With Nehemiah's wall-building vision now in full swing, tremendous resistance has emerged to defeat the project. Sanballat and Tobiah, two enemy leaders, come check out what the Jews are doing. They ridicule the work, throwing abuse and insults upon the builders (vs. 2 and 3). In response, Nehemiah calls out to the Lord for justice. He prays that the attacks would be turned back upon the heads of the naysayers (vs. 4 and 5).
Not content to merely express themselves in words, Sanballat and Tobiah began to plot a physical attack on the work (vs. 8). Because of the rising hostility, Nehemiah's men start taking defensive precautions. Anticipating a surprise attack, the Jews begin to work under the company of guards. "From that day on, half my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with shields, spears, bows and armor" (vs. 16). The situation was so desperate that even those who were doing the work carried out their efforts with one hand while holding a weapon in the other! (vs. 17) The trumpets were always at the ready to sound the alarm in case of an attack.
Nehemiah would not let the fact that some people were upset about the work dissuade him. Instead, it inspired him all the more to encourage the efforts of the builders and get the work done quickly. Nehemiah wasn't interested in compromising with the naysayers or letting their resistance carry the day. Their opposition spurred him on to work even faster and harder so that the vision would be surely accomplished.
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