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

And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.

CHAPTER 2 Artaxerxes, understanding the cause of Nehemiah’ s sadness, , sendeth him with letters to Jerusalem, . Nehemiah, to the grief of the enemies, cometh to Jerusalem, , and secretly by night vieweth the ruins of Jerusalem, . He encourageth the Jews to build, ,18. The enemies, deriding, charge them with rebellion against the king, . Nehemiah’ s answer, . In the month Nisan; which was four months after he had heard those sad tidings. The reason of this long silence and delay might be manifold; either because he thought fit that some time should be spent by himself, and possibly others of his brethren, in seeking God by solemn prayer and fasting, for God’ s blessing and the good success of this great affair; or because he could not take so long and dangerous a journey in the depth of winter; or because his turn of attending upon the king did not come to him till that time; or because till then he wanted a fit opportunity to move it to the king, by reason of the king’ s indisposition, or occasions, or multitude of attendants, among whom there probably were divers enemies to the Jews, who, he feared, might hinder his design and desire. In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes; Artaxerxes Longimanus, the son of the great Xerxes, who reigned both with his father, and after his death alone: whence the years of his reign are computed two ways, one from the death of Xerxes, and the other from his first entrance upon the administration of the kingdom, which was committed to him in the fifth year of Xerxes, when he began the Grecian war, and left his son king or viceroy in his stead, as the manner of the Persians was. It may seem doubtful, and is not much material, which way of computation is here used. Others understand this of Artaxerxes Mnemon.

Nehemiah 2:1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, [that] wine [was] before him: and I took up the wine, and gave [it] unto the king. Now I had not been [beforetime] sad in his presence.Ver. 1. And it came to pass in the month Nisan] Time and place is to be registered of special mercies received. "This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord," Psalms 102:18. In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes] Surnamed Longhand, as our Edward I was called Longshanks, and another Longespee, or Longsword. This Longhand is renowned for the fairest among men in that age, Mακροχειρ, Omnium hominum puleherrimus (Aemil. Prob.); of all men most handsome; and no wonder, if he were (as is generally thought) the son of that fairest Esther. That wine was before him] There was a feast, as Nehemiah 2:6. Not by chance, but by God’ s providence; who of small occasions worketh greatest matters many times, as he put small thoughts into the heart of Ahasuerus for great purposes, Esther 6:1. And I took up the wine, &c.] As Esther was come to the kingdom, so Nehemiah to this office, for such a time as this, Esther 4:14. Though he were a prisoner, a stranger, one of another religion, yet is he the king’ s cupbearer and taster; and once of great trust and credit. This was a strange work of God, to cause heathen princes thus to favour the religion that they knew not, and to defend that people which their subjects hated. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence] Princes are usually set upon the merry pin; and all devices are used, by jesters and otherwise, to make them merry; no mourner might be seen in Ahasuerus’ s court, Esther 4:4. But good Nehemiah had been, for certain months’ time, afflicting his soul and macerating his body, as in the former chapter: hence his present sadness, which the king (being a wise man and a loving master) soon observed.

II.(1-8) Nehemiah’s appeal to the king.

CHAPTER II Artaxerxes, observing the sorrow of Nehemiah, inquires into the cause, 1, 2. Nehemiah shows him the cause, and requests permission to go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 3-6. The king grants it, and gives him letters to the governors beyond the river, 7, 8. He sets out on his journey, 9. Sanballat and Tobiah are grieved to find he had got such a commission, 10. He comes to Jerusalem; and, without informing any person of his business, examines by night the state of the city, 11-16. He informs the priests, nobles, and rulers, of his design and commission, 17, 18. The design is turned into contempt by Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, 19. Nehemiah gives them a suitable answer, 20. NOTES ON CHAP. II Verse 1. Month Nisan] Answering to a part of our March and April. I took up the wine] It is supposed that the kings of Persia had a different cup-bearer for each quarter of the year, and that it had just now come to Nehemiah's turn.

Nehemiah 2:1-11. Nehemiah receives His Commission1. Nisan] See note on Nehemiah 1:1. This name only occurs elsewhere in the O.T. in Esther 3:7, ‘in the first month, which is the month Nisan,’ cf. Josephus, Ant. xi. 4, 8, ‘The first month, which according to the Macedonians is called Xanthicus, but according to us Nisan.’ Its meaning is uncertain; according to some its root-idea is ‘fruitfulness,’ according to others ‘beginning’ or ‘origin.’ It corresponds to the month of which the older Israelite name was ‘Abib’ (Exodus 13:4; Exodus 23:15; Exodus 34:18; Deuteronomy 16:1), ‘the harvest month,’ equivalent to our latter part of March and beginning of April. The same month appears in the Assyrian dialect as Nisannu, and it is quite possible that the Jews may have adopted the name from Babylonian usage. the twentieth year of Artaxerxes] 445 b.c.: Artaxerxes reigned 41 years (465–424 b.c.). In the year 445 Pericles had obtained control of Athenian affairs; and a thirty years’ truce was concluded between Athens and Sparta. At Rome the conflict between patricians and plebeians was being waged; the deposition of the Decemvirs had occurred only four years before. that wine] R.V. when wine. The R.V. shows the connexion of the sentences. The present clause states the occasion, when Nehemiah preferred his request. ‘When wine was before him;’ i.e. when the king was at a repast, and the cupbearers were (or a cupbearer was) in attendance. At such a time the king would naturally remark upon any alteration of demeanour in a favourite ‘cupbearer.’ According to Rawlinson (Ancient Monarchies, vol. iii. p. 214) the Persian king himself rarely dined with his guests. For the most part he dined alone. Sometimes he admitted to his table the queen and two or three of his children. Sometimes at a ‘banquet of wine’ (Esther 7:2) a certain number of privileged boon companions were received. before him] Another reading is found in the LXX. ‘before me,’ (καὶἦνὁοἶνοςἐνώπιονἐμοῦ), which is followed in the Arabic version and was known to the translators of the Syriac. The change needed in the Hebrew to give this rendering is very slight, being only the omission of a single letter (vaw), which is read once instead of being repeated (l’phβnβ(y) vaessa instead of l’phβnβv vaessa). It has been very ingeniously maintained that this is the right reading, and that the words ‘when wine was before me’ denote ‘when my turn came round to attend as cupbearer at the royal table.’ According to this explanation, the clause accounts for the delay of three or four months, before Nehemiah made his appeal to the king; it also accounts for the king not having before recognised the sadness of his cupbearer, this being the first occasion on which he had appeared in the royal presence since the sad news arrived in the month Chislev. But it does not seem likely that a cupbearer, who enjoyed the favour of the king, should have appeared so rarely in his presence as this view supposes. The LXX.

Nisan was the name given by the Persian Jews to the month previously called “Abib,” the first month of the Jewish year, or that which followed the vernal equinox. It fell four months after Chisleu Nehemiah 1:1.

TO REBUILD THE WALLS OF , 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.