In the month Nisan which was four months after he had heard those sad tidings. The reason of this long silence and delay might be manifold; either because he thought fit that some time should be spent by himself, and possibly others of his brethren, in seeking God by solemn prayer and fasting, for God’ s blessing and the good success of this great affair; or because he could not take so long and dangerous a journey in the depth of winter; or because his turn of attending upon the king did not come to him till that time; or because till then he wanted a fit opportunity to move it to the king, by reason of the king’ s indisposition, or occasions, or multitude of attendants, among whom there probably were divers enemies to the Jews, who, he feared, might hinder his design and desire.

In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Artaxerxes Longimanus, the son of the great Xerxes, who reigned both with his father, and after his death alone: whence the years of his reign are computed two ways, one from the death of Xerxes, and the other from his first entrance upon the administration of the kingdom, which was committed to him in the fifth year of Xerxes, when he began the Grecian war, and left his son king or viceroy in his stead, as the manner of the Persians was. It may seem doubtful, and is not much material, which way of computation is here used. Others understand this of Artaxerxes Mnemon.

Why is thy countenance sad? his fasting joined with inward grief had made a sensible change in his very countenance.

I was very sore afraid partly, being daunted by the majesty of the king, and the suddenness and sharpness of his question; partly, fearing lest there was arising some jealousy or ill opinion in the king concerning him; partly, because it was an unusual and ungrateful thing to come into the king of Persia’ s presence with any badges or tokens of sorrow, Est 4:2 ; and principally, from his doubts or fears of disappointment, because his request was great and invidious, and odious to the most of the Persian courtiers, and might be represented as dangerous, and might seem improper for a time of feasting and jollity.

Let the king live forever: my sadness comes not from any discontent with my own condition, or any disaffection to the king, for whom my hearty prayers are that he may live forever; but from another cause.

The place of my fathers’ sepulchres which by all nations are esteemed sacred, and inviolable, and honourable. He saith not a word of the temple, or of religion, for he wisely considered that he spake before a heathen king and court, who cared for none of those things.

I prayed to the God of heaven to direct my thoughts and words, and to incline the king’ s heart to grant my request.

If it please the king: my request, whatsoever it is, I humbly and wholly submit it to the king’ s good pleasure, being resolved to acquiesce in it.

If thy servant have found favour in thy sight: I pretend no merit, but am a humble suppliant for thy grace and favour, whereof having received some tokens, I am thereby imboldened to make this further request.

The queen also sitting by him which is here noted, partly as an unusual thing; for commonly the kings of Persia dined alone, and their queens seldom dined with them, as historians note; and peradventure because the queen expressed some kindness to him, and promoted his request with the king.

When wilt thou return? this question showed the king’ s respect and affection to him, and that he was not willing to want his attendance longer than was necessary.

I set him a time either that twelve years mentioned Neh 5:14 13:6 , or rather a far shorter time; for which cause, among others, he built the walls with such despatch, even in fifty-two days, Neh 6:15 ; and probably not very long after that returned to the king, by whom he was sent a second time with more ample commission, and for the king’ s service, and the government of that part of his dominions.

That they may safely conduct me through their several territories.

The king’ s forest the forest of Libanus, famous for pleasure, and for plenty of choice trees.

Which appertained to the house to wit, of the king’ s palace, which was adjoining to the house of God. Or, of the tower or fence belonging to the house of God , to wit, for the gates of the courts of the temple; for though the temple was built, the courts and other buildings belonging to the temple might yet be unfinished.

The house that I shall enter into wherewith I may build a house in which I may dwell whilst I am there, and which I may dispose of as I see fit.

Sanballat the Horonite so called, either from his family, or from the place of his birth or rule, which is supposed to be Horonaim, an eminent city of Moab, Isa 15:5 Jer 48:3 .

Tobiah the servant so called probably from his servile original or condition, from which he was advanced to his present power and dignity; which also may be mentioned as one reason why he now carried himself so insolently and perversely towards the Jews, it being usual for persons suddenly raised from a mean to a high estate so to demean themselves.

Resting myself after my long journey, and inquiring into the state of the city.

I arose in the night concealing both his intentions and actions as far and as long as he could, as knowing that the life of his business lay in secrecy and expedition.

Neither was there any beast with me to prevent noise, and the notice of what I did.

I went out by night the footmen which accompanied him directing and leading him in the way. his design was to go round about the city, to observe the compass and condition of the walls and gates, that he might make sufficient provisions for the work.

By the gate of the valley of which see Neh 3:13 .

Before the dragon well a fountain of water so called, either from some figure of a dragon or serpent which was by it; or from some living dragon which abode there when the city was desolate; for dragons delight to be in desolate places, and nigh to springs of water, as divers have observed.

To the dung-port through which they used to carry the dung out of the city.

The gate of the fountain i.e. which led to the fountain, to wit, of Siloah or Gibon.

The king’ s pool that which king Hezekiah had made: of which see 2Ch 32:3,30 .

There was no place for the beast to pass the way being obstructed with heaps of rubbish.

By the brook of Kidron; of which See Poole "2Sa 15:23" . And so returned; having gone round about the city.

Or, were to do , or should do , i.e. whom he intended to employ in the work here following, of building the walls.

Geshem the Arabian either the king’ s lieutenant in Arabia, as Tobiah was among the Ammonites, and Sanballat among the Moabites; or rather, an Arabian by his birth. And it seems probable that both he, and Sanballat, and Tobiah were chief men or governors among the Samaritans, or in their army. See Neh 4:1-3 .

Will ye rebel against the king? do you design to fortify the city against the king.

Ye have no portion nor right you have no authority over us, nor interest in our church, or state, or city, but are mere aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. We disown and detest that mongrel worship and religion which you have set up. We desire not your favour, or friendship, or help in this matter. And you have nothing to do to inquire into or meddle with our concerns, or to hinder us in our present undertaking.

Nor memorial no testimony, or monument, either of your relation to us by birth or religion, or of your kindness to us or to this place. But we have many memorials of your malice and enmity against us.

Year. It seems the Persians began the year with Tizri, since both Casleu (the third) and Nisan (the seventh month of the civil year) fall on the twentieth of the king. ---

Wine. These kings drunk only that of Syria. (Strabo xv.) ---

People of distinction were appointed cup-bearers; and even the children of kings did not esteem the office beneath them. (Herodotus iii. 34.) (Atheneus x. 6.) (Homer, &c.) (Calmet) ---

I was. Protestants, "I had not been before-time sad in his presence." (Haydock) ---

Hebrew literally, "I was not evil." Septuagint, "an enemy, or stranger." Arabic, "disagreeable." Syriac, "sorrowful." Septuagint also, "there was not another ( Greek: ouk en eteros ) present," chap. v. 6. St. Jerome seems not to have read the negation. (Haydock)

Is not. Hebrew, "nothing but sorrow of heart;" (Syriac; Calmet; Protestants) or rather, thou art meditating only treason. Septuagint, "This is nothing but wickedness of heart," (Haydock) which often shews itself on the countenance. The king might suspect that he was giving him poison. (Menochius) ---

Hence Nehemias feared, (Calmet) dreading such suspicions, (Haydock) and aware lest the company might frustrate his good design, as contrary to the interests of the crown. (Tirinus)

Live; an usual salutation, Daniel iii. 9., and v. 10. So Ælian (var. i. 32.) says, "O king Artaxerxes, mayst thou reign for ever." ---

Father, ver. 5. He knew that the Persians shewed great regard to the dead, (Calmet; Tirinus) whose bodies they sometimes cover with wax, and keep in their house, (Cic.[Cicero?] Tusc. i.; Alex. Genial iii. 2.) or inter. (Herodotus i. 140.)

Heaven, a fervent ejaculation, in secret, (Tirinus) to touch the king's heart, (Calmet) and to enable me to speak in a proper manner. (Menochius)

And, &c. In private the queen might dine with her husband, but not in public, Esther i. (Calmet) ---

Queen; probably Esther, if she were married to this king. (Menochius) ---

But this is uncertain. (Haydock) ---

Usher thinks it was Damaspia, mentioned by Ctesias. (Calmet) ---

Time, when I should return. Some king eight or ten years, and returned into Judea towards the end of the reign of Artaxerxes, chap. xiii. 6. (Calmet) ---

He perhaps asked permission to visit Jerusalem for only a short period, at first, but his presence being deemed necessary, he was permitted to continue there as governor full twelve years. (Menochius)

Over; give me a guard, (Haydock) or accompany me to Jerusalem. (Menochius)

Forest. Hebrew pordes, "paradise," or garden planted with trees. Pliny ([Natural History?] v. 23.) mentions a "paradise," in Cœlosyria. (Grotius) ---

But Nehemias might petition to be supplied with cedars from Libanus, (Tirinus) as they had been given for the temple, 1 Esdras iii. 7. (Haydock) ---

Tower. Hebrew bira, means also "a palace or temple." It may designate the porch of the temple, which was 120 cubits high; (2 Paralipomenon iii. 4.; Calmet) though that had been lately repaired by Esdras. (Menochius) ---

Others think the doors of the courts are meant, as they were as strong as those of towers. (Vatable) ---

They were not yet finished, chap. x. 9. Many believe that (Calmet) Nehemias speaks of the royal palace, which had been almost contiguous to the temple, (Menochius) where he intended to build one for himself, while he should reside in the city. (Tirinus) ---

But this might give umbrage to the king. (Calmet) ---

He could not, however, intend his favourite to remain without a suitable palace; and the latter seems to have designed not only to repair that which Solomon had founded, but also to erect another house for the governor. (Haydock) ---

Good hand; favour, (Menochius) and powerful aid. (Haydock)

Horonite, a native, not (Calmet) a petty king (Grotius) of Horonaim, in the country of Moab, Jeremias xlviii. 3. He must have been very old, if he lived till the temple was built at Garizim: (Josephus and Scaliger) but Petau supposes that there were two of the name. ---

Servant; an officer appointed over the Samaritans, as well as Sanaballat. The Persian monarchs styled all their subjects servants or slaves. (Calmet) ---

Grieved. Thus unbelievers repine when any one endeavours to propagate the truth, (Haydock) or to establish the Church. (Worthington)

Any man, at Jerusalem, (ver. 16.) though he had informed the king, ver. 8. (Haydock) ---

No beast; that none might be alarmed.

Valley of Cedron, on the east, (Calmet) or west, near Calvary. (Menochius) (Tirinus) ---

Dragon. Hebrew Tannin, or "great fish," which might be kept there, unless the fountain was famous for the appearance of some dragon, or the water proceeded from the mouth of a brazen one. Septuagint have read thanim, "figs." The fountain of Siloc might have many names. (Calmet) ---

Viewed. Septuagint, "I walked upon the wall of Jerusalem, which these men are demolishing or clearing away," &c. (Haydock)

Aqueduct, or reservoir, made by Ezechias, 2 Paralipomenon xxxii. 30.

Torrent of Cedron, having gone round the city. (Calmet)

Magistrates. Septuagint, "guards." Seganim denotes various officers. (Calmet) ---

Work, or to any workmen. (Haydock) ---

None were now employed. (Tirinus)

Hand. God had manifested his goodness and power, at the court of Persia. (Worthington)

Arabian governor. He afterwards accuses Nehemias, chap. vi. 6. (Calmet)

Answered. Septuagint, "returned them an account ( Greek: logon ) ....we are his pure servants, and we will build." (Haydock) ---

Part, or business, 1 Esdras iv. 4. ---

Justice, or right to the city. (Calmet) ---

You may mind your own affairs. (Tirinus) ---

Remembrance. It was esteemed a high honour to be a citizen of Jerusalem, Psalm lxxxvi. 5.

