Charles Ellicott Commentary Nehemiah 2
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Nehemiah 2
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Nehemiah 2
"And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been [beforetime] sad in his presence." — Nehemiah 2:1 (ASV)
Nisan. —The old Abib, the first month of the Jewish year, following the vernal equinox. As we are still in the twentieth year of the king, the beginning of his reign must be dated before Chisleu. The record adopts Persian dates, and the two months fell in one year.
"And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been [beforetime] sad in his presence. And the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid. And I said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: 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? Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers` sepulchres, that I may build it. And the king said unto me (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through till I come unto Judah; 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 castle which appertaineth 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 the good hand of my God upon me." — Nehemiah 2:1-8 (ASV)
Nehemiah’s appeal to the king.
"And the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid." — Nehemiah 2:2 (ASV)
Then I was very sore afraid. —Waiting on Providence, Nehemiah had discharged his duties for three months without being sad in the king’s presence; but on this day his sorrow could not be repressed. His fear sprang from the king’s abrupt inquiry. A sad countenance was never tolerated in the royal presence; and, though Artaxerxes was of a milder character than any other Persian monarch, the tone of his question showed that in this respect he was not an exception.
"And I said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: 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?" — Nehemiah 2:3 (ASV)
Nehemiah’s family was from Jerusalem. He does not yet betray to the king the deepest desire of his heart, but simply refers to the desecration of his fathers’ tombs, an appeal which had great force with the Persians, who respected the tomb.
"Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven." — Nehemiah 2:4 (ASV)
So I prayed to the God of heaven. —The first note of that habit of ejaculatory prayer which is a characteristic of this book.
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