The Jews Loved Babylon
After the first and second expeditions of the Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem, there were still many Jews left in the Persian empire, East of the Euphrates River. At the time Nehemiah left Babylon, it was already 161 years since Nebuchadnezzar had taken Jerusalem captive. Many Jews did not even want to leave the home in which they, their parents and grandparents had been born.
It was in that time frame that Nehemiah heard distressing news about the Jews who had returned to their fatherland. What he heard was this, The remnant left of the captivity there in the province (Judea) is in great affliction and shame. And the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire. Neh 1:3. While we were studying the book of Ezra we read these words, Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building. And they hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose. Ezra 4:4-5. By the time Nehemiah came on the scene, they had done much worse. The had broken down the walls of Jerusalem and burned its gates.
When Nehemiah heard this he wept, mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of Heaven. Nehemiah 1:4. It is a beautiful, lengthy prayer, well worth reading again and again until Nehemiah's contrition sinks into our own souls. 1:5-11.
In the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer. The cupbearer ... 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. Gills Commentary.
While Nehemiah was performing his duties the king realized that Nehemiah was sad. The king said to me, Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was very much afraid. 2:2. It was strictly against the law, under the penalty of death, for anyone to appear sad in the king's presence.
In the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer. The cupbearer ... 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. Gills Commentary.
While Nehemiah was performing his duties the king realized that Nehemiah was sad. The king said to me, Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was very much afraid. 2:2. It was strictly against the law, under the penalty of death, for anyone to appear sad in the king's presence.
Note these two extreme opposite opinions. Artaxerxes was an absolute despot, surrounded with the semi-divine honours that Orientals associate with the regal state. Exp. Bible Commentary.
Though weak as a king, as a man he was kind-hearted and gentle. Few Persian monarchs would have been sufficiently interested in their attendants to notice whether they were sad or no; fewer still would have shown sympathy on such an occasion. A Xerxes (some do not accept that Xerxes is the same man as Artaxerxes) might have ordered the culprit to instant execution. Longimanus (Artaxerxes) feels compassion, and wishes to assuage the grief of his servant. Pulpit Commentary.
In response to the king, Nehemiah replied, Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire? 2:3. The king asked, What are you asking for?
Nehemiah's Prayer
So I prayed to the God of Heaven, 1:4. The thing especially interesting in this verse is that Nehemiah prayed! He did not count the beads on a rosary; he did not find it necessary to kneel to pray; he did not fold his hands to pray. He was so in touch with Jehovah that an instantaneous prayer at that moment needed no ritual.
Immediately after that prayer, Nehemiah said, If it please the king ... I pray that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, so that I may build it. 2:5.
How long will you be gone, the king wanted to know. Nehemiah gave him a time frame; he asked for a few months, but with the king's permission he actually stayed for twelve years. After which he returned to Babylon and soon asked for permission to return to Jerusalem. The king sent letters which would assure Nehemiah safe conduct to Judah.
Nehemiah carried another letter, addressed to Asaph. Asaph was the keeper of the king's forest. 2:8. The Hebrew word used is one not applicable to a natural forest, but only to a park, or pleasure-ground planted with trees, and surrounded by a fence or wall. The Hebrew word is pardes, the word from which we get "paradise". We must understand a royal park in the vicinity of Jerusalem, of which a Jew, Asaph, was the keeper. Pulpit Commentary. So Asaph was duty bound, by the king's command, to cut trees out of "the paradise" to rebuild the walls and the gates of Jerusalem.
Nehemiah did not face that journey alone. The king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard. And it grieved them very much that there had come a man to seek the good of the sons of Israel. 2:9-10. According to Josephus, Sanballat was "satrap of Samaria". Pulpit commentary. We learned earlier that the Samaritans had an inward hatred for the Jews and vice versa.
Under Nehemiah's leadership, the people of Judah again started rebuilding their "holy city".
Chapter 9 of the Book of Nehemiah is a "read-worthy" recap of the history of Israel from the time of Abram to the resettling of Judah after the Babylonian captivity.
How long will you be gone, the king wanted to know. Nehemiah gave him a time frame; he asked for a few months, but with the king's permission he actually stayed for twelve years. After which he returned to Babylon and soon asked for permission to return to Jerusalem. The king sent letters which would assure Nehemiah safe conduct to Judah.
Nehemiah carried another letter, addressed to Asaph. Asaph was the keeper of the king's forest. 2:8. The Hebrew word used is one not applicable to a natural forest, but only to a park, or pleasure-ground planted with trees, and surrounded by a fence or wall. The Hebrew word is pardes, the word from which we get "paradise". We must understand a royal park in the vicinity of Jerusalem, of which a Jew, Asaph, was the keeper. Pulpit Commentary. So Asaph was duty bound, by the king's command, to cut trees out of "the paradise" to rebuild the walls and the gates of Jerusalem.
Nehemiah did not face that journey alone. The king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard. And it grieved them very much that there had come a man to seek the good of the sons of Israel. 2:9-10. According to Josephus, Sanballat was "satrap of Samaria". Pulpit commentary. We learned earlier that the Samaritans had an inward hatred for the Jews and vice versa.
Under Nehemiah's leadership, the people of Judah again started rebuilding their "holy city".
Chapter 9 of the Book of Nehemiah is a "read-worthy" recap of the history of Israel from the time of Abram to the resettling of Judah after the Babylonian captivity.
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