The immediate response of Nehemiah to the mockery of Sanballat was to pray. Then he urged the builders to get back to their work. ‘So we rebuilt the wall’ (4:6). ‘The sturdy simplicity of that statement, and of the behaviour it records, makes Sanballat and his friends suddenly appear rather small and shrill, dwarfed by the faith, unity and energy of the weak.’6 Nehemiah would not allow the Hebrews to sit around licking their wounds. He urged them to pick up their trowels and start building again.