And when Sanballat, the Horonite, and Tobiah, the Ammonite slave, heard of it, it troubled them exceedingly, that one had come to seek the welfare of the Israelites.

[Sidenote: Neh. 4:1-5] Now when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, his anger was aroused and he was very indignant, and mocked the Jews.

But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites, heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem was progressing, so that the breaches began to be stopped, they were very angry.

[Sidenote: Neh. 6:1-9] Now when it was reported to Sanballat and to Tobiah and to Geshem the Arabian and to the rest of our enemies, that I had rebuilt the wall and that there was no breach was left in itthough even to that time I had not set up the doors in the gatesSanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, 'Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.'

Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same way the fifth time with an open letter in his hand, in which was written, 'It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu confirms it, that you and the Jews plan to rebel, and that this is the reason you are building the wall, and that you would be their king, and that you also have appointed prophets to preach of you at Jerusalem, saying, "There is a king in Judah."

Then I perceived and it was clear that God had not sent him; but he pronounced this prophecy against me, because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him, that I should be alarmed and act accordingly and sin; and it would have given them occasion for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their acts, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid.

[Sidenote: Neh. 13:28, 29] And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I chased him from me.

Already, as stated in 1:20, he had told Sanballat and Tobiah that they should have no portion or memorial in Jerusalem.

And there was a certain Sanballat who was sent to Samaria by Darius, the last king of Persia.

Then Manasseh went to his father-in-law, Sanballat, and told him that, although he loved his daughter, Nicaso, he was not willing to be deprived on her account of his priestly dignity, since it was the greatest dignity in their nation and had always continued in the same family.

Thereupon Sanballat promised him not only to preserve for him the honor of his priesthood but also to procure for him the power and dignity of a high priest and to make him governor of all the places which he himself ruled, if he would retain his daughter as his wife.

Manasseh, being elated with these promises, remained with Sanballat, thinking that he would gain a high priesthood as the gift from Darius, for Sanballat was then well advanced in years.

Manasseh, being elated with these promises, remained with Sanballat, thinking that he would gain a high priesthood as the gift from Darius, for Sanballat was then well advanced in years.

Now there was a great disturbance among the people of Jerusalem because many of the priests and Levites were entangled in such marriages, for they all revolted to Manasseh, and Sanballat offered them money and distributed among them land for cultivation and dwelling places also.

324-330) that the Sanballat who ruled over the Samaritan community was not the contemporary of Nehemiah, but his grandson, who as an old man was ruling in Samaria at the time when Alexander conquered the East.

The marriage of Manasseh, the brother of Jaddua the high priest, to Nicaso, the daughter of Sanballat II, and his ultimate expulsion by the Jews blew into a flame the smouldering jealousy and opposition that had long existed between the two communities.

As Josephus recounts, Sanballat, in order to satisfy his son-in-law, ceded lands and special rights to him and to the other Jerusalem priests, who were attracted by these offers, and ultimately built the famous temple on Mount Gerizim over which Manasseh and his descendants presided.

One of these was Sanballat, the satrap or governor of Samaria.

His native place was Horonaim in Moab, and Sanballat was by nation a descendant of Lot.

With the Samaritan governor was his secretary Tobiah, the servant or the feud slave, a man also descended from Lot, for he was an Ammonite, and standing evidently very high in Sanballat's favour.

At the court of Sanballat was a friend of his, Geshem the Arabian, the head or chief of a tribe of Arabs, which we find, from the ancient Assyrian monuments recently discovered, had been planted in Samaria by Sargon, King of Assyria.

These three, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, cannot conceal their disgust that anyone has been sent from Persia to look after the welfare of Jerusalem.

From that moment Sanballat and his friends became Nehemiah's bitter enemies, determined to thwart and to oppose him to the utmost of their power.

A third would have risen with a long face, and would have asked, 'What will Sanballat say if we rebuild the wall?