Nehemiah 4:6

So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) Unto the half.—Up to half the height the wall was now continuous.

Benson Commentary

Nehemiah 4:6. All the wall was joined unto the half thereof — That is, the wall was built round the whole city, there being no space unbuilt, and it was carried up to half the height that it was intended to be. For the people had a mind to work — Were very much set upon it, and went about it cheerfully, notwithstanding the jeers and scoffs of their enemies.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-6 Many a good work has been looked upon with contempt by proud and haughty scorners. Those who disagree in almost every thing, will unite 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 a 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 think that the hearts of those sinners were desperately hardened, else he would not have prayed that their sins might never be blotted out. Good 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Unto the half thereof - i. e. to half the intended height.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof—The whole circuit of the wall had been distributed in sections to various companies of the people, and was completed to the half of the intended height.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Unto the half thereof; either,

1. In length; or rather,

2. In height; for the whole circumference of the wall was distributed among the builders, who also had carried on the work, beginning at the sheep-gate, and ending there also, as appears from Nehemiah 3:1,32; and the walls of Jerusalem are said to be made up, here, Nehemiah 4:7.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So built we the wall,.... Went on in building it, notwithstanding their scoffs and threats:

and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof; it was carried all round the city to half the height of it:

for the people had a mind to work; their heart was in it, they had a good will to it, and they made haste to finish it.

Geneva Study Bible

So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. So built we] R.V. So we built. No emphasis on ‘we.’

unto the half thereof] R.V. unto half the height thereof. ‘All the wall was joined together.’ The circumvallation was complete. There were no gaps or breaches. The wall had been raised to half its height all the way round. The most ancient wall, the foundations of which were discovered by Sir Charles Warren, must have had a height of 200 feet!

for the people had a mind to work] The enthusiasm of the people explains the rapidity of the work. Nehemiah disclaims any credit to himself.

a mind] literally, ‘heart.’

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - So built we the wall. Rather, "and we (still) built the wall" Insults and gibes had no effect on us - did not touch us. Despite of them we steadily kept on our building, and the result was that soon all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof - the whole continuous line of wall was completed to half the contemplated height. For the people had a mind to work. Literally, "there was a heart to the people to work." They wrought, as we should say, "with a will"- they had their heart in the work. Insult and gibe rather stimulated than daunted them.

CHAPTER 4:7-23 Nehemiah 4:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Nehemiah 3:38; Nehemiah 4:1-2)

The Jews continued to build without heeding the ridicule of their enemies, "and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof," i.e., the wall was so far repaired throughout its whole circumference, that no breach or gap was left up to half its height; "and the people had a heart to work," i.e., the restoration went on so quickly because the people had a mind to work.

The attempts of the enemies to hinder the work by force, and Nehemiah's precautions against them. - When the enemies learnt that the restoration of the wall was evidently getting on, they conspired together to fight against Jerusalem (Nehemiah 4:1 and Nehemiah 4:2). The Jews then prayed to God, and set a watch (Nehemiah 4:3). When the courage of the people began to fail, and their enemies spread a report of sudden attack being imminent, Nehemiah furnished the people on the wall with weapons, and encouraged the nobles and rulers to fight boldly for their brethren, their children, and their possessions (vv. 4-8). The Arabians, Ammonites, and Ashdodites are here enumerated as enemies, besides Sanballat and Tobiah (vv. 2, 10, 19). The Arabians were incited to hostilities against the Jews by Geshem (vv. 11, 19), and the Ammonites by Tobiah; the Ashdodites, the inhabitants of the city and territory of Ashdod, in the coast district of Philistia, were perhaps encouraged to renew their old hatred of Judah by Sanballat the Horonite. When these enemies heard that the walls of Jerusalem were bandaged, i.e., that the breaches and damages in the wall were repaired, they were filled with wrath. The biblical expression, to lay on a bandage, here and 2 Chronicles 24:13; Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 30:17; Jeremiah 33:6, is derived from the healing of wounds by means of a bandage, and is explained by the sentence following: that the breaches began to be closed or stopped. The enemies conspired together to march against Jerusalem and injure it. לו, because the people of the town are meant. תּועה occurs but once more, viz., in Isaiah 32:6, in the sense of error; here it signifies calamities, for, as Aben Ezra well remarks, qui in angustiis constitutus est, est velut errans, qui nescit quid agat quove se vertat.