Nehemiah 1

Nehemiah 1:1-4

We have here, 1. Nehemiah at court, inquisitive about his brethren at Jerusalem, ver. 1, 2. 2. Much afflicted at hearing their distresses, and with fasting and prayer applying to God thereupon, ver. 3, 4. 3. His prayer recorded, ver. 5—11.

THE words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chifsea, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, 2. That Hanani one of my brethren came, he and certain men of Judah: and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province, are in great affliction and reproach: ’the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire. 4. And it came to pass when I heard these words, that ‘I sat down and ‘wept, and mourned certain days, and ‘fafted and prayed before the God of heaven,

Nehemiah, though nobly advanced at court, and honoured with a massion in the palace of Shushan, still here on his heart the welfare of Zion, and still preferred Jerusalem’s prosperity before his chief joy. Note, God has sometimes his friends, even in the palace; and though a court is usually a fool too unfavourable to religious concerns, he can make monuments of sovereign grace even in Nero’s household.

1. Nehemiah, on the visit of some of his brethren to Babylon, probably to solicit some favour in behalf of the Jews, earnestly enquiries after Jerusalem, and the returned captives who dwelt in it; but receives an afflicting narrative of their wretched situation: the city lying in its defolations, and the people under distress, inflicted, oppressed, and reproached by their more powerful neighbours. Note, (1.) We must not in our advancement forget ourselves, and grow strange to our brethren, because poor or afflicted. (2.) The persecution of God’s people,

ple, that discourages the unfaithful, awakens the greater zeal and concern of such as are true-hearted.

2. The melancholy account affected the good Nehemiah, that tears ran down his cheeks, and in affliction for days he fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, that he would remember their misery, and return to them in mercy. Note, (1.) In seasons of public or private calamities, fasting and weeping should accompany our prayers. (2.) It is a relief to the oppression of our own spirit, when with tears we can pour our complaints into the bosom of a compassionate God. (3.) Whilst we have a God in heaven to go to, our deepest distresses are not desperate.

3. And said, I beseech thee, ‘O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that ‘keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: 6. Let thine ear now be attentive, and ’thine eyes open, that thou mayst hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, ‘day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have ‘fanned ‘against thee: both I, and my father’s house have ‘fanned. 7. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments which thou commandedst thy servant Moses. 8. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, ‘If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations.’ 9. But ‘if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; ’though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. 10. Now ’these are thy servants, and thy people, ‘whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. 11. O LORD, I beseech thee, let now thine

par the attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cup-bearer.

9. 5—11. Nehemiah’s prayer, here recorded, speaks the gracious temper of his soul.

10. He draws near to God with reverence and godly fear, yet mixed with filial confidence, as to the great God, terrible in judgments, yet faithful to his promises, and never failing those who truth him. Note, (1.) There is a reverential fear of God, which is perfectly consistent with the most enlarged love towards him. (2.) They who experience the love of God in their souls, may comfortably conclude the stability of his covenant with them.

11. He humbly prays God would graciously hear the prayer, which zeal for his glory dictated, and for the desires of his heart, which his grace excited. Note, When God pours out upon us the spirit of grace and supplication, we may assuredly conclude, he will hear and answer us.

12. He penitently confesses their sins, that justly had brought down these afflictions upon them; taking shame to himself, among the rest, for having added to the provocation. Note, Confession of sin should have a place in every prayer.

13. He pleads for mercy and pardon, urging, as the ground of his hope, the divine promise God had given by Moses, that wherever they returned to him, wherever dispersed, or however disturbed, he would return to them, (See Deut. xxx. 1—5.) and such was now their earnest desire and prayer. They were still God’s people, and what he had done for them of old, encouraged his hope, that he would yet redeem them from the hand of their present enemy; for which purpose he particularly begs God would prosper his intentions, and grant him favour that day in the sight of this man, the king, whose cup-bearer he was. Note, (1.) As we see the fulfilment of God’s threatenings, we may conclude the fulfilment of God’s promises. (2.) The most reviving pleas in prayer are drawn from God’s faithful word, wherein he hath caused us to put out truth. (3.) Tho’ we are not worthy to be called God’s people, yet, when we return with perennial prayer, he will not disclaim the relation. (4.) The greatest kings are but dying men, and worms of earth, and their hearts are in God’s hand, to turn them according to the good pleasure of his own will.