Nehemiah 4

Ne 4:1-6.

WHILE THE

ENEMIES

SCOFF,

NEHEMIAH

PRAYS TO

GOD, AND

CONTINUES THE

WORK.

1. 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 mouldering 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.

3. 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

(La 5:18).

4, 5. 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.

6. 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.

Ne 4:7-23.

HE

SETS A

WATCH.

7-21. 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 despatch, 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 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."