41 And it cometh to pass, when Sanballat hath heard that we are building the wall, that it is displeasing to him, and he is very angry and mocketh at the Jews, 2 and saith before his brethren and the force of Samaria, yea, he saith, 'What 'are' the weak Jews doing? are they left to themselves? do they sacrifice? do they complete in a day? do they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish?—and they burnt!' 3 And Tobiah the Ammonite 'is' by him and saith, 'Also, that which they are building—if a fox doth go up, then it hath broken down their stone wall.' 4 Hear, O our God, for we have been despised; and turn back their reproach on their own head, and give them for a spoil in a land of captivity; 5 and do not cover over their iniquity, and their sin from before Thee let not be blotted out, for they have provoked to anger—over-against those building. 6 And we build the wall, and all the wall is joined—unto its half, and the people have a heart to work.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Nehemiah 4:1-6
Commentary on Nehemiah 4:1-6
(Read Nehemiah 4:1-6)
Many a good work has been looked upon with contempt by proud and haughty scorners. Those who disagree in almost every thing, will unite in persecution. Nehemiah did not answer these fools according to their folly, but looked up to God by prayer. God's people have often been a despised people, but he hears all the slights that are put upon them, and it is their comfort that he does so. Nehemiah had reason to think that the hearts of those sinners were desperately hardened, else he would not have prayed that their sins might never be blotted out. Good work goes on well, when people have a mind to it. The reproaches of enemies should quicken us to our duty, not drive us from it.