And it came to pass in the month Nisan; in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes,.... It was still but in the twentieth year of his reign; for though Nisan or March was the first month of the year with the Jews, and from whence the reigns of their kings were dated ^l; yet, with other nations, Tisri or September was the beginning of the reigns of their kings ^m; so that Chisleu or November being since, see Neh 1:1, it was no more in Nisan or March than the twentieth of the said king's reign, and was three or four months after Nehemiah had first heard of the distress of his people; which time he either purposely spent in fasting and prayer on that account, or until now his turn did not come about to exercise his office, in waiting upon the king as his cupbearer: but now it was

that wine was before him; the king; it was brought and set in a proper place, from whence it might be taken for his use:

and I took up the wine, and gave it to the king; according to Xenophon ⁿ, the cupbearer with the Persians and Medes used to take the wine out of the vessels into the cup, and pour some of it into their left hand, and sup it up, that, if there was any poison in it, the king might not be harmed, and then he delivered it to him upon three fingers ^o:

now I had not been before time sad in his presence; but always pleasant and cheerful, so that the sadness of his countenance was the more taken notice of.

Wherefore the king said unto me, why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick?.... He had no disorder upon him to change his countenance and make him sorrowful, and therefore asks what should be the reason of it:

this is nothing else but sorrow of heart; this is not owing to any bodily disease or pain, but some inward trouble of mind; or "wickedness of heart" ^p, some ill design in his mind, which being conscious of, and thoughtful about, was discovered in his countenance; he suspected, as Jarchi intimates, a design to kill him, by putting poison into his cup:

then I was very sore afraid; lest the king should have suspicion of an ill design on him; or lest, since he must be obliged to give the true reason, he should not succeed in his request, it being so large, and perhaps many about the king were no friends to the Jews.

And I said unto the king, let the king live for ever,.... Which some think he said to take off the king's suspicion of his having a design upon his life, though it seems to be a common salutation of the kings in those times, see Dan 6:6,

why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? a man's native place, and where his ancestors lie interred, being always reckoned near and dear, the king and his nobles could not object to his being concerned for the desolations thereof.

Then the king said unto me, for what dost thou make request?.... The king supposed that there was a meaning in those looks and words of his, that he had a favour to ask of him, and therefore encourages him to it; or the king of himself moved this, as being desirous of doing anything for him he would propose, to make him easy:

so I prayed to the God of heaven; secretly, in an ejaculatory way, giving him thanks for thus disposing the king's heart towards him, and entreating he might be directed what to ask, and in a proper manner, and that he might succeed.

And I said unto the king; if it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight,.... He submits what he had to say wholly to the pleasure of the king, and puts it upon his unmerited favour, and not on any desert of his own:

that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it; the wall of it, and the houses in it; the favour was, that he might have leave to go thither, and set about such a work, for which he was so much concerned.

And the king said unto me, the queen also sitting by him,.... Which it seems was not very common for the queens of Persia to dine with the kings their husbands; though this may be observed, not so much for the singularity of it, as for the providence of God in it, that so it should be, she having a good respect for Nehemiah, and the Jewish nation, and forwarded the king in his grant to him: if this king was Darius Hystaspis, this his queen was Atossa, daughter of Cyrus ^q, who might be the more friendly to the Jews, on account of her father's great regard unto them:

for how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? what time would he ask to do this business in? this shows the king had a great respect for him, and was loath to part with him, at least for any great length of time:

so it pleased the king to send me, when he promised to return unto him, not in twelve years, which was the time of his government in Judea, but in a lesser space, perhaps a year at most, since in less than two months the wall of Jerusalem was finished; and it may be that he then returned to the king of Persia, who sent him again under the character of a governor, finding it was for his interest to have such a man in those parts.

Moreover, I said unto the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river,.... The river of Euphrates, on that side of it towards the land of Judea:

that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; furnish him with provisions, and a guard to protect him.

And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest,.... The forest or mountain of Lebanon, which, because of its odoriferous and fruit bearing trees, was more like an orchard or paradise, as this word signifies, and so it is translated in Ecc 2:5 and at the extreme part of it, it seems, there was a city called Paradisus ^r; such an officer as here was among the Romans, called Saltuarius ^s, and is now among us:

that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertaineth to the house; not the king's palace near the temple, for that might have occasioned suspicion in the king, that his view was to set up himself as king in Judea; but for the gates of the courts adjoining to the temple, and of the wall of the outward court, and of the wall which was to encompass the mountain of the house, the whole circumference of it:

and for the wall of the city; to make gates of in various places for that, where they stood before:

and for the house which I shall enter into; and dwell in during his stay at Jerusalem:

and the king granted me; all the above favours:

according to the good hand of my God upon me; the kind providence of God, which wrought on the heart of the king, and disposed it towards him, and overruled all things for good.

Then I came to the governors beyond the river,.... Who these governors were, whether the same who were in the second year of this king's reign eighteen years ago, Tatnai and Shetharboznai, is not certain:

now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me; both to do him honour, and for his safety; and coming thus attended, must serve to recommend him to the governor, who received him from them at the river Euphrates, and conducted him to Judah.

When Sanballat the Horonite,.... Who either presided at Horonaim, or sprung from thence, a city of Moab, Isa 15:5

and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite; who was formerly a slave, but now raised, from a low mean estate, to be governor in the land of Ammon, though still a vassal of the king of Persia:

heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there came a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel; to which the Moabites and Ammonites were always averse, and ever bore an hatred to Israel, and envied everything that tended to their happiness.

So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. Before he entered on any business, resting himself from the fatigue of the journey, and receiving the visits of his friends, as Ezra before him did, Ezr 8:32.

And I arose in the might, I and some few men with me,.... Both the season of the night, and the small number of men to accompany him, were chosen for greater secrecy, that the business he came upon might not as yet be known, and so no schemes formed to obstruct or discourage:

neither told I any man what God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; he was satisfied that what he had in view was from the Lord, who had stirred him up to it, but thought it prudent for the present to conceal it, until things were prepared to put it in execution:

neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon; he only rode perhaps on a mule, being not yet recovered quite from the fatigue of his journey, and for the sake of honour; the rest went on foot, that there might be no noise made, and so pass on unheard and unobserved.

And I went out by night, by the gate of the valley,.... Where that formerly stood, for the gates had been burnt, and were not as yet rebuilt; this was the gate that led to the valley of Jehoshaphat, according to some; or rather to the valley of dead bodies, through which the brook Kidron ran, see 2Ch 26:9 it is the gate through which Christ went to Calvary; it led to Shiloh, Bethhoron, and Golan:

even before the dragon well; so called from its winding about, just as a crooked winding river is called serpentine; though some think here stood an image of a dragon, either in wood, or stone, or brass, out of the mouth of which the water flowed from the well; and others, that since the desolations of Jerusalem, serpents or dragons had their abode here:

and to the dung port; by which they used to carry the dung out of the city, and by which they went to Joppa, the sea, and all the western parts:

and viewed the walls of Jerusalem: in what condition they were, what was necessary to be wholly taken down, and where to begin to build: it must have been a moonlight night or he could not have taken a view; for to have carried torches or lamps with them would have discovered them:

and the gates thereof were consumed with fire; nothing of them remained.

Then I went on to the pool of the fountain, and to the king's pool..... That led to the fountain Siloah or Gihon, so called; it was the way to the potter's field, to Bethlehem, Hebron, Gaza, and Egypt. Rauwolff says ^t there is still standing on the outside of the valley Tyropaeum (which distinguishes the two mountains Zion and Moriah) the gate of the fountain, which hath its name, because it leadeth towards the fountain of Siloah, called the king's pool:

but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass; because of the heaps of rubbish that lay there.

Then went I up in the night by the brook,.... The brook Kidron:

and viewed the wall; that was on that side:

and turned back; did not go quite round the wall, the way perhaps being obstructed with rubbish, and was unpassable or he had not time to do it:

and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned; into the city, the same way he went out of it, Neh 2:13.

And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did..... The rulers of the city of Jerusalem, who seem to be officers of the king of Persia, since they are distinguished from Jewish rulers in the next clause:

neither had I as yet told it to the Jews; what he came about and designed to do:

nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers; the principal men among the Jews, both ecclesiastical and civil:

nor to the rest that did the work; of building and repairing; neither those that were employed in it, nor those that overlooked it.

Then said I unto them,.... The priests and princes of the Jews:

you see the distress that we are in; lie open to our enemies, and exposed to their insults:

how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire, Neh 1:3,

come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach; to their neighbours about them, who scoffed at them as a defenceless people and frequently came in upon them, and spoiled and plundered them of their goods and substance.

Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me..... Of the kind providence of God in exalting him in the court of the king of Persia, in giving him an opportunity of laying the sad case of Jerusalem before him, and in inclining his heart to show favour to him, and grant his request:

as also the king's words that he had spoken to me; what passed between them on this subject, the commission he gave him, and the letters he sent by him to his governors on this side the river:

and they said, let us rise up and build; encouraged by this account of things, they proposed to set about the work immediately:

so they strengthened their hands for this good work; animated and encouraged one another to proceed to it at once with cheerfulness, and to go on in it with spirit and resolution.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian,.... This third man might be both an Arabian by birth, and governor of some part of Arabia near Judea:

heard it; of their beginning to build:

they laughed us to scorn, and despised us; as very silly people, that undertook what they could never perform:

and said; adding threatenings to their scoffs:

what is this thing that ye do? do ye know what ye are about? have ye any authority to do it? it is unlawful, you will certainly suffer for it:

will ye rebel against the king? the king of Persia; it will be deemed rebellion and treason, and you will be taken up and treated as rebels and traitors; take care what you do, be it at your peril if you proceed.

Then answered I them, and said unto them,.... With much spirit and boldness, not at all intimidated by their scoffs or threats:

the God of heaven, he will prosper us; whom we serve, and under whose protection we are, who will supply us with everything we want, and succeed this undertaking, in whose name we engage in it, and on whom we depend, and we care not what man can do to us:

therefore we his servants will arise and build; in spite of all opposition, difficulties, and discouragements:

but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem; no part of the city belonged to them; they had no jurisdiction there; they had no name there, nor their ancestors, in times past; nor had they done anything to perpetuate their memory in it: in short, they had nothing to do with them, neither in religious nor in civil things; and it was best for them to mind their own affairs where they presided, and not trouble themselves about theirs.

¹ tc The translation reads with the LXX וְיַיִן לְפָנַי (vÿyayin lÿfanay, “and wine before me”) rather than יַיִן לְפָנָיו (yayin lÿfanayv, “wine before him”) of the MT. The initial vav (ו) on original וְיַיִן probably dropped out due to haplograpy or orthographic confusion with the two yods (י) which follow. The final vav on לְפָנָיו in the MT was probably added due to dittography with the vav on the immediately following word.

² tc The translation reads לְפָנֵים (lÿfanim, “formerly”) rather than לְפָנָיו (lÿfanayv, “to his face”) of the MT. The MT seems to suggest that Nehemiah was not sad before the king, which is contrary to what follows.

³ tn Or “showed him a sullen face.” See HALOT 1251 s.v. רַע, רָע 9.

⁴ tn This expression is either to be inferred from the context, or perhaps one should read לְפָנָיו (lÿfanayv, “before him”; cf. the MT) in addition to לְפָנִים (lÿfanim, “formerly”). See preceding note on the word “previously.”

¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 5).

² tn Heb “devoured” or “eaten” (so also in Neh 2:13).

¹ tn Heb “said to me.”

¹ tn Heb “If upon the king it is good.” So also in v. 7.

¹ tn Or “queen,” so most English versions (cf. HALOT 1415 s.v. שֵׁגַל); TEV “empress.”

² tn Heb “It was good before the king and he sent me.”

¹ tn Heb “across the river,” here and often elsewhere in the Book of Nehemiah.

¹ tn Or “forest.” So HALOT 963 s.v. פַּרְדֵּס 2.

² tc One medieval Hebrew MS, the Syriac Peshitta, Vulgate, and the Arabic read here the plural וּלְחוֹמוֹת (ulÿkhomot, “walls”) against the singular וּלְחוֹמַת (ulÿkhomat) in the MT. The plural holem vav (וֹ) might have dropped out due to dittography or the plural form might have been written defectively.

³ tn The Hebrew text does not include the expression “these requests,” but it is implied.

¹ tn Heb “servant” (so KJV, ASV; NAB “slave”; NCV “officer.” This phrase also occurs in v. 19.

¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

¹ tn Heb “the animal.”

