The man who sets out for heaven will scarcely fail, before he has gone many steps, to come across a Sanballat.  He will have his taunt and jest all ready.  ’What is this I hear of you?  Have you turned a saint?  I suppose you are too good for your old companions now; you are going to set the whole world to rights.’  Or, if the words are unspoken, Sanballat has the shrug of the shoulders, and the scornful gesture, which are just as hard to bear.  Nor must the man who has his face heavenwards be surprised if he hears Tobiah’s sneer.  ‘Ah, wait a bit,’ says Tobiah; ’let us see if it will last.  Even a fox will throw down that wall; the very first thing that comes to vex him, the very first temptation, however small, will be sufficient to overturn the wall of good resolutions, and his religious professions will lie low in the dust, and will be shown to be nothing but rubbish.’

It is well to be prepared for Sanballat and Tobiah, for any day we may come across them.  How shall we answer them?  Let us follow in Nehemiah’s footsteps, let us turn from man to God.  He hears the taunt, even as it is spoken, and He says to each of His tried, tempted children: 

    ’For My Name’s sake, canst thou not bear that taunt,
      That cruel word? 
    Is not the sorrow small, the burden light,
      Borne for thy Lord?

    For My Name’s sake, I see it, know it all,
      ’Tis hard for thee,
    But I have loved thee so, my child, canst thou
      Bear this for Me?’

Sanballat and Tobiah have moved away from the walls of Jerusalem, and the work goes on prospering; the gaps are being filled up, and already the wall is half its intended height (iv. 6), for the people had a mind to work, and much can be done in a short time when that is the case.  Not a word more has, for some time, been heard of Sanballat, and perhaps the builders fancied and hoped they had seen the last of their enemies, when one day, suddenly, dreadful news is brought into the city.

Sanballat and his friends, having failed to stop the work by laughter and mockery, are going to take stronger measures, and have agreed to resort to force.  Dark secret plots are being formed to gather an army together, and to come suddenly upon the defenceless builders and kill them at their work.

All the surrounding nations are invited to join Sanballat in his enterprise.  Not only the Samaritans in the north, but the men of Ashdod from the west, the Arabians from the south, and the Ammonites from the east, are gathering together against Jerusalem.  Psalm lxxxiii. is supposed by many to have been written at this time, and describes the great storm as it arose, and threatened to destroy the defenceless city (Psalm lxxxiii. 1-8).

Poor Nehemiah! he sees the raging of the waters, and he feels that the little boat needs a careful hand at the helm.  He has a double receipt against this new opposition—­a receipt which may be summed up in the two words which the Master has given us as our watch-word—­Watch and pray.