Commentary - Nehemiah 4:1-6

Bird's-eye view

This short passage in Nehemiah is a perfect diorama of the Christian life in a hostile world. Whenever God's people set their hands to the task of rebuilding, restoring, or reforming, the world, the flesh, and the devil will invariably rise up in opposition. Here, the opposition takes the form of mockery and contempt, a spiritual assault designed to demoralize and dishearten. Sanballat and Tobiah are the ancient archetypes of every scoffer who has ever curled his lip at the work of God. Their strategy is to make the builders feel foolish, weak, and doomed to fail. Nehemiah's response is twofold and instructive for the church in all ages: he turns immediately to God in raw, honest, imprecatory prayer, and then he gets right back to work. The result is that the wall goes up, precisely because the people's hearts were in the work. This is a story about the intersection of satanic opposition, faithful prayer, and dogged perseverance.

The central lesson is that the work of God is always accomplished in the teeth of fierce opposition. The enemies of God do not want to see the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt, whether literally in Nehemiah's day or spiritually in ours. Their first weapon is often ridicule. But Nehemiah shows us that the proper response to the world's scorn is not to internalize it or to seek the world's approval, but to lay it all before the throne of God and ask Him to vindicate His own name. The prayer is startling to modern, effeminate ears, but it is thoroughly biblical. It is a prayer that takes God's covenant promises seriously and asks God to be God. And with the matter handed over to the only one who can truly deal with it, the people are freed up to continue their labor with all their might. Prayer is the air cover that allows the work on the ground to advance.

Outline

Context In Nehemiah

This passage comes directly after the detailed account in chapter 3 of the various families and groups who undertook the work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Chapter 3 is a beautiful picture of the people of God working together, each one building the section in front of his own house. It is a scene of constructive, communal, covenantal faithfulness. But as soon as the work gets underway in earnest, the opposition, which was first noted in chapter 2, escalates from mere displeasure to open hostility. The structure of the book of Nehemiah often follows this pattern: a step of faithful obedience is immediately met with a counter-move from the enemy. This section, then, establishes the central conflict that will dominate the next several chapters, where the threat moves from verbal mockery to the threat of violent, physical attack. Nehemiah's response here sets the pattern for how all future opposition will be met: with prayer and practical action.

Key Issues

The Unchanging Tactics of the Enemy

There is nothing new under the sun, and that is especially true when it comes to the devil's playbook. When God's people begin to make progress, when the ruins start to be cleared and a wall of separation from the world begins to take shape, the enemy takes notice. And his first response is almost always mockery. Before the swords are drawn, the taunts are hurled. Sanballat and Tobiah are not just being mean-spirited; they are engaging in spiritual warfare. Their goal is to induce shame, to create discouragement, and to make the people of God question their own sanity for even attempting the work. "What are these feeble Jews doing?"

This is the same spirit that mocked Christ on the cross: "He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one!" (Luke 23:35). It is the same spirit that animates the sophisticated scoffers of our own day who look at the church's efforts to build a Christian culture and sneer at its supposed weakness, irrelevance, and foolishness. Ridicule is a powerful weapon because it attacks our pride and our fear of man. It makes us want to shrink back and abandon the work lest we be associated with such a laughable, pitiful enterprise. The enemy knows that if he can get us to be ashamed of the work, he can get us to stop the work. This is why the apostle Paul declared that he was "not ashamed of the gospel," for he knew it was the very power of God.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 Now it happened that when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and very vexed and mocked the Jews.

The work of God provokes the wrath of the ungodly. Sanballat's reaction is not one of mild irritation; he is furious and "very vexed." Why? Because the rebuilding of Jerusalem's wall represented the re-establishment of God's covenant people as a distinct and protected community. It was a visible declaration that Yahweh was with them. This is an affront to all who have made their peace with the rubble. The world does not mind a privatized, pietistic, and defeated church. But a church that begins to build, to define its boundaries, and to reassert its corporate identity in the public square will always provoke this kind of rage. And the rage immediately spills over into mockery. He jeered at the Jews because his anger needed an outlet, and scorn is the language of impotent fury.

2 He spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy men of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they complete it in a day? Can they bring the stones to life from the dusty rubble, though they are burned?”

Sanballat's mockery is a series of rhetorical questions, each designed to pour contempt on the builders. First, he attacks their strength: they are "feeble Jews." This is an assault on their identity and their perceived capability. Second, he questions their authority and ambition: "Are they going to restore it for themselves?" as if this were some arrogant, self-willed project. Third, he mocks their piety: "Can they offer sacrifices?" perhaps suggesting that their work is not truly spiritual or that God will not accept it. Fourth, he ridicules their timeline: "Can they complete it in a day?" This is hyperbole meant to highlight the impossibility of the task. Finally, and most poetically, he mocks their resources: "Can they bring the stones to life from the dusty rubble, though they are burned?" The stones were fire-damaged and lying in heaps of rubbish. From a human perspective, his assessment was not entirely wrong. The task was immense, and the resources were meager. The mocker always deals in the currency of worldly pragmatism, leaving God entirely out of the equation.

3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, “Even what they are building, if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!”

Tobiah the Ammonite, the perpetual sidekick, chimes in to amplify the scorn. His comment is the punchline to Sanballat's series of jabs. He paints a picture of utter incompetence. The wall they are building is so flimsy, so pathetic, that a lightweight animal like a fox could bring it tumbling down. It is a vivid image designed to be repeated and laughed at. This is the nature of scorn; it seeks to create a memorable, humiliating caricature. The enemies of God are not interested in a fair assessment; they are interested in demoralization. They want the builders to see their own work through the enemy's eyes and to conclude that it is, in fact, a complete joke. They want to infect the builders with their own contempt.

4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised! Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity.

Nehemiah's response is immediate and vertical. He does not trade insults with Sanballat and Tobiah. He does not form a committee to issue a press release. He turns directly to God. "Hear, O our God, for we are despised!" He begins by stating the simple fact of the matter. He is not whining; he is reporting for duty. He is bringing the situation to his commanding officer. And then he prays an imprecation. He asks God to return their reproach upon their own heads. This is not personal vindictiveness. It is a prayer for cosmic justice. These men are mocking the work of God and the people of God. Their reproach is ultimately aimed at God Himself. Nehemiah is asking God to vindicate His own honor by turning the enemies' evil designs back on them. He asks that they be given up for plunder, the very thing they hoped to do to Judah. This is the principle of lex talionis, an eye for an eye, applied in prayer.

5 Do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have vexed the builders.

This is the part of the prayer that makes modern Christians squirm. "Do not forgive their iniquity." Is this not contrary to the New Testament command to love our enemies? Not at all. First, this is a prayer, not a personal action. Nehemiah is entrusting judgment to God, not taking it into his own hands. Second, he is praying about unrepentant, high-handed enemies who are actively seeking to thwart the purposes of God. He is asking God to deal with them as they are, not as they might one day be if they repented. There is no indication that Sanballat and Tobiah are seeking forgiveness. Third, the reason for the prayer is crucial: "for they have vexed the builders." The word "vexed" here means they have provoked, angered, and insulted God to His face by attacking His work. Nehemiah is aligning himself with God's justice against those who have set themselves against God's kingdom. This is a righteous prayer, a prayer that takes sin and God's glory seriously.

6 So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, and the people had a heart to work.

And here is the glorious result. After the prayer, we do not read, "So we felt better." We read, "So we built the wall." Prayer fuels the work; it does not replace it. Having unloaded the burden of the enemy's mockery onto the strong shoulders of God, the people were free to get back to their task. And they did so with vigor. The wall was joined together up to half its intended height. Why? Because "the people had a heart to work." This is the key. The enemy's mockery was intended to take the heart out of them, but Nehemiah's prayer put the heart right back in. God answered the first part of the prayer, not by striking Sanballat dead on the spot, but by strengthening the hands and hearts of His own people. This is the preservation and perseverance of the saints in action. God preserves our calling by giving us a heart to persevere in that calling, even when the foxes are howling.

Application

The principles in this passage are timeless. We live in an age of institutional decay and ruin, and God is calling His people to the task of rebuilding. We are to rebuild faithful families, faithful churches, and faithful Christian communities. And as we set our hands to this work, we must expect the Sanballats and Tobiahs of our day to show up. They will come from the secular left and from the compromised evangelical right, and they will mock us. They will call us feeble, foolish, extreme, and irrelevant. They will say our project is doomed and that a fox could knock it over.

What are we to do? We must follow the pattern of Nehemiah. First, we must refuse to be demoralized. We must not allow their scorn to define our work. We must see their mockery for what it is: the impotent rage of those who hate the God we serve. Second, we must pray. We must take their insults and lay them before the throne of God. We should not be afraid to pray biblical imprecations, asking God to vindicate His name and bring the plans of the wicked to nothing. Entrusting justice to God is the only way to keep bitterness from taking root in our own hearts. Third, having prayed, we must get back to work. We must pick up the trowel and keep laying stones. The best answer to mockery is a finished wall. Our task is to build, and to do it with a heart for the work, trusting that the God who called us is the one who will sustain us, protect us, and ultimately grant us success for the glory of His own great name.