. That this was so comes out in the fact
that ehemiah’s response in defending Jerusalem succeeded. Judah could hardly
have resisted an all out war conducted and coordinated by their neighbours on all
sides. The whole emphasis of both sides was on Jerusalem alone.
Even so Sanballat would know that he could be called to account by the Satrap over
Beyond the River for his actions. Thus he must have reasoned, 1) that he could
suggest that much of it was the work of brigands who were difficult to control,
and/or 2) that as regards his own activities he could point to the previous instruction
from Artaxerxes calling on him to enforce the cessation of the building of the walls
(Ezra 4:22-23), no further decree to allow the building of the walls having been
received by him, and that he was thus acting in accordance with instructions, and/or
3) that he could count on the matter not being treated too seriously, being dismissed
as simply resulting from local feuds, or indeed a combination of all three. These
arguments would depend on the attacks not seeming to be too coordinated or too
severe.
On the other hand he would count on the fact that many of the Jews would be aware
of what had happened previously when the Persian authorities had come down hard

54. on them for seeking to rebuild the walls (Ezra 4:22-23), and might therefore easily
capitulate. And on the fact that they would not want to see extra problems arising
for their families as a result of their activities, for the passing through a country of
invading bands inevitably left a trail of destruction behind them, especially when
their aim was punitive. Indeed had ehemiah not been there, with his supreme
confidence in his own position, their adversaries might well have succeeded. But
ehemiah knew that there were limits on how far their adversaries would dare to
go, and was clearly confident therefore that his defensive measures would, with the
help of God, succeed.
9 But we prayed to our God and posted a guard
day and night to meet this threat.
BAR ES, "Because of them - Or, “over against them,” i. e. opposite to the place
where they were encamped, probably on the north side of the city.
CLARKE, "We made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch - The
strongest confidence in the protection and favor of God does not preclude the use of all
or any of the means of self-preservation and defense which his providence has put in our
power. While God works in us to will and to do, we should proceed to willing, through
the power he has given us to will; and we should proceed to action, through the power he
has given us to act. We cannot will, but through God’s power; we cannot act, but through
God’s strength. The power, and the use of it, are two distinct things. We may have the
power to will, and not will; and we may have the power to do, and not act: therefore, says
the apostle, seeing God has wrought in you these powers, see that You Work Out Your
Own salvation, with fear and trembling.
GILL, "Nevertheless, we made our prayer unto our God,.... Spread their case
before him in prayer, entreating direction and help from him:
and set a watch against them day and night, because of them; to give notice of
their approach, that they might prepare to defend themselves; though they prayed to
God, and trusted in him for deliverance, they did not neglect the use of means.

55. K&D, "The Jews, on the other hand, made preparation by prayer, and by setting a
watch (‫ר‬ ָ‫מ‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ִ‫,מ‬ comp. Neh_7:3; Neh_13:30) day and night. We, viz., Nehemiah and the
superintendents of the work, prayed and set a watch ‫ם‬ ֶ‫יה‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ֲ‫,ע‬ against them, to ward off a
probable attack. ‫ם‬ ֶ‫יה‬ֵ‫נ‬ ְ ִ‫,מ‬ for fear of them, comp. Neh_4:10.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:9 evertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a
watch against them day and night, because of them.
Ver. 9. evertheless we made our prayer unto our God] Who is the saints’
sanctuary of safety, their present help in time of trouble. Prayer to him is an anchor
in all storms and a salve for all sores; yea, it healeth not only body and soul, but
even hard stony walls, ehemiah 4:7, provided that we judge ourselves in prayer,
and commit our cause to God to be judged by him, as the Hebrew word ‫נחפלל‬ here
importeth. Thus did the children of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, when to fight
against the Hagarenes. Thus did Jabiz, and Jehoshaphat, and Constantine, and
Theodosius, and that late victorious king of Sweden, of whom it is storied in his Life
(Mr Clark), that he would pray ashipboard, ashore, in the field, in the midst of a
battle; as if prayer alone were the surest piece of his whole armour.
And set a watch] According to that of our Saviour, "Watch and pray," Luke 21:36,
and that of the heathen, Admota manu invocanda est Minerva. Ora et labora, pray,
and then use best policy; first conquer heaven, and then presume of earth’s
conquest.
Against them] Or, beside them, at the workmen’s elbows, and in the face of the
enemies,
PETT, " ehemiah 4:9
‘But we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night,
because of them.’
ehemiah’s response was to pray to God and set a twenty four hour watch. There is
the important lesson here that faith and practicality must go hand in hand. In Jesus’
words, we must ‘not put to test the Lord our God’ (Matthew 4:7). Without God’s
help the watch may well not have succeeded. But to have relied on God without
setting a watch would have been to wrongly put God to the test.
MACLARE , "DISCOURAGEME TS A D COURAGE
ehemiah 4:9 - ehemiah 4:21.
Common hatred has a wonderful power of uniting former foes. Samaritans, wild
Arabs of the desert, Ammonites, and inhabitants of Ashdod in the Philistine plain

56. would have been brought together for no noble work, but mischief and malice fused
them for a time into one. God’s work is attacked from all sides. Herod and Pilate
can shake hands over their joint antagonism.
This passage paints vividly the discouragements which are apt to dog all good work,
and the courage which refuses to be discouraged, and conquers by bold persistence.
The first verse [ ehemiah 4:9] may stand as a summary of the whole, though it
refers to the preceding, not to the following, verses. The true way to meet opposition
is twofold-prayer and prudent watchfulness. ‘Pray to God, and keep your powder
dry,’ is not a bad compendium of the duty of a Christian soldier. The union of
appeal to God with the full use of common sense, watchfulness, and prudence,
would dissipate many hindrances to successful service.
I. In ehemiah 4:10 - ehemiah 4:12 ehemiah tells, in his simple way, of the
difficulties from three several quarters which threatened to stop his work. He had
trouble from the workmen, from the enemies, and from the mass of Jews not
resident in Jerusalem. The enthusiasm of the builders had cooled, and the
magnitude of their task began to frighten them. ehemiah 4:6 tells us that the wall
was completed ‘unto the half of it’; that is, to one-half the height, and half-way
through is just the critical time in all protracted work. The fervour of beginning has
passed; the animation from seeing the end at hand has not sprung up. There is a
dreary stretch in the centre, where it takes much faith and self-command to plod on
unfainting. Half-way to Australia from England is the region of sickening calms. It
is easier to work in the fresh morning or in the cool evening than at midday. So in
every great movement there are short-winded people who sit down and pant very
soon, and their prudence croaks out undeniable facts. o doubt strength does
become exhausted; no doubt there is ‘much rubbish’ {literally ‘dust’}. What then?
The conclusion drawn is not so unquestionable as the premises. ‘We cannot build
the wall’ Why not? Have you not built half of it? And was not the first half more
embarrassed by rubbish than the second will be?
It is a great piece of Christian duty to recognise difficulties, and not be cowed by
them. The true inference from the facts would have been, ‘so that we must put all
our strength into the work, and trust in our God to help us.’ We may not be
responsible for discouragements suggesting themselves, but we are responsible for
letting them become dissuasives. Our one question should be, Has God appointed
the work? If so, it has to be done, however little our strength, and however
mountainous the accumulations of rubbish.
The second part in the trio was taken by the enemies-Sanballat and Tobiah and the
rest. They laid their plans for a sudden swoop down on Jerusalem, and calculated
that, if they could surprise the builders at their work, they would have no weapons
to show fight with, and so would be easily despatched. Killing the builders was but a
means; the desired end is significantly put last [ ehemiah 4:11], as being the
stopping of the abhorred work. But killing the workmen does not cause the work to
cease when it is God’s work, as the history of the Church in all ages shows.
Conspirators should hold their tongues. It was not a hopeful way of beginning an
attack, of which the essence was secrecy and suddenness, to talk about it. ‘A bird of
the air carries the matter.’
The third voice is that of the Jews in other parts of the land, and especially those

57. living on the borders of Samaria, next door to Sanballat. ehemiah 4:12 is probably
best taken as in the Revised Version, which makes ‘Ye must return to us’ the
imperative and often-repeated summons from these to the contingents from their
respective places of abode, who had gone up to Jerusalem to help in building.
Alarms of invasion made the scattered villagers wish to have all their men capable
of bearing arms back again to defend their own homes. It was a most natural
demand, but in this case, as so often, audacity is truest prudence; and in all high
causes there come times when men have to trust their homes and dear ones to God’s
protection. The necessity is heartrending, and we may well pray that we may not be
exposed to it; but if it clearly arises, a devout man can have no doubt of his duty.
How many American citizens had to face it in the great Civil War! And how
character is ennobled by even so severe a sacrifice!
II. The calm heroism of ehemiah and his wise action in the emergency are told in
ehemiah 4:13 - ehemiah 4:15. He made a demonstration in force, which at once
showed that the scheme of a surprise was blown to pieces. It is difficult to make out
the exact localities in which he planted his men. ‘The lower places behind the wall’
probably means the points at which the new fortifications were lowest, which would
be the most exposed to assault; and the ‘higher places’ {Auth. Ver.}, or ‘open places’
{Rev. Ver.}, describes the same places from another point of view. They afforded
room for posting troops because they were without buildings. At any rate, the walls
were manned, and the enemy would have to deal, not with unarmed labourers, but
with prepared soldiers. The work was stopped, and trowel and spade exchanged for
sword and spear. ‘And I looked,’ says ehemiah. His careful eye travelled over the
lines, and, seeing all in order, he cheered the little army with ringing words. He had
prayed [ ehemiah 1:5] to ‘the great and terrible God,’ and now he bids his men
remember Him, and thence draw strength and courage. The only real antagonist of
fear is faith. If we can grasp God, we shall not dread Sanballat and his crew. Unless
we do, the world is full of dangers which it is not folly to fear.
ote, too, that the people are animated for the fight by reminding them of the dear
ones whose lives and honour hung on the issue. othing is said about fighting for
God and His Temple and city, but the motives adduced are not less sacred. Family
love is God’s best of earthly gifts, and, though it is sometimes duty to ‘forget thine
own people, and thy father’s house,’ as we have just seen, nothing short of these
highest obligations can supersede the sweet one of straining every nerve for the well-
being of dear ones in the hallowed circle of home.
So the plan of a sudden rush came to nothing. It does not appear that the enemy was
in sight; but the news of the demonstration soon reached them, and was effectual.
Prompt preparation against possible dangers is often the means of turning them
aside. Watchfulness is indispensable to vigour of Christian character and efficiency
of work. Suspicion is hateful and weakening; but a man who tries to serve God in
such a world as this had need to be like the living creatures in the Revelation, having
‘eyes all over.’ ‘Blessed is the man that [in that sense] feareth always.’
The upshot of the alarm is very beautifully told: ‘We returned all of us to the wall,
every one unto his work.’ o time was wasted in jubilation. The work was the main
thing, and the moment the interruption was ended, back to it they all went. It is a
fine illustration of persistent discharge of duty, and of that most valuable quality,
the ability and inclination to keep up the main purpose of a life continuous through

58. interruptions, like a stream of sweet water running through a bog.
III. The remainder of the passage tells us of the standing arrangements made in
consequence of the alarm [ ehemiah 4:16 - ehemiah 4:21]. First we hear what
ehemiah did with his own special ‘servants,’ whether these were slaves who had
accompanied him from Shushan {as Stanley supposes}, or his body-guard as a
Persian official. He divided them into two parts-one to work, one to watch. But he
did not carry out this plan with the mass of the people, probably because it would
have too largely diminished the number of builders. So he armed them all. The
labourers who carried stones, mortar, and the like, could do their work after a
fashion with one hand, and so they had a weapon in the other. If they worked in
pairs, that would be all the easier. The actual builders needed both hands, and so
they had swords stuck in their girdles. o doubt such arrangements hindered
progress, but they were necessary. The lesson often drawn from them is no doubt
true, that God’s workers must be prepared for warfare as well as building. There
have been epochs in which that necessity was realised in a very sad manner; and the
Church on earth will always have to be the Church militant. But it is well to
remember that building is the end, and fighting is but the means. The trowel, not the
sword, is the natural instrument. Controversy is second best-a necessity, no doubt,
but an unwelcome one, and only permissible as a subsidiary help to doing the true
work, rearing the walls of the city of God.
‘He that soundeth the trumpet was by me.’ The gallant leader was everywhere,
animating by his presence. He meant to be in the thick of the fight, if it should come.
And so he kept the trumpeter by his side, and gave orders that when he sounded all
should hurry to the place; for there the enemy would be, and ehemiah would be
where they were. ‘The work is great and large, and we are separated . . . one far
from another.’ How naturally the words lend themselves to the old lesson so often
drawn from them! God’s servants are widely parted, by distance, by time, and, alas!
by less justifiable causes. Unless they draw together they will be overwhelmed, taken
in detail, and crushed. They must rally to help each other against the common foe.
Thank God! the longing for manifest Christian unity is deeper to-day than ever it
was. But much remains to be done before it is adequately fulfilled in the recognition
of the common bond of brotherhood, which binds us all in one family, if we have one
Father. English and American Christians are bound to seek the tightening of the
bonds between them and to set themselves against politicians who may seek to keep
apart those who both in the flesh and in the spirit are brothers. All Christians have
one great Captain; and He will be in the forefront of every battle. His clear trumpet-
call should gather all His servants to His side.
The closing verse tells again how ehemiah’s immediate dependants divided work
and watching, and adds to the picture the continuousness of their toil from the first
grey of morning till darkness showed the stars and ended another day of toil. Happy
they who thus ‘from morn till noon, from noon till dewy eve,’ labour in the work of
the Lord! For them, every new morning will dawn with new strength, and every
evening be calm with the consciousness of ‘something attempted, something done.’

59. 10 Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The
strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is
so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”
CLARKE, "The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed - They worked
both day and night, scarcely ever putting off their clothes, except for the purpose of
being washed, Neh_4:21, Neh_4:23.
Much rubbish - The ruins they were obliged to clear away, before they could dig the
foundation for a new wall: and in this labor they were nearly exhausted; see Neh_5:15.
GILL, "And Judah said,.... Several of the men of Judah:
the strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed; through much labour, in
carrying heavy loads of stone and timber to the builders, and yet more through fear of
the enemy:
and there is much rubbish; which ought to be removed, but that the labourers were
so weak that they could not do it:
so that we are not able to build the wall; to finish it before the enemy comes to
attack us.
HE RY, "The discouragements which the builders themselves laboured under. At
the very time when the adversaries said, Let us cause the work to cease, Judah said, “Let
us even let it fall, for we are not able to go forward with it,” Neh_4:10. They represent
the labourers as tired, and the remaining difficulties, even of that first part of their work,
the removing of the rubbish, as insuperable, and therefore they think it advisable to
desist for the present. Can Judah, that warlike valiant tribe, sneak thus? Active leading
men have many times as much ado to grapple with the fears of their friends as with the
terrors of their enemies.
K&D, "The placing of the watch day and night, and the continuous labour, must have
pressed heavily upon the people; therefore Judah said: “The strength of the bearers of
burdens fails, and there is much rubbish; we are not able to build the wall.” That is to
say, the labour is beyond our power, we cannot continue it.
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:10. And Judah said — That is, the Jews now dwelling in

60. Judah; to wit, some of them, being partly terrified by their enemies, and partly
wearied with continual labour: the strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed —
The labourers have wrought so long and so hard that they are quite spent; and there
is much rubbish — More than we are able soon to remove: so that we are not able to
build the wall — Being forced to spend our time in removing the rubbish, and
therefore we must desist for a season. Can Judah, that warlike, valiant tribe, speak
thus? Active, leading men, have many times as much to do to grapple with the fears
of their friends as with the terrors of their enemies.
LA GE, " ehemiah 4:10-12. And Judah said .… and our adversaries said … the
Jews which dwelt by them said. Here were three sources of discouragement: (1) The
severity of the work. (2) The threat of destruction by the confederacy. (3) The recall
of the country Jews from the work by their timid fellows.
They said unto us ten times, From all places whence ye shall return unto us they will
be upon you.—Rather, They said unto us ten times (i.e., frequently), From all places
ye shall return unto us. The Jews from the outside towns that were near the enemy
came to Jerusalem and endeavored to make their townsmen desist, through fear of
injury from Sanballat. [The Heb. Asher as in Esther 3:4.]
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:10 And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is
decayed, and [there is] much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.
Ver. 10. And Judah said] Here was επεµβολη, impedimenti domestici; aliud ex alio
malum, a worse discouragement than the former. Judah (the chief labourers) begins
to murmur and mutiny, to faint and fall off. A perilous practice in such a dangerous
time, and enough to have undone all; as one coward in an army, breaking the array
and running away, may set the rest a running, and the day be thereby lost. Lo, this
was Judah, whose escutcheon was a lion; but here unlike himself.
The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed] Very specious reasons they
allege; their shoulders ached, their strength was gone, there was no end of their
painstaking, their work grew upon them, &c. The truth was, deerat ignis, deerat
animus, they were weary of well doing, and not valiant for the truth, Jeremiah 9:3.
More like they were to those fugitives of Ephraim, 12:4, than the lions of the tribe of
Judah. ehemiah therefore might well have said to them, as Alexander once did to a
faint hearted soldier of his, that was of his own name, Either give up the name of
Alexander, or be valiant. So, either hold out, and bear up under your burdens, or be
Judah no more.
So that we are not able] ever was anything too hard for Alexander; because he
never held anything impossible to be effected.
WHEDO , "10. Judah said — By his representatives, heads of the tribe of Judah.

