Nehemiah 4:4 - Expostion

Hear, O our God . Compare Ezra's parenthetic burst of thanksgiving ( Ezra 7:27 , Ezra 7:28 ). That which in Ezra was a sudden impulse has become a settled habit with Nehemiah (comp. Nehemiah 5:19 ; Nehemiah 6:9 , Nehemiah 6:14 ; Nehemiah 13:14 , Nehemiah 13:22 , Nehemiah 13:29 , Nehemiah 13:31 ). Turn their reproach upon their own head . The imprecations of Nehemiah are no pattern to Christians, any more than are those of the Psalmists ( Psalms 69:22-28 ; Psalms 79:12 ; Psalms 109:6-20 , etc.); but it cannot be denied that they are imprecations. Before men were taught to "love their enemies," and "bless those that cursed them" ( Matthew 5:44 ), they gave vent to their natural feelings of anger and indignation by the utterance of maledictions. Nehemiah's spirit was hot and hasty; and as he records of himself ( Nehemiah 13:25 ) that he "cursed" certain Jews who had taken foreign wives, so it is not to be wondered at that he uttered imprecations against his persistent enemies.