¹ tn Or “Well of the Serpents”; or “Well of the Jackals” (cf. ASV, NIV, NLT).

² tn Or “Rubbish Gate” (so TEV); NASB “Refuse Gate”; NCV “Trash Gate”; CEV “Garbage Gate.”

³ tc For the MT reading שֹׂבֵר (sover, “inspecting”) the LXX erroneously has שֹׁבֵר (shover, “breaking”). However, further destruction of Jerusalem’s walls was obviously not a part of Nehemiah’s purpose.

¹ tn Heb “the words of the king which he had spoken to me.”

² tn Heb “Arise! Let us rebuild!”

³ tn Heb “strengthened their hands.”

¹ tn The Hebrew text does not include the words “all this,” but they have been added in the translation for clarity.

¹ tn Heb “will arise and build.” The idiom “arise and…” means to begin the action described by the second verb.

² tn Heb “portion or right or remembrance.” The expression is probably a hendiatris: The first two nouns retain their full nominal function, while the third noun functions adjectivally (“right or remembrance” = “ancient right”).

And it came to pass in the month ^{( a )} Nisan, in the twentieth year of ^{( b )} Artaxerxes the king, [that] wine [was] before him: and I took up the wine, and gave [it] unto the king. Now I had not been [beforetime] sad in his presence.

^{( a )} Which was the first month of the year, and contains part of March and part of April.

^{( b )} Who is also called Darius, (Ezr 7:1) and was the son of Hystaspis.

Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed ^{( e )} to the God of heaven.

^{( e )} I desired God in my heart to prosper my enterprise.

And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which [appertained] to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to ^{( d )} the good hand of my God upon me.

^{( d )} As God moved me to ask, and as he gave me success in it.

When ^{( e )} Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard [of it], it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

^{( e )} These were great enemies to the Jews, and laboured always both by force and subtilty to overcome them and Tobiah, because his wife was a Jewess, knew of their affairs and so brought them great trouble.

Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we [are] in, how Jerusalem [lieth] waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more ^{( f )} a reproach.

^{( f )} That is, contemned by other nations as though God had forsaken us.

Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they ^{( g )} strengthened their hands for [this] good [work].

^{( g )} They were encouraged and gave themselves to do well, and to travel in this worthy enterprise.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and ^{( h )} Geshem the Arabian, heard [it], they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What [is] this thing that ye do? will ye ^{( i )} rebel against the king?

^{( h )} These were three chief governors under the king of Persia beyond the Euphrates.

^{( i )} Thus the wicked when they will burden the children of God, always lay treason to their charge both because it makes them most odious to the world, and also stirs the hatred of princes against them.

Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor ^{( k )} memorial, in Jerusalem.

^{( k )} Neither are you of the number of the children of God (to whom he has appointed this city only) neither did any of your predecessors ever fear God.

Our prayers must be seconded with serious endeavours, else we mock God. We are not limited to certain moments in our addresses to the King of kings, but have liberty to go to him at all times; approaches to the throne of grace are never out of season. But the sense of God's displeasure and the afflictions of his people, are causes of sorrow to the children of God, under which no earthly delights can comfort. The king encouraged Nehemiah to tell his mind. This gave him boldness to speak; much more may the invitation Christ has given us to pray, and the promise that we shall speed, encourage us to come boldly to the throne of grace. Nehemiah prayed to the God of heaven, as infinitely above even this mighty monarch. He lifted up his heart to that God who understands the language of the heart. Nor should we ever engage in any pursuit in which it would be wrong for us thus to seek and expect the Divine direction, assistance, and blessing. There was an immediate answer to his prayer; for the seed of Jacob never sought the God of Jacob in vain.

When Nehemiah had considered the matter, he told the Jews that God had put it into his heart to build the wall of Jerusalem. He does not undertake to do it without them. By stirring up ourselves and one another to that which is good, we strengthen ourselves and one another for it. We are weak in our duty, when we are cold and careless.

The enmity of the serpent's seed against the cause of Christ is confined to no age or nation. The application to ourselves is plain. The church of God asks for our help. Is it not desolate, and exposed to assaults? Does the consideration of its low estate cause you any grief? Let not business, pleasure, or the support of a party so engage attention, as that Zion and her welfare shall be nothing to you.

When Nehemiah had prayed for the relief of his countrymen, and perhaps in David's words (Psa 51:18, Build thou the walls of Jerusalem ), he did not sit still and say, "Let God now do his own work, for I have no more to do,"but set himself to forecast what he could do towards it. our prayers must be seconded with our serious endeavours, else we mock God. Nearly four months passed, from Chisleu to Nisan (from November to March), before Nehemiah made his application to the king for leave to go to Jerusalem, either because the winter was not a proper time for such a journey, and he would not make the motion till he could pursue it, or because it was so long before his month of waiting came, and there was no coming into the king's presence uncalled, Est 4:11. Now that he attended the king's table he hoped to have his ear. We are not thus limited to certain moments in our addresses to the King of kings, but have liberty of access to him at all times; to the throne of grace we never come unseasonably. Now here is,

I. The occasion which he gave the king to enquire into his cares and griefs, by appearing sad in his presence. Those that speak to such great men must not fall abruptly upon their business, but fetch a compass. Nehemiah would try whether he was in a good humour before he ventured to tell him his errand, and this method he took to try him. He took up the wine and gave it to the king when he called for it, expecting that then he would look him in the face. He had not used to be sad in the king's presence, but conformed to the rules of the court (as courtiers must do), which would admit no sorrows, Est 4:2. Though he was a stranger, a captive, he was easy and pleasant. Good men should do what they can by their cheerfulness to convince the world of the pleasantness of religious ways and to roll away the reproach cast upon them as melancholy; but there is a time for all things, Ecc 3:4. Nehemiah now saw cause both to be sad and to appear so. The miseries of Jerusalem gave him cause to be sad, and his showing his grief would give occasion to the king to enquire into the cause. He did not dissemble sadness, for he was really in grief for the afflictions of Joseph, and was not like the hypocrites who disfigure their faces; yet he could have concealed his grief if it had been necessary (the heart knows its own bitterness, and in the midst of laughter is often sad), but it would now serve his purpose to discover his sadness. Though he had wine before him, and probably, according to the office of the cup-bearer, did himself drink of it before he gave it to the king, yet it would not make his heart glad, while God's Israel was in distress.

II. The kind notice which the king took of his sadness and the enquiry he made into the cause of it (Neh 2:2): Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? Note, 1. We ought, from a principle of Christian sympathy, to concern ourselves in the sorrows and sadnesses of others, even of our inferiors, and not say, What is it to us? Let not masters despise their servants' griefs, but desire to make them easy. The great God is not pleased with the dejections and disquietments of his people, but would have them both serve him with gladness and eat their bread with joy. 2. It is not strange if those that are sick have sad countenances, because of what is felt and what is feared; sickness will make those grave that were most airy and gay: yet a good man, even in sickness, may be of good cheer if he knows that his sins are forgiven. 3. Freedom from sickness is so great a mercy that while we have that we ought not to be inordinately dejected under any outward burden; yet sorrow for our own sins, the sins of others, and the calamities of God's church, may well sadden the countenance, without sickness.

III. The account which Nehemiah gave the king of the cause of his sadness, which he gave with meekness and fear. 1. With fear. He owned that now (though it appears by the following story that he was a man of courage) he was sorely afraid, perhaps of the king's wrath (for those eastern monarchs assumed an absolute power of life and death, Dan 2:12, Dan 2:13; Dan 5:19) or of misplacing a word, and losing his request by the mismanagement of it. Though he was a wise man, he was jealous of himself, lest he should say any thing imprudently; it becomes us to be so. A good assurance is indeed a good accomplishment, yet a humble self-diffidence is not man's dispraise. 2. With meekness. Without reflection upon any man, and with all the respect, deference, and good-will, imaginable to the king his master, he says, " Let the king live for ever; he is wise and good, and the fittest man in the world to rule."He modestly asked, " Why should not my countenance be sad as it is when (though I myself am well and at east) the city "(the king knew what city he meant), " the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste? "Many are melancholy and sad but can give no reason for being so, cannot tell why nor wherefore; such should chide themselves for, and chide themselves out of, their unjust and unreasonable griefs and fears. But Nehemiah could give so good a reason for his sadness as to appeal to the king himself concerning it. Observe, (1.) He calls Jerusalem the place of his fathers' sepulchres, the place where his ancestors were buried. It is good for us to think often of our fathers' sepulchres; we are apt to dwell in our thoughts upon their honours and titles, their houses and estates, but let us think also of their sepulchres, and consider that those who have gone before us in the world have also gone before us out of the world, and their monuments are momentos to us. There is also a great respect owing to the memory of our fathers, which we should not be willing to see injured. All nations, even those that have had no expectation of the resurrection of the dead, have looked upon the sepulchres of their ancestors as in some degree sacred and not to be violated. (2.) He justifies himself in his grief: "I do well to be sad. Why should I not be so?"There is a time even for pious and prosperous men to be sad and to show their grief. The best men must not think to antedate heaven by banishing all sorrowful thoughts; it is a vale of tears we pass through, and we must submit to the temper of the climate. (3.) He assigns the ruins of Jerusalem as the true cause of his grief. Note, All the grievances of the church, but especially its desolations, are, and ought to be, matter of grief and sadness to all good people, to all that have a concern for God's honour and that are living members of Christ's mystical body, and are of a public spirit; they favour even Zion's dust, Psa 102:14.

IV. The encouragement which the king gave him to tell his mind, and the application he thereupon made in his heart to God, Neh 2:4. The king had an affection for him, and was not pleased to see him melancholy. It is also probable that he had a kindness for the Jews' religion; he had discovered it before in the commission he gave to Ezra, who was a churchman, and now again in the power he put Nehemiah into, who was a statesman. Wanting therefore only to know how he might be serviceable to Jerusalem, he asks this its anxious friend, " For what dost thou make request? Something thou wouldst have; what is it?"He was afraid to speak (Neh 2:2), but this gave him boldness; much more may the invitation Christ has given us to pray, and the promise that we shall speed, enable us to come boldly to the throne of grace. Nehemiah immediately prayed to the God of heaven that he would give him wisdom to ask properly and incline the king's heart to grant him his request. Those that would find favour with kings must secure the favour of the King of kings. He prayed to the God of heaven as infinitely above even this mighty monarch. It was not a solemn prayer (he had not opportunity for that), but a secret sudden ejaculation; he lifted up his heart to that God who understands the language of his heart: Lord, give me a mouth and wisdom; Lord, give me favour in the sight of this man. Note, It is good to be much in pious ejaculations, especially upon particular occasions. Wherever we are we have a way open heaven-ward. This will not hinder any business, but further it rather; therefore let no business hinder this, but give rise to it rather. Nehemiah had prayed very solemnly with reference to this very occasion (Neh 1:11), yet, when it comes to the push, he prays again. Ejaculations and solemn prayers must not jostle out one another, but each have its place.

V. His humble petition to the king. When he had this encouragement he presented his petition very modestly and with submission to the king's wisdom (Neh 2:5), but very explicitly. He asked for a commission to go as governor to Judah, to build the wall of Jerusalem, and to stay there for a certain time, so many months, we may suppose; and then either he had his commission renewed or went back and was sent again, so that he presided there twelve years at least, Neh 5:14. He also asked for a convoy (Neh 2:7), and an order upon the governors, not only to permit and suffer him to pass through their respective provinces, but to supply him with what he had occasion for, with another order upon the keeper of the forest of Lebanon to give him timber for the work that he designed.

VI. The king's great favour to him in asking him when he would return, Neh 2:6. He intimated that he was unwilling to lose him, or to be long without him, yet to gratify him, and do a real office of kindness to his people, he would spare him awhile, and let him have what clauses he pleased inserted in his commission, Neh 2:8. Here was an immediate answer to his prayer; for the seed of Jacob never sought the God of Jacob in vain. In the account he gives of the success of his petition he takes notice, 1. Of the presence of the queen; she sat by (Neh 2:6), which (they say) was not usual in the Persian court, Est 1:11. Whether the queen was his back friend, that would have hindered him, and he observes it to the praise of God's powerful providence that though she was by yet he succeeded, or whether she was his true friend, and it is observed to the praise of God's kind providence that she was present to help forward his request, is not certain. 2. Of the power and grace of God. He gained his point, not according to his merit, his interest in the king, or his good management, but according to the good hand of his God upon him. Gracious souls take notice of God's hand, his good hand, in all events which turn in favour of them. This is the Lord's doing, and therefore doubly acceptable.

