Nehemiah 4:8

Neh 4:8 And conspired all of them together to come [and] to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.

Ver. 8. And conspired all of them together] All of them, and together; and yet this was not unity, but conspiracy; such as is that among devils, Mar 5:9, among Antichristians, Rev 17:13, among Turks, who have as little dissension in their religion as any. But well may that garment have no seam that hath no shape. The army of Nineveh was quiet, Nah 1:12, no falling out nor complaining in their hosts; hence their king marched on, passed through. But so did not these conspirators, because they met with those that were no less well combined and far better resolved than themselves. The Thebans had a band of men they called Sacra Cohors, sacred cohorts, ιερος λοχος (Athen. 1.3), consisting of such only as were joined in the bonds of love, and resolved to live and die together. These Jews under the command of Nehemiah were none other, and were therefore insuperable.

To come and to fight] To turn their works into knocks.

And to hinder it] Heb. To make an error in it. The Hebrew word is used both of the error of the heart and of the foot, Isa 63:17 Psa 119:176. It may be rendered here, to hinder him, to make an error in him; to make Nehemiah at a stand, or rather to run away, to creep into corners, and give over the work.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrew, make to stay, meaning the people.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(8) And conspired.—Not fearing the Persian authority, they resolved to attack the city; but it will be seen that they soon abandoned that project.

To hinder it.—Rather, to do it hurt.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. and conspired all of them] R.V. and they conspired all of them. R.V. makes a stronger pause at the close of Neh_4:7, substituting a semicolon for the comma. ‘Conspired.’ The word here used is the usual term for secret treachery.

to come and to fight] R.V. to come and fight. Literally ‘to come fight’ without the copula. This idiom, which occurs again in Neh_9:15; Neh_9:23 (cf. 1Ch_12:31; 2Ch_20:11), combines the thought of the two infinitives, the latter being epexegetic of the former. It is equivalent ‘to come for the purpose of fighting.’

and to hinder it] R.V. and to cause confusion therein. More literally ‘and to cause confusion to him.’ The masc. pronoun is here used, referring to the dwellers in Jerusalem. ‘to cause or make confusion’, the word rendered ‘confusion’ occurs only here and in Isa_32:6, ‘to utter error against the Lord.’ The rareness of the word occasioned difficulty to the versions. Hence LXX. ποιῆσαι αὐτὴν ἀφανῆ, Vulg. molirentur insidias.

The sudden arrival of hostile forces outside Jerusalem would be calculated ‘to cause confusion.’ It would encourage those who were already disaffected, and would terrify the timid. It would impede the work; for the patriot Jews would have to abandon the building for the sake of defending their walls, while the unwilling workers would gladly avail themselves of the pretext.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And conspired all of them together,.... All the above men and people entered into a confederacy and combination:

to come and to fight against Jerusalem; to bring an army with them, and by force cause the Jews to desist; the Jews (e) pretend they came to war, and brought with them an army of 180,000 men, which is not probable:

and to hinder it; the building of the walls of it; or "to make a wandering for him" (f); for Nehemiah, or the people, or both, to, cause them to stray from their work, to frighten them from it, that they might become like men at their wits end, not knowing what to do, where to turn themselves, or what course to steer, but to wander about as persons out of their senses; so Aben Ezra. De Dieu joins this clause to the next verse, to cause everyone of them to wander, we prayed, &c.

(e) Pirke Eliezer, c. 38. (f) "ad faciendum ei errorem", Montanus; "ei aberrationem", Genevenses; "vagationem et palationem", alii apud De Dieu.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Together, to the number of 180,000, according to the Jews; who say that they were terrified, at the excommunication pronounced by 300 priests against them, while 300 young men sounded trumpets; and they fled, leaving Nehemias at liberty to continue the work. It is a pity that we have no foundation for this in Scripture. (Calmet) See 1 Esdras iv. 3. (Haydock) --- The Samaritans durst not openly attack the Jews, who were under the protection of the Persian monarch. But they endeavoured clandestinely to injure them, (Tirinus) and to prepare ambushes. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

8. To come… to fight… to hinder — None of these purposes, however, seem to have been carried out by the conspiring parties. The Hebrew here for hinder, is, literally to do to it a disturbance.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To hinder it. Rather, "to do it hurt." The word used is a rare one. According to Gesenius, it has the two senses of "error" and "injury."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And I saw, and I arose And when I saw the enemies coming, I arose to speak to the nobles and to the prefects to spur them to fight against our enemy.

for your brethren Heb. עַל אֲחֵיכֶם, for the sake of your brethren.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.