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spurned Your name.”1. Addressing the insults to a receptive audience:a. his brothersb. wealthy men of Samaria – very comfortable and complacent; not concernedwith the devastated condition of God’s holy city2. Highlighting the weakness and inadequacy of the workers and their resources –5 Mocking Questions:a. Mocking their Power = overall weakness and inadequacy“What are these feeble Jews doing?” frail, miserable, powerlessYou don’t have adequate personnel to get the job done – you are patheticand helplessFensham: "The Hebrew root 'mll is occasionally used in the OT to denote the fading or witheringof a plant (Isa. 16:8; 24:7; etc.). It is also used of people without any hope (Isa. 19:8; Hos. 4:3). Itis employed here in Nehemiah [translated "feeble," v. 2] to ridicule the Jews."Jesus Christ is not building His church today by some impressive multimedia campaign with a lot of glitz and famous personalities and huge budgets andsophisticated marketing techniques – He wants to rely on the power of secretprayer; on the faithfulness of daily one-to-one witnessing; on each of us using ourown spiritual gift to build one another upSuch mocking and scorn is very hurtfulb. Mocking their Goal = claim of divine favor“Are they going to restore it for themselves?”c. Mocking their Faith = nothing but religious futility“Can they offer sacrifices?”Wiersbe: It will take more than prayer and worship to rebuild the city!Redpath: Even if you do start out, God isn’t going to take any notice ofyou and He won’t help you.d. Mocking their Plans = unrealistic timeframe“Can they finish in a day?”Your task is impossible; do you have any idea of the magnitude of whatyou are attempting?e. Mocking their Resources = totally inadequate“Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even t he burned ones?”God loves this type of challenge – because it is our very weakness that presents the perfectbackdrop for the display of His awesome power and glory – He wants it known that He bringsvictory by His grace – not by our numbers or might