We are here told,

I. Now Nehemiah was dismissed by the court he was sent from. The king appointed captains of the army and horsemen to go with him (Neh 2:9), both for his guard and to show that he was a man whom the king did delight to honour, that all the king's servants might respect him accordingly. Those whom the King of kings sends he thus protects, he thus dignifies with a host of angels to attend them.

II. How he was received by the country he was sent to.

1. By the Jews and their friends at Jerusalem. We are told,

(1.) That while he concealed his errand they took little notice of him. He was at Jerusalem three days (Neh 2:11), and it does not appear that any of the great men of the city waited on him to congratulate him on his arrival, but he remained unknown. The king sent horsemen to attend him, but the Jews sent none to meet him; he had no beast with him, but that which he himself rode on, Neh 2:12. Wise men, and those who are worthy of double honour, yet covet not to come with observation, to make a show, or make a noise, no, not when they come with the greatest blessings. Those that shortly are to have the dominion in the morning the world now knows not, but they lie hid, 1Jo 3:1.

(2.) That though they took little notice of him he took great notice of them and their state. He arose in the night, and viewed the ruins of the walls, probably by moon-light (Neh 2:13), that he might see what was to be done and in what method they must go about it, whether the old foundation would serve, and what there was of the old materials that would be of use. Note, [1.] Good work is likely to be well done when it is first well considered. [2.] It is the wisdom of those who are engaged in public business, as much as may be, to see with their own eyes, and not to proceed altogether upon the reports and representations of others, and yet to do this without noise, and if possible unobserved. [3.] Those that would build up the church's walls must first take notice of the ruins of those walls. Those that would know how to amend must enquire what is amiss, what needs reformation, and what may serve as it is.

(3.) That when he disclosed his design to the rulers and people they cheerfully concurred with him in it. He did not tell them, at first, what he came about (Neh 2:16), because he would not seem to do it for ostentation, and because, if he found it impracticable, he might retreat the more honourably. Upright humble men will not sound a trumpet before their alms or any other of their good offices. But when he had viewed and considered the thing, and probably felt the pulse of the rulers and people, he told them what God had put into his heart (Neh 2:12), even to build up the wall of Jerusalem, Neh 2:17. Observe, [1.] How fairly he proposed the undertaking to them: " You see the distress we are in, how we lie exposed to the enemies that are round about us, how justly they reproach us as foolish and despicable, how easily they may make a prey of us whenever they have a mind; come, therefore, and let us build up the wall. "He did not undertake to do the work without them (it could not be the work of one man), nor did he charge or command imperiously, though he had the king's commission; but in a friendly brotherly way he exhorted and excited them to join with him in this work. To encourage them hereto, he speaks of the design, First, As that which owed it origin to the special grace of God. He takes not the praise of it to himself, as a good thought of his own, but acknowledges that God put it into his heart, and therefore they all ought to countenance it (whatever is of God must be promoted), and might hope to prosper in it, for what God puts men upon he will own them in. Secondly, As that which owed its progress hitherto to the special providence of God. He produced the king's commission, told them how readily it was granted and how forward the king was to favour his design, in which he saw the hand of his God good upon him. It would encourage both him and them to proceed in an undertaking which God had so remarkably smiled upon. Thus he proposed it to them; and, [2.] They presently came to a resolution, one and all, to concur with him: Let us rise up and build. They are ashamed that they have sat still so long without so much as attempting this needful work, and now resolve to rise up out of their slothfulness, to bestir themselves, and to stir up one another. " Let us rise up, "that is, "let us do it with vigour, and diligence, and resolution, as those that are determined to go through with it." So they strengthened their hands, their own and one another's, for this good work. Note, First, Many a good work would find hands enough to be laid to it if there were but one good head to lead in it. They all saw the desolations of Jerusalem, yet none proposed the repair of them; but, when Nehemiah proposed it, they all consented to it. It is a pity that a good motion should be lost purely for want of one to move it and to break the ice in it. Secondly, By stirring up ourselves and one another to that which is good, we strengthen ourselves and one another for it; for the great reason why we are weak in our duty is because we are cold to it, indifferent and unresolved. Let us now see how Nehemiah was received,

2. By those that wished ill to the Jews. Those whom God and his Israel blessed they cursed. (1.) When he did but show his face it vexed them, Neh 2:10. Sanballat and Tobiah, two of the Samaritans, but by birth the former a Moabite, the latter an Ammonite, when they saw one come armed with a commission from the king to do service to Israel, were exceedingly grieved that all their little paltry arts to weaken Israel were thus baffled and frustrated by a fair, and noble, and generous project to strengthen them. Nothing is a greater vexation to the enemies of good people, who have misrepresented them to princes as turbulent, and factious, and not fit to live, than to see them stand right in the opinion of their rulers, their innocency cleared and their reproach rolled away, and that they are thought not only fit to live, but fit to be trusted. When they saw a man come in that manner, who professedly sought the welfare of the children of Israel, it vexed them to the heart. The wicked shall see it, and be grieved. (2.) When he began to act they set themselves to hinder him, but in vain, Neh 2:19, Neh 2:20. [1.] See here with what little reason the enemies attempted to discourage him. They represented the undertaking as a silly thing: They laughed us to scorn and despised us as foolish builders, that could not finish what we began. They represented the undertaking also as a wicked thing, no better than treason: Will you rebel against the king? Because this was the old invidious charge, though now they had a commission from the king and were taken under his protection, yet still they must be called rebels. [2.] See also with what good reason the Jews slighted these discouragements. They bore up themselves with this that they were the servants of the God of heaven, the only true and living God, that they were acting for him in what they did, and that therefore he would bear them out and prosper them, though the heathen raged, Psa 2:1. They considered also that the reason why these enemies did so malign them was because they had no right in Jerusalem, but envied them their right in it. Thus may the impotent menaces of the church's enemies be easily despised by the church's friends.

Neh 2:1-2

In the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, whenwine was before him, Nehemiah as cupbearer took the wine and handed itto the king. Nisan is, according to the Hebrew calendar, the first month ofthe year; yet here, as in Neh 1:1-11, the twentieth year of Artaxerxes is named,and the month Chisleu there mentioned (Neh 1:1), which, after the Hebrewmethod of computing the year, was the ninth month and preceded Nisanby three months, is placed in the same year. This can only be explained onthe grounds that either the twentieth year of Artaxerxes did not coincidewith the year of the calendar, but began later, or that Nehemiah here usesthe computation of time current in anterior Asia, and also among the Jewsafter the captivity in civil matters, and which made the new year begin inautumn. Of these two views we esteem the latter to be correct, since itcannot be shown that the years of the king's reign would be reckoned fromthe day of his accession. In chronological statements they were reckoned according to the years ofthe calendar, so that the commencement of a year of a reign coincided withthat of the civil year. If, moreover, the beginning of the year is placed inautumn, Tishri is the first, Chisleu the third, and Nisan the seventh month. The circumstances which induced Nehemiah not to apply to the king tillthree months after his reception of the tidings which so distressed him, arenot stated. It is probable that he himself required some time fordeliberation before he could come to a decision as to the best means ofremedying the distresses of Jerusalem; then, too, he may not haveventured at once to bring his request before the king from fear of meetingwith a refusal, and may therefore have waited till an opportunityfavourable to his desires should present itself. לפניו יין , "wine was before the king,"is a circumstantial clause explanatoryof what follows. The words allude to some banquet at which the king and queen werepresent. The last sentence, "And I have not been sad before him"( רע according to רעים פּניך of Neh 2:2, of a sadcountenance), can neither mean, I had never before been sad before him (deWette); nor, I was accustomed not to be sad before him; but, I had notbeen sad before him at the moment of presenting the cup to him(Bertheau), because it would not have been becoming to serve the kingwith a sad demeanour: comp. Est 4:2. The king, however, noticed hissadness, and inquired: "Why is thy countenance sad, since thou art notsick? this is nothing but sorrow of heart, i.e., thy sadness of countenancecan arise only from sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid;"becausethe unexpected question obliged him to explain the cause of his sorrow,and he could not tell how the king would view the matter, nor whether hewould favour his ardent desire to assist his fellow-countrymen in Judah.

Neh 2:3

He nevertheless openly expressed his desire, prefacing it by theaccustomed form of wishing the king prosperity, saying: "Let the king livefor ever;"comp. Dan 2:4; Dan 3:9. "Why should not my countenance be sad?for the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and its gatesare burned with dire."The question, Why ... ? means: I have certainlysufficient reason for sadness. The reason is, that ( אשׁר ) the citywhere are the graves of my fathers lieth waste.

Then the king, feeling interested, asked him: For what dost thou makerequest? על בּקּשׁ , to make request for or concerning athing, like Ezr 8:23; Est 4:8; Est 7:7. The question shows that the king wasinclined to relieve the distress of Jerusalem which had been just stated tohim. "And so I prayed to the God of heaven,"to ensure divine assistancein the request he was about to lay before the king. Then Nehemiahanswered (Neh 2:5), "If it please the king, and if thy servant is well-pleasingbefore thee, (I beg) that thou wouldest send me to Judah, to the city of myfathers' sepulchres, that I may build it." לפני ייטב ,here and Est 5:14, is of like meaning with בּעיני ייטב or טּוב , Est 8:5; 2Sa 18:4 : if thy servant is right in thine eyes,i.e., if he thinks rightly concerning the matter in question. The matter ofhis request is directly combined with this conditional clause by אשׁר , the connecting term, I beg, being easily supplied from the king'squestion: For what dost thou beg?

The king and the queen, who was sitting near him ( שׁגל , Psa 45:10), grant him permission to depart after he has, in answer to theirinquiry, fixed the period of his absence. Nehemiah makes the result of theconversation, "And it pleased the king,"etc., follow immediately upon thequestion of the king and queen: For how long shall thy journey be, andwhen wilt thou return? before telling us what was his answer to thisquestion, which is not brought in till afterwards, so that זמן לו ואתּנה must be understood as expressing: since I haddetermined the time.

Hereupon Nehemiah also requested from the king letters to the governorsbeyond (west of) the river (Euphrates), to allow him to travel unmolestedthrough their provinces to Judah ( לי יתּנוּ , let them giveme = let there be given me; העביר , to pass or travel through acountry, comp. Deu 3:20); and a letter to Asaph, the keeper (inspector)of the royal forests, to give him timber to make beams for the gates of thecitadel by the temple, and for the walls of the city, and for the governor'sown house. These requests were also granted. פּרדּס in Son 4:13; Ecc 2:5, signifies a park or orchard; it is a word of Aryan origin (inArmenian pardez , the garden round the house, in Greek παράδεισος ),and is explained either from the Sanscrit parta-dêça , a superior district, or(by Haug) from the Zend. pairi-daêza , a fenced-in place. In Old-Persian itprobably denoted the king's pleasure-grounds, and in our verse a royalwood or forest. Of the situation of this park nothing reliable can beascertained. As wood for extensive buildings was to be taken from it, thesycamore forest in the low plains, which had been the property of KingDavid (1Ch 27:28), and became, after the overthrow of the Davidicdynasty, first a Babylonian, and then a Persian possession, may beintended.