61. The strength… is decayed — They are worn-out and exhausted by excessive toil.
Much rubbish — This had been accumulating for more than a hundred years, and
in some places presented to the builders insuperable difficulties.
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "Enfeebled Burden-bearers
ehemiah 4:10
How often this happens! We frequently have to receive the disquieting intimation
which was made to ehemiah. ot seldom we have to make this announcement to
ourselves, "The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed".
We have not travelled far from the workers upon the walls of Jerusalem.
Geographically we are remote from them, but sympathetically we are near by.
There are many points of affinity between us and them. Observe some of the links
which bind us together. They were "the bearers of burdens," and so are we. Is not
this a pathetic and accurate and vivid portraiture of humanity? You may write men
down under a hundred descriptive epithets, but none could be more veracious than
this. We are all "the bearers of burdens".
I. In Various Spheres "the Strength of the Bearers of Burdens is Decayed".—All
kinds of strength are apt to fail under the burdens of life. In home life this is
conspicuously so. What burdens domestic life involves! The father, the husband, the
breadwinner, may well be described as the bearer of a burden. Great is the strain
upon him. ever was it so severe as it is now. The wife, the mother, the housekeeper,
may be similarly described. And her burdens are no less heavy because they are
unheroic and monotonous. The Church ought to have words of "sweet release" for
the tired burden-bearers of home life.
How many enfeebled load-carriers there are in commercial life.
In the intellectual sphere the strength of the bearers of burdens often decays. The
scholars, the students, the thinkers, how great are their burdens!
The strength of the bearers of burdens decays in the religious world.
In Christian service, too, the strength of the bearers of burdens decays. We who are
by grace seeking to rebuild Jerusalem are called to carry great burdens. This is
specially so in the age in which we live. The Church is full of exhausted workers.
II. From Many Causes "the Strength of the Bearers of Burdens is Decayed".—It
often happens that the cause is physical. It was in the instance before us.
ehemiah"s brave labourers had overtaxed their strength. They were emphatically
overworked.

62. Sometimes the cause of the enfeeblement of burden-bearers is mental. The weary
weight of modern thought has pressed you down. You have looked upon the sun and
it has blinded you for a season. "Brain fag" is a very familiar feature of modern life.
Intellect is often robbed of its strength by the pressure of its burdens.
The cause is frequently circumstantial. A business trouble. A family sorrow. A
crushing bereavement. How these things explain the decaying strength of the
bearers of burdens!
Spiritual causes often operate to this sad end. My brother, why is your strength
decayed? Is it some passing wave of depression? It may be what the Puritans called
a "desertion". The Lord has withdrawn Himself for a while.
III. Great Precautions must be taken when "the Strength of the Bearers of Burdens
is Decayed".—What shall we do in these enfeebled hours? Where shall we find our
remedy?
Whatever other precautionary measure is adopted there must be Prayer. This is the
supreme specific. God requires of His people that they ask for the strength He loves
to impart.
When our strength decays there must be Adequate Rest. It is easy to retort that this
is a counsel of perfection. But it is not. All tiredness is a call to rest, and somehow
the summons must be obeyed. I know how difficult it is for many of us to secure the
needed rest, but at all costs we must surmount the difficulty. We may bear heavier
burdens than we ever bore if we will take temporary rest when our strength is
decayed. Say not thy work is done. Take a space of rest. And out of it you shall
emerge to build Jerusalem"s walls and carry the heavy burdens with joyous vigour.
When the strength is decayed we must practice Watchfulness. That is what
ehemiah did. And his procedure is our example. Great and subtle dangers attend
us in weary seasons. The devil is always next door to us, but he is at our elbow in
tired moments. Watch, then, against discouragement. We are apt to discourage
ourselves and others in such moods. Many foes come out against us when we are
exhausted.
There must be great Trustfulness in such crises. Let not your faith fail. Cling in
weakness to what you have proved in strength. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for Him. Be like John Wesley, who was never so calmly and hopefully trustful as
when nature"s strength decayed. Be like a great and saintly minister of whom a
friend said, "In the stress of his busy life it was his childlike faith and trust in the
Heavenly Father that kept him from the wear and tear and worry of work". Say to
thy wearied soul, "Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him".
—Dinsdale T. Young, The Gospel of the Left Hand p27.
PETT, "Verses 10-12

63. Three Attitudes Which ehemiah Had To Contend With ( ehemiah 4:10-12).
ehemiah’s firm response is now set against the background of three attitudes
which were in danger of halting the work. The first was the growth of
discouragement among the builders as they considered the task in hand (and Judah
said’ -verse 10); the second was the intention of their adversaries to make a number
of surprise murderous attacks on the builders, which no doubt became known to
them (‘and our adversaries said’ - ehemiah 4:11); and the third was the feeding of
the discouragement by their fellow-Jews who had not been willing to involve
themselves in the work (‘the Jews who dwelt by them came, they said’ - ehemiah
4:12). They were beset with doubts from all sides.
ehemiah 4:10
‘And Judah said,
“The strength of the burden-bearers is failing,
And there is much rubble,
In consequence we are not able,
To build the wall.”
That the activities of Sanballat and his allies, together with the difficulties being
faced, were undoubtedly beginning to have an effect on the morale of many of the
men of Judah comes out in a song that began to be spread among the builders and
their families which expressed their feelings. It was a song of hopelessness. Things
were getting too much for them. Their strength was failing because of the enormity
of the tasks. They were finding things too much for them. The obstacles were
enormous. So much rubble still had to be removed. As a consequence they were
beginning themselves to doubt their ability to complete the building of the wall.
11 Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or
see us, we will be right there among them and will
kill them and put an end to the work.”
GILL, "And our adversaries said, they shall not know,.... Our designs upon
them:

64. neither see; or perceive what we are about to do:
till we come in the midst of them; with an army suddenly, at an unawares, and
unexpected:
and slay them; they being unarmed, and not prepared to defend themselves:
and cause the work to cease; as it must in course, the builders being slain.
K&D, "Their discouragement was increased by the words of their enemies, who said:
They (the Jews) shall not know nor see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay
them, and cause the work to cease.
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:11. Our adversaries said, They shall not know, &c. —
Their enemies resolved not to appear with an army before Jerusalem, but to march
so secretly that the Jews should have no notice of their approach till they saw them
in the city, armed and prepared to attack them suddenly, and put them to the
sword.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:11 And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither
see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to
cease.
Ver. 11. And our adversaries said] But their plot was some way discovered, and so
prevented. Detexit facinus fatuus et non implevit, saith Tacitus of one in his time. So
the gunpowder traitors betrayed themselves; and all came to light, though they had
dug as low as hell to hide their counsels from the Lord.
They shall not know, neither see] But what shall he do who is omniscient and
ολοφθαλµος, all-eye? whose providence is like a well drawn picture that vieweth all
that comes into a room.
Till we come in the midst among them] Either in the night undiscerned; or by day,
but unarmed, and not as enemies: for the Florentine secretary, though not yet (nor
of many ages later) born into the world; yet the good of this world was as great a
master then as afterwards.
And slay them, and cause the work to cease] The craft of the Church’s adversaries is
never but accompanied with cruelty; and their cruelty is seldom without craft. The
devil lends them his seven heads to plot, and his ten horns to push; but in the thing
wherein they deal proudly, God is above these cruel crafties.

65. PETT, " ehemiah 4:11
‘And our adversaries said, “They will not know, nor see, till we come into their
midst, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.”
Meanwhile their adversaries were planning to increase their discouragement by
surprise, unexpected attacks, with murderous bands arriving suddenly among them
causing havoc and death. Their whole aim was to make the work to cease in the light
of what they had learned concerning the morale of the builders (the song would
have become common knowledge).
12 Then the Jews who lived near them came and
told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they
will attack us.”
BAR ES, "Ten times - i. e. repeatedly.
From all places ... - Better as in the margin. The Jews who dwelt on the Samaritan
border, came to Jerusalem and tried to withdraw their contingents of workmen from the
work, representing to them the impending danger, and saying, “You must return to your
homes, and so escape it.”
CLARKE, "From all places whence ye shall return unto us - This verse is
extremely difficult. Our translators have supplied the words, they will be upon you,
which have nothing correspondent in the Hebrew. The Septuagint have given a good
sense, Αναβαινουσιν εκ παντων των τοπων εφ’ ᅧµας, They come up from all places against
us. The sense appears to be this: the Jews which dwelt among the Samaritans, etc., came
often to Nehemiah from all quarters, where they sojourned, and told him the designs of
his enemies against him: therefore, he set people with their swords, spears, and bows, to
defend the walls. It is probable that instead of ‫תשובו‬ tashubu, “ye shall return,” we should
read ‫חשבו‬ chashebu, “they designed or meditated.” This word is very similar to the other,
and makes the sense very clear. “The Jews who dwelt among them told us frequently,
from all places, what they designed against us.” For this reading Houbigant, Michaelis
and Dathé contend. But this various reading is not found in any MS., and is not
countenanced by any of the versions. See Neh_4:15.
GILL, "Near Samaria, Arabia, and Ashdod, and had intelligence of their designs:

66. came, they said to us ten times; that is, they came to them at Jerusalem, and often
told them, as this phrase "ten times" signifies; see Gill on Gen_31:7,
from all places whence ye shall return unto us: they will be upon you, come
which way you will, so that ye are in the utmost danger: or "from all places"; where you
are repairing and rebuilding:
return to us; that ye may enjoy peace and prosperity with us under Sanballat, &c. and
escape the wrath and fury you are now exposed to; or "from all places we come, that ye
may return to us"; so De Dieu; these Jews, though they pretended to be friends, to their
brethren, yet seemed to be in friendship with their enemies, and sought to discourage
them, and weaken their minds, and cause them to cease building.
HE RY, " The information that was brought to Nehemiah of the enemies' designs,
Neh_4:12. There were Jews that dwelt by them, in the country, who, though they had
not zeal enough to bring them to Jerusalem to help their brethren in building the wall,
yet, having by their situation opportunity to discover the enemies' motions, had so much
honesty and affection to the cause as to give intelligence of them; nay, that their
intelligence might be the more credited, they came themselves to give it, and they said it
ten times, repeating it as men in earnest, and under a concern, and the report was
confirmed by many witnesses. The intelligence they gave is expressed abruptly, and finds
work for the critics to make out the sense of it, which perhaps is designed to intimate
that they gave this intelligence as men out of breath and in confusion, whose very looks
would make up the deficiencies of their words. I think it may be read, without supplying
any thing: “Whatever place you turn to, they are against us, so that you have need to be
upon your guard on all sides,” Note, God has many ways of bringing to light, and so
bringing to nought, the devices and designs of his and his church's enemies. Even the
cold and feeble Jews that contentedly dwell by them shall be made to serve as spies upon
them; nay, rather than fail, a bird of the air shall carry their voice.
K&D, "When, therefore, the Jews who dwelt near them, i.e., in the neighbourhood of
the adversaries, and heard their words, came to Jerusalem, “and said to us ten times
(i.e., again and again), that from all places ye must return to us, then I placed,” etc. Jews
came from all places to Jerusalem, and summoned those who were building there to
return home, for adversaries were surrounding the community on all sides: Sanballat
and the Samaritans on the north, the Ammonites on the east, the Arabians on the south,
and the Philistines (Ashdodites) on the west. ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫א‬ before ‫שׁוּבוּ‬ ָ introduces their address,
instead of ‫י‬ ִⅴ; being thus used, e.g., before longer speeches, 1Sa_15:20; 2Sa_1:4; and for
‫י‬ ִⅴ generally, throughout the later books, in conformity to Aramaean usage. “Return to
us” (‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ ‫,שׁוּב‬ as in 2Ch_30:9, for ‫ל‬ ֶ‫א‬ ‫,)שׁוּב‬ said the Jews who came from all quarters to
Jerusalem to their fellow-townsmen, who from Jericho, Gibeon, and Tekoa (comp. Neh_
3:2-3, Neh_3:5, Neh_3:7) were working on the wall of Jerusalem. These words express
their fear lest those who were left at home, especially the defenceless women, children,
and aged men, should be left without protection against the attacks of enemies, if their
able-bodied men remained any longer in Jerusalem to take part in the building of the
wall.

67. BE SO , " ehemiah 4:12. And the Jews which dwelt by them — Who were
neighbours to that people; or dwelt among them, as the words may be rendered,
whereby they became acquainted with their counsels. They said unto us ten times —
That is, they came and informed us very often, for ten times, in Scripture, signifies a
great many times. From all places whence ye shall return unto us, &c. — That is,
they will attack you by all the ways by which we can come to you, or you to us, or
wherever there is any communication between you and us; therefore take care to
keep watches on every side. Hence it appears, that though those Jews, who dwelt
near or among the Samaritans, had not zeal enough to induce them to come to
Jerusalem to help their brethren in building the wall; yet, having discovered the
enemies’ design, they had so much honesty, and affection to the cause, as to give
intelligence of it: nay, that their information might be the more credited, they came
themselves to make them acquainted with it, repeating it many times, as men in
earnest, and under a concern to have it believed.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:12 And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by
them came, they said unto us ten times, From all places whence ye shall return unto
us [they will be upon you].
Ver. 12. And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came] Their
brethren from abroad gave the workmen intelligence; and this was a friendly office;
for praemonitus praemunitus, premonition is the best means of prevention. It is the
property of a brother, though at other times not so kind, yet in affliction and
extremity to find nature working in him, and to do his best. See Proverbs 17:17. {See
Trapp on "Proverbs 17:17"}
They said unto us ten times] i.e. Oftentimes, Genesis 31:41, umbers 14:22. The
Lord knoweth how to deliver his, as he did David from Saul, Peter from the Jews,
Acts 12:7-12, Paul from those conspirators, Acts 23:12-23, and this sinful nation oft
from the blood thirsty Papists. Masses were said in Rome for the good success of the
Catholic design (the gunpowder plot); but no prayers in England, for our
deliverance: and yet they were defeated ( Sorex sue periit indicio), and we delivered.
Admirable mercy.
From all places whence ye shall return, &c.] Some read it thus, And it came to pass,
when the Jews which dwelt beside them, came and told us of their practices ten
times out of all places, whence they came unto us, I set in the low places, &c. And
here, I cannot tell, saith one, whether these intelligencers be worthy more praise or
condemnation. It was their duty to have come home, stood in storms, and help to
build Jerusalem. But God, which turneth our intelligence and foolishness to the
setting forth of his wisdom and goodness, gave them a good will and boldness to
further that building as they might. Thus God useth the service of all men and
creatures to the comfort of his people.

