Nehemiah 2
PATThat wine was before him. He was at dinner or supper, and he called for wine; which was ready for him. And I took tip the wine, and gave it unto the king.] After the manner that the cup-bearer was wont to do. Now J had not been beforetime sad in his presence.] But always appeared cheerful and well-pleased, as young men so advanced use to be; and perhaps* entertained the king at table with pleasant discourse. virgin of his own people. (Sco Lev. xxi. 6, 7. onto ver. 10.) And the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.] There was a covenant made with Phinehas (Numb.xxv.) of an everlasting priesthood, which they had violated, bocause the covenant was mutual, binding them to observe the laws of the priesthood, as God engaged himself to preserve them in their office. What covenant was made with the Lcvitcs, I do not find; but I suppose the meaning is, they dishonoured the whole tribe of Levi, who were set apart for Divine ministries. For it is likely some of the Levitcs had transgressed in this matter, by the bad example of the priests. This great corruption of the priests seems to bave been the occasion of God’s sending Malachi, the last of the prophets, to correct it, after Ezra and Nehemiah had not been able to root out this corruption. And the covenant bcre mentioned, was that made in the twen-’ tieth of Artaxerxes, wherein they engaged to put away their.strange wives. Thus Dr. Alix, whose judgment I prefer to my own, in this point. -
Nehemiah 2:1
jcjLND it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king. Which was almost four months after he heard of the desolate condition wherein Jerusalem lay; in all which time, I suppose> his turn of waiting did hot come: so that ho wanted opportunity to speak unto the king. Or, as others will have it, he and his friends retired all this time, and spent it in fasting and prayers
Nehemiah 2:2
Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick?. There did not, appear in his countenance any sign of indisposition of body. This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.] Some inward trouble which grieved his spirit. TJien I was very sore afraid.] Lest the king should have a suspicion that he had any treasonable design in his thoughts, and intended to poison him, as it was easy for the cup-bearer to do: or rather, he was afraid he should not prevail in his suit; the court, it is likely, being full of such as would oppose it.
Nehemiah 2:3
Ands’aidunto the king, Let the king live for ever,. They that think he was afraid the king should be jealous of him, take the meaning to be, Let riot the king fear I mean him any harm, but pray for his long life. But this was a common form of wishing the king long happiness, as appears from several places in Daniel, and hath no respect to that now mentioned. Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers 1 sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?] Men naturally have a great love to the monuments of their ancestors, and are troubled to see the place where they are laid desolate. He did not speak a word of religion, or the Divino w r orship (as Grotius observes), for though Artaxerxes had a great affection for the Jews, and had their God in veneration (as appears by the edict he sent to Ezra thirteen years before), yet the’ company about him might not be so well disposed; but had the same affection and concern for their country and relations that he had, though they did not worship-the same God.
Nehemiah 2:4
Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request?. This argues the king had a* great kindness for him, that he so readily asked what he would have him do for him, to ease him of his trouble. “. * So I prayed to the God of heaven.] In his mind he silently beseeched God to guide his tongue, and to bow the Icing’s heart to grant his request.
Nehemiah 2:5
And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight. It was a bold request he was going to make, and therefore, before he mentions it, lie submits it to the king’s will and pleasure; and acknowledges he had no merit, but depended wholly upon the king’s kindness; unto whom, perhaps, he might have performed some acceptable service. That thou icouldest send me ttnto Judah, unto the city of my father’s sepulchres.] This might lead Eusebius and others to think Nehemiah was of the tribe of Judah, because his ancestors dwelt in Jerusalem, and were there buried. That I may build it.] Build the walls of it, and make it a city again; whereas now it was but an open town. Ver. G. And the king said nnto me (the queen also sitting by him).] Which was not usual, as historians say, but is CHAP* II.] UPON NEHEMIAH. noted here as a thing extraordinary; because it is likely she favoured him, and promoted the grant of his request. For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return?’] This is another argument of the kindness he had for him; that he would not lose his service, nor be long without it So it pleased the king to send me; an$ I set him a time.] He having told the king how long he desired to be absent from his duty, the king permitted him to go. How long that was, is not certain. But it is not likely it was for twelve years; (mentioned chap. v. 14. xiii. 6.) but rather he asked leave for a year, or perhaps for half so much: which made him so quick in dispatching the building of the wall, which he finished in two-and-fifty days, (chap, vi; 15.) After which, it is likely, he returned to Shushan, according to his appointment: and the king sent him back as his governor for twelve years; his presence being very serviceable, or perhaps necessary there, for the better ordering of that province, to the king’s content.