(Note: Older expositors supposed a regio a Libano ad Antilibanum protensa et arboribus amoenissimus consita to be meant. In this view,indeed, they followed Son 4:13, but incorrectly. Cler. thought it tobe a tractus terrarum in Judaea, qui Paradisus regius dicebatur . Josephusspeaks (Ant. viii. 7. 3) of fine gardens and ponds at Etham, sevenmiles south of Jerusalem, where Solomon often made pleasureexcursions. Hence Ewald ( Gesch . iv. p. 169, comp. iii. p. 328) thinksthat the פּרדּס which belonged to the king must have beenSolomon's old royal park at Aetham, which in the time of Nehemiahhad become a Persian domain, and that the hill town lying not far tothe west of it, and now called by the Arabs Fureidis, i.e., paradisaic,may have received its Hebrew name Beth-Kerem , i.e., house ofvineyards, from similar pleasure-grounds. Hereupon Bertheau groundsthe further conjecture, that "the whole district from Aetham to thehill of Paradise, situate about a league east-south-east of Aetham, mayfrom its nature have been once covered with forest; and no hesitationwould be felt in connecting the name of the mountain Gebel el-Fureidis or el-Feridis (Paradise-hill - hill which rises in a Pardes) withthe Pardes in question, if it could be proved that this name wasalready in existence in prae-Christian times."All these conjectures rest on very uncertain bases. The Dshebel Fureidis is also called the Hill of the Franks. See the description of itin Robinson's Palestine , ii. p. 392f., and Tobler, Topographie vonJerusalem , ii. pp. 565-572.)

לקרות , to timber, to overlay, to cover with beams (comp. 2Ch 34:11) the gates of the citadel which belongs to the house, i.e., tothe temple. This citadel - בּירה , in Greek Βᾶρις - by the temple ismentioned here for the first time; for in 1Ch 29:1, 1Ch 29:19, the whole templeis called בּירה . It was certainly situate on the same place whereHyrcanus I, son of Simon Maccabaeus, or the kings of the Asmonean race,built the akro'polis and called it Baris (Jos. Ant . xv. 11. 4, comp. withxviii. 4. 3). This was subsequently rebuilt by Herod when he repaired andenlarged the temple, and named Antonia, in honour of his friend MarkAntony. It was a citadel of considerable size, provided with corner towers,walls, chambers, and spacious courts, built on a north-western side of theexternal chambers of the temple, for the defence of that edifice, and did notextend the entire length of the north side of the present Haram , asRobinson (see Biblical Researches , p. 300) seeks to show; comp., on theother hand, Tobler, Topographic von Jerusalem , i. p. 688f., and Rosen, Haram von Jerusalem , p. 25f. וּלחומת is coordinate with לקרות : "and for the walls of the city;"the timber not being usedfor building the wall itself, but for the gates (Neh 3:3, Neh 3:6). "And for the house into which I come (to dwell)."This must beNehemiah's official residence as Pecha. For though it is not expresslystated in the present chapter that Nehemiah was appointed Pecha(governor) by Artaxerxes, yet Nehemiah himself tells us, Neh 5:14, that hehad been Pecha from the twentieth year of Artaxerxes. Former governorshad perhaps no official residence becoming their position. By לבּית the temple cannot, as older expositors thought, be intended. Thisrequest also was granted by the king, "according to the good hand of myGod upon me;"comp. rem. on Ezr 7:6.

Nehemiah delivered the letter when he came to the governors on this sideEuphrates. The king had also sent with him captains of the army andhorsemen. The second half of Neh 2:9 contains a supplementary remark, sothat ויּשׁלח must be expressed by the pluperfect. Ezra hadbeen ashamed to request a military escort from the Persian monarch (Ezr 8:22); but the king gave to the high dignitary called Pecha a guard ofsoldiers, who certainly remained with him in Jerusalem also for hisprotection (Ezr 4:17). Besides these, there were in his retinue his brethren, i.e.,either relations or fellow-countrymen, and servants, comp. Neh 4:10; Neh 5:10. That this retinue is not mentioned in the present verses, is owing to thefact that the journey itself is not further described, but only indirectlyalluded to.

When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite heard of hiscoming, it caused them great annoyance ( להם ירע isstrengthened by גּדולה רעה , as in Jon 4:1) that aman (as Nehemiah expresses himself ironically from their point of view)was come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. Sanballat is calledthe Horonite either after his birthplace or place of residence, yet certainlynot from Horonaim in Moab, as older expositors imagined (Isa 15:5; Jer 48:34), since he would then have been called a Moabite, but from eitherthe upper or nether Beth-horon, formerly belonging to the tribe ofEphraim (Jos 16:3, Jos 16:5; Jos 18:13), and therefore in the time of Nehemiahcertainly appertaining to the region of the Samaritans (Berth.). Tobiah theAmmonite is called העבד , the servant, probably as being aservant or official of the Persian king. These two individuals wereundoubtedly influential chiefs of the neighbouring hostile nations ofSamaritans and Ammonites, and sought by alliances with Jewish nobles(Neh 6:17; Neh 13:4, Neh 13:28) to frustrate, whether by force or stratagem, the effortsof Ezra and Nehemiah for the internal and external security of Judah. Nehemiah mentions thus early their annoyance at his arrival, by way ofhinting beforehand at their subsequent machinations to delay the fortifyingof Jerusalem.

Nehemiah's arrival at Jerusalem. He surveys the wall, and resolves torestore it . - Neh 2:11 Having arrived at Jerusalem and rested three days (asEzra had also done, Ezr 8:32), he arose in the night, and some few menwith him, to ride round the wall of the city, and get a notion of itscondition. His reason for taking but few men with him is given in thefollowing sentence: "I had told no man what my God had put in my heartto do for Jerusalem."Although he had come to Jerusalem with theresolution of fortifying the city by restoring its circumvallation, he spokeof this to no one until he had ascertained, by an inspection of the wall, themagnitude and extent of the work to be accomplished. For, being aware ofthe hostility of Sanballat and Tobiah, he desired to keep his intentionsecret until he felt certain of the possibility of carrying it into execution. Hence he made his survey of the wall by night, and took but few men withhim, and those on foot, for the sake of not exciting attention. The beast onwhich he rode was either a horse or a mule.

"And I went out by night by the valley-gate, and towards the dragon-well,and to the dung-gate." אל־פּני , in the direction towards. The dragon-wellonly occurs here by this name. Judging from its position between thevalley-gate and the dung-gate, it is either identical with the well of Gihon(Robinson, Palestine , ii. p. 166), whose waters supply the upper andlower pools in the valley of Gihon, the present Birket el Mamilla and Birket es Sultan , or situate in its immediate neighbourhood. The valley-gate is the modern gate of the city leading to the valley of Gihon, andsituated at or near the present Jaffa gate; see rem. on Neh 3:13. The dung-gate ( האשׁפּת שׁער ), which in Neh 3:13 also is placed nextthe valley-gate, and was a thousand cubits distant therefrom, must besought for on the south-western side of Zion, where a road, to the south of Nebi Dâûd and the Zion gate, now descends into the valley of Hinnom,towards Sûr Baher . "And I viewed the walls of Jerusalem which laybroken down, and its gates which were consumed by fire."The word שׁבר , which the lxx read, "I was breaking down,"gives notolerable sense; for it cannot mean, I broke through the walls, or, I made apath through the ruins. Many MSS, however, and several editions, offer שׂבר ; and R. Norzi informs us that D. Kimchi and Aben Ezra read שׁבר . שׂבר , of which only the Piel occurs in Hebrew, answers tothe Aramaean סבר , to look to something; and to the Arabic sbr , toinvestigate; and ב סבר means to look on, to consider, to direct the eyes andthoughts to some object. In the open מ of הם Hiller conjecturesthat there is a trace of another reading, perhaps מפרצים ; comp. Neh 1:3.

"And I went on to the fountain-gate, and to the king's pool, and there wasno room for the beast to come through under me."The very name of thefountain-or well-gate points to the foundation of Siloah (see rem. on Neh 3:15); hence it lay on the eastern declivity of Zion, but not in the districtor neighbourhood of the present Bâb el Mogharibeh , in which traditionfinds the ancient dung-gate, but much farther south, in the neighbourhoodof the pool of Siloah; see rem. on Neh 3:15. The King's pool is probably thesame which Josephus ( bell. Jud . v. 4. 2) calls Σολομῶνος κολυμβήθρα , and places east of the spring of Siloah, and which issupposed by Robinson ( Palestine , ii. pp. 149, 159) and Thenius ( dasvorexil. Jerus ., appendix to a commentary on the books of the Kings, p. 20) to be the present Fountain of the Virgin. Bertheau, however, on theother hand, rightly objects that the Fountain of the Virgin lying deep in therock, and now reached by a descent of thirty steps, could not properly bedesignated a pool. He tries rather to identify the King's pool with the outlet of a canalinvestigated by Tobler ( Topogr . i. p. 91f.), which the latter regards as aconduit for rain-water, fluid impurities, or even the blood of sacrificedanimals; but Bertheau as an aqueduct which, perhaps at the place where itsentrance is now found, once filled a pool, of which, indeed, no trace has asyet been discovered. But apart from the difficulty of calling the outlet of acanal a pool (Arnold in Herzog's Realencycl . xviii. p. 656), thecircumstance, that Tobler could find in neither of the above-describedcanals any trace of high antiquity, tells against this conjecture. Much moremay be said in favour of the view of E. G. Schultz ( Jerusalem , p. 58f.),that the half-choked-up pool near Ain Silwan may be the King's pool andSolomon's pool; for travellers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuriesmention a piscina grandis foras and natatoria Siloë at the mouth of thefountain of Siloah (comp. Leyrer in Herzog's Realencycl . xvi. p. 372). Seealso rem. on Neh 3:15. Here there was no room for the beast to getthrough, the road being choked up with the ruins of the walls that had beendestroyed, so that Nehemiah was obliged to dismount.

Then I (went on) ascending the valley and viewing the wall, and so enteredby the valley-gate, and returned. ואהי with the participleexpresses the continuance of an action, and hence in this place thecontinuous ascent of the valley and survey of the wall. The נחל which he ascended was doubtless the valley of Kidron ( קדרון נחל , 2Sa 20:23; 1Ki 2:37, and elsewhere). ואבוא ואשׁוּב are connected, שׁוּב expressingmerely the idea of repetition (Gesenius, heb. Gram . §142, 3): I came againinto the valley-gate. Older expositors incorrectly explain these words tomean, I turned round, traversing again the road by which I had come;Bertheau: I turned to go farther in a westerly direction, and after makingthe circuit of the entire city, I re-entered by the valley-gate. This sense iscorrect as to fact, but inadmissible, as requiring too much to complete it. Ifwe take אשׁוּב adverbially, these completions are unnecessary. Nehemiah does not give the particulars of the latter portion of his circuit,but merely tells us that after having ascended the valley of Kidron, he re-entered by the valley-gate, and returned to his residence, obviouslyassuming, that from the upper part of the vale of Kidron he could onlyreturn to the valley-gate at the west by passing along the northern part ofthe wall.

He had spoken to no one of his purpose (Neh 2:12); hence the rulers of thecity knew neither whither he was going nor what he was doing (i.e.,undertaking) when he rode by night out of the city gate accompanied by afew followers. As yet he had said nothing either to the Jews (the citizensof Jerusalem), the priests, the nobles, the rulers, or the rest who did thework. החרים and הסּגנים are connected, as in Ezr 9:2 השּׂרים and הסּגנים . The nobles ( חרים , nobiles ) or princes are the heads of the different houses or races of thepeople; סגנים , the rulers of the town, the authorities. המּלאכה עשׂה , the doers of the work, are the builders;comp. Ezr 3:9. When these are, in comparison with the priests, nobles,and rulers, designated as יתר , the remnant, this is explained by thefact that the priests and rulers of the people were not actively engaged inbuilding. המּלאכה , the work in question, i.e., here the buildingof the walls. כּן עד , until thus, i.e., until now, until thetime apparent from the context. Nehemiah then, having inspected thecondition of the ruined walls, and being now persuaded of the possibilityof restoring them, made known his resolution to the nobles, the rulers, andthe community, i.e., to a public assembly called together for this purpose(Neh 2:17). "Ye see (have before your eyes, know from experience) thedistress that we are in, that Jerusalem lieth waste: come ( לכוּ ), letus build up the walls of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach."Inother words: Let us by building our walls put an end to the miserablecondition which gives our adversaries occasion to reproach us.

