Verse 19 Geshem the Arabian - Some chief of the Arabs contiguous to Samaria, who had joined with Sanballat and Tobiah to distress the Jews, and hinder their work. Will ye rebel against the king? - This they said in order to raise jealousies in the king's mind, and induce him to recall his ordinance.

Neh 2:19

Geshem the Arabian, elsewhere called Gashmu (Neh 6:6), may have been an independent sheikh possessing authority in Idumea, or in the desert country adjoining upon Ammon; but it seems quite as likely that he was merely the head of a body of Arab troops maintained by Sanballat at Samaria (Neh 4:7). Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem are united so closely, and act so much together (Neh 4:1-7; Neh 6:1, Neh 6:2, Neh 6:6, Neh 6:12, Neh 6:14), that it is difficult to suppose them to be three chieftains residing on three sides of Judaea, the north, the east, and the south, merely holding diplomatic intercourse with each other, which is the ordinary idea. Note that Tobiah is present with Sanballat in Samaria on one occasion (Neh 4:3), and that Geshem and Sanballat propose a joint interview with Nehemiah on another (Neh 6:2). They laughed us to scorn, and said. Either by messengers, like Sennacherib (2Ki 18:17-35), or by a formal written communication, as Ewald supposes. Will ye rebel? Compare Neh 6:6; and see also Ezr 4:12-16. Had Artaxerxes not granted permission, Nehemiah’s proceedings might naturally have borne this interpretation.