Burnt Bricks Matter
What does the use of the burned bricks teach us?
When you are the most determined to fix your life, your family, your church, or your society, people will show up to tell you why it shouldn’t and can’t be done.
There will always be people who’ll find it in their self-interest to keep you from succeeding in building what needs to be built in your life because they are threatened by it. That, in fact, was Sanballat’s problem. He knew that the prospering of the Jews would be a threat to his own status. But, when you are in the will of God, what is yours is yours—God protects it until you get it.
Then Sanballat ridiculed or “mocked” the Jews (see
Sanballat was the official Persian governor of Samaria, as we know from contemporary documents (Cowley 1923: ##30, 31). Tobiah was himself Jewish, apparently from an ancient family whose ancestral territory was across the Jordan in the old area of Ammon (hence his designation “Ammonite”).
Thus, the opposition to Nehemiah was not a gang of low-born foreigners and outlaws but an important group of leaders and Persian officials in the area.
Sanballat appears every time the opposition group plays a role in the narrative, and he is always identified first when they are listed by name. As a result, Sanballat is to be viewed as the leader of those opposed to the rebuilding project.
Burned Bricks remind us that we can overcome
4:6 we rebuilt the wall A statement that emphasizes the people’s resolution in the face of opposition.
Here, the meaning is not simply that Sanballat hurled insults at the Jews, but rather that he belittled and heaped scorn upon their actions.
burned ones at that. The Jews would need to quarry new stones because the old ones had been burned and weakened by fire. In some cultures rock is considered to be unaffected by fire. The translator must then translate to render clearly the sense of Sanballat’s ridicule to the reader; for example, “stones that fire has made weak” or “stones that fire has charred to be useless.”
Burn Bricks remind us that the our value is not determined by our circumstance
People can only criticize you when you are doing something. If you are never being criticized, then, it could be that you are just sitting around. When you take a right stand, you are going to be criticized. Some men need to be criticized for being home with their families too much. Some women need to be criticized for prioritizing marriage. Some teenagers need to be criticized for having high moral standards.
Second, he asked if they would be able to restore things. This question in Hebrew includes a preposition plus a pronoun form that might be translated “for themselves.” This may be interpreted to emphasize the irony in Sanballet’s question; for example, “Will they restore [things] for themselves?” (similarly NASB) or “Will they for their part restore [things]?” He implied that they would not be able to repair the wall or to rebuild the city by themselves since that would require professional help.
Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?: Finally, he asked a very practical question to show the impossibility of their task. Where would they find the stones to rebuild the wall? These are not just rocks from a hillside, but specially cut stones for constructing the wall again. Literally, Sanballat asked if they would revive the stones. Would they be able to make the stones from the original wall live again? Would they be able to “put new life into stones” (NJB) that had become rubbish heaps?
The jest regarding bringing back to life the burnt stones was a recognition that the Jewish people had no time to quarry new stones but had to make do with the rubble left over from the destruction of 586 BC.
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 impossible—solidify and make into real stone the calcined and crumbling blocks which are all that they will find in the heaps of rubbish? If not, how are they to procure material?
The fifth question offered by Sanballat, “Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubble—even the burned ones?” referred to the current state of the defenses. The original walls had been burned, and the rocks previously used had crumbled to dust. Nebuchadnezzar had thoroughly destroyed the walls of Jerusalem when he took the city in 586 B.C. (cf.
The stones were so buried in the mass of débris that it seems impossible that they should ever be got back into a wall.
His final question, “Can they bring the stones back to life … burned as they are?” used some wrong information to discourage the builders. Most of the stones were still in good condition. They had not all disintegrated from the fire as he suggested. Psychological warfare can use truths to which people are sensitive or half-truths or falsehoods to intimidate the enemy.
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 חִיָּה, to revive, bestow strength and durability upon the softened crumbled stones, to fit the stones into a new building (Ges. Lex.). The construction וְהֵמָּה שְׂרוּפֹות is explained by the circumstance that אֲבָנִים is by its form masculine, but by its meaning feminine, and that הֵמָּה agrees with the form אבנים.
From Sanballat’s perspective, all the Jewish people had was a bunch of crumbled rock and stone weakened by fire. These people were working with debris! And yet, if Sanballat was so sure of their foolhardiness, why was he compelled to deride them publicly? If he was certain of their failure, why was he so determined to sabotage their efforts?
Burned Bricks remind us that without us, restoration cannot be complete.
4:3 Their wall of stone that they are building would break down Tobiah’s sarcastic remark is a reference to the problems affiliated with the wall up to this point. Tobiah’s statement reveals the contempt he and others have for the efforts of the Jewish people.
The people had a mind to work: The insults only strengthened the resolve of the builders because the people had a mind [literally “heart”] to work; that is, their hearts were set on doing the work.
The response of those in Jerusalem reflected their trust in God as well as their understanding that faith did not preclude action but demanded it (v. 9).
Ver. 6.—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.
So we built the wall: the sturdy simplicity of that statement, and of the behaviour it records, makes Sanballat and his friends suddenly appear rather small and shrill, dwarfed by the faith, unity and energy of the weak. The builders’ method, too, was sound in that it gave priority to closing the ring, at however modest a level, rather than to completing a number of separate sections in succession.
Nehemiah reveals that the insults of the opposition group had no effect on the progress of the work. The heckling consisted of taunts with no real bite. The laborers responded to the jeers by working more vigorously.
4:6 “So we rebuilt the wall” is a commendation of God’s faithfulness in response to prayer and of the people’s courage and determination. The people continued steadfastly toward the goal even in the face of ridicule. The faith, unity, and energy of the small group prevailed. In the face of ridicule today, the same faith and energetic work toward a clear objective will have the same results.
Neh. 3:38. 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.
4:6. After praying to God, Nehemiah left his requests and their outcomes to God. He took up his work and led the people in theirs: So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height. These were the duties and accomplishments of the people because they worked with all their heart. This does not diminish God’s role in the wall’s success because the Jews were able to work only because of God’s sovereign grace, but they did have to bend over with their own hands and build the wall stone by stone.