Nehemiah 2:7
Moreover, I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over, till I come into Judah. Give him a safe conduct, and furnish him with necessaries in his journey through their several provinces, where they had authority. *fi’>•! *
Nehemiah 2:8
And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest. I suppose he means the forest of Lebanon; from whence he might be furnished with materials for his building. Here the word pardes signifies differently from what it doth in other places where it is used; which are but two besides this, Eccles. ii; 5; Cant. iv. 13. where it signifies a most’pleasant garden, planted with all sorts of trees.. And this forest, it seems, was so sweet and pleasant a place, that it deserved to be called by the same name. • Tliat he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house.] The Vulgar Latin, by the palace, understands the tower of the house; and so Pcllicanus, portas templi, the gates of the temple. For though the temple itself ^was built; yet the several courts seem not to have been walled.about, nor the gates to the temple made. For> that it should be meant of the gates of the king’s palace, which was near the temple, is altogether unlikely; there being no occasion to build a palace for the king of Persia; and no Other king could be intended. And for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall, enter into.] He desired leave to build a convenient house for himself, and for those that should be future governors. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me*] The hand is sometimes taken (as Drusixts observes) in an ill sense, for inflicting punishments, (Ruth i. 13. Jer. xv. 17.) for we strike others with the hand: and sometimes in a good sense, for helping arid assisting others; for we extend favours to men with our hand. Thus he explains Psal. Ixxxviii. G. cat off from thy hand; that is, fallen from thy grace and favour. Pindar, he observe, thus uses the hand of God for his help and aid, Olymp. x. Otov avv iiaiXanq, by the hand of God; which the scholiast interprets, Tt) rov Otov Zwafxu koL j3oij- Qtiq, by the power and help of God, (Miscellanea, cent. i. cap; 85.) Thus Nehcmiah is to be here understood; by the Divine favour, which inclined the king to do what he desired; which he calls God’s good hand. •
Nehemiah 2:9
Tlien I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king’s letters. (Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me). This the king did over and above what he desired; which procured him the greater respect from the governors, when they saw the care the king took for the safety of his person.
Nehemiah 2:10
When Sanballat the Horonite. He seems to have been a petty prince of Moab; or some great man of that country. For Hdronaim was ah eminent city there, (Isa. xv. 5. xlviii. 3. 5. 34.) And Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite.] He had beeri a slave of that country; but now advanced to some authority (perhaps to be a governor of a province) in these parts. The mention of these two great men Shews, that the nations of Moab and Amnion were restored as well as the Jews, according to; the Divine oracles; and were well known, that their destruction by the people of God might be the more observable; which was in the time of the Maccabees, who subdued those nations, according to the predictions of several prophets. Heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the’children of Israel.] With such authority from the king, arid. in’ such favour with him; as appeared by the letters he brought with’ him, and the guard that attended him, and the diligence of the several governors, through whose provinces he passecf, to serve him.. us \
Nehemiah 2:11
£0 I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. In which he rested himself, and received the visits of his friends, as Ezra had done, chap. viii. 32..
