Nehemiah 4:1

But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.

When Sanballat heard ... he was wroth. The Samaritan faction showed their bitter animosity to the Jews on discovering the systematic design of re-fortifying Jerusalem. Their opposition was confined at first to scoffs and insults-in heaping which the governors made themselves conspicuous, and circulated all sorts of disparaging reflections that might increase the feelings hatred and contempt for them in their own party. The weakness of the Jews in respect of wealth and numbers-the absurdity of their purpose apparently to reconstruct the walls, and celebrate the feast of dedication in one day-the idea of raising the walls on their old foundations, as well as using the charred and mouldering debris of the ruins as the materials of the restored buildings-and the hope of such a parapet as they could raise being capable of serving as a fortress of defense-these all afforded fertile subjects of hostile ridicule.