John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 3. Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him , etc.] Who was one of his brethren he spake before, ( Nehemiah 4:2), and he said ; in the like contemptuous and scoffing manner; even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall break down their stone wall ; signifying not only that it was so low that a fox could easily get up to it, or leap over it; but that the materials were so bad, and the work so poorly done, that the weight of a fox would break it down; of which creatures many were thereabout, since Jerusalem was desolate, (see Lam 5:18).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-6 - Many a good work has been looked upon with contempt by proud an haughty scorners. Those who disagree in almost every thing, will unit 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 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 thin that the hearts of those sinners were desperately hardened, else he would not have prayed that their sins might never be blotted out. Goo 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.
Original Hebrew וטוביה2900 העמני5984 אצלו681 ויאמר559 גם1571 אשׁר834 הם1992 בונים1129 אם518 יעלה5927 שׁועל7776 ופרץ6555 חומת2346 אבניהם׃68
