Sanballat and Tobiah’s grief is turned to mocking laughter at the news. Geshem, the Arabian, joins them in their ridicule. Man in his enmity against God unites in his opposition. Was not the destruction of Jerusalem the ordered state of things? Did Nehemiah and his feeble band think to rebel against the King? Nehemiah again proclaims his faith in the God of heaven, the One who moved the king to grant him this commission, “He will prosper us” (Neh. 2:20). Nehemiah never directly addresses the accusation, “will ye rebel against the king?” (Neh. 2:19); though he could have produced evidence, he is not accountable to Sanballat, and he need not answer him. Many accusations are best left unanswered.
Faith brings confidence because it trusts in God and His word. As for Sanballat and his friends, “ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem” (Neh. 2:20). One thing that especially characterizes the book of Nehemiah is the separation of all things Jewish from that which is not. It is ever the effort of the enemy to weaken Christianity by diluting it with the things and principles of this world.