To gain the favourable regard of the assembly for his design, he informsthem how God had so far prospered his undertaking: I told them of thehand of my God, that it = that the hand my God had graciously providedfor me, i.e., that God had so graciously arranged my journey to Jerusalem;and the king's words that he had spoken to me, sc. with respect to thebuilding of the wall, of which we are told Neh 2:8 only thus much, that theking gave orders to the keeper of the royal forest to give him wood forbuilding. Encouraged by this information, the assembly exclaimed, "Let usarise and build;"and "they strengthened their hands for good,"i.e., theyvigorously set about the good work.

When the adversaries of the Jews heard this, they derided their resolution. Beside Sanballat and Tobiah (comp. Neh 2:10), Geshem the Arabian is alsonamed as an adversary: so, too, Neh 6:1-2, and Neh 6:6, where Gashmu, thefuller pronunciation of his name, occurs. He was probably the chief ofsome Arab race dwelling in South Palestine, not far from Jerusalem (comp. the Arabians, Neh 6:1). These enemies ironically exclaimed: What is this thingthat ye do? will ye rebel against the king? The irony lies in the fact thatthey did not give the Jews credit for power to build fortifications, so as tobe able to rebel. Comp. Neh 6:6, where Sanballat, in an open letter toNehemiah, again reproaches them with rebellion.

Neh 2:20

Nehemiah replied with impressive gravity: "The God of heaven,He will prosper us, and we His servants will arise and build; but ye haveno portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem." צדקה like 2Sa 19:29. זכּרון , memorial; only members of thecongregation, who may hope to live in their descendants in Jerusalem, canbe said to have a memorial there.

I. THE FORTIFICATION OF JERUSALEM chs. 1--7

"The first seven chapters of Nehemiah as well as 12:31-13:31 are written in the first person. This, as well as all or part of Neh 11 and the rest of Neh 12, constitutes what is called the Nehemiah Memoirs. As such it offers an extensive look into the life and heart of an outstanding servant of God that is unique to the Old Testament."⁴

A. The Return under Nehemiah chs. 1-2

The focus of restoration activities in Nehemiah is on the walls of Jerusalem. In Ezra it was the altar of burnt offerings and especially the temple in Jerusalem.

"The orientation of Nehemiah is more civil and secular than that of Ezra, but it is also written from the priestly point of view."⁵

The walls of the city had lain in ruins since 586 B.C. Then Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had breached them, entered Jerusalem, burned the temple, carried most of the remaining Jews off to Babylon, and knocked the walls down. Consequently the few Jews who remained could not defend themselves (2 Kings 25:1-11). The returned exiles had attempted to rebuild the walls in or shortly after 458 B.C., but that project failed because of local opposition (Ezra 4:12, 23).

The returned exiles had received permission to return to their land and to reestablish their unique national institutions. Therefore they needed to rebuild the city walls to defend themselves against anyone who might want to interfere with and to interrupt their way of life.

3. The request of Nehemiah 2:1-8

Nehemiah prayed for four months about conditions in Jerusalem before he spoke to Artaxerxes about them (cf. 1:1; 2:1). Artaxerxes' reign began in the seventh Jewish month, Tishri (late September and early October), of 464 B.C.¹⁶ Therefore Nehemiah presented his request in late March or early April of 444 B.C.

Nehemiah was probably very fearful (v. 2) because Artaxerxes could have interpreted sadness in his presence as dissatisfaction with the king.¹⁷

"Persian works of art such as the great treasury reliefs from Persepolis indicate that those who came into the king's presence did so with great deference, placing the right hand with palm facing the mouth so as not to defile the king with one's own breath . . ."¹⁸

Nehemiah realized that the moment had arrived for him to ask Artaxerxes to revise his official policy toward Jerusalem (1:11; Ezra 4:21). This too could have incurred the king's displeasure.

Nehemiah's walk with God is evident in that he talked to God as he was conversing with the king (v. 4; cf. 1 Thes. 5:17). Verse 4 contains a very beautiful example of spontaneous prayer, one of the best in the Bible.

"One of the most striking characteristics of Nehemiah was his recourse to prayer (cf. 4:4, 9; 5:19; 6:9, 14; 13:14)."¹⁹

"Quick prayers are possible and valid if one has prayed sufficiently beforehand. In this case Nehemiah's prayer is evidence of a life lived in constant communion with God. Nehemiah had prayed for months, but he knew he was completely dependent on God's work in the king's heart at this moment."²⁰

God's working and our planning are not contradictory.

"Prayer is where planning starts."²¹

The text records that Nehemiah returned to Artaxerxes 12 years after the king had appointed him governor of Judah (5:14; 13:6). Nevertheless he may have also gone back sooner than that (v. 6).

One writer calculated the date of Artaxerxes' decree to rebuild Jerusalem as March 5, 444 B.C.²²

"This date marks the beginning of Daniel's Seventy Weeks (Dan. 9:24-27). Sixty-nine of those seventy weeks (173,880 days) were literally fulfilled when Jesus entered Jerusalem, presented Himself at His royal entry' as Israel's messiah, on March 30, A.D. 33. The prophecy of Daniel was fulfilled to the very day (cf. Luke 19:40-42). The seventieth week of Daniel, the Tribulation (cf. Matt. 24:4-28; Rev. 6-19), will find its fulfillment in the future."²³

The fortress by the temple (v. 8) was a citadel that stood just north of the temple. Its name in Hebrew was Birah (or in Greek, Baris). It was the forerunner of the Antonia Fortress that Herod the Great built and to which Luke referred in the Book of Acts (Acts 21:37; 22:24).²⁴

". . . there were good political reasons for Artaxerxes to grant Nehemiah's request. Inaros had led a revolt in Lower Egypt in the late 460s, aided and abetted by Athens. The Persians had largely squashed this rebellion by 455, but pockets of resistance held out in the delta marshes thereafter. Then, early in the 440s, Megabyxos had led a revolt in Syria, which was probably put down just before Nehemiah made his request. Also, just about 445 the Athenians negotiated the Peace of Kallias with the Persians and hostilities between the two powers ceased. At this point in time Artaxerxes certainly recognized that a stronger Judah populated by loyal Jews would help to bring greater stability to Syria and would provide a bulwark on the border with Egypt."²⁵

4. The return to Jerusalem 2:9-20

Because of the opposition of the Jews' neighbors, Artaxerxes sent a military escort to accompany Nehemiah to Jerusalem (v. 9). It is not certain how many Jews travelled with Nehemiah on this occasion. The writer gave us no numbers.

Sanballat may have originated in Horonaim in Moab, but he seems more likely to have come from one of the Beth-horons (Upper or Lower) located just a few miles northwest of Jerusalem (cf. Josh. 10:10-11).²⁶ The Elephantine papyri (ca. 400 B.C.) name him as the governor of Samaria, which he may have been then or after this event took place.²⁷ There was evidently a series of governors of Samaria named Sanballat.²⁸ Tobiah seems to have been a Jew--his name means "Yahweh is good"--who had attained a position similar to that of Sanballat in Ammon, east of Judah, under the Persians.²⁹ Scholars have traced nine generations of his influential family.³⁰

Probably Nehemiah wanted to survey the damage to the walls secretly (v. 12) because, had Israel's enemies observed him, they might have stirred up the people of the land to riot against him.

"He wished to lay his plans without any possibility of leakage to the enemy before their execution began, and then to let the execution be so swift that the work would be finished before they could successfully appeal to the king against it once more."³¹

Perhaps Nehemiah only surveyed the southern parts of Jerusalem's wall because those were the only sections still standing.

"Jerusalem was always attacked where she was most vulnerable, from the north; thus there was little preserved in that direction."³²

Another reason for Nehemiah's secrecy was probably that he wanted to formulate a plan before the Jews could marshal arguments why they could not rebuild the walls (v. 16). When he did present his ideas (vv. 17-18), the people responded positively. This is one evidence of Nehemiah's wisdom as a leader.

"There is evidence that Geshem [v. 19] (cf. 6:1ff.), far from being a negligible alien, was an even more powerful figure than his companions, though probably less earnestly committed to their cause. . . . From other sources it emerges that Geshem and his son ruled a league of Arabian tribes which took control of Moab and Edom (Judah's neighbors to the east and south) together with part of Arabia and the approaches to Egypt, under the Persian empire."³³

Nehemiah continued the policy of not allowing the people of the land to help rebuild Jerusalem that Zerubbabel had begun (v. 20; cf. Ezra 4:3). He also continued to trust in God's enabling power primarily rather than in his own ability (v. 20; cf. John 15:5).

"Nehemiah was clearly a shaker, a mover, and a doer."³⁴

Donald K. Campbell identified 21 principles of effective leadership that Nehemiah demonstrated in chapter 2.

"He established a reasonable and attainable goal

He had a sense of mission

He was willing to get involved

He rearranged his priorities in order to accomplish his goal

He patiently waited for God's timing

He showed respect to his superior

He prayed at crucial times

He made his request with tact and graciousness

He was well prepared and thought of his needs in advance

He went through proper channels

He took time (three days) to rest, pray, and plan

He investigated the situation firsthand

He informed others only after he knew the size of the problem

He identified himself as one with the people

He set before them a reasonable and attainable goal

He assured them God was in the project

He displayed self-confidence in facing obstacles

He displayed God's confidence in facing obstacles

He did not argue with opponents

He was not discouraged by opposition

He courageously used the authority of his position."³⁵

Nehemiah 2 - Nehemiah's Commission

A. Nehemiah the cupbearer.

1. (1-2) Nehemiah stands before the king.

And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. Therefore the king said to me, "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart." So I became dreadfully afraid,

a. I took the wine and gave it to the king: The last verse of Nehemiah 1 told us that Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer - a significant position in any ancient royal court. The cupbearer was a personal bodyguard to the king, being the one who tasted wine and food before the king did - making certain no one could poison the king.

i. "The cupbearer was a high official in the royal household, whose basic duty of choosing and tasting the wine to demonstrate that it was not poisoned, and of presenting it to the king, gave him frequent access to the king's presence and made him potentially a man of influence." (Kidner)

ii. The king, therefore, had to have a tremendous amount of trust in his cupbearer, who had to be a man of faithful and impressive character. If the cupbearer could be turned against the king, assassination would be easy.

iii. The cupbearer also was a servant to the king; he was responsible for choosing most of the foods and wines the king and the court would enjoy.

iv. The cupbearer was also a trusted advisor to the king; since he was constantly in the king's presence, and greatly trusted, and a man of character, it was natural the cupbearer would often be asked his opinion on different matters coming before the king.

b. In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes: As Nehemiah gave wine to the king, care was given to note the specific day the events in Nehemiah 2 began.

i. Why was it so important for God to tell the date these things happened? First, to show that Nehemiah prayed and waited for four months with the kind of heart described previously in Nehemiah 1. During those four month, Nehemiah's prayer was likely "LORD, either take this burden from my heart or show me how to be the man to answer this burden."

ii. The date is also important, because it establishes the date given to restore Jerusalem and its walls. Daniel 9:25 says that exactly 173,880 days from this day - which was March 14, 445 B.C. - Messiah the prince would be presented to Israel. Sir Robert Anderson, the eminent British astronomer and mathematician, makes a strong case that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy exactly, to the day, entering Jerusalem on April 6, 32 A.D., precisely 173,880 days from Nehemiah 2:1.

c. I had never been sad in his presence before: On that particular day, Nehemiah noted that he had never been sad or depressed in the presence of the king, and on this day when the king took notice, Nehemiah became dreadfully afraid. As was true in the courts of many ancient kings, it was forbidden to be sad in the presence of the king. The idea was that the king was such a wonderful person that merely being in his presence was supposed to make you forget all of your problems. When Nehemiah looked sad, it could have been taken as a terrible insult to the king.

i. When the king said "This is nothing but sorrow of heart," Nehemiah knew the king had noticed his sadness, and that the king took it seriously. Nehemiah must have wondered if the next words from the king would be, "Off with his head!"

ii. Nehemiah was also afraid because he knew that he was going to the king for something very important. There was a lot riding on what was going to happen in response to this question.

iii. Nehemiah understood it was not his place to change the king's heart. He prayed and left it up to the LORD, instead of dropping hints and trying to manipulate the situation. Then one day, four months later, the king's heart was different. Are we making the mistake of trying to change someone else's heart, instead of leaving it up to the LORD to do it?

