Nehemiah 4:3

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.

Nehemiah 4:3 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 4:3

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him
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 ( 5:18 ) .

Nehemiah 4:3 In-Context

1 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.

4 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:

5 And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders .