Nehemiah 2:1

NEHEMIAH COMMISSIONED TO REBUILD THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM, Nehemiah 2:1-8.

1. The month Nisan The name, after the exile, of the first month of the Jewish year, corresponding nearly with April, and more anciently called Abib. Exodus 13:4; comp. Nehemiah 12:2. This was the first Nisan that followed the Chisleu (Nehemiah 1:1) when Nehemiah heard the sad tidings from Judah, and four months after that time, but both these months fell in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes. For a notice of this king, see note on Ezra 7:1.

Took up the wine, and gave it unto the king This was a part of the business of the royal cupbearer. See note above, on Nehemiah 1:11.

Had not been beforetime sad We may better omit beforetime and translate the past tense of the verb, as is often proper, so as to express an habitual state or condition, I was not accustomed to be sad in his presence. The Hebrew word for sad ( רע ) commonly means bad, ill-favoured, evil; and is appropriately used of the troubled and dejected countenance of a cupbearer, which should naturally be cheerful and happy, as became his business, to cheer the heart of the king. Various ancient authors attest the propensity of the Persians for wine. Herodotus says, (i, 133,) “They are very fond of wine, and drink it in large quantities.” And, according to H. Rawlinson, it is customary at the present day for the high livers among the Persians “to sit for hours before dinner drinking wine and eating dried fruits. A party often sits down at seven o’clock, and the dinner is not brought in till eleven.”