Now these are thy servants, and thy people ,.... Meaning those that were in Jerusalem and Judah, gathered out of several countries, and returned to Jerusalem: whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand ; touching and moving the heart of Cyrus to proclaim liberty to them. read more
O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant ,.... To the prayer of Nehemiah, put up at this time: and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name ; the prayer of the Jews in Judea, whose desire was to worship the Lord in his temple, according to his will: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day ; meaning himself, who was to wait on the king of Persia that day, and, if he had opportunity, intended to lay the case of the... read more
The words of Nehemiah - That this book was compiled out of the journal or memoranda made by Nehemiah himself, there can be no doubt: but that he was not the compiler is evident from several passages in the work it. self. As it is written consecutively as one book with Ezra, many have supposed that this latter was the author: but whoever compares the style of each, in the Hebrew, will soon be convinced that this is not correct; the style is so very different, that they could not... read more
I asked them concerning the Jews - Josephus gives a probable account of this business: "Nehemiah, being somewhere out of Susa, seeing some strangers, and hearing them converse in the Hebrew tongue, he went near; and finding they were Jews from Jerusalem, he asked them how matters went with their brethren in that city, and what was their state?" And the answer they gave him is, in substance, that recorded in the text; though with several aggravations in Josephus. - Joseph. Ant. lib.... read more
The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down - This must refer to the walls, which had been rebuilt after the people returned from their captivity: for it could not refer to the walls which were broken down and levelled with the dust by Nebuchadnezzar; for to hear of this could be no news to Nehemiah. read more
And mourned certain days - From the month Chisleu to the month Nisan; about four months from the time he received the above information, till the time that Artaxerxes noticed his grief, Nehemiah 2:1 . All this time he probably spent in supplication to God; waiting for a favorable opening in the Divine providence. Every good work is not to be undertaken hastily; prayer and watchfulness are necessary to its completion. Many good works have been ruined by making haste. read more
Lord God of heaven - What was, before the captivity, Jehovah, God of hosts or armies. Great - Able to do mighty things. Terrible - able to inflict the heaviest judgments. read more
Let thine ear - Hear what we say and confess. Thine eyes open - see what we suffer. read more
Have not kept thy commandments - The moral precepts by which our lives should be regulated. Statutes - What refers to the rites and ceremonies of thy religion. Judgments - The precepts of justice relative to our conduct to each other. read more
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John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Nehemiah 1:9
But if ye return unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them ,.... Return by repentance, and, as a proof of the genuineness of it, yield obedience to the commands of God, and continue therein: though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven ; that is, the uttermost parts of the earth, the most distant regions; so called, because at the extreme parts of the horizon, according to our apprehension, the heavens and earth touch each other; so that what is the... read more