Nehemiah 6:4

Neh 6:4 Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner.

Ver. 4. Yet they sent unto me four times ] As thinking to prevail by their importunity. This wicked men have learned from their master Beelzebub, the lord of flies, as the name ( απομυιος ) signifieth, or master fly, that will not off the bait till beaten, and hardly then. Sin hath painted an impudency in some men’s faces; and it appears they are past all grace, because shameless, Et pudet non esse impudentes, it is not shameful to be impudent. saith Austin.

And I answered them after the same manner ] Nehemiah stood immoveable as a rock; he was homo quadratus, man, four-square, not to be altered, but firm to his principles, resolute in his holy purposes. We may style him (as Theodoret doth Athanasius) the bulwark of truth ( προβολον της αληθειας ), the Church’s champion. Nec tremere, nec timide, may seem to have been his motto, neither temerarious nor timorous.