68. WHEDO , "12. Jews which dwelt by them — That is, Jews who dwelt among the
Samaritans and other enemies, and by that means found out their evil designs.
Said unto us ten times — Thereby showing their intense anxiety. The expression is
equivalent to a great many times, or again and again.
From all places whence ye shall return unto us — Something seems to have fallen
out of the text here. The words supplied by our translators, they will be upon you,
do not fully clear up the obscurity, nor suit the previous words, whence ye shall
return. Bertheau literally translates the Hebrew thus: — From all places that ye
return to us; and explains it as the request of the kinsmen and friends of those
builders whose homes were in places some distance from Jerusalem, (like the men of
Jericho, Tekoa, and Gibeon, ehemiah 3:2; ehemiah 3:5; ehemiah 3:7,) to tarry
no longer in danger at Jerusalem, but return to them. This, too, is the natural
meaning of the marginal reading, that from all places ye must return to us. We take
this to be the true meaning. The Jews who dwelt at a distance from Jerusalem were
anxious to have their friends and kinsmen there return to their homes and families.
Interpreters have too generally assumed that these words contained the information
which the Jews from a distance brought to the rulers at Jerusalem; whereas, they
are rather a request of those Jews for their relatives to leave the imperilled city, and
thus escape the threatening danger. Exactly how the rulers at Jerusalem were
informed of their enemies’ designs is not said, but, doubtless, it came through those
Jews who dwelt among the enemy.
POOLE, "Which dwelt by them, or, among them; whereby they came to the
knowledge of their counsels.
Ten times, i.e. very often. A certain number for an uncertain.
They will be upon you, i.e. they will invade you every way, by which we can come to
you, or you to us; and therefore do you keep watches on every side. But these words
may be otherwise rendered thus, On all parts where you shall be quiet, or at rest,
(i.e. secure; for the Hebrew schub signifies not only to return, but also to be quiet, or
at ease, as Hebricians know,) they will be upon us, i.e. upon our people, and city
Jerusalem, where you are. And they rather say upon us than upon you, to manifest
their affection to them, and conjunction with them, and that they looked upon
themselves as members of the same body and church with them, and took what was
designed or done against them, as if it were against themselves, and therefore gave
them this friendly notice. Or the place may be rendered thus, They told this (to wit,
the enemy’s intentions) to us ten times, coming from all places where they dwelt, or
rested, (Heb. you rested; the second person being put for the third, as it is both in
the Hebrew language, as Genesis 10:19,30 Ge 25:18, and in the Hebrew text, Psalms
22:9, and in other languages and authors; of which see my Latin Synopsis upon
Genesis 10:19; and that it is so here we have the consent of the LXX. and Arabic,
and of some modern and accurate interpreters, who render it by a verb of the third
person,) about us; whence they came purposely to inform and warn us. Or thus,
They told this to us ten times from all places whence they did return to us: which

69. phrase of returning to us, i.e. to Jerusalem, suits very well with those persons who
came up with their brethren from Babylon to Jerusalem, and went thence into
several parts of the country to dwell where they thought meet, and returned now,
and at other times, as they had occasion, to their brethren at Jerusalem.
PETT, " ehemiah 4:12
‘And it came about that, when the Jews who dwelt by them came, they said to us ten
times from all sides, “You must return to us.”
Meanwhile their fellow-Jews, presumably some who had not been willing to involve
themselves in the work, repeatedly (‘ten times’) said to them on all sides, ‘give up
and come back to your normal lives among us’. The temptation must have been
enormous. There was a clear recognition that any violence would only be carried out
against the builders in Jerusalem. Any who disentangled themselves from them
would be safe.
‘Said to us ten times.’ Compare a similar use of ‘ten times’ in Genesis 31:41, ‘you
have changed my wages ten times’. Compare also Daniel 1:12. It is clear that here it
is not intended to be taken literally. It simply means ‘a number of times’.
It is apparent therefore that there was a great danger that the work would grind to
halt with the walls still unfinished, and Jerusalem still a prey to marauders. It was
then that ehemiah stepped into the breach and persuaded them to carry on in the
face of all the obstacles because God was with them, bolstering his arguments by
organising their defences against incursions so that they could see that there was
hope even if they remained in Jerusalem in order to complete the work.
It should be noted that ehemiah 4:12 in the Hebrew is clearly connected with
ehemiah 4:13. Thus ehemiah’s response is linked with, and contrasted with, the
attitude of their fellow-Jews (something which our division of the verses hides). On
the one hand their fellow-Jews said, ‘you may as well give up and join us in a place
of safety’, and on the other ehemiah acted vigorously in order to ensure that they
were encouraged and did not.
PULPIT, " ehemiah 4:12
If the text is sound, it can only mean that the Jews who dwelt in the outlying towns,
in the neighbourhood of Ammon, Samaria, Ashdod, etc; came repeatedly to
Jerusalem, and tried to draw off their contingents, saying to them, "You must
return to us." But it is suspected that there is a corruption of the original words of
ehemiah, and that what he wrote was, that these Jews came repeatedly to
Jerusalem and warned him of the enemy's designs. (So Ewald, Houbigant, Dathe, A.
Clarke, and others. )

70. 13 Therefore I stationed some of the people
behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed
places, posting them by families, with their
swords, spears and bows.
BAR ES, "The lower places - The places where those within the walls had the
least advantage of elevation, the naturally weak places, where an enemy was likely to
make his attack.
GILL, "Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall,.... Where the wall
was lowest, and the enemy could more easily break it down, or get over it:
and on the higher places; where the wall was higher; or rather on the towers upon
the walls, as the word signifies the tops of rocks, which are dry and smooth, see Eze_
24:2.
I even set the people after their families; according to their rank, number,
strength, and valour:
with their swords, their spears, and their bows; with weapons they could use
both near, and at a distance.
K&D, "Neh_4:13
Neh_4:7 is hardly intelligible. We translate it: Then I placed at the lowest places
behind the wall, at the dried-up places, I (even) placed the people, after their families,
with their swords, their spears, and their bows. ‫ּום‬‫ק‬ ָ ַ‫ל‬ ‫ּות‬ ִ ְ‫ח‬ ַ ִ‫מ‬ is a stronger expression for
‫ּום‬‫ק‬ ָ ַ‫ל‬ ‫ת‬ ַ‫ח‬ ַ ִ‫מ‬ when used to indicate position, and ‫ן‬ ִ‫מ‬ points out the direction. The sense is:
at the lowest places from behind the wall. ‫ים‬ ִ‫ח‬ ִ‫ח‬ ְ ַ gives the nature of the places where the
people were placed with arms. ַ‫יח‬ ִ‫ח‬ ָ‫צ‬ and ‫ה‬ ָ‫יח‬ ִ‫ח‬ ְ‫צ‬ mean a dry or bare place exposed to the
heat of the sun: bare, uncovered, or empty places, perhaps bare hills, whence
approaching foes might be discerned at a distance. The second ‫יד‬ ִ‫מ‬ ֲ‫ע‬ፍְ‫ו‬ is but a reiteration
of the verb, for the sake of combining it with its object, from which the ‫יד‬ ִ‫מ‬ ֲ‫ע‬ፍָ‫ו‬ at the
beginning of the verse was too far removed by the circumstantial description of the
locality.
(Note: Bertheau considers the text corrupt, regarding the word ‫ּות‬ ִ ְ‫ח‬ ַ ְ‫מ‬ as the

71. object of ‫יד‬ ִ‫מ‬ ֲ‫ע‬ፍ, and alters it into ‫ּות‬‫ב‬ ָ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫ח‬ ַ‫מ‬ or ‫ּות‬‫נ‬ּ‫ב‬ ְ ִ‫,ח‬ engines for hurling missiles (2Ch_
26:15), or into ‫וֹת‬ִ ֲ‫ח‬ ַ‫ט‬ ְ‫מ‬ (a word of this own invention), instruments for hurling. But not
only is this conjecture critically inadmissible, it also offers no appropriate sense. The
lxx reads the text as we do, and merely renders ‫בצחחיים‬ conjecturally by ᅚν τοሏς
σκεπεινοሏς. Besides, it is not easy to see how ‫חשׁבנות‬ could have arisen from a false
reading of ‫;מתחתיות‬ and it should be remembered that ‫ּות‬‫ב‬ ָ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫ח‬ ַ‫מ‬ does not mean a
machine for hurling, while ‫מטחתייות‬ is a mere fabrication. To this must be added, that
such machines are indeed placed upon the walls of a fortress to hurl down stones and
projectiles upon assaulting foes, and not behind the walls, where they could only be
used to demolish the walls, and so facilitate the taking of the town by the enemy.)
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:13. Therefore, in the lower places behind the wall —
Within the walls, where they were not yet raised to their due height, and therefore
most liable to the enemies’ assault. On the higher places — Upon the tops of the
walls, where they were finished, and the towers which were built here and there
upon the wall, whence they might shoot arrows, or throw stones.
ELLICOTT, "(13) After their families.—In allusion to the ambushes of ehemiah
4:11, ehemiah set families together—besides the appointed guards—“ in the lower
places,” where the wall was not raised to the due height, that is, really, “on the
higher places,” or rather, the bare places, whence enemies might be better seen. The
“lower” were the “bare” places.
LA GE, " ehemiah 4:13. Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall and
on the higher places I even set,etc.—Rather, Therefore set I in the lowest parts at
the place behind the wall, in the exposed parts, I even set, etc. ehemiah placed
detachments, properly armed, at such points of the wall as had attained the least
height and were thus most exposed to attack. These detachments were formed of the
families who had been working at the portions of the wall where these gaps were.
There was a temporary cessation from the work. “The lowest parts” and “the
exposed parts” are in apposition. “The higher places” (E. V.) is a mistaken
rendering. The word tsehihi means “a dry or bare place (comp. Ezekiel 26:4-14),
and hence by a metaphorical use, an exposed part of the wall.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:13 Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, [and]
on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords,
their spears, and their bows.
Ver. 13. Therefore set I in the lower places] I took them off their work, and
appointed them to stand upon their guard; appointing them their stations, and
giving them orders.
I even set the people after their families] Or, according to their kindreds; for he
knew that nature will move one kinsman to be truer to another in all dangers than a

72. stranger; and that one kinsman will open his grief to his friend and take comfort at
his hand, rather than to him whom he knoweth not. Hence ehemiah in policy
sorted his soldiers after this sort.
With their swords, their spears, and their bows] These were the ancient weapons of
war; neither had death yet learned to cut his way through a wood of men out of the
mouth of a murdering piece. Whether the Emperor Wenceslaus did well or ill in
executing Barthold Swartz for inventing gunpowder, A. D. 1378, I determine not.
WHEDO , "13. Set I — Or, then I stationed, to wit, people, as is seen further on.
In the lower places — Better, as the margin, from, or at, the lower parts of the place.
That is, he stationed men at the lower parts of the city, where there was special
danger and greater exposure.
Behind the wall — To defend it, and prevent the enemy from entering the city at
those points. The wall thus served as a fortification.
And on the higher places — The and should be omitted, and the rest rendered in the
exposed parts. This phrase is not, as the English version makes it, the opposite of the
lower places, but relates to behind the wall. He stationed men behind the wall in the
exposed places.
I even set — This is a repetition of the first words of the verse, and followed
immediately by the object of the verb.
The people — All the inhabitants of the city. They were distributed into the various
parts of the city, especially in the lower and more exposed parts, so that all the place
was under guard.
After their families — Rather, according to families. The people were distributed by
family groups, so that the men that guarded any particular part of the wall had
their families and kinsmen nearest them.
Swords… spears… bows — These were not the only kinds of weapons with which
they were provided. See ehemiah 4:16.
PETT, "Verses 13-15
ehemiah’s Takes Precautions And His Response Encourages The Builders And
Balks The Enemy ( ehemiah 4:13-15).
ehemiah’s response demonstrated his leadership abilities, and his firm
practicality. He called on the builders to bring with them their weapons and
demonstrated how they could set up a solid means of defence against surprise
attacks. It was only then that he called them together and reminded them of the
greatness of God, and of their responsibilities towards their families. His method

73. clearly worked. The consequence was that when their adversaries realised that their
plans were known, and learned that defences had been set up, they backed down
from their intentions. It was one thing to carry out spasmodic surprise raids on
groups of defenceless builders in Jerusalem which could be explained away. It was
quite another to take on Jews who were fully armed, organised and ready to defend
themselves, thus turning their raids into direct and deliberate warfare.
Furthermore, while no mention is made of them, it is doubtful whether all
ehemiah’s escort had returned to Persia. The king would have expected him to
retain a bodyguard. These would now be involved in any fighting, thus making any
attack an attack on Persia itself.
ehemiah 4:13
‘Therefore I stationed (men) in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the
open places. I stationed (there) the people after their families with their swords,
their spears, and their bows.’
Here we have ehemiah’s response to the suggestion that they should give up
building the walls and seek safety outside Jerusalem. His wisdom is demonstrated
by the fact that before he called the people in order to exhort them, he organised a
solid means of defence which would give them something to have confidence in. It
was only then that he exhorted them to resist.
His method was simply to demonstrate the possibility of resisting any attack, and to
underline the fact that the half-constructed walls already provided a level of defence
(‘he set them -- behind the wall’). It need not mean that he organised defence right
round the walls. That was not his purpose. His purpose was to demonstrate that if
they came together as a unit they were strong enough to resist ‘surprise attacks’,
which would no longer be a surprise because they were expected. He would know
that messengers would arrive with the news when such attacks were imminent
The transitive verb ‘I stationed’ requires an object to be read in. This is quite a
regular feature in the Old Testament. All would know that those whom he stationed
were ‘men’, as he then goes on to demonstrate. These were fully armed with swords,
spears and bows and stationed in the open spaces where there were no buildings,
which would be the parts where the walls were lowest. The very gathering of men
fully armed would act as a stimulant to the defenders. It reminded them that they
were able to defend themselves, and they would gained courage from each other.
They would no longer see themselves as a prey but as an army. ote how he
gathered them ‘in their families’. The whole host were divided up into a number of
fighting units based on family and tribal connection. It was a ‘gathering of the
tribes’ as of old. This idea of ordinary people gathering with weapons in their tribes
and sub-tribes in order to fulfil God’s purposes, in other words in preparation for a
holy war, is rooted in Israel’s history. It would therefore uniquely arouse their
religious zeal and patriotism, and make them one with the glories of their past
history.
‘Swords and spears and bows.’ These were the kind of weapons all men would have

74. available to them. In those days all men wore a sword for self-defence when they
ventured out, and spears and bows would be used for hunting.
PULPIT, "Then set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places.
There is no and m the original. ehemiah means that in the less elevated places,
where the wall was least strong by nature, he had his men posted on conspicuous
spots within the walls, where they could be seen from a distance, and so deterred the
enemy from advancing. He drew them up after their families, that each man might
feel he was fighting for his brethren, sons, etc. (verse 14).
14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said
to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the
people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the
Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for
your families, your sons and your daughters, your
wives and your homes.”
CLARKE, "Be not ye afraid of them - Are they more terrible or stronger than
God?
Fight for your brethren - Your own countrymen, who worship the same God, and
are come from the same stock; your sons, whom they wish to slay or lead into captivity;
your daughters and wives, whom they wish to deflower and defile; and your houses,
which they wish to seize and occupy as their own. They had every thing at stake; and
therefore they must fight pro aris et focis, for their religion, their lives, and their
property. A people thus interested, who once take up the sword, can never be conquered.
There is an address made to the Greeks by their leader in Aeschylus, Pers. ver. 402,
similar to this, to excite them against the Persians: -
- Παιδες ᅡλληνων, ιτε,
Ελευθερουτε πατριδ, ελευθερουτε δε
Παιδας, γυνιακας, θεων ρε πατρሩων ᅛδη,
Θηκας τε προγονων· νυν ᆓπερ παντων αγων.