Nehemiah 2:12
And I arose in the night. At the’ end of those days, it is likely, for he was resolved to makeiio delay. land some few men with me.] In whom he most confided. Neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem.] He, being a courtier, had learned to hold. his peace, and observe when it was a fit time to speak; and to whom; For’ he would not trust to every body, knowing there was much falseness in men’s hearts; and secrecy was necessary to keep his designs from being betrayed; Neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.] They all went on foot besides himself, that there might be the less noise, and no notice taken of what he did. What beast it was on which he rode, whether horse or mule, is hot worth the inquiry: it is likely a mule, on which great men were wont to ride in those countries.
Nehemiah 2:13
And I went out by night, by, the gate of the valley. This valley is mentioned again, chap. iii. 13. but whereabout it was, is not remembered, but only that it lay before the well called the Dragon-well. Even before the Dragon-well.] So called, either from the silent sliding of the water (as a serpent creeps) from the fountain Siloam; or, from a dragon (as Bochartus thinks) which haunted this place since the city lay desolate; for serpents delight in such places, especially near fountains of water. And to the dung-port.] Out of which dung was wont to be carried out of Jerusalem, when it was before inhabited. And viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.] Try-
Thus cleansed I them from all strangers. That is, both priests and Lcvites were separated from their strange wives. And appointed tlte wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business.’] To observe their courses of attendance at the houso of God, and every one to perform there that business which was proper to him. Vcr.31. And for the wood~offering, at times appointed, and for the first-fruits.’] He commanded them to observe the decrees which had been passed some time ago, (chap. x.34, 35.) Maimonides, in his treatise of the Manner of offering Sacrifices, chap. 14. gathers from these words, that it was lawful for any man, freely to vow cither wine, or frankincense, or oil, or wood, to burn on the altar: for this, saith ho, was a kind of sacrifice or offering, as Nehcmiati here informs us. Remember me, O my God, for good.] He concludes his book with a short prayer to God, wherein he commends himself, and all he had done, unto God’s gracious accept ance. As it becomes all men, especially those who are employed in Divine things,ifthcy have done any thing that is good, to remember it was by God’s help and assistance, not by their own power; beseeching the Father of mercies, by his only-begotten Son, to make it serviceable to his church, and his own good. Thus Joh.Wolfius concludes his commentary upon this book. THE BOOK OF ESTHER.! HERE is a great variety of opinions concerning the autKor of this book. Whom a great number of late interpreters, and some of the Hebrew doctors, take to have been Mordecai; which is the common opinion of the Latins, and of Clemens Alexandrinus among the Greeks; which, they think, is sufficiently warranted by those words in the ninth chapter, ver. 20, &c. where it is said, Mordecai wrote all these things, and sent letters unto the Jews, &c. This, they think, relates to this whole history, which he wrote as it is recorded in this book: but those words plainly relate only to the decree of observing the feast ofPurim perpetually; which supposes they had been acquainted with the occasion and ground of it, before those letters came, as Huetius observes; who therefore is of the same opinion with the Talmudists in Baba Bathra, that this book was written by the men of the great synagogue. Which opinion he the rather embraces (though I sco no ground at all for it), because it comprehends theirs who think Mordecai was the author, and theirs who ascribe it to Ezra, and theirs who think it was Joiakim the son of Jeshua the high-priest; for all these might well have been in that synagogue. Whoever was the author, Maimonides saith (in his More Ncvochim, par. ii. cap. 45.) their wise men openly declare, the bookof Esther was dictated by the Holy Ghost; that is, as he explains it, by a motion or impulse (as he calls it) fronrthc Spirit* of God, who excited him to write this history, as by the saine motion others indited psalms, and gave wholesome precepts, to regulate the lives of men. (See chap. x. 3.) And that this history fell out after the captivity of Babylon was ended, and after the time of Darius the Mede, is very evident: for Shushan was not the royal city of the Medes, but of the Persians. Nor had the Medcs so large a dominion, as from India to Ethiopia. But in what reign of the Persian kings these things fell out, is hard to determine. (See the last verse of this book.)