strong hand. O Jehovah, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be 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.* On his next attendance upon the monarch, having exhibited great grief of countenance, Artaxerxes enquired into the cause, upon which Nehemiah replied, Let the king live for ever, why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my father's sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?† The monarch having encouraged him to prefer his request, Nehemiah prayed unto the God of heaven, and then said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my father's sepulchres, that I may build it.‡ Artaxerxes, whose queen, probably Hadassah, was present at this interview, having stipulated for the return of this esteemed officer, within a limited period, gave him permission to go; and, at his request, the good hand of his God being upon him, furnished him with letters from himself, to the governors beyond the river, that they should convey him over till he came into Judah; and a letter unto Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, to give him timber to make beams for the gates of the palace, which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house he should enter into. And being furnished with a considerable military escort, Nehemiah came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters,§ and then went to Jerusalem, and staid there three days.|| The arrival of Nehemiah with a commission to seek the * Nehem. i. 4—11. † Nehem. ii. 3. Nehem. ii. 4—5. Nehem. ii. 6-9. Nehem. ii. 11. welfare of the children of Israel, having excited the regret and envy of Sanballat, the Horonite, and Tobiah, an Ammonite slave,* and the rest of the Samaritans, induced this good man to act with great caution; so that without consulting the rulers and principal Jews, he surveyed the walls and suburbs of the city himself by night, and made the necessary observations.† Having ascertained the state of the city, and what was necessary to be done, Nehemiah assembled the Jews, and thus addressed them; Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. He then told them of the hand of his God, which was good upon him, and also the king's words which he had spoken unto him, whereupon the people said, let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work. But when Sanballat, the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, what is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king? then answered I them, and said unto them, the God of Heaven, he will prosper us; therefore, we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.+ Notwithstanding this opposition, the work proceeded; different individuals applying themselves to the erection of various portions of the gates and walls.§ Nehem. ii. 10. He had discovered that in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them. For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah, the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah. Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear. Nehem. vi. 17-19. + Nehem.ii. 12-16. Nehem ii. 17. 20. § Nehem, iii. The opposition and insult of Sanballat, Tobiah, and their adherents continuing, Nehemiah solemnly imprecated upon them the divine vengeance, Hear, O our God; for we are despised and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee:* for they have provoked thee to anger before the * As to this and similar imprecations, to be found in the Psalms of David, and other parts of the Old Testament Scriptures, Dr. A. Clarke has the following note. "A prayer of this kind, understood literally, is not lawful for any Christian. Jesus, our great master, has said, Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you.' Probably we should understand such terrible imprecations as declaratory; for the same form of the verb, in the Hebrew, is used as precative and imperative. All who know the genius of the Hebrew language, know that the future tense is used to express all these senses. Besides, we may rest assured that Nehemiah's curses, or declaration of God's judgments, had respect only to their bodies, and to this life; not to their souls, and the world to come. And then they amount to no more than this, What a man soweth that shall he reap."-A. CLARKE. "The Jews were at this time the church of God; they were actually employed in his service; their enemies, without the smallest ground of complaint, despised and hated them for his sake: if they succeeded in their designs they would subvert true religion; and their condign punishment would form a salutary example to all other adversaries, and subserve the cause of truth and righteousness. So that, zeal for the honour of God, and love to his people, induced Nehemiah to pray that these scorners might be exposed to that reproach which they cast on the Jews, and become a prey to their enemies in the land of their captivity; and that their sins might not be covered, or blotted out, by the merciful forgiveness of God; seeing they had endeavoured to discourage the builders, and render them disaffected to their work. Such scriptural reports are prophetical, or declaratory of the judgments of God, against persecutors; and the subsequent doom of these nations was an answer to this prayer."— SCOTT. builders. So they built the wall, and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof; for the people had a mind to work.* The persecution from the Samaritans having continued, Nehemiah was obliged to divide the people, one half working at the wall, whilst the other half kept watch; each man. having a sword in one hand, whilst working with the other, and trumpeters being placed at regular distances to give notice of the approach of an enemy. But, although their adversaries conspired all of them together, to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it, Nehemiah and his brethren made their prayers unto their God, and set a watch against them day and night: neither Nehemiah himself, nor his brethren, nor his servants, nor the men of the guard putting off their clothes, save for washing.† Many of the people having, in order to support the expense of the works and maintain their families in the interim, mortgaged their lands to their brethren beyond the hope of redemption; Nehemiah was excessively angry, and having assembled them together, and shewn them how disinterestedly * Nehem. iv. 1-6. † Nehem. iv. 7—23. If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury. Exod. xxii. 25. The usury which Nehemiah now reproved was taking one per cent., or a centessima, from the borrower. Nehem. v. 1-14. Prid. i. 437. If an Israelite might not take one per cent. from his brother, how shall the disciple of Christ escape who takes five? But perhaps it will be asked, who then could lend? Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, the seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto Jehovah against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Deut. xv. 9. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee he had acted himself, and reproached them for their usurious conduct, urged them instantly to restore their lands, their vineyards, their olive-yards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil that they had exacted of them. Upon these usurers having promised to restore all, Nehemiah exacted an oath of them, to keep their promise, and shaking his lap said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised Jehovah.* Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, still persevered in their opposition, and made use of every exertion and artifice to defeat the object of Nehemiah, and thwart the purposes of Jehovah. Four times they sent for this servant of God to meet them in private, most probably with a view to assassinate him; then they sent to him, threatening to accuse him that he was about to restore the sceptre of Judah, and rebel against Artaxerxes: afterwards they bribed Shemaiah to impose upon Nehemiah, and alarm him by a false prophecy, besides keeping up an intercourse with several of the nobles of Judah, who laboured to divert Nehemiah from his purpose, and impress his mind favourably towards Sanballat and Tobiah. Having surmounted all these obstacles, the wall was finished at the end of fifty two days; and it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.† Nehemiah was Tirshatha, or governor of the province, but when the wall was built, he appointed as viceroys in his Nehem. v. 1—13. Nehem. vi. 1—19. Nehem. viii. 9. |