2. (3) Nehemiah's response.

And said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?"

a. May the king live forever! Nehemiah had probably said this many times before. This was probably almost a motto among professional cupbearers; since they tasted the wine and food before the king did, they naturally wished the king a good long life.

b. The city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire: With this, Nehemiah explained why he was sad. Jerusalem was a destroyed, disgraced city.

i. No one had to tell the king this was a disgraceful state of affairs; he would immediate sympathize with Nehemiah's concern for the dignity, safety, and well-being of his people.

ii. We see also Nehemiah's great tact and wisdom, because he tells of his concern without specifically mentioning the name of the city. The king would naturally have a bad association with the name "Jerusalem," knowing from history it was a city rebellious against the Persians and resistant to their rule. Nehemiah gets the sympathy of the king on his side before he reveals the city!

c. Why should my face not be sad: Nehemiah's answer was not only wise, it was honest. Often, when are we visibly depressed or troubled, and when someone asks us about it, we simply reply "Nothing's wrong!" or "Oh, I'm O.K." At those times, we aren't honest.

i. Many people are troubled by this dilemma. No one wants to be a whiner, boring others with our problems when the other person may only be asking out of common courtesy. On the other hand, we know the tremendous value there can be in sharing our concerns with someone else who can pray with us and perhaps share some wisdom from the Bible.

ii. One way to live in this kind of honesty is to seek out others whom we know and trust, and sharing with them our struggles and needs. But if we don't know a person well enough to feel confident sharing our personal life, we can still ask them to pray for us in general. They don't need to know all the details to pray, because God knows all the details. Also, when someone asks if we are troubled, we can be open to the idea that this person is special gift to us at this time.

iii. However, we must avoid two traps. First, we must avoid "shopping" for advice - asking many people, telling all of them our problems until we find the advice we want. Second, we must be especially careful of talking to others in a way that puts the problem on other people - people who aren't there to give their side of the story. Nehemiah didn't say to the king, "I'm sad because those incompetents in Jerusalem have had 100 years to build the walls and they haven't done anything. They are a bunch of hardened, uncaring, worthless people." He described the problem without putting anyone else to blame. When we fail to do this, there's a word for it: gossip.

iv. When we are the person whom others ask for prayer or whom others come to for help, it is helpful to guard against the temptation to know every detail of the problem. Of course it is interesting to hear the details of others problems, but we do not need to know all the fine points. Our prayer is still valuable if we don't know all the details. We are not less able to lead them to Jesus for His loving care. Some things need to be talked out more than others, but sometimes we want the other person to talk it out more for us than for them.

3. (4-8) Nehemiah's request.

Then the king said to me, "What do you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it." Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), "How long will your journey be? And when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. Furthermore I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy." And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.

a. What do you request? Right away, Nehemiah knew God gave him favor with the king. His response wasn't "Off with his head!" but "What can I do to help?" Nehemiah knew that four months of prayer were answered.

b. So I prayed to the God of heaven: Knowing his prayer had been answered, Nehemiah prayed again. This was not a long, extended prayer (he could have said, "Well king, let me pray about it for a few days and then I'll get back to you"). Instead, this was an immediate, silent, "Help me LORD!" prayer. Nehemiah knew this was an incredible opportunity, and he did not want to miss the chance.

i. It is wonderful to labor long in prayer; but prayer does not have to be long to be effective. This is especially true when the situation will not allow a long prayer.

c. I ask that you send me to Judah: Nehemiah again showed great wisdom as he respectfully asked for a leave of absence and to be sent (you send me) by the king. He asked the king to share his concern for Jerusalem and to become a partner in getting the city and its people back where they should be.

i. Nehemiah's vision was also revealed: that I may rebuild it. That was a huge job and a big goal. Nehemiah isn't going on a mere fact-finding expedition, or to tell the leaders of Jerusalem what a bad job they were doing. He goes to get the work done, trusting in God all the way!

ii. Again, Nehemiah shows wisdom by referring to Jerusalem without specifically mentioning the city (send me to Judah, to the city of my father's tombs). Although, we can also say that Nehemiah is not being deceptive. Though Jerusalem might have historically been a rebellious city to Persia, it isn't any longer - and will not be.

d. It pleased the king to send me: Nehemiah's sympathetic heart, his months of prayer, his moment of prayer, his great faith, his big vision, and his wise responses were all answered positively. The king was enthusiastic about supporting Nehemiah in this venture.

e. I set him a time: As a capable leader, Nehemiah clearly had a plan. The four months in prayer were not only spent in talking to God, but also in listening to Him and in working out a Spirit-led plan for what to do when God did open the door.

i. Nehemiah knew how long he would need to be gone (I set him a time). He knew he would need letters of safe passage from the king (let letters be given to me). He knew what kind of materials would be needed (timber). He knew what work needed to be done (the gates of the citadel . . . the city wall . . . the house I will occupy). Nehemiah knew all of this without ever having seen for himself the condition of Jerusalem before! Nehemiah knew the needs by carefully and patiently seeking God.

ii. Nehemiah had a plan, and God always works through a plan. The LORD our God is a planning God: The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. (Psalm 33:11). From the beginning of the plan of salvation in eternity past, God has a plan and is working it out.

iii. Sometimes it may seem that God blesses a lack of planning, and sometimes it seems God does a blessed work completely different from what we have planned. But in every case, God works through planning - if not our planning, then His planning. But as a general principle, God wants to train us up into the work of being planners, just as He is a planner.

iv. The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty. (Proverbs 21:5) Faith is no substitute for planning. We aren't more spiritual for failing to plan and for shooting from the hip. There may be sometimes when we simply can't plan, but we should never reject planning.

f. He must give me timber: Nehemiah was also a bold man, not afraid to ask others to help when he knew they had the resources to help. Once the king was willing to be a part of Nehemiah's goal (it pleased the king to send me), he went right on to ask for an official seal of approval on the project (letters . . . for the governors) and for the king to finance the project (that he must give me timber).

i. Nehemiah didn't ask because he wanted to take advantage of the king. Instead, he showed honor and respect to the king by inviting him to participate in a worthy work. He knew the king was able to provide these things; he sensed the king's heart was willing, and so he shows the king how he can do what his willing heart wants to do!

g. And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me: Though this was a pagan king, Nehemiah still understood that God could work through him in a mighty way. God can provide for our needs in totally unexpected or unlikely ways.

B. Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem.

1. (9-10) Arrival and opposition.

Then I went to the governors in the region beyond the River, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.

a. Then I went: This is another example of Nehemiah's godly leadership. He actually went - he traveled the 800 miles from Persia to Jerusalem to do the work of rebuilding the walls and the people.

i. Many people have a heart touched like Nehemiah's. They may also have the heart for prayer, the wisdom, the vision, the plan and the faith of a Nehemiah - but they stop short of actually going out and doing what needs to be done for the goal to become a reality.

ii. Sometimes we substitute talking about something for actually doing it. It is one think to stand around with other believers and talk about doing some evangelism; praying about it, planning it, talking about it - it is another thing to actually go out and do it. God is in the doing of the thing.

iii. Our spiritual enemies don't mind as long as all we do is plan and pray and talk; but when God's people start doing something, they take notice.

b. Beyond the River: This means "beyond the Euphrates River," an important landmark that separated one region from another. Once a traveler crossed the river, they were on the road to the region of Judea and the city of Jerusalem. At this point Nehemiah spoke to the governors of this region who ruled under the Persians.

c. Gave them the king's letters: Nehemiah came prepared. He had letters showing he was truly sent by the king. He had captains of the army and horsemen with him. He also had substantial supplies of lumber from the king's forest. Truly, the king of Persia had responded to Nehemiah's invitation to become a partner in the work of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

d. Sanballat the Horonite . . . Tobiah the Ammonite: At the governor's station, Nehemiah met these two enemies of Jerusalem and anyone who cared for the welfare of the city. They were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.

i. These two cared nothing as long as Jerusalem was weak and vulnerable; even though the temple was there, and worship conducted, that was fine - as long as the people of God were not strong, secure, and free from stress.

ii. Notice when this opposition came: not at the heart stage, not at the vision stage, not at the prayer stage, not at the planning stage, but when progress came in doing something.

iii. Some people fear ever stepping out for the LORD, because they know opposition will come. They somehow think their life will be better or easier if they stay in their low, mediocre state before God. What deception! A better life from holding back for Jesus Christ? Tough times are going to come anyway; but when we are growing and stepping forth in the Lord, we are far more equipped to deal with them.

2. (11-16) Nehemiah makes a secret tour of Jerusalem and her walls.

So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode. And I went out by night through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and the Refuse Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass. So I went up in the night by the valley, and viewed the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the others who did the work.

a. So I came to Jerusalem: After being in Jerusalem three days, Nehemiah still did not tell anyone why he is there and what God has put on his heart: I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem.

i. When Nehemiah entered Jerusalem with a military escort and lumber from the king of Persia's forest, people would notice him - but he didn't say anything about his mission until the time was right. Good leaders learn a sense of God's timing.

ii. Nehemiah came to Jerusalem, full of heart, full of prayer, full of faith, full of wisdom, full of a big vision, full of support from the king, and finally gets to his destination - and he did nothing for three days.

iii. I told no one: "It is good to have Christian friends, but it is dangerous to wear your heart on your sleeve. Have a secret place somewhere which nobody knows anything about but you and God." (Redpath).

iv. "You will often find it best not to commit your plans to others. If you want to serve God, go and do it, and then let other people find it out afterwards. You have no need to tell what you are going to do, and, I may add, there is no need for you retelling what you have done, for very, very frequently God withdraws himself when we boast of what is being done." (Spurgeon).

b. I went out by night through the Valley Gate: It seems that Nehemiah set out from the west side of the city, and turned left towards the south, continuing counter-clockwise around the rubble of the city walls, until coming back to his starting point.

c. And viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire: Nehemiah wasn't just sightseeing. Instead, he carefully studied the broken down walls and the burned gates. The word viewed in Nehemiah 2:13 and 2:15 is a medical term for "probing a wound to see the extent of its damage."

i. For the first time, Nehemiah saw with his eyes what had been reported to him, and what God had called him to repair. There is no way he could have made this tour with a dry eye, knowing the extent of the damage and the fear, poverty, and insecurity the broken walls meant in the lives of the people.

d. The walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire: Nehemiah knew the job of rebuilding the walls couldn't go forth unless he saw exactly how bad the situation was.

i. Nehemiah could have focused on all that was right with Jerusalem. They were back in Judah and, the forced exile was over. The temple was built. Sacrifice and worship were conducted. Progress was being made, slow as it was. There was much to be thankful for in Jerusalem - but sometimes, one must look at what is wrong, and that is what Nehemiah did.

ii. We deceive ourselves if we only look to what is good. Some have no trouble with this; they always find it easy to see what is wrong. They are full of criticism. They believe they have the unique spiritual gift of pointing out what is wrong. But Nehemiah teaches us by example - we must look at the broken down towers, and carefully study what is wrong - but only if we have the heart, the prayer, the vision, the passion to be used of God to set it right. There is little use in the Kingdom of God for sideline critics, back seat drivers, and Monday morning quarterbacks.

iii. But with the right hearts - hearts ready to act - we have to take an honest look. "It is utter folly to refuse to believe that things are as bad as they really are. It is vital in any undertaking for God to know the worst, for whenever there is to be a wonderful movement of the Holy Spirit, it begins with someone like Nehemiah who was bold enough to look at facts, to diagnose them, and then to rise to the task." (Redpath)

iv. When we look at other Christians around us, we see that many are strong, joyful, growing, in their relationship with Jesus Christ. Many have victory over sin and we are thankful for that. But you can also see the figurative walls in their life and see some broken down portions. Some among us are desperately hurting or are trapped in a cycle of sin and want to get out, but don't know how to ask for help. Some feel like they are on the outside looking in. Some respect God, but haven't yet given their lives to Jesus Christ. God can, and will, build up all the broken down portions of these figurative walls.

v. When we take a look at our children, we know that we love them and we care for them. But when we look at them honestly we see their weaknesses of character and the areas where they fall short. We soberly consider what will become of them if those weaknesses dominate their entire personality. We consider what will happen if they grow up rejecting Jesus, and of their future ruin unless God uses us to train and nurture their character.

vi. In the same way, when we look at our business, our relationships, our friendships, we should take an honest look, and not only look at what is pretty.

vii. When we look at the church, we love the church and are thankful for what God does here. But when we look honestly, we are probably not satisfied with the impact we have made on this community. We cannot say that it is enough or that there should not be far more. We think of the financial support and the outreach and the spread of the Word of God through the church, and yet know that it could be more and that the ministry could go out further and broader.

viii. If someone took a tour of your life the same way Nehemiah took a tour of Jerusalem they might notice many broken down portions in the figurative walls of your life. Proverbs 25:28 says: Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls. Many lives are like a city with broken walls - living with a constant sense of fear, poverty, and insecurity. We should not hide our eyes from these broken down places; God wants to change them, and make the first steps of change right away.

e. The walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire: As much as anything, Nehemiah took time to count the cost before starting the work. He has a heart, he has faith, he has a vision - but before that vision can become a reality, he has to see exactly what has to be done, and what it will cost - in terms of time, effort, money, and leadership.