75. “ - Sons of the Greeks, go on!
Free now your country, and your children free;
Your wives, the temples of your fathers’ gods,
And dear abodes of farthest ancestors: -
Now strike the blow for all!”
J. B. B. C.
GILL, "And I looked,.... Took a view of the people, and observed that they were in
their proper place, and sufficiently armed, and also whether the enemy was coming:
and rose up and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the
people; who were under their nobles and rulers, as their captains and commanders:
be not ye afraid of them; of their enemies, their numbers, and their threats:
remember the Lord, which is great and terrible; who is greater than they, and is
to be feared and trusted in by his people, and is terrible even to the kings of the earth:
and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and
your houses; intimating, that they were in danger of losing all that was near and dear,
valuable and precious to them, if they did not fight for them; and therefore it became
them to quit themselves like men, and be strong.
HE RY, " The pious and prudent methods which Nehemiah, hereupon, took to
baffle the design, and to secure his work and workmen.
1. It is said (Neh_4:14) he looked. (1.) He looked up, engaged God for him, and put
himself and his cause under the divine protection (Neh_4:9): We made our prayer unto
our God. That was the way of this good man, and should be our way; all his cares, all his
griefs, all his fears, he spread before God, and thereby made himself easy. This was the
first thing he did; before he used any means, he made his prayer to God, for with him we
must always begin. (2.) He looked about him. Having prayed, he set a watch against
them. The instructions Christ has given us in our spiritual warfare agree with this
example, Mat_26:41. Watch and pray. If we think to secure ourselves by prayer only,
without watchfulness, we are slothful and tempt God; if by watchfulness, without prayer,
we are proud and slight God; and, either way, we forfeit his protection.
2. Observe, (1.) How he posted the guards, Neh_4:13. In the lower places he set them
behind the wall, that they might annoy the enemy over it, as a breast-work; but in the
higher places, where the wall was raised to its full height, he set them upon it, that from
the top of it they might throw down stones or darts upon the heads of the assailants: he
set them after their families, that mutual relation might engage them to mutual
assistance. (2.) How he animated and encouraged the people, Neh_4:14. He observed
even the nobles and rulers themselves, as well as the rest of the people, to be in a great
consternation upon the intelligence that was brought them, and ready to conclude that
they were all undone, by which their hands were weakened both for work and war, and
therefore, he endeavours to silence their fears. “Come,” says he, “be not afraid of them,
but behave yourselves valiantly, considering, [1.] Whom you fight under. You cannot
have a better captain: Remember the Lord, who is great and terrible; you think your
enemies great and terrible, but what are they in comparison with God, especially in

76. opposition to him? He is great above them to control them, and will be terrible to them
when he comes to reckon with them.” Those that with an eye of faith see the church's
God to be great and terrible will see the church's enemies to be mean and despicable.
The reigning fear of God is the best antidote against the ensnaring fear of man. He that is
afraid of a man that shall die forgets the Lord his Maker, Isa_51:12, Isa_51:13. [2.]
“Whom you fight for. You cannot have a better cause; you fight for your brethren (Psa_
122:8), your sons, and your daughters. All that is dear to you in their world lies at stake;
therefore behave yourselves valiantly.”
K&D, "“And I looked, and rose up, and said.” These words can only mean: When I
saw the people thus placed with their weapons, I went to them, and said to the nobles,
etc., “Be not afraid of them (the enemies); remember the Lord, the great and the
terrible,” who will fight for you against your enemies (Deu_3:22; Deu_20:3, and Deu_
31:6), “and fight ye for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and
your houses,” whom the enemies would destroy.
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:14. I said unto the nobles, Be not afraid of them — All was
at stake; therefore he exhorts them to be valiant, trusting in God. Remember the
Lord, who is great and terrible, &c. — You think your enemies are great and
terrible; but what are they in comparison with God? especially in opposition to
him?
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:14 And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and
to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the
Lord, [which is] great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your
daughters, your wives, and your houses.
Ver. 14. And I looked, and rose up] Et vidi, et surrexi, et dixi, so the original runs.
He saw the enemy a-coming, he started up, and he made this excellent exhortation;
which puts me in mind of that which one once said of Julius Caesar, If you had
never known him to have been a soldier, yet hear him but speak only, and you will
conclude him to be one, Si acta eius penitus ignorasses, per linguam tanten militem
esse diceres.
And said unto the nobles] In a short but pithy oration; such as was that of Joab, 2
Samuel 10:12, of which Pellican saith, on potuit vex duce dignior cogitari, as brave
a speech as a man could make; or that of Hunniades, about to join battle with the
Turks (see Turk. Hist. fol. 272); or, lastly, that of the Prince of Orange at the battle
of ewport; where they had the sea on one side and the Spaniards on the other. If,
said he, you will live, you must either eat up these Spaniards or drink up this sea. So
here, Either you must fight lustily, or all you have is forfeited assuredly.
Be not ye afraid of them] Away with that cowardly passion, which unmans a man, et
rectum tollit de cardine mentem, robs him of all power and policy.

77. Remember the Lord] Whom he that feareth needs fear none else. "The name of the
Lord is a strong tower," &c.
Who is great and terrible] For the defence of his people, and offence of his enemies.
The Lord is a man of war, Exodus 15:3. Yea, he alone is a whole army of men, van
and rear both, Isaiah 52:12; and may better say to his soldiers than Antigonus did to
his, when they were afraid of the enemy’s numbers, How many do ye reckon me
for?
And fight for your brethren] Whether by race, or religion.
Your sons, and your daughters] Those φιλτατα, as the Greeks call them; Charissimi,
as the Latins; dearest pledges.
Your wives, and your houses] In the last commandment houses are set first before
wives, because a house is to be first provided; neither will a wise man take a wife
before he hath a house. Here wives are set before houses; because far more precious,
and a main part of a man’s self, Ephesians 5:28. House and riches are the
inheritance of the fathers, but a prudent wife is of the Lord, Proverbs 19:14. She
was one of the first real and royal gifts bestowed by God upon Adam. By the way
note, that if men may fight for their civil right to their houses and lands, have they
not as good warrant to fight for their religion, especially since they have the laws of
the land for it; and, besides, a civil right at least to the outward peaceable profession
and practice of it? The Athenians themselves, though their religion was no better
than superstition, Acts 17:22, yet they bound themselves, by a public and solemn
oath, to defend it to the utmost. The words of the oath were these: I will fight for the
temples and holy rites, both alone and with others, Aµυνω δε και υπεο ιεοων και
υπερ οσιων και µονος και µετα πολλων..
PETT, " ehemiah 4:14
‘And I saw, and rose up, and said to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of
the people, “Do not you be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and
terrible, and fight for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and
your houses.”
‘And I saw.’ He reviewed the troops which he had arrayed before the people, and in
consequence rose up and spoke to the nobles, rulers and people giving them
reassuring words. They were not to be afraid of anything that the enemy would try
to do. Rather they were to remember Who and What God was, and that He was on
their side. For God as great and terrible compare ehemiah 1:5; Daniel 9:4; Exodus
15:11; Deuteronomy 7:21; Deuteronomy 10:17.

78. As a consequence they were to be ready to defend themselves, fighting to establish
the future for their loved ones and their possessions. For if Judah was to have any
independent future Jerusalem had to be re-established. It was recognition of this
fact that made their adversaries so fierce in their opposition. And it was recognition
of this fact that should make them strong.
PULPIT, "And I looked, and rose up, and said. A particular occasion seems to be
spoken of. The allies had joined their forces; the army was advancing; ehemiah
had obtained information of the quarter from which the attack was to be expected;
he had posted his men (verse 13); when he "looked, and rose up," and spoke, it was
probably as the enemy was coming up to the attack; he then made this short but
stirring appeal. That no conflict followed would seem to show, that "when the
enemy approached, and saw from a distance the whole people awaiting them in
perfect equipment, order, and spirit," they lost heart and "turned back". The Lord,
which is great and terrible. See the comment on ehemiah 1:5.
15 When our enemies heard that we were aware
of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all
returned to the wall, each to our own work.
CLARKE, "Their counsel to naught - The word counsel used here countenances
the emendation in the 12th verse.
GILL, "And it came to pass, when our enemies heard it was known unto
us,.... What they intended, as might be reported to them from the preparations made by
the Jews to receive them, and defend themselves:
and God had brought their counsel to naught; which was to come upon them
secretly and unawares; but being discovered, they dropped their design, and their
scheme came to nothing:
so that we returned all of us to the wall, every man to his work; to that part of
it where he wrought, in order to finish it.

79. HE RY, " The happy disappointment which this gave to the enemies, Neh_4:15.
When they found that their design was discovered, and that the Jews were upon their
guard, they concluded that it was to no purpose to attempt any thing, but that God had
brought their counsel to nought. They knew they could not gain their point but by
surprise, and, if their plot was known, it was quashed. The Jews hereupon returned
every one to his work, with so much the more cheerfulness because they saw plainly that
God owned it and owned them in the doing of it. Note, God's care of our safety should
engage and encourage us to go on with vigour in our duty. As soon as ever a danger is
over let us return to our work, and trust God another time.
K&D, "Neh_4:15
When our enemies heard that it (their intention) was known to us, and (that) God had
brought their counsel to nought (through the measures with which we had met it), we
returned all of us to the wall, every one to his work. The conclusion does not begin till
‫ּוב‬‫שׁ‬ָ ַ‫,ו‬ ‫האל‬ ‫ר‬ ֶ‫פ‬ָ ַ‫ו‬ belonging to the premiss, in continuation of ‫א‬ ַ‫ּוד‬‫נ‬ ‫י‬ ִⅴ.
COFFMA , "Verse 15
I SPITE OF THREATE I G E EMIES THE WORK WE T O
"And it came to pass when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God
brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall every one unto
his work. And it came to pass from that time forth, that half of my servants wrought
in the work, and half of them held the spears, and the shields, and the bows, and the
coats of mail; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. They that builded
the wall and they that bare burdens laded themselves; every one with one of his
hands wrought in the work, and with his other held his weapon; and the builders
every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the
trumpet was by me. And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of
the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one
from another: in what place soever ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye
thither unto us; our God will fight for us."
"God brought their counsel to naught" ( ehemiah 4:15). This simply means that
Sanballat, hearing and observing ehemiah's preparations and determination to
fight, backed down from his ugly threats. In his mind, no doubt, was the knowledge
that the king of Persia was also behind ehemiah's fortifying Jerusalem. "That no
conflict came about shows that when the enemy approached, and saw from a
distance, the whole people awaiting them in perfect order with all equipment and
weapons at the ready, they simply lost heart and turned back."[17]
"Half of my servants wrought in the work" ( ehemiah 4:16). These are generally
understood to have been "official servants that pertained to ehemiah";[18] but
there remains the possibility that the military escort provided by the king of Persia
was yet with ehemiah, there having been no report of its return to Persia.
Therefore there is the possibility that these were meant.

80. "Every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other held his
weapon" ( ehemiah 4:17). This expression is obviously somewhat figurative, as
explained by the next clause, "Everyone had his sword girded by his side, and so
builded." The great London preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon published a paper
called Sword and Trowel, named after what is written here.
"The coats of mail" ( ehemiah 4:16). "Coats of mail were common in Assyria from
the 9th century B.C., and even earlier in Egypt; they were made of thin leaves of
bronze or iron sewed upon leather or linen and overlapping one another."[19]
"The sound of the trumpet" ( ehemiah 4:20). "When an attack was made, the
trumpet sounded at that point; all the workers rallied, and the enemy was either
frightened or driven away. Even those who lived beyond the city came into
Jerusalem at night to sleep."[20]
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:15. When our enemies heard that it was known unto us —
When they heard that their plot was discovered, and they had no hope to surprise
us, but found that we were ready to receive them, they laid aside their designs, and
we went on with our work.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:15 And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was
known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all
of us to the wall, every one unto his work.
Ver. 15. And it came to pass, when our enemies heard] This rumour was enough to
frighten these no less now timorous than before temerarious Samaritans; great
brags they made at first what they would do, but now that they see they are defeated
of their purpose, they are crest fallen, and have no mind at all to advance. So that to
these may be fitly applied that which Guicciardine saith of Charles VIII, king of
France, in his expedition against aples, that he came into the field like thunder and
lightning, but went out like a snuff; more than a man at first, and less than a woman
at last.
And God had brought their counsel to nought] According to that of the psalmist,
"The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of
the people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of
his heart to all generations," Psalms 33:10-11. Here good men may learn, saith one,
not to go nakedly, without weapons for their own necessary defence; and much less,
said I, without their spiritual weapons, whether defensive, as the shield of faith, the
breastplate of righteousness, &c., or offensive, as the sword of the Spirit, the word,
and the darts of prayer, lest they be surprised and subjugated by that old
manslayer, Ephesians 6:13-18.
That we returned all of us to the wall] ot to the tavern, to toss pots, saith one, and

81. boast of their great victory; but in the fear of God they return to the walls, and
every man falleth to his work again. All histories declare that the greatest kingdoms,
when they fell to idleness and luxury, then they lost their former glory faster than
they won it. The Turkish Empire is thought to be on the declining hand, because
their late emperors do far degenerate from their warlike progenitors, their soldiers
generally give themselves to unwonted pleasures, their ancient discipline of war is
neglected, rebellions raised, &c.
WHEDO , "15. God had brought their counsel to nought — Observe the doctrine
of Providence here. The betrayal of the enemies’ designs, and the preparations for
defence, though all wrought out by human instrumentalities, are attributed to God.
We returned all of us to the wall — That is, as is immediately explained, every one
unto his work. For a time they merely watched, and stood in readiness to resist the
enemy that proposed to assail them unawares, ( ehemiah 4:11;) but now they
return to their work again, not, however, without some change in their manner of
procedure, as the next verse tells.
PETT, " ehemiah 4:15
‘And it came about, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God had
brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one to
his work.’
The news of his preparations for the defence of Jerusalem reached the ears of his
enemies, and seemingly nipped in the bud their own preparations with the result
that no attack ensued. As ehemiah piously put it, and firmly believed, they were
forced to recognise that God had brought their counsel to naught. God had heard
the prayers of His people. An the people with him apparently saw it in the same
way, for they returned to their working positions on the wall. The work went on
unhindered.
16 From that day on, half of my men did the
work, while the other half were equipped with
spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers
posted themselves behind all the people of Judah

82. BAR ES, "Habergeons - Or, “coats of mail.” Coats of mail were common in Assyria
from the ninth century B.C., and in Egypt even earlier. They were made of thin laminae
of bronze or iron, sewn upon leather or linen, and overlapping one another.
CLARKE, "Half - wrought in the work - This is no unusual thing, even in the
present day, in Palestine: people sowing their seed are often attended by an armed man,
to prevent the Arabs from robbing them of their seed, which they will not fail to do if not
protected.
Habergeons - In the Franco-Gallic, hautbergon signifies a coat of mail; but as in
Teutonic hais signifies the neck, and bergen, to cover or defend; it may be considered
rather as signifying a breastplate, or armor for the breast.
GILL, "And it came to pass from that time forth,.... That they were thus alarmed
of danger from their enemies:
that the half of my servants wrought in the work; of building the wall; his
domestic servants, his guards, or mighty men, as Jarchi, men of war, the soldiers:
and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows;
some offensive, others defensive weapons; some to fight with at a distance, others near
at hand:
and the habergeons; coats of mail, which they took and clothed themselves with:
and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah; the Jews that were working at
the wall, to animate and encourage them, protect and defend them.
HE RY 16-23, "When the builders had so far reason to think the design of the
enemies broken as to return to their work, yet they were not so secure as to lay down
their arms, knowing how restless and unwearied they were in their attempts, and that, if
one design failed, they would be hatching another. Thus must we watch always against
our spiritual enemies, and not expect that our warfare will be accomplished till our work
is. See what course Nehemiah took, that the people might hold themselves in a
readiness, in case there should be an attack. 1. While one half were at work, the other
half were under their arms, holding spears, and shields, and bows, not only for
themselves but for the labourers too, who would immediately quit their work, and
betake themselves to their weapons, upon the first alarm, Neh_4:16. It is probable that
they changed services at stated hours, which would relieve the fatigue of both, and
particularly would be an ease to the bearers of burdens, whose strength had decayed
(Neh_4:10); while they held the weapons, they were eased and yet not idle. Thus
dividing their time between the trowels and the spears, they are said to work with one
hand and hold their weapons with the other (Neh_4:17), which cannot be understood
literally, for the work would require both hands; but it intimates that they were equally
employed in both. Thus must we work out our salvation with the weapons of our warfare
in our hand; for in every duty we must expect to meet with opposition from our spiritual
enemies, against whom we must still be fighting the good fight of faith. 2. Every builder
had a sword by his side (Neh_4:18), which he could carry without hindering his labour.

83. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit, which we ought to have always at hand and
never to seek, both in our labours and in our conflicts as Christians. 3. Care was taken
both to get and give early notice of the approach of the enemy, in case they should
endeavour to surprise them. Nehemiah kept a trumpeter always by him to sound an
alarm, upon the first intimation of danger. The work was large, and the builders were
dispersed; for in all parts of the wall they were labouring at the same time. Nehemiah
continually walked round to oversee the work and encourage the workmen, and so
would have speedy intelligence if the enemy made an attack, of which, by sound of
trumpet, he would soon give notice to all, and they must immediately repair to him with
a full assurance that their God would fight for them, Neh_4:18-20. When they acted as
workmen, it was requisite they should be dispersed wherever there was work to do; but
when as soldiers it was requisite they should come into close order, and be found in a
body. Thus should the labourers in Christ's building be ready to unite against a common
foe. 4. The inhabitants of the villages were ordered to lodge within Jerusalem, with their
servants, not only that they might be the nearer to their work in the morning, but that
they might be ready to help in case of an attack in the night, Neh_4:22. The strength of a
city lies more in its hands than in its walls; secure them, and God's blessing upon them,
and be secure. 5. Nehemiah himself, and all his men, kept closely to their business. The
spears were held up, with the sight of them to terrify the enemy, not only from sun to
sun, but from twilight to twilight every day, Neh_4:21. Thus ought we to be always upon
our guard against our spiritual enemies, not only (as here) while it is light, but when it is
dark, for they are the rulers of the darkness of this world. Nay, so very intent was
Nehemiah upon his work, and so fast did he hold his servants to it, that while the heat of
the business lasted neither he himself nor his attendants went into bed, but every night
lay and slept in their clothes (Neh_4:23), except that they shifted them now and then,
either for cleanliness or in a case of ceremonial pollution. It was a sign that their heart
was upon their work when they could not find time to dress and undress, but resolved
they would be at all times ready for service. Good work is likely to go on successfully
when those that labour in it thus make a business of it.
K&D, "Neh_4:16-18
From that day the half of my servants wrought at the work, and the other half of them
held the spears and shields, the bows and the armour, i.e., carried the arms. The
servants of Nehemiah are his personal retinue, Neh_4:17, Neh_5:10, Neh_5:16, namely,
Jews placed at his disposal as Pechah for official purposes. The ‫ו‬ before ‫ים‬ ִ‫ח‬ ָ‫מ‬ ְ‫ֽר‬ ָ‫ה‬ was
probably placed before this word, instead of before the ‫ים‬ִ ִ‫ג‬ ָ ַ‫ה‬ following, by a clerical
error; for if it stood before the latter also, it might be taken in the sense of et - et. ‫ים‬ ִ‫יק‬ִ‫ז‬ ֲ‫צ‬ ַ‫,מ‬
instead of being construed with ְ , is in the accusative, as also in Neh_4:11, and even in
Jer_6:23 and Isa_41:9, Isa_41:13. Unnecessary and unsuitable is the conjecture of
Bertheau, that the word ‫ים‬ ִ‫ח‬ ָ‫מ‬ ְ‫ֽר‬ ָ originally stood after ‫ים‬ ִ‫יק‬ִ‫ז‬ ֲ‫צ‬ ַ‫,מ‬ and that a fresh sentence
begins with ‫ים‬ ִ‫ח‬ ָ‫מ‬ ְ‫ֽר‬ ָ‫ה‬ְ‫:ו‬ and the other half held the spears; and the spears, the shields, and
the bows, and the armour, and the rulers, were behind the whole house of Judah, - a
strange combination, which places the weapons and rulers behind the house of Judah.
Besides, of the circumstance of the weapons being placed behind the builders, so that
they might at any moment seize them, we not only read nothing in the text; but in Neh_
4:11 and Neh_4:12 just the contrary, viz., that the builders wrought with one hand, and

84. with the other held a weapon. “The rulers were behind all the house of Judah,” i.e., each
was behind his own people who were employed on the work, to encourage them in their
labour, and, in case of attack, to lead them against the enemy. - In Neh_4:11 ‫ה‬ ָ‫ּומ‬‫ח‬ ַ ‫ים‬ִ‫ּונ‬ ַ‫ה‬
is prefixed after the manner of a title. With respect to those who built the wall, both the
bearers of burdens were lading with the one hand of each workman, and holding a
weapon with the other, and the builders were building each with his sword girt on his
side. The ‫ו‬ prefixed to ‫ים‬ ִ‫א‬ ְ‫ּשׂ‬ ַ‫ה‬ and ‫ים‬ִ‫ּנ‬ ַ‫ה‬ means both; and ‫ל‬ ֶ‫ב‬ ֵ ַ‫ב‬ ‫א‬ ֵ‫ּשׂ‬‫נ‬, bearers of burdens,
who cleared away the rubbish, and worked as labourers. These, at all events, could do
their work with one hand, which would suffice for emptying rubbish into baskets, and
for carrying material in handle baskets. ‫ּו‬‫ד‬ָ‫י‬ ‫ת‬ ַ‫ח‬ ַ‫ע‬ ְ , literally, with the one (namely) of his
hands that was doing the work. The suffix of ‫ּו‬‫ד‬ָ‫י‬ points to the genitive following. ‫ת‬ ַ‫ח‬ፍְ‫ו‬ ‫ת‬ ַ‫ח‬ፍ,
the one and the other hand. ‫ח‬ ַ‫ל‬ ֶ ַ‫,ה‬ not a missile, but a weapon that was stretched out,
held forth, usually a sword or some defensive weapon: see rem. on Jos_2:8; 2Ch_32:5.
The builders, on the contrary, needed both hands for their work: hence they had swords
girt to their sides. “And he that sounded the trumpet was beside me.” Nehemiah, as
superintendent of the work, stood at the head of his servants, ready to ward off any
attack; hence the trumpeter was beside him, to be able to give to those employed on the
wall the signal for speedy muster in case danger should threaten.
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:16. It came to pass from that time forth — Lest our enemies
should repeat their enterprise; that the half of my servants wrought in the work —
Of my domestic servants, and of my guards, who should have attended upon my
own person. And the other half held the spears, the shields, &c. — That is, all their
weapons: they stood in their arms, prepared for battle. And the rulers were behind
all — Partly to encourage them in their work, sometimes assisting them with their
own hands; and partly to direct and command them in case of an assault.
ELLICOTT, "(16) My servants.—The building was resumed with special
precautions, very minutely described. “ ehemiah’s own servants” are distinguished
from “all the house of Judah.” The former were divided into two parties, one of
which wrought on the work still unfinished and the other held their weapons.
Habergeons are coats of mail or corselets, thin plates of metal sewn upon leather.
The rulers were behind—Ready to lead the defence, if necessary.
LA GE, " ehemiah 4:16. My servants cannot be equal to “my subjects” as some
hold, for naar could not be so used by ehemiah, nor would he consider the people
of Judah in the light of subjects. ehemiah had probably a special band of men
attached to his person, either by order of the king of Persia, or by the will of the
people at Jerusalem. To these we suspect reference is here made. There is a
distinction made between these and the others. These divided themselves into two
parts, the one working while the other kept guard; but the others held a weapon
while they wrought ( ehemiah 4:17). Habergeon. Old English for “coat of mail.”
From hals (neck) and bergen (to protect).

85. TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:16 And it came to pass from that time forth, [that] the half of
my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears,
the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers [were] behind all the
house of Judah.
Ver. 16. And it came to pass from that time forth] As it is told of that peerless Queen
Elizabeth, that in times of greatest peace she ever made preparation for war; so did
this incomparable ehemiah; still fearing some new practice, and not knowing what
those restless cads were even now a hammering.
That the half of my servants wrought in the work] o servants they were for
ehemiah, if they would not work. He was an active man himself, trading every
talent; and those about him must all be active. One would wonder how this courtier
should become on the sudden so cunning a soldier, and should marshal his men so
skilfully, setting the younger before to bear the brunt of the battle, and the elders
behind to direct and encourage, according to that of the poet,
Eογα νεων, βουλαι τ ανδρων, ευχαι τε γεροντων.
But it was his God that instructed him to this discretion, and taught him, Isaiah
28:26, and he might well break out and sing, with David, "Blessed be the Lord, my
strength, which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight," Psalms 144:1.
Quando Christus Magister, quam cito dicitur quod docetur? saith Austin. God’s
scholars must needs be exact in a short space.
And the habergeons] These were armour for back and breast. In the Christian
armour there is no mention of armour for the back, though there is for the breast,
because a Christian soldier should never flee, but be like Androclid, whom, when
one derided, because, being lame, he went into the war, he answered merrily, that he
came thither to fight, not to run away.
WHEDO , "16. The half of my servants — ehemiah may, as governor of the
people and superintendent of the work, speak here of all the people who laboured
on the wall as his servants; but ehemiah 4:23 shows that he had also his own
proper servants engaged in the work. As the king of Persia had provided him with
captains and horsemen, ( ehemiah 2:9,) so also had he, probably, furnished him
with servants. From that time forth one half stood guard while the other half
wrought in the work.
The other half of them held… the spears — There is, at first sight, some confusion
here. According to ehemiah 4:17, every labourer held a missile weapon in one
hand and worked with the other; and according to ehemiah 4:18, every one had
also his sword girded by his side; but according to this verse one half of the people
held the weapons while the other half worked on the wall. We think that ehemiah
4:17 is to be explained (in view of the more controlling statements of this verse and

86. ehemiah 4:21) as a figurative or proverbial representation of the anxious
watchfulness and care of all the people to prevent surprise by the enemy.
Habergeons — Corselets, or coats of mail. See note on 1 Samuel 17:5.
The rulers were behind — That is, in the rear of the people, who were stationed at
different places along the wall. They would naturally take this position the better to
oversee and direct both the watch and the work. All the house of Judah is here used
for the whole body of the people, who were composed principally of members of the
tribe of Judah.
PETT, "Verses 16-23
ehemiah’s Provision For The Defence Of The Builders ( ehemiah 4:16-23).
ehemiah now called on his own specialist troops, fully armed with mail and
shields, to act as a protective force for Jerusalem. These were probably his escort
which he would have retained in Jerusalem for the journey back and may well have
included Persians in their number. They would be fully trained troops. ote that he
speaks of them as ‘my servants’. Meanwhile the other workers were to carry arms
with them as they continued the work, ready to defend themselves, and to respond
to any call for assistance.
ehemiah 4:16
‘And it came about from that time forth, that half of my servants wrought in the
work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of
mail, and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.’
It seems clear that most of ehemiah’s ‘men’, apart from those who acted as his
bodyguard, had previously been helping with the building work, presumably in a
supervisory capacity. ow half of them were withdrawn and called on to stand fully
armed ready for any emergency. They would bear the initial brunt of any surprise
attack. otice their superior armour which distinguishes them from the Jews. The
other half were to continue to help in the work, but with their own armour held
ready by the former in case they were called on. Together with his own permanent
bodyguard they formed a permanent ‘standing army’. Meanwhile the rulers of the
Jews, also presumably acting as supervisors, were supporting ‘the whole house of
Judah’, that is, those who were working on the walls. They encouraged them in the
work, kept in communication with ehemiah, and stood ready to act as militia
leaders. These formed a secondary force (armed but with no armour) which could
be called up if required. For this situation we can compare David and ‘his men’ (2
Samuel 5:6), ‘his servants’ (2 Samuel 11:1; 2 Samuel 15:18), who were a permanent
standing army, but could be supplemented by ‘all Israel’ when required (2 Samuel
6:1; 2 Samuel 10:17; 2 Samuel 11:1).
PULPIT, "The half of my servants wrought in the work. ehemiah divided his
"servants" or slaves into two bodies, one of which laboured at the wall, while the
other kept guard, fully armed, and held the spears, bows and arrows, shields, and

87. corselets of their fellows. The rulers were behind. The "rulers" or "princes" did not
labour, but stood behind the labourers, directing them, and ready to lead them on if
the enemy ventured to come to blows.
17 who were building the wall. Those who carried
materials did their work with one hand and held a
weapon in the other,
CLARKE, "With one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other
hand held a weapon - That is, he had his arms at hand, and was as fully prepared to
fight as to work. So Ovid, Epist. xi., Canace Macario, ver. 1: -
Si qua tamen caecis errabunt scripta lituris,
Oblitus a dominae caede libellus erit:
Dextra tenet calamum; strictum tenet altera ferrum:
Et jacet in gremio charta soluta meo.
If streaming blood my fatal letter stain,
Imagine, ere you read, the writer slain.
One hand the sword, and one the pen employs,
And in my lap the ready paper lies.
Dryden.
By this mode of speech Canace does not intimate to her brother Macarius, that she
actually held the sword in one hand while she held the pen in the other, but that she had
it ready to slay herself as soon as she had written the epistle.
GILL, "That laid the mortar and stones upon it, and timber where it was necessary:
and they that bore burdens; that carried the mortar, stones, and timber to the
builders, and served them:
with those that laded; which prepared the above for them, and laid them on their
shoulders:
everyone with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other

88. hand held a weapon; which is not to be understood strictly and literally, for without
both hands they could not well perform either of the above works; but proverbially,
signifying that they were intent on both working and fighting, and were ready and
prepared to do the latter, as well as the former, having weapons lying by them, or girt
about them, as is e
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:17. Every one with one of his hands wrought in the work,
and with the other held a weapon — That is, they were well prepared either to build
or fight; for the expression is figurative, it not being possible for them to work, if
both hands had not been at liberty. Accordingly the next verse says, Every one had
his sword girded by his side. Thus must we work out our salvation, with the
weapons of our warfare in our hands. For in every duty we must expect opposition
from our spiritual enemies.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:17 They which builded on the wall, and they that bare
burdens, with those that laded, [every one] with one of his hands wrought in the
work, and with the other [hand] held a weapon.
Ver. 17. They which builded on the wall] The master masons, and they that bare
burdens, Bajuli, labourers and porters, who bear upon their shoulders as much as
they can stand under, yet go singing oft under their burdens: the reason whereof
Alexander Aphrodisaeus saith is this, that their minds being delighted with the
sweetness of the music, the body may be the less sensible of the weight they carry.
But these burden bearers had little mind to sing, their lives being in suspense. And
yet, as worthy workmen, they went on with the wall.
Every one with one of his hands wrought, and in the other hand had a weapon] i.e.,
When they were busiest in building they had their weapons in a readiness to resist.
What a goodly sight was this, saith one, to see every one so full of courage, that they
feared not the enemy; and so willing to work, that they would not be weary. Let
Christian men look into this notable example, and be ashamed of their slothfulness,
&c.
WHEDO , "17. With one of his hands wrought… with the other hand held a
weapon — This seems to be a figurative expression to denote the constant readiness
of the builders to rush at once to battle in case of sudden attack. Every one had his
weapons at hand, ready for use at a moment’s warning. The word for weapon ‫שׁלח‬
means properly a missile — some-thing that can be hurled or thrown.
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "Sword and Trowel
ehemiah 4:17
Among the graphic scenes of this book none reads better, or counts for more in
imagination, than the present sketch relating how they built the city walls. And in
great part the interest revolves round ehemiah himself. A singularly attractive

