Nehemiah 2:1-20

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Nehemiah 2:1-8

When Nehemiah had prayed for the relief of his countrymen, and perhaps in David's words (Ps. 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... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Nehemiah 2:9-20

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Nehemiah 2:1

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 F12 Misn. Roshhashanah, c. 1. sect. 3. ; yet, with other nations, Tisri or September was the beginning of the reigns of their kings F13 T. Bab. Rashhashanah, fol. 3. 1. ; so that Chisleu or November being since, see ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Nehemiah 2:2

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" F16 רע לב πονηρια καρδιας , Sept. "malum nescio quod in corde tuo est", V. L. , some ill design in his mind,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Nehemiah 2:3

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 Daniel 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Nehemiah 2:4

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Nehemiah 2:5

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Nehemiah 2:6

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 F17 Herodot.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Nehemiah 2:7

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. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Nehemiah 2:8

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 Ecclesiastes 2:5 and at the extreme part of it, it seems, there was a city called Paradisus F18 Ptolem. Geograph. l. 5. c. 15. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 23. ; such an officer as here was among the Romans, called Saltuarius F19 Vid. Servium... read more

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