Rebuild, Refresh, Renew
4 But it so happened, awhen Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews. 2 And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish—stones that are burned?”
3 Now bTobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.”
4 cHear, O our God, for we are despised; dturn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity! 5 eDo not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.
6 So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.
The first question was designed to ridicule the worth of the Jews themselves: “What are these feeble Jews doing?” The verb form of the adjective אֲמֵלָל (“feeble”) is commonly used in the OT to indicate the withering and decaying of a plant (cf. Isa 16:8; 24:7; Fensham
The second taunt, “Will they fortify themselves?” parallels the first and again was intended to belittle the remnant as a group.
The third question, “Will they offer sacrifices?” is somewhat enigmatic
Hence the taunt would question whether or not the remnant would be able to complete the walls. In that sense, the third taunt parallels the fourth one: “Will they finish in a day?” This insult concerned the ability of the Jews to finish the project. In this taunt, however, the focus was on the amount of time it would take the remnant to complete the walls.
In that sense, the third taunt parallels the fourth one: “Will they finish in a day?” This insult concerned the ability of the Jews to finish the project. In this taunt, however, the focus was on the amount of time it would take the remnant to complete the walls. Sanballat ridiculed the remnant’s ability to complete the venture in a short time.
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. 2 Kgs 25:9–10). Sanballat therefore questioned the ability of the Jews to restore these ruins and turn them into a secure wall.
4:3 [Heb. 3:35] A final taunt is offered by Tobiah. The Ammonite proclaimed, “What they are building, if even a fox should climb on it, he would break down their wall of stones