(1) В¶ But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. (2) And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? (3) Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.
I would have the Reader look beyond the mere historical relation, to the matter couched beneath the several expressions. It was not simply the walls of Jerusalem which excited the displeasure and malice of their foes; but it was the church of God that those enemies hated, and wished to bring to nought. Reader! the same takes place every day in the world. Let a sinner be only once seriously set out for the salvation of his soul, and all hell is up in arms to oppose him. What the Lord Jesus declared, his people find to be true; a man's foes are they of his own household. Hence, saith Christ, Think not that I am come to send peace, but rather division. Luke 12:51.