But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth,
But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the people from Ashdod heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being repaired and the gaps were being filled in, they became very angry.
The enemies of Jerusalem became furious when they saw that the Jewish people were successfully rebuilding their city's protective walls.
📚 Historical Context
This occurred around 445 BC when Nehemiah led the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls after the Jewish people returned from exile in Babylon. Sanballat was the governor of Samaria, Tobiah was an Ammonite official, and the other groups were neighboring peoples who opposed the Jews' restoration efforts. These enemies feared that a fortified Jerusalem would threaten their political and economic influence in the region.
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