89. figure, he stands out like a giant among children; and evidently it is to his tireless
faith and perseverance, in the main, that we must ascribe success which crowned
work of enormous difficulty.
This scene on the old walls of Jerusalem is a representation of the true life, as a
building and a fight.
I. When they build a mansion in Rome or Jerusalem today, they have to dig, often
through scores of feet of rubbish, the debris of old empires, ere they find what will
bear the superincumbent weight; and just so if we are dead in earnest, and resolved
that for us life shall rise firmly based on truth, as truth is in Jesus, then moral and
spiritual excavation of a far-reaching kind may have to be the first stage of the
business. These walls rising under the hand of these brave Jews were not merely
designed for their own safety; their nobler aim was to enclose and be consecrated by
the temple of the Holy One of Israel. ight and day they toiled at the battlements,
putting tears and blood into the living task, but at the heart of all stood the
sanctuary, more dear and more enduring still. So let us see to it that whatever we
may build has a place for God at its centre, and that that place is filled.
II. Warfare goes along with work, rendering "sword and trowel" the fittest motto
for the experience that has been appointed us. Even when the capital is held by the
true King, tumult and strife murmur on the frontier. It is the unwarlike life that
ends in a heap of ruins.
—H. R. Mackintosh, Life on God"s Plan, p156.
PETT, " ehemiah 4:17-18
‘They all built the wall and those who bore burdens loaded themselves, every one
with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other held his weapon, and
the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so built.
Meanwhile, while his men performed their guard duties, and helped with
supervision, the remainder were divided into two groups, those who ‘bore burdens’
(the fetchers and carriers) and those who built. The former bore their burdens with
one hand and carried their weapons in the other. The word for weapons indicates
some form of missiles, possibly therefore spears, which was why they could not
carry them in their belts. The latter continued building and wore their swords in
their belts. All were at the ready in case the alarm sounded, indicating an impending
attack.
18 and each of the builders wore his sword at his
side as he worked. But the man who sounded the

90. trumpet stayed with me.
GILL, "For the builders had everyone his sword girded by his side, and so
builded,.... Thus accoutred he wrought, and was prepared for either service:
and he that sounded the trumpet was by me; to give the alarm of war, that
everyone might lay aside his work, and prepare for the battle: this officer stood by
Nehemiah, that when he found it necessary, might give him orders to sound his trumpet,
for the men to gather to him.
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:18. He that sounded the trumpet was by me — To give the
alarm, and call the people together, when and where it was necessary. It appears by
this he was continually with them while they wrought upon the wall.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:18 For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his
side, and [so] builded. And he that sounded the trumpet [was] by me.
Ver. 18. For the builders every one had his sword girded by his side] Heb. on his
loins; that is the place for the sword to hang on: Psalms 45:3, "Gird thy sword upon
thy thigh, O most mighty." And Revelation 19:16, Christ’s name is written upon his
vesture, that all may see it, and upon his thigh, where his sword hangs, to show that
he won it by his valour. Among the Turks at this day, as the right hand is held
uppermost for a scholar, so the left for a soldier; because it gives a man possession
of his companion’s sword; though the Turks seldom bear weapons but in travel;
and then some of them seem no less like a walking, than these builders did like a
working, armoury.
WHEDO , "18. Every one had his sword girded by his side — This was probably
literally the case. Swords are not mentioned in ehemiah 4:16 as among the arms
held in readiness by the half of the people that watched while the others worked.
Swords could be worn so as not greatly to hinder the workmen in their work.
ISBET, "Verses 18-21
WITH SWORD A D TROWEL
‘The builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded.… So we
laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the
morning till the stars appeared.’
ehemiah 4:18-21
The restoration of God’s temple by the armed labourers of ehemiah is a familiar
and noble illustration of the restoration of the spiritual temple, ‘which temple are
ye,’ says St. Paul. Steadfast labour through trouble and hindrance is the method by
which at once God’s high purposes are accomplished and His servants disciplined

91. and perfected. We can labour with but one hand, as it were; the other is on the hilt
of our sword the while.
I. If we are temples of the Holy Ghost at all, as St. Paul assures us lovingly that we
already are, we know this, that we are not perfect, well-built, undefiled shrines.—
Much is lost, but even in our souls there is a remnant left. The foundations of the
first building are yet traceable. If the skyward roof is gone, and the tall and shining
pillars lie low, we may yet set our feet on the unstirred marbles of the pavement.
II. But this were poor comfort if this were all.—Little would it profit to know how
glorious the past had been if we believed that its glory had departed never to return.
In the time of ehemiah it was dawning anew. If the Jews were no more a proud,
unbroken race, they were a free people, a ransomed and liberated nation. And to us
surely the application is very plain. We too have been set free, not without the
strong crying and tears of our Saviour and our Prince, not that we may leisurely
enjoy His realm, but be active and able lords of our own, and in His spirit and by
our labour restore in ourselves that holiness and glory which we have lost.
III. The rebuilding was a very different scene from the first building.—Of old, in
profound peace, in wealth, in joy, the Temple, and the king’s house, and the city
walls had risen higher and higher. ow they laboured sore beset, savage, taunting
foes about them and among them. It has been, and it is, even so with us; nor can we
expect it otherwise. How far off and how fair is the story of the first foundation of
this house of ours! How painful do we daily find the process of its rebuilding! Evil
men and evil spirits fain would hinder the restoration of our holy city and of the
temple that is in our hearts. Therefore there is but one thing for us to do: we must
build our walls sword on side.
IV. Lastly, though this our temple be rebuilding at such disadvantage, in a way so
different from its first rise, yet the promise is for us good also, as of old, ‘that the
glory of the latter house shall exceed the glory of the former.’ That shall be more
precious which was restored at the price of such trouble and pains than that which
was founded in wealth and ease. Man reformed after his fall shall be greater and
holier than unfallen man. Redeemed, he shall stand higher than when untempted.
Archbishop Benson.
Illustration
‘The actual builders needed both hands, and so they had their “swords girded by
their sides.” God’s builders have to fight. Their fighting is to be auxiliary to their
building. Our true work is constructive, and when we have to engage in destructive
or controversial tasks, we have to take care that we do not lose sight of the real end
of all our toils and conflicts—the rearing of the walls of the city of God.’
PETT, " ehemiah 4:18
-20 ‘And he who sounded the trumpet was by me. And I said to the nobles, and to

92. the rulers and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and large, and we are
separated on the wall, one far from another, in whatever place you hear the sound
of the trumpet, resort you to us there. Our God will fight for us.”
The responsibility for sounding the alarm lay in ehemiah’s hands. Attending him
at all times was a trumpeter. And the instructions that he gave to the nobles, and the
rulers appointed over the militia, and the people themselves, who were necessarily
spread out right round the walls, was that whenever they heard the trumpet sound,
there they were to gather, weapons in hand, to assist in driving back the enemy. or
were they to be afraid, for they were to recognise that ‘our God will fight for us’. In
all his preparations ehemiah in the end totally depended on God. His final
confidence was in Him, but we should note that it did not hinder him from detailed
planning.
19 Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the
rest of the people, “The work is extensive and
spread out, and we are widely separated from
each other along the wall.
GILL, "And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the
people,.... See Gill on Neh_4:14,
the work is great and large; the building of the wall all around the city of Jerusalem:
and we are separated upon the wall one far from another; some at work on one
part of it, and some at another, so that the distance between one another, at least in the
further part, was very considerable.
K&D, "Neh_4:19-21
Hence he said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, i.e., all employed in
building, “The work is much (great) and wide, and we are separated upon the wall one
far from another; in what place ye hear the sound of the trumpet, assemble yourselves to
me: our God will fight for us.” - In Neh_4:15 the whole is summed up, and for this
purpose the matter of Neh_4:10 is briefly repeated, to unite with it the further statement
that they so laboured from early morning till late in the evening. “We (Nehemiah and his
servants) laboured in the work, and half of them (of the servants) held the spears from

93. the grey of dawn till the stars appeared.”
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:21-22. Half of them held the spears — For the use of every
man, if there should be occasion. From the rising of the morning till the stars
appeared — Working very early and very late. Let every one with his servant lodge
within Jerusalem — ot in the suburbs or adjoining villages, as probably many of
them had done, returning thence to their work in the morning: but now he would
have them all lodge in Jerusalem, for the greater security of the city; and in turns to
watch by night, or work on the walls by day.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:19 And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the
rest of the people, The work [is] great and large, and we are separated upon the
wall, one far from another.
Ver. 19. And I said unto the nobles, &c.] ehemiah, the more a man observeth him
the more he shall admire him. Surely he was (as Velleius saith of Cato Major) homo
virtuti simillimus, a man as like virtue as might be; he was (as Pliny saith of the
same Cato) optimus Orator, optimus Imperator, optimus Senator, omniumque
bonarum artium Magister, an excellent orator, an exeellent general, an excellent
statesman, a master of all good arts whatsoever. He had cropped off the very tops of
all virtues, as Pindarus saith of Jerome ( δρεπων κορνφας αρετων απο πασων), and
as Melancthon saith of Frederick, the elector of Saxony. From the builders here he
turneth him to the nobles and rulers, &c., whom he would not have to be carpet
knights, fitter for a canopy than a camp, for language than a lance, &c., but active
in their orb, and ready pressed to serve in watching, warding, and preparing things
necessary for the workmen.
The work is great and large] The compass of the walls at this time is thought by
good writers to be certain miles about; and yet was enlarged as much afterwards by
Herod.
And we are separated upon the wall] According to our divisions, noted ehemiah
3:1, &c., and this is a weapon in the hand of our enemies; for dum pugnamus
singuli, vincimur universi, being dispersed, we are much disadvantaged.
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "The Inadequacy of Spiritual Solitude
ehemiah 4:19-20
I. The great obstacle to the building of the old Jerusalem was the distance in space
between the workmen: "We are separated upon the wall, one far from another".
The great obstacle to the building of the new Jerusalem is also the distance in space
between the workmen. This latter statement seems a paradox. We can understand
how a physical wall requires a vast company to build it But we have always taught
ourselves to believe that salvation is a personal matter, and that its wall must be

94. constructed in solitude. We look upon companionship as existing for outside
things—for the dance, for the orchestra, for the army, for the field of politics. But
when a man begins to erect his own soul, we expect him to be alone with God.
II. ot thus shall I be able to build the walls of the new Jerusalem. The work of my
salvation is not a solitary process. It is a solemn hour; but it is the solemnity, not of
silence, but of crowdedness. I must summon into my sympathy all the sons of men. I
cannot build up the virtues of my heart if I am thinking only of God. Would I be
humble; mine must be a humility before man. Anyone could be humble before God.
It does not need a redeemed soul to shrink in nothingness beneath the stars of night.
But to sink my interests before a brother, to refrain from self-display in the presence
of an inferior—that is humility! Would I be meek; it must be before man. I dare not
answer God; all flesh is silent in His presence. But to be gentle with an equal, to be
soft with a dependant, to be lenient with a fallen soul—that is meekness!
III. Would I be charitable; it must be before man. God needs not my silver nor my
gold; they would add no drop to His ocean. But, to clothe a brother"s rags, to soothe
a sister"s pain, to give the children bread, to help the orphan"s cry, to bind the
broken heart and comfort the wounded conscience—that is to succour God, that is
charity! The walls of the new Jerusalem must be built in the presence of man.
—G. Matheson, Messages of Hope, p129.
20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet,
join us there. Our God will fight for us!”
CLARKE, "Ye hear the sound of the trumpet - As the walls were very extensive,
and the workmen consequently much scattered, their enemies might easily attack and
destroy them successively, he therefore ordered them all to work as near to each other as
they could; and himself, who was everywhere surveying the work, kept a trumpeter
always with him, who was to sound when the enemy approached; and all were instantly
to run to the place where they heard the sound.
GILL, "In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet,.... Be it what
part of the wall soever they were at work, even the most distant:

95. resort ye thither to us; to Nehemiah, and the half of his servants armed, where the
trumpet was blown; that was to be the place of rendezvous:
our God shall fight for us; and give us victory over our enemies; none have any
reason to be intimidated, when they shall hear the sound of the trumpet.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:20 In what place [therefore] ye hear the sound of the
trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.
Ver. 20. In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet] Which, therefore,
for the purpose he kept at his own elbow, ehemiah 4:18, as a matter of trust and
importance. Moses committed the blowing of the trumpets unto the sons of Aaron
only, umbers 10:8. "For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare
himself to the battle?" 1 Corinthians 14:8.
Resort you thither unto us] As to your rendezvous, that we may stand against the
enemy in an entire body; meanwhile ehemiah walketh the round, and watches the
enemies’ motions, so that of him might be said, as once was of Hannibal, ullo
labore aut corpus fatigari, aut animus vinci poterat, he was indefatigable,
insuperable (Liv. decad. 3, lib. 1), or as of Fabius Maximus.
Hic patria est, murique urbis stant pectore in uno (Sil. Ital.).
Our God shall fight for us] Courage therefore my hearts, he is "The Lord strong
and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle," Psalms 24:8, and may far better say than
Henry VIII did, Cui adhaereo praeest, he whom I fight for is sure to prevail.
21 So we continued the work with half the men
holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the
stars came out.
GILL, "So we laboured in the work,.... Of building the wall: and half of them held
the spears; and other weapons before mentioned, Neh_4:16

96. from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared; that is, from morning to
evening, the space of time the builders and labourers worked.
COFFMA , "Verse 21
WORKED DAY A D IGHT; EVE SLEPT I THEIR CLOTHES
"So we wrought in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the
morning till the stars appeared. Likewise at the same time I said unto the people,
Let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that at night they may be a
guard to us, and may labor in the day. So neither I nor my brethren, nor my
servants, nor my men of the guard that followed me, none of us put off our clothes,
everyone went with his weapon to the water."
"Half of them held the spears ... till the stars appeared" ( ehemiah 4:21). "These
three verses are a summary of what was said above. Half of the servants and the
guard worked in the daytime, and the other half stood guard at night."[21] ote
also that the work continued without intermission throughout all the daylight hours.
"Let everyone ... lodge within Jerusalem" ( ehemiah 4:22). "This means let none
return to his own village or city at night, but let all take their rest in Jerusalem."[22]
"Everyone went with his weapon to the water" ( ehemiah 4:23). All scholars speak
of the damaged text in this verse. "As it stands, it is quite meaningless."[23] The
footnote in our version (the ASV) reads, "The text is obscure." "Keil translated it,
`Each laid his weapon at the right,' that is, when he slept, his weapon was ready at
hand."[24]
Various translations are:
" one of us put off our clothes, saving that everyone put them of for washing"
(KJV).
"(We) did not put off our clothes; only every man stripped himself when he was to
be washed" (Douay).
"Each kept his weapon in his hand" (Moffatt).
"We all kept our weapons at hand" (Good ews Bible).
"Each kept his weapon in his hand" (Revised Standard Version).
"Each kept his weapon in his right hand" ( ew Revised Standard Version).
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:21 So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the
spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared.

