Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity:
Ver. 4. Hear, O our God] These mocks and menaces lay so heavy upon Nehemiah's spirit, that he could not ease himself but by breathing heavenward; and turning them over to God to take an order with them. His prayer is not long, but full. A child may not chat in his father's presence: his words must be humble, earnest, direct to the point, avoiding vain babblings and tedious drawn out affairs.
For we are despised] Heb. We are contempt in the abstract. Not vilified we are only, but nullified, as a company of ουτιδανοι, no bodies. So Paul (the most precious man upon earth) and his companions (the glory of Christ, and a royal diadem in the hand of Jehovah, Isa 62:3) were looked upon as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things, 1 Corinthians 4:13. What matter is it, then, what becometh of us? We have a God to turn us to, and Demetrius hath testimony of the truth; that is enough, let Diotrephes prate what he pleaseth, 3 John 1:9 .
And turn their reproach upon their own heads] Surely God scorneth these scorners, saith Solomon, Proverbs 3:34; that is, saith Rabbi Levi upon that text, he casts them into some calamity, and so makes them a laughing stock to those whom they have laughed at. God loves to retaliate, to pay men home in their own coin. Thus he dealt by Appion of Alexandria; who, scoffing at religion (and especially at circumcision), had an ulcer the same time and in the same place (Josephus). The like ill end befell Julian the apostate, whose daily practice was to scoff at Christ and his people. Dioclesian the emperor (as Volaterran writes) had a jester called Genesius, who used to make him merry at meals, and, among their devices, would scoff and squib at Christians; but God plagued him, for example to others. And the like he did to Morgan, that mocking bishop of St David's; to John Apowel, who derided William Mauldon for his devotion; and lastly, to one Lever, of Brightwell, in Berkshire, who said that he saw that ill-favoured knave Latimer when he was burned at Oxford, and that he had teeth like a horse. But the Lord suffered not this scorn and contempt of his servant to pass unpunished; for that very day, and about the same hour, that Lever spake these words, his son wickedly hanged himself, saith mine author. Lege, cave. Read and take note!
And give them for a prey, &c.] A heavy curse, and, as not causeless (against implacable enemies to God and goodness), so nor fruitless. Woe be to such as against whom the saints, moved with a zeal of God, shall imprecate vengeance. God usually inflicts what they denounce against his and their irreconcilable adversaries. Fire proceeds out of their mouths, &c., Revelation 11:5 .