Wherein [was] written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith [it, that] thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words.
Ver. 6. It is reported among the heathen] And must, therefore, needs be true, like as the common sort of Turks think that whatsoever is written in their tongue must of necessity be believed for truth. But who knows not that rumour is a loud liar; and that every public person needeth carry a spare handkerchief to wipe off dirt cast upon him by disaffected persons, that seek to soil their reputation, and to deprave their best actions.
And Gashmu saith so] Geshmu, alias Geshem, the Arabian, Nehemiah 6:1,2, a worthy wight, a credible witness. Nehemiah might well have replied, as Seneca did in like case, Male de me loquuntur, sed mali. Gashmu's tongue was no slander; for he was known to be mendaeiorum artifex, one that had taught his tongue the art of lying, Jeremiah 9:3; Jeremiah 9:5, and had taken fast hold of deceit, Jeremiah 8:5. Such of late time were those loud and lewd liars, Genebrard, Scioppus, Baldwin, and Bolsecus, who, being requested by the Popish side to write the lives of Calvin and Beza, is in all their writings alleged as canonical, though they know him to be (according to the old proverb) a friar, a liar.
That thou and the Jews think to rebel] A likely matter; but that matters not. Any author serves Sanballat's turn, who for a need could have sucked such an accusation as this out of his own fingers. See Ezra 4:13 .
For which cause thou buildest the wall] This was calumniari audacter, slander boldly, to as Machiavel taught, aliquid saltem adhaerebit. But if dirt will stick to a mud wall, yet to marble it will not. Nehemiah hath the Euge good of a clear conscience, and no wise man will believe this black-mouthed Blabberer. N. D., author of the three conversions, hath made Sir John Oldcastle, the martyr, a ruffian, a robber, and a rebel. His authority is taken from the stage-players, of like conscience for lies, as all men know.
That thou mayest be their king] King of the Jews, as they called our Saviour, John 19:12. And as some think the ground of this report, if any there were, concerning Nehemiah's practising to be king, were the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah concerning the near approach of Christ's kingdom.
Nihil est, quin male narrando possit depravarier (Terent.).
According to these words] According to this report, or somewhat to the same sense.