97. Ver. 21. So we laboured in the work] Their fear of the enemy did not weaken them,
but waken them rather to a redoubled diligence.
From the rising of the sun till the stars appeared] Time was precious; and they
redeemed and improved it. The common complaint is, We want time; but the truth
is, on parum habemus temporis, sed multum perdimus. We do not so much want
as waste it. The good man is perdius et pernox, night and day at his business; and
his thoughts are the same with those of Rabbi Simeon, Dies brevis est, et opus
multum, et operarii pigri, et paterfamilias urger, The time is short, the task large,
the workmen dither, the master of the house urgent.
PARKER, ""So we laboured in the work: ... so neither I, nor my brethren, nor my
servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our
clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing" [or, every one went with his
weapon for water. Bishop Barry (of Sydney) says: This rendering is very
improbable, as the words are simply: "Every man his weapon water." Some
interpret that "each man"s weapon was his water": evidently too subtle a turn of
thought. It is best, on the whole, to supply the ellipsis: "every man went with his
weapon to the water"] ( ehemiah 4:21, ehemiah 4:23).
That was work. How do we work? "So we laboured at the wall"—at the wall, at one
thing, at a definite object, at a prescribed and well-understood work—at it, all at it,
always at it, loving it and wanting to urge it forward. "So we laboured—laboured—
laboured." What is the Church doing—what is the Church in the city doing—
empty, desolate, sitting in its own loneliness, moaning over its own solitariness—
what is the Church doing? If a man in the Church were to get up and speak above
what somebody else considers to be a proper tone, he would be condemned and
despised and avoided. If a man were to organise extraordinary work, there are not
wanting narrow-minded Pharisees, small-spirited zealots, little—almost
immeasurable—self-idolising popes, who would say that such kind of work was not
the kind of service on which they could put the seal of their endorsement. And so the
Church is always washing itself and putting on some new garment, and going to law
to know whether it ought to have that garment on or not. Whilst we are doing that,
the foxes are saying to one another—"This is the wall, is it? You pull that stone
down, and I will pull this: they are all at law, they want to know whether they shall
eat wafers or loaves—whether they shall stand to the east or look to the west—pull
down the wall!"
We want to build—to build; to get a positive, distinct, affirmative work done. When
we hear an earnest Prayer of Manasseh , we need not care whether his face is to the
east or west or the north or the south. Let us ask, "What is his word; is there music
in his voice; is there redemption in his gospel; is there earnestness in his appeal; are
there tears in the sound issuing from his throat; does he mean it?" And then,
whether he be labouring at our corner of the wall or not, let us say, "God bless
him—help him to build much—help him to build solidly, and God reward him for

98. his work." Men, brethren, and fathers—Independents, Presbyterians, Baptists,
Episcopalians, whatever we be, let us forget all that is little and unworthy and
trifling and superficial, and non-essential—and then, coats off, every one, all day at
the work, and God bless every servant that toils in his name and strives to promote
his glory.
PETT, " ehemiah 4:21
‘ So we wrought in the work, and half of them held the spears from the rising of the
morning till the stars appeared.’
The ‘we’ here is probably ehemiah and his servants as per ehemiah 4:16, half of
whom held spears, shields, bows and coats of mail. He and his servants played their
full part in the work, whilst half of them stood at the ready for any surprise attack.
And they did this from break of day until dusk. ‘Spears’ is here used to indicate all
the weapons that they carried in readiness, being the first in the list in ehemiah
4:16.
PULPIT, "So we laboured: and half of them held the spears. This is a summary of
the main points previously related: "So we continued to work; and one-half of my
personal followers continued to keep watch, and to hold the spears" ( ehemiah
4:16). From the rising of the morning, etc. This is additional, and shows how early
the work commenced each morning, and how late it continued.
22 At that time I also said to the people, “Have
every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at
night, so they can serve us as guards by night and
as workers by day.”
BAR ES, "Let every one ... lodge within Jerusalem - i. e. Let none return to
his own village or city at night, but let all take their rest in Jerusalem.”
CLARKE, "Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem - The

99. country people were accustomed, after their day’s labor, to return to their families; now
being so formidably threatened, he obliged them all to sleep in Jerusalem, that they
might be ready, in case of attack, to help their brethren. All this man’s arrangements
were wise and judicious.
GILL, "Likewise at the same time said I unto the people,.... That were at work
upon the wall:
let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem; every builder had a
servant, or a lad, as the word signifies, to wait upon him, to bring mortar or stone, or
what he wanted; and some of these builders, with their lads, came out of the country
towns and villages in the morning, and returned at night; now Nehemiah proposed, for
the safety of the city and its walls, that for the present they would lodge in Jerusalem:
that in the night they may be a guard unto us, and labour on the day; might
help to protect them in the night, should they be surprised with the enemy, and be ready
for their work in the daytime.
K&D, "Neh_4:22
He took moreover, a further precaution: he said to the people (i.e., to the labourers on
the wall, and not merely to the warriors of the community, as Bertheau supposes): Let
every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, i.e., to remain together during the
night also, and not be scattered through the surrounding district, “that they may be
guardianship for us by night and labour by day.” The abstracts, guardianship and labour,
stand for the concretes, guards and labourers. As ‫נוּ‬ ָ‫,ל‬ to us, refers to the whole
community separated on the walls, so is ‫ּו‬‫ר‬ ֲ‫ע‬ַ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬ ‫ישׁ‬ ִ‫א‬ to be understood of all the workers, and
not of the fighting men only. From ‫ּו‬‫ר‬ ֲ‫ע‬ַ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬ ‫ישׁ‬ ִ‫א‬ it only appears that the fathers of families
and master builders had servants with them as labourers.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:22 Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every
one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard
to us, and labour on the day.
Ver. 22. Likewise at the same time I said unto the people] He had a saying to every
one; and having ordered the work of the day, he appointeth a watch for the night
season also; for they had many false friends within themselves too. Caesar’s
vigilancy did ever equal his valour; so did ehemiah’s.
WHEDO , "22. Every one — Every leading man, or head of a family.
With his servant — Rather, and his servant. As ehemiah, being head of the entire
community, might have called all the people his servants, ( ehemiah 4:16,) so every
leading man had also those under him whom he commanded. But each leading man

100. of the Jews may also have had his own private servants. Some of the more wealthy
had brought their own brethren of the Jews virtually into bondage to them.
ehemiah 5:5; ehemiah 5:8.
Lodge within Jerusalem — And not in the neighbouring villages, as some of them
had been accustomed to do.
They may be a guard — amely, the men and the servants just named. They were to
stay and do their share in guarding the city, as well as in labouring on its walls. But
as the next verse shows, they were not the only ones that thus watched and laboured.
It was necessary to the safety of Jerusalem that a large and strong watch be
maintained night and day, and it was too much for ehemiah and the rest, whose
homes were in the city, to do all this. Hence the justice of requiring those whose
homes were in neighbouring towns to abide for the present in the city, and do a
proper share of guarding the great common interests of all.
To us — ehemiah and all who dwelt in the city.
PETT, " ehemiah 4:22
‘In the same way at the same time I said to the people, “Let every one with his
servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and
may labour in the day.”
In the same way he called on the people to play their full part, lodging with their
servants in the city at night, so that they might act as guards during the night
(taking their turn on watch), and labouring during the day.
PULPIT, "Every one, with his servant. The material condition of the people had
much improved since the return under Zerubbabel. Then there was only one slave
to every six Israelites (Ezra 2:64, Ezra 2:65); now every Israelite had his slave, and
many no doubt a large number. Lodge within Jerusalem. i.e. "sleep" or "pass the
night" there, instead of returning to their several villages or towns. That in the night
they may be a guard to us. The very fact that they were in Jerusalem, and known to
be there, would tend to prevent an attack; and if the enemy assaulted by night, they
would be at hand, and able to take their part in guarding the work.
23 either I nor my brothers nor my men nor the
guards with me took off our clothes; each had his
weapon, even when he went for water.[c]

101. BAR ES, "Saving ... - The text here is probably unsound. It yields no satisfactory
sense. See the margin.
CLARKE, "None of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them
off for washing - The Hebrew for all this is only ‫המים‬ ‫שלחו‬ ‫איש‬ ‫בגדינו‬ ‫פשטים‬ ‫אנחנו‬ ‫אין‬ ein
anachnu poshetim begadeynu ish shilcho hammayim; which Montanus translates, Non nos
exuentes vestes nostras, vir missile suum aquas; “We, not putting off our garments, a
man his dart to the waters.” Of this latter clause what sense can be made? Let us hear
what the ancient versions say.
The Vulgate, Unusquisque tantum nudabatur ad baptismum, “Every one stripped
himself for the bath.”
The Septuagint omit the latter part of this clause, And there was none of us who put
off his garments.
The Syriac, “None of us put off his clothes for a month each in his turn.
The Arabic, “Nor did we put off our clothes, but with our arms, at the end of a month.”
There is a remarkable reading in one of De Rossi’s MSS. ‫משלחהעל‬ ‫בגדינו‬ ‫פשטים‬ ‫אנחנו‬ ‫אין‬
‫,המים‬ We did not lay aside our garments, but in order to send them to the washing. This
is most likely the sense of the place.
It is curious to see how our old versions translate the place.
Coverdale: We put never of our clothes, so much as to wash ourselves. - 1535.
Becke: We put never of our clothes, so muche as to washe ourselves. - 1549.
Cardmarden: We put never of oure clothes no more than the other dyd theyr harnesse,
save onely bycause of the water. - 1566.
This shows how all interpreters have been puzzled with this vexatious clause.
The reading from De Rossi’s MS., given above, is the most likely to be the true one,
because it gives a good sense, which cannot be found in the Hebrew text as it now
stands. The general meaning is sufficiently evident; they worked nearly day and night,
only had their hours by turns for repose; this did not permit them time sufficient to
undress themselves in order to take regular sleep, therefore they only put off their
clothes when they were obliged to get them washed.
GILL, "So neither I, nor my brethren,.... The nobles and rulers:
nor my servants; his domestic servants that waited upon him:
nor the men of the guard which followed me; his bodyguard, which attended him

102. as a commissioner of the king of Persia for state and grandeur:
none of us put off our clothes; at night when they laid themselves down to sleep, but
laid in, them, that they might be ready upon an alarm made:
saving that everyone put them off for washing; not for common washing, because
dirty, but for washing on account of ceremonial uncleanness, which required washing
both of bodies and garments, see Lev_15:5, &c. and the Vulgate Latin version expresses
it by baptism, as the apostle calls such ceremonial ablutions in Heb_6:2. It is in the
margin of our Bibles, "everyone went with his weapon for water"; when he went to
Siloam, or any other place, for water, he took a weapon with him to defend himself upon
occasion; which is no bad sense of the words. Noldius (g) renders the words, "everyone
with his weapon (and) water"; both were at his bolster, ready, if wanted, see 1Sa_26:11.
K&D, "Neh_4:23
Nehemiah, moreover, and his brethren (his kinsmen and the members of his house),
and his servants, and the men of the guard in his retinue, were constantly in their clothes
(“not putting off our clothes” to rest). The last words, ‫ם‬ִ‫י‬ ַ ַ‫ה‬ ‫ּו‬‫ח‬ ְ‫ל‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ ‫ישׁ‬ ִ‫א‬ are very obscure, and
give no tolerable sense, whether we explain ‫ם‬ִ‫י‬ ַ ַ‫ה‬ of water for drinking or washing. Luther
translates, Every one left off washing; but the words, Every one's weapon was water, can
never bear this sense. Roediger, in Gesen. Thes. s.v. ‫ח‬ ַ‫ל‬ ֶ‫,שׁ‬ seeks to alter ‫המים‬ into ‫ּו‬‫ד‬ָ‫י‬ ְ‫,ב‬ to
which Böttcher (N. krit. Aehrenl. iii. p. 219) rightly objects: “how could ‫ּו‬‫ד‬ָ‫י‬ ְ‫ב‬ have been
altered into ‫ם‬ִ‫י‬ ַ ַ‫,ה‬ or ‫ם‬ִ‫י‬ ַ ַ‫ה‬ have got into the text at all, if some portion of it had not been
originally there? What this ‫ּו‬‫ד‬ָ‫י‬ ְ‫ב‬ expresses, would be far more definitely given with the
very slight correction of changing the closing ‫ם‬ of ‫ם‬ִ‫י‬ ַ ַ‫,ה‬ and reading ‫המינו‬ = ‫ינוּ‬ ִ‫מ‬ ֵ‫ה‬ (comp.
2Sa_14:19); thus each had taken his missile on the right (in his right hand), naturally
that he might be ready to discharge it in case of a hostile attack.” This conjecture seems
to us a happy emendation of the unmeaning text, since ‫נוּ‬ might easily have been changed
into ‫;ם‬ and we only differ in this matter from Böttcher, by taking ‫ח‬ ַ‫ל‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ in its only
legitimate meaning of weapon, and translating the words: And each laid his weapon on
the right, viz., when he laid himself down at night to rest in his clothes, to be ready for
fighting at the first signal from the watch.
BE SO , " ehemiah 4:23. one of us put off our clothes — either by day nor by
night, as the manner is when people go to rest, but they constantly kept themselves
in readiness to fight, if any assault were made on the city. Saving that every one put
them off for washing — When they were to wash and cleanse themselves from some
impurity, which might befall them or their garments.
ELLICOTT, "(23) Saving that every one put them off for washing.—This rendering
is very improbable, as the words are simply: “every man his weapon water.” Some
interpret that “each man’s weapon was his water”: evidently too subtle a turn of
thought. It is best, on the whole, to supply the ellipsis: “every man went with his
weapon to the water.”

103. COKE, " ehemiah 4:23. Saving that every one put them off for washing— Even for
a whole month. Houbigant.
REFLECTIO S.—1st, ever did the cause of God begin to prosper, but the
enemies of God began to malign and resist it. Let us never be discouraged, if we see
this old enmity revive.
1. Sanballat and Tobiah, the sworn enemies of the Jews, no sooner have intelligence
of the design, than, vexed at the heart, they set themselves to oppose it. They treat
the feeble Jews with scorn, and ridicule the attempt as impracticable. ote; (1.)
Ridicule and contempt are some of the sharp arrows in the world's quiver, which
they never fail to throw at God's faithful labourers. (2.) Though many pretend to
mock and despise the work of God, at heart they are grieved, and fear whereunto
this will grow. (3.) One wicked man encourages another; but, though scoffers make
their bands strong, God will cover them shortly with confusion.
2. ehemiah prays against the revilings of his enemies; and, if he can interest God's
regard for him, little cares for their opposition, which he knows God will then turn
to their own shame. ote; (1.) The way to answer the scorn of the world is, by
carrying our case to the Lord our God: he heareth, and judgeth. (2.) They who
would be Christ's servants must expect the world's ill word and abuse. (3.) They
who discourage the hearts of God's faithful labourers, treasure up a peculiar
measure of wrath against the day of wrath.
3. The people, more encouraged by ehemiah's prayer than deterred by their
enemies' abuse, raised the wall all round the city to half its height; for their hearts
were in the work. ote; (1.) Much may be done in a little time when all are hearty in
lending their assistance. (2.) We need not fear the revilings of men, when we are
assured of the blessing of God upon our labours.
2nd, When secret reviling prevented not the progress of the building, they prepared
by open force to resist it.
1. Sanballat and Tobiah engaged the Arabians, Ammonites, and Ashdodites, to
assist them, and join their forces to attack the Jews, whose piety they as much hated,
as they envied their growing prosperity. To crush them, therefore, in the bud, they
in great wrath formed a league, secretly contriving to fall upon the builders before
they were apprized of their danger, and there to massacre them, unarmed and
unprepared; the consequence of which must needs be the interruption of the
building. ote; (1.) The hatred of the wicked is a deadly hatred, which thirsteth for
the precious life. Persecutors of God's people are ever cruel. (2.) When God's cause
is to be oppressed, they who were ever so much at variance among themselves will
cordially unite their forces against this hated object. (3.) Though craft and prayer be
with the enemies of God's church, he that sitteth above the heavens mocks at their
impotent attempts.

