Nehemiah 4.3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!”

What seems to be clear here in verses 1-3 is that Sanballat and Tobiah, not only lacked understanding, but lacked a theology of wall building, or a theology of excellence, or a theology of covenant promises; in other words, we could say, they lacked any good theology. For Sanballat did not understand YHWH’s personal interest in the children of Israel as stated in Jeremiah 29: 10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” —that is, even though they failed and years in captivity related to their sin against YHWH, their God, their promise keeping God would bring restoration related to their repentance, return, and a renewed obedience (allegiance) to His will and ways or commands. To me, this is a picture of enchantment (a worldview that embraces the supernatural). It is YHWH working within the cosmos to accomplish His good will and purposes. We can see this enchantment at work from the very beginning of Nehemiah when King Artaxerxes finds favor in Nehemiah and releases him from his responsibilities as a cupbearer to go to Jerusalem and then to provide him protection and supplies.

Now, we must use good hermeneutics here and note that this Jeremiah text was given specifically to Jeremiah and the Jews of Judah/Jerusalem. But we can say in our own day and age that the same God who cared for Jeremiah, Israel, and Nehemiah, is the same God who cares for each of us desires for us to have an abundant life, a flourishing or prosperous life, and when we fail—He desire for us to return to Him to experience real life and a truly human life in relationship with Him.