Foxes and Stone Walls

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. Neh. 4:3

“Sometimes with sayings or idioms, it is clear that someone must have said such a thing, and over time it became a way to express a message. A fox is not the smallest or the lightest creature, but this metaphor [seemed to be familiar to the inhabitants.]

This was an expression regarding the weakness of the walls of a city. It was a hyperbole saying that a fox would be able to break down their walls. Today we might say, “My mother could whip the whole bunch of them” or “their defense was thin as paper.”’ Pg. 52