104. 2. The faint-heartedness of some of the men of Judah was as great a discouragement
as the threatenings of the Samaritans. Wearied with the service, disheartened at the
difficulties, and despairing of success, they are ready to discontinue their efforts, as
if tired out, and unable longer to support the fatigue. ote; Unbelieving Israelites
are a greater hindrance than infidel enemies.
3. Intelligence was brought of their enemies' designs. ote; Though the counsels of
the wicked are ever so secret, God can detect and disappoint them.
4. ehemiah bravely and prudently provided against the impending danger. To God
he first committed their case, in fervent prayer for direction and support; then
placed a proper guard, some behind the wall, where it was lowest, and others on the
higher part, or towers, whence they could most incommode the enemy. And, as he
perceived the people in consternation, he encourages them to trust in God, their
almighty aid, whose arm could easily baffle their foes; and animates them to fight,
from the consideration that their all was at stake, and that on their courage the
safety of all depended. ote; (1.) In every distress, our first recourse should be to
God. (2.) Every prudent human means must be diligently used in dependance on
him. (3.) othing inspires the heart of a believer with such courage, as the view of
almighty grace engaged for his support.
5. The enemy hearing that their design was discovered, and seeing the preparations
made to receive them, desisted from their enterprize, and the work again happily
went forward. ote; Experience of God's care over us should engage our increasing
fidelity and zeal in his service.
3rdly, Though the present storm was blown over, ehemiah took care to be always
prepared for any unforeseen attack. Security is dangerous: it becomes the soldier of
Christ to be continually on his guard.
1. Half of ehemiah's guards were at all times ready accoutred, while the other half
worked on the wall; and they relieved each other. Every builder had his sword on
his thigh, and his weapons at hand, that at a moment's warning he might be ready;
and their rulers also stood behind them to encourage them. ote; (1.) They who
labour for God have ever need of the sword of the Spirit, that they may be ready
armed against every enemy. (2.) Union among christians is their great stability. (3.)
They who are distinguished in station, gifts, or office, must be encouragers of others
by their zeal and example.
2. To strengthen them against any surprise by night, ehemiah caused all the
country labourers to lodge in the city, that they might be at hand in case of attack.
As for himself and his attendants, they never put off their clothes, except to change,
or to wash for any ceremonial uncleanness. From the dawn of day to the twilight,
they held their spears; and at night, while some kept guard, the rest were ready at a
moment's call. ote; (1.) As we are ever in danger, we must continually watch: our
spiritual enemies neither sleep nor slumber. (2.) Any hardship will the good soldier

105. of Jesus Christ cheerfully endure, when called to it for the glory of God and the
service of immortal souls.
LA GE, " ehemiah 4:23. Only ehemiah and his immediate family and attendants
are here referred to as not putting off their clothes. It became them to be patterns of
watchfulness and and diligence to the rest.—Saving that every one put them off
from washing.—A puzzling sentence. It is literally “man his weapon the water.” The
rendering of the E. V. is in accordance with the old Jewish authorities who regard
shilho as a verb of equivalent meaning with pashat (to put off). Probably some
words are lost.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 4:23 So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the
men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, [saving that]
every one put them off for washing.
Ver. 23. So neither I] He said not to his men, Ite, but eamus, as Caesar did; Go ye,
but go we; and as Abimelech, 9:48, What ye see me do, make haste and do
accordingly. Velleius flattered when he said, Tiberius imperio maximus, exemplo
maior. ehemiah was so in very deed.
Saving that every one put them off for washing] To keep themselves clean, and from
being nasty; or otherwise, to wash themselves from legal pollutions.
PULPIT, "My brethren. Actual brothers probably. That ehemiah had brothers
appears from ehemiah 1:2; that one of them, Hanani, had accompanied him to
Jerusalem is evident from ehemiah 7:2. My servants. See above, ehemiah 7:16.
The men of the guard that followed me. As governor, ehemiah would maintain a
body-guard, in addition to his band of slaves. Saving that every one put them off for
washing. So the Vulgate: "Unnsquisque tantum nudabatur ad baptismum;" but it is
at least doubtful whether the Hebrew words can possibly have this meaning. The
most natural and literal sense of them is that given by Maurer and
Rambach—"Each man's weapon was his water;" the supposed connection of the
clause with the preceding being, " o one took off his clothes," not even for the
bath—no one bathed; "a man's only bath was his weapon." Some critics, however,
defend the rendering of the A. V.; others take the words in the same way, but
explain the term "water" differently, of a natural want (Ewald, Stanley); while
many regard the text as unsound, and propose emendations. one, however, that
has as yet been proposed is satisfactory.
WHEDO , "23. or my brethren — Men of his own tribe and near kinsmen.
or my servants — See note on ehemiah 4:16.
or the men of the guard which followed me — This may refer to the persons
mentioned in the preceding verse, who were retained in Jerusalem as a guard; or to
a special bodyguard of ehemiah, composed of the captains and horsemen who

106. came up with him from Persia, ( ehemiah 2:9,) and still followed him, or were
behind him, to do his bidding.
one of us put off our clothes — Such was their constant wakefulness and
watchfulness.
Saving that every one put them off for washing — Such is the meaning which the
Vulgate and a number of expositors put upon the Hebrew, ‫המים‬ ‫שׁלחו‬ ‫אישׁ‬ . But these
words contain in themselves no such meaning, and there is reason to suspect a
corruption in the text. Literally, they read, a man, his weapons, the waters, and
there is no connective to decide the meaning. The following are the principal
conjectures: 1. That waters here are to be taken as a euphemism for a call of nature,
and the sense is, that every man kept his weapons by him even when attending to a
call of nature. 2. The marginal reading, that every one who went for water to the
springs or wells carried his weapon along. 3. Instead of ‫,המים‬ the waters, we should
read ‫,בידו‬ in his hand. Then it would smoothly read, every one (having) his weapon
in his hand. 4. Instead of ‫,המים‬ read ‫,המינו‬ his right, when the sense would be, every
one with his weapon on his right; that is, ready for immediate action in case of
attack. This variety of conjectures sufficiently indicates that some connectives must
have fallen out of the text.
PETT, " ehemiah 4:23
‘So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who
followed me, none of us put off our clothes. Every one (went with) his weapon (to)
the water.’
Thus all were to be constantly at the ready, he, his brothers (fellow-Jews), his own
special fully armed servants, and his own bodyguard. And this they did. one got
undressed, but rather slept in readiness for instant action, and even bore their
weapons when they went for water.
‘Every one (went with) his weapon (to) the water.’ This is literally, in our Hebrew
text (The Masoretic Text), ‘a man his weapon the water.’ But in view of the constant
necessity of drawing water for drinking it seems reasonable to see in this a warning
against even going for water without being armed. An alternative (but less likely) is
to see it as an indication that they were even to carry their weapons when relieving
themselves, with ‘water’ being a euphemism for urine (compare 2 Kings 18:27;
Isaiah 36:12 - but there it is ‘water of the feet’). The idea is one of constant
readiness.
Another possibility is AV’s translation ‘saving that everyone put them off for
washing’, follows the Vulgate (Latin) version. This is based on repointing the
Hebrew for ‘his weapon’, and turning it into a verb (‘let go, put off’), but even then
it is a forced rendering of what is literally ‘a man let go (put off) the water’. This
then paraphrased as , ‘a man put off for the water’.
(Some make a slight emendation to the text on the basis that there is a copying error

107. and translate, ‘everyone with his weapon on the right’ (with hemin replacing
hamayim (the water), that is, has his weapon within reach of his right hand in
readiness for being suddenly awoken and needing it quickly. Another of many
suggested alternatives is, ‘each with his weapon all the time’. But all such
emendations are necessarily intelligent guesswork and should be avoided where
possible).
LA GE, "HISTORICAL A D ETHICAL
1. The wrath and great indignation of Sanballat prove the insincerity of his taunts.
If the Jews were so feeble a folk in his estimation, he would not have sought an
alliance ( ehemiah 4:8) to fight against them. He had good reason to fear the
sudden restoration of the Jewish power, and was merely exercising that which is
praised as political wisdom when he used every energy to thwart ehemiah’s
purpose. It is probable that in Galilee there existed a growing remnant of Israel (the
men of Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath and Sepharvaim ( 2 Kings 17:24) having
been settled by the King of Assyria in Central Palestine), who, of course,
sympathized with the movement at Jerusalem. Sanballat, situated between these two
fragments of Israel, was the more alert to see danger in Israel’s growth. Hence his
forwardness to move in the matter, for he was evidently the chief mover, although
Arabians, Ammonites and Ashdodites were ready enough to take part.
2. The prayer of ehemiah that the enemy’s reproaches might be turned upon their
own head, and that their sin might never be forgiven (comp. Psalm 69:27-28, and
Jeremiah 18:23), can only be understood by the soul that is so allied to God as to see
His judgments proceeding forth from His holiness. The final judgment by the saints
as assessors with God ( Psalm 149:6-9 and Revelation 3:21) has the same character.
Where the natural mind can only imagine revenge, the spiritual mind sees faith and
holiness.
3. Prayer did not slacken the energy of the Jews. They experienced the redoubled
zeal and activity which all true prayer produces. They made their prayer to God,
and set a watch against their foes day and night. All the natural means whether of
mind or matter form channels through which God conveys His grace in answer to
prayer. To stop these channels is to cancel prayer. Prayer was never intended to
foster idleness or diminish responsibility.
4. The remembrance of the Lord is the sure safe-guard against our afflictions. David
says: “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall
not be moved” ( Psalm 16:8).
Remembering the Lord is an act of faith, a new grasp upon His divine help, and, at
the same time, a purification of the heart. Forgetfulness of God is the

108. unguardedness of the soul.
HOMILETICAL A D PRACTICAL
ehemiah 4:1-17. Our abiding tasks1) From work to conflict. ( ehemiah 4:1-8.) a)
On account of defying enemies from without and within, b) In spite of faint-hearted
friends. c) With faith in the Lord2) From conflict to work. ehemiah 4:9-17.) a)
Work remains the principal task. b) It can and must be advanced even during the
preparation for conflict; the preparation for conflict does not hinder, but makes us
active, zealous, and strong. c) Laziness and ease must be renounced, with self denial.
Starke: We must guard ourselves well on all sides, that the devil may not make a
breach, for he goes about us like a roaring lion, 1 Peter 5:8. In the common struggle
against Satan and his hosts we must support and help one another. True builders of
the church of Christ must not only industriously build, i.e., teach and preach, but
also diligently act on the defensive, and resist all the powerful incursions of the
devil, and all godless conduct, Titus 1:9. In the church militant we must work in full
armor, and have the sword of the Spirit at hand, that we may be a match for
temptations, Ephesians 6:16-17. God can easily put to naught the crafty attacks of
the enemy, Job 5:12.
ehemiah 4:1-8. The assaults of the people of God1) How they originate against it.
a) Through enemies who threaten to undo His work. b) Through weak friends, who,
in spite of, or, on account of watching and prayer, become depressed and dissuaded
from the work2) How they are to be overcome. a) By readiness for the conflict, b) By
confidence in the great, only-to-be-feared God, who fights for His people.—Bede:
Plane hæc ira hæreticorum, hæc verba eorum sunt, qui se Samaritanos, hoc Esther,
custodes legis Dei, frustra cognominant, cum sint maxime Deo contrarii ac legibus
ejus, ut pote jamdudum a domo David, hoc Esther, ab unitate Christi et ecclesiæ per
hæreses aut schismata aut mala opera segregati; qui ne sua forte impugnetur atque
excludatur impietas, muros fidei ædificari metuunt. … Tales solent imbecilles
appellare Judæos, hoc Esther, confessores fidei, et facile a gentibus superandos,
dum in quotidiano animarum certamine plus amant vitia quam virtutis victoriæ
palnam obtinere.—Starke: To pray and keep good watch are the best means in the
time of danger, Ephesians 6:18. This is the way of many people; they make, indeed,
a good start in the Lord’s work, but when it becomes hard they draw back, and
wish to take no trouble, Matthew 13:20-21. Honest souls should not allow
themselves to be frightened back by them. othing makes one more courageous in
war than to be entirely assured that God is with us, and fights for us, Romans 8:31;
Psalm 27:1.—Our task at the time of attack1) Towards defying enemies—to pray
and watch, i.e., to be prepared for conflict ( ehemiah 4:1-3). 2) Towards depressed
friends, who yet increase the defiance of the enemy—to confirm their confidence in
Him who alone is to be feared, and to sharpen their consciousness of the duty of the
conflict ( ehemiah 4:8).—What attacks befall the servants of the Lord (as
ehemiah) in their work for the honor of God1) Through dangers on the part of
defiant enemies, who cannot endure the difference between the kingdom of God and
the world2) From the dejection, hesitation, and foolishness on the part of weak
friends, who easily interrupt the work and put it back3) Through the breaches in

109. the walls of Jerusalem, which render the defences of the city difficult.—Our duty to
watch and pray1) Its cause—the malice of the enemy, their power, their aim, the
whole attitude of their hearts towards the kingdom of God2) Its result: its fulfilment
is difficult to many, certainly faithlessness, increased defiance of the enemy, and
dissuasion from the work on the part of weak friends are excited; but in contrast to
these are a) watchfulness—b) readiness for the conflict—and c) the increasing the
confidence in the Lord.—Bede: Hoc est unicum adversus hostes universos ecclesiæ
suffugium oratio videlicet ad Deum, et industria doctorum qui die noctuque in lege
ejus meditantes corda fidelium contra insidias diaboli ac militum ejus prædicando,
consolando, exhortando præmuniant.
ehemiah 4:9-17. What obligation does the enmity of the world against the building
of the kingdom of God lay upon us? 1) To advance the building with all our might,
in spite of dangers ( ehemiah 4:9-10). 2) To be armed while at work ( ehemiah
4:11-12). 3) To heed the signal of the leader, when he calls to conflict ( ehemiah
4:13-14). 4) Perseverance in the preparation for war ( ehemiah 4:15); joyful,
sacrificing zeal in the work ( ehemiah 4:16). In all positions severity towards
ourselves, particularly towards our love of ease, and laziness.—Starke: The church
always needs those distinguished people, who can comfort the weak in faith, and
timorous, and can give them a certain hope in the help of God, 1 Thessalonians 5:14.
In ehemiah the rulers of the city, and heads of the church, have an example of
godliness in his confidence in God—of foresight and diligent watchfulness in his
management of this important work, and his arrangement of such good order and
war discipline, also of courage and boldness in his proved heroic spirit in the midst
of such great fear, danger, and difficulty as that with which he was surrounded on
every side in this difficult work. Also in the spiritual conflict it is obligatory upon
teachers and watchmen of the church that they should set the example in
watchfulness and perception of the public good, and not allow themselves to be
annoyed by any trouble. Revelation 16:15; Luke 12:35.
ehemiah 4:11-12. The preparation for war of the Christian1) Why it is necessary
the Christian has to build. His building is an attack upon the world, which is
irritated by it to the conflict2) In what it consists. The Christian bears, even at work,
the right weapons3) At what it aims. We must and will secure the continuance of the
work, and cultivate the feeling of joy and assurance. God will exercise us at the same
time in sobriety, self-denial, and activity. ehemiah 4:18-21. The voice of our
general in face of the enemy1) What it takes for granted—that we are prepared for
the conflict, even when at work2) Of what it reminds us—of the greatness of the
work which imposes upon us the building of the kingdom of God in others, and
particularly in ourselves; and on the many dangers connected with it3) What it
demands—that we should heed the signal for conflict, and join ourselves with all the
faithful in the strife4) What it promises—that God will fight for us, and finally
cause our work to succeed.