Nehemiah 2:1

NEHEMIAH ARRIVES IN JERUSALEM WITH AUTHORITY TO REBUILD THE WALLS OF THE CITY;

ARTAXERXES GRANTED NEHEMIAH'S REQUEST

"Now I was cupbearer to the king. And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was beside 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 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 sitting beside 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 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 that pertaineth 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 1:11b-2:8)

In all of the wonderful things that God did for the children of Israel, there are few things any more astounding than this. That a Persian king should have reversed a former decision stopping the work of the Jews on the walls of their city, and then have sent a trusted emissary, accompanied by a military escort, and endowed with full authority to reconstruct the walls and fortify the city of Jerusalem - only God could have caused a thing like that to happen.

"In the month Nisan" (Nehemiah 2:1). This was four months after the time mentioned in Nehemiah 1:1, during which time Nehemiah had fasted and prayed "night and day" that something could be done to aid Jerusalem. During this period, Nehemiah had diligently tried to maintain his customary happy appearance; but his great grief finally became evident in his appearance.

"I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king" (Nehemiah 2:1). Jamieson has a description of how a cupbearer performed his service. "He washed the cup in the king's presence, filled it with wine, then poured from the cup into his own left hand a sufficient amount. Then he drank that in the king's presence and handed the cup of wine to the king."[1]

"Then I was sore afraid" (Nehemiah 2:2). "It was contrary to court behavior for a servant to appear sad."[2]"Being sad in the king's presence was a serious offense in Persia (Esther 4:2); and, besides that, Nehemiah was well aware that the request which he would ultimately make of the king might indeed anger him."[3]

"The place of my fathers' sepulchres lieth waste" (Nehemiah 2:3). This reply kept Nehemiah's concern in the personal, rather than the political, sector.

"For what dost thou make request" (Nehemiah 2:4)? This was the moment of truth for Nehemiah. If the king was displeased, Nehemiah would lose his head; and therefore his first reaction was that, "I prayed to the God of heaven." There can be no doubt that God answered his prayer; because, "That prayer brought about one of the most astonishing reversals of royal policy in all history."[4]Furthermore, it happened in Persia, of all places, where their favorite proverb was, "The law of the Medes and Persians which altereth not."

"Send me unto Judah ... that I may build it" (Nehemiah 2:5). A more daring request was never made. It had been only a few years since, "Artaxerxes had commissioned Rehum and Shimshai to bring a stop to the rebuilding and fortifying of Jerusalem (Ezra 4:8-23)."[5]The amazing thing is that Artaxerxes granted Nehemiah's request, lock, stock and barrel - all of it.

Perhaps it is permissible for us to speculate a little on why Artaxerxes did so. Of course, the great reason is that God willed it; but, as is always the case, God uses ordinary men and events to achieve his purpose. Some of the satraps beyond the River had grown too powerful. "There is evidence that Megabyzos, one of the satraps beyond the River, had recently revolted; and the creation of a strengthened and fortified Jerusalem under a friendly governor might have appeared to Artaxerxes at that particular time as a wise strategy."[6]Also, by separating Judah from the powerful coalition of the peoples known collectively as "Samaritans," and by fortifying it, the aggressiveness of the Samaritan coalition would be dramatically checkmated. And of course, Artaxerxes' commission to Nehemiah definitely "Involved the separation of Judea from Samaria."[7] This substantially weakened the power of Sanballat.

"The castle which appertaineth to the house" (Nehemiah 2:8). This is a reference to the combination palace and fortress, "That protected the Temple and overlooked the northwest corner of the courts ... Herod later rebuilt it in N.T. times, and it was known as the Tower of Antonio. Nehemiah contemplated using it as his residence."[8]

Some critics have questioned how it came about that Nehemiah was in possession of such detailed knowledge of specific buildings in Jerusalem; but a man in Nehemiah's high official position was in possession of all kinds of options for procuring any kind of information that he might have desired.

"The queen also sitting beside him" (Nehemiah 2:6). Polygamy was popular among Persian kings, nevetheless they also had one principal wife whom they designated as "the Queen." "The legitimate queen of Artaxerxes was Damaspia."[9]Williamson noted that the word is used here in the plural, and that upon occasions the word was applied to some favorite woman in the harem, or even to the queen-mother of the king, as in the Book of Daniel. Some have concluded that the presence of the queen here indicated that this was a private banquet. Rawlinson's comment was that, "It appears that Artaxerxes Longimanus had only one legitimate wife, a certain Damaspia."[10]He backed this up with a reference to a statement by Ctesias in Persian history.

"And I set him a time" (Nehemiah 2:6). Nehemiah's first term as governor lasted twelve years; but it seems unlikely that he would have set such a time for his journey. Nehemiah evidently promised to return within a much shorter period, after which his leave of absence was extended. The speed with which he tackled the problem of building the wall suggests this. The journey itself would require three or four months each direction, and allowing enough time for the fortifications, suggests that his request must surely have been for, "a year or two."[11]