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Sanballat had not fully anticipated Nehemiah’s resourcefulness and determination (2:10, 19). News of the rebuilding greatly incensed him. Caught off guard, his only recourse was a barrage of derisive rhetorical questions (v.2). Tobiah added his own contemptuous word picture (v.3).
Nehemiah responded to this crisis as he did at other times, with prayer (vv.4-5). His call for vindication may not coincide with the ethic of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:38ff.), but it is paralleled in the OT (e.g., Jer 18:23, Ps 109). The prayer is founded upon the conviction that it was God’s work. Anyone who opposed it opposed God. Characteristic of Nehemiah, prayer was backed up by action (v.6). The people continued to work with all their heart so that the wall reached half its height.
This pattern of threat and countermeasure recurs throughout the rest of the chapter. As the gravity of the threats increases, so does the intensity of Nehemiah’s response. In 4:7 the circle of enemies was closed with the inclusion of representatives from Ashdod, formerly a Philistine city, in the conspiracy. But the classic riposte of the Jewish leader, “We prayed to our God and posted a guard,” parried the threat. The medieval monastic motto, ora et labora, “pray and work,” typifies Nehemiah’s philosophy.
The specter of outright attack (v.11) was met through exhortation and reorganizing the work force. Nehemiah’s exhortations express the now familiar synthesis of inspiration and perspiration in his call, “Remember the Lord . . . and fight” (v.14)! Organizationally, Nehemiah instituted a shift system. Half the workers stood guard while the other half continued building (vv.16-17). Even those working had their weapons ready. The workers were also asked to remain in the city overnight to bolster the defense force. These steps frustrated the plots of their enemies and hastened the work to completion.