3. (17-18) Nehemiah meets with the leaders of Jerusalem.

Then I said to them, "You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach." And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. So they said, "Let us rise up and build." Then they set their hands to this good work.

a. You see the distress that we are in: The citizens and leaders of Jerusalem were not sitting around waiting for a superman to come along and rebuild their walls. In all probability, they had come to accept that it was an impossible job. It seemed that no one could fix a 100 year-old problem. Years ago, when someone tried, enemies simply stopped them. So they lived with it.

b. Then I said to them: Now, when Nehemiah came and explained his vision for the rebuilding of the walls to the leaders of the city, there was a tremendous amount of importance attached to the meeting. Nehemiah could not do the job by himself, and he was in a lot of trouble if leaders didn't support him.

i. No doubt this was something Nehemiah prayed about a lot. He might have prayed something like this, "O LORD, prepare the hearts of the leaders of Jerusalem to support this work You have called me to. Let them see I do not come condemning or criticizing them, only to help. Give me the right words to say, and speak to them ahead of time about this work You have called me to."

c. The distress that we are in: Nehemiah wisely approached the leaders of Jerusalem. He had to. In the accomplishment of any vision or goal - or at least of a God-sized vision or goal, there will be certain people essential to accomplishing the goal - you must have their help. Nehemiah's wise approach gives us an example to follow.

· Wisely, Nehemiah asked them to notice the obvious: You see the distress; sometimes, the obvious is the hardest to see.

· Wisely, Nehemiah did not come as if he was there to fix their problem: the distress that we are in. Nehemiah owned the problem as his also, even though he might not have. Nehemiah didn't play the blame game. He didn't criticize the leaders of Jerusalem. He simply identified right along with them regarding the problem.

· Wisely, Nehemiah asked for their partnership: Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem. Nehemiah figured if God could move upon the heart of a pagan king to partner in this work, He certainly could move upon the hearts of His own people to join in! Nehemiah wasn't there to do it for them, but to partner with them in the job of restoring Jerusalem and its people.

· Wisely, Nehemiah pointed them to the result: that we may no longer be a reproach. This wasn't really about bricks and mortar; it was about removing a condition of shame, fear, poverty, and insecurity among God's people. The hard work involving bricks and mortar would be worth it, because it would have real spiritual impact in both individuals and the community. When David saw Goliath and was outraged that this monster was casting disgrace on the people of God, he simply said, "Is there not a cause?" (1 Samuel 17:29). Everyone else was self-focused and figuring the odds, and David said, "let's get the job done. I'm willing for God to use me to do it."

· Wisely, Nehemiah encouraged them in the LORD: I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me. Nehemiah assured the leaders this wasn't his project, it was God's project. If people sense your vision is really all about you, and raising you up, and making you great, they will rightly be hesitant. But if it is from God, and they can see it, they will be thrilled to partner with you.

· Wisely, Nehemiah gave them confidence by telling of what God had already done: I told them . . . of the king's words that he had spoken to me. Nehemiah could say, "Look, you can know this is of God; the heart of the king of Persia has been touched by the Lord to support this project!" If something has God's fingerprints on it, people will want to support it; if it has only man's fingerprints on it, they will rightly hesitate.

d. And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me: We also notice what Nehemiah didn't do; he didn't beg or make deals. Nehemiah had a high calling from God, and asked others to be part of that vision, but he never stopped treating it like a high calling. He wasn't going to be a carnival barker trying to manipulate people into knocking over milk bottles even when they really didn't want to do it.

i. Nehemiah didn't offer rewards, incentives, or vacations out at the Sea of Galilee for the ones who got the job done. Those are all external motivations, and aren't God's highest calling. Nehemiah simply said, "Let's stop kidding around. We know there's a job to be done, and God is leading us to get it done now." He relied on the LORD and the leaders to create a true inward motivation. External motivation - manipulation, guilt, pressure, carnal rewards can work for a while, but are never a part of God's vision for getting things done.

e. Let us rise up and build: This response of the leaders of Jerusalem was of God. They said, "Yes, Nehemiah, we're with you!" This was all the more remarkable considering the ways they might have responded - ways we might respond when we are challenged to partner in a work.

They might have denied the need for the walls. "You know, we have gotten along without those walls for a hundred years now! After all, we already have the temple!" But we want to do far more than simply "get along." God has more for us, and now is the time to enter in.

They might have seen the project as too much work. "Well Nehemiah, it's a fine work, and we hope it goes well for you. Don't think we can help you now." But we are willing to pay the price for something that is truly of God.

They might have seen the opposition as too strong. "Nehemiah, why even start? We tried before and our enemies stopped us. It will just happen again." But we have more faith than that.

f. Then they set their hands to do this good work: This shows God's hand at work here. Nehemiah's heart, his prayer, his boldness, his big vision, his action, and his wisdom, were all rewarded. This was a God-inspired thing; God moved the hearts of the leaders to do this.

i. We know that Nehemiah was a great leader because people followed him. The people he was meant to lead were genuinely influenced by his leadership.

4. (19) The opposition rises in response to the work of God.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, "What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?"

a. But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it: Things had been going extraordinarily well, so we are not surprised that opposition came up again. Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official both came to oppose the work.

i. Spiritual opposition to the work God wants to accomplish is a reality many Christians fail to take account of, and are thus defeated in what God would what them to do.

ii. The Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, took on humanity to experience spiritual warfare even as you do; He knows what it is to be under attack, how to break through to victory, and so He knows how to lead His people to victory.

b. Sanballat . . . Tobiah: These two first surfaced in Nehemiah 2:10; they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel. They had previously made their opinion known; now they will seek to do something about the progress Nehemiah is making.

i. Tobiah (a Jewish name) was a man of influence, being associated with the high priest's family, and getting help from the priests (Nehemiah 13:4). "Tobiah" was a prominent name in priestly families for generations to come. The name "Tobiah" means "Yahweh is good" - a strange name for a man who was an opponent of the work of God.

ii. Sanballat was connected by marriage to priestly families (Nehemiah 13:28). An ancient document from this period refers to Sanballat as "governor of Samaria." (Kidner)

iii. These men were Jews - were fellow brothers - of Nehemiah and the citizens of Jerusalem. We might have thought they would have supported his work, but they do not. Opposition is always difficult; but when it comes from brothers, it is then mixed with the pain of betrayal as well.

iv. The Bible makes it clear we have enemies and opponents also, but chiefly they are spiritual enemies: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against . . . spiritual armies of wickedness in heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). However, we also realize that attacks from spiritual enemies can come through flesh-and-blood people (Matthew 16:23). We can experience spiritual attack on a direct inward level from spiritual enemies, or through people who are, wittingly or unwittingly, being used as tools by our spiritual enemies.

c. They laughed us to scorn: Sanballat and Tobiah used scorn in their attack. They wanted Nehemiah to feel mocked, stupid, and foolish. They laughed us to scorn shows that they showed their spite (and despised us) with a humorous edge.

i. This scorn may come to us in an inward feeling ("Who am I trying to kid? I must be some kind of fool!"). Or it may come through the words of those who, if they know it or not, are being used by our spiritual enemies.

ii. Many are turned away from God's will because they experience or fear scorn. Men who were not afraid of death have been manipulated because they did not want to be laughed at. It seems that sooner or later, God will allow every Christian to be tested at this point; as to whom they regard more, man or God. We must never be more concerned about what people may say about us than what God requires of us.

iii. The way that Sanballat and Tobiah used laughter and scorn as weapons against the work of God should also make us reflect on our own use of humor. Some Christians who are otherwise well-meaning are tools of the enemy, all for the sake of a few laughs.

d. Will you rebel against the king? This shows that Sanballat and Tobiah had a low view of God's authority. Their question showed that they figured the king of Persia was the highest authority in the land.

i. First, they were completely ignorant. They didn't know what they spoke about. The king had given permission, even if they didn't know it. The king was partner in the work. Many times, those who are being used by our spiritual enemies against us simply don't know what they are talking about.

ii. Second, they were not concerned with God's authority. Really, it did not matter if the King of Persia was against this work, if the God of heaven and earth was for it. One with God makes a majority. Nehemiah could have turned the question back on them: Will you rebel against the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?

5. (20) Nehemiah's answer to his opponents.

So I answered them, and said to them, "The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem."

a. So I answered them: Nehemiah ignored their scorn. His bold, straightforward words showed he had not been put on the defensive by their mocking, scornful attack.

i. When faced with the choice of pleasing man or pleasing God, Nehemiah knew exactly what he would do. Let them mock - he would serve the LORD.

b. And said to them: Nehemiah did not give a point-by-point reply. He did not show the document proving the king's support of the project. If he did, Sanballat and Tobiah would have just claimed it was a forgery, or would have come up with another objection. Nehemiah knew that hearts that refuse to be convinced will never be convinced.

c. The God of heaven Himself will prosper us: Nehemiah instead proclaimed his confidence in God. "It doesn't matter if you are against us. God's work will succeed."

i. Nehemiah didn't put the work on hold while a crisis response team figured out the best way to answer Sanballat and Tobiah. He wasn't going to let them sidetrack him. He had a work to do and he was going to do it. If you allow your enemies to get you to stop what you should be doing and give all your attention to them, then your enemies have won.

ii. There is a touch of holy boldness in Nehemiah's response. "Go ahead and take your best shot. It won't work. God is with us. He isn't with you. You will fail. We will prosper under the hand of the God of heaven!"

d. We His servants . . . will arise and build: Nehemiah proclaimed who he was and what he would do.

i. Nehemiah and his followers were servants of God. Sanballat and Tobiah felt confident because they were servants of the king; but Nehemiah is a servant of God.

ii. Nehemiah and his followers had a job to do. Not for a moment did he say, "Gee, maybe this isn't God's will!" They had agreed to rise up and build (Nehemiah 2:18), and they will do it.

iii. In facing our enemies, we must always keep focus on who we are and what we should do. Failure to see these will always lead to defeat. These are exactly the things our spiritual enemies want us to forget! And sometimes, you just have to proclaim it!

e. You have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem: Nehemiah proclaimed the truth about his enemies. They may have been Jews by birth; they may have been legal citizens of Jerusalem; they may have owned property in the city. But their hearts showed they had no heritage or right or memorial in God's city.

i. Nehemiah sized these two up more quickly than we often do. He knew they weren't for him or for Jerusalem, or for God at all - though they may have claimed to be. It was as if Nehemiah said, "You don't belong here. God's doing a great work here, and you don't want to be part of it. Just move on."

ii. We can say they same to our spiritual enemies: "You have no heritage or right or memorial in me. I belong to Jesus Christ. You don't belong here. You may as well move on because I'm not going anywhere."

iii. This opposition did not immediately melt away. We often wish that if we did everything right as Nehemiah did here, then the opposition would just go away. But it didn't. These two opposed the work all they way until it was finished. But they didn't stop it. God's work got done, and they were proved completely wrong.

© 2006 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission