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Matthew Henry |
N E H E M I A H
CHAP. I.
Here we first meet with Nehemiah at the Persian court, where we find
him,
I. Inquisitive concerning the state of the Jews and Jerusalem,
II. Informed of their deplorable condition,
III. Fasting and praying thereupon
(ver. 4),
with a particular account of his prayer,
Such is the rise of this great man, by piety, not by policy.
| Nehemiah’s Distress. | B. C. 445. |
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1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to
pass in the month Chisleu, 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 burned with fire.
4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat
down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed
before the God of heaven,
What a tribe Nehemiah was of does nowhere appear; but, if it be true
(which we are told by the author of the Maccabees,
2 Mac. i. 18)
that he offered sacrifice, we must conclude him to have been a priest.
Observe,
I. Nehemiah’s station at the court of Persia. We are here told that he
was in Shushan the palace, or royal city, of the king of Persia,
where the court was ordinarily kept
(v. 1),
and
(v. 11)
that he was the king’s cup-bearer. Kings and great men probably
looked upon it as a piece of state to be attended by those of other
nations. By this place at court he would be the better qualified for
the service of his country in that post for which God had designed him,
as Moses was the fitter to govern for being bred up in Pharaoh’s court,
and David in Saul’s. He would also have the fairer opportunity of
serving his country by his interest in the king and those about him.
Observe, He is not forward to tell us what great preferment he had at
court; it is not till the end of the chapter that he tells us he was
the king’s cup-bearer (a place of great trust, as well as of
honour and profit), when he could not avoid the mentioning of it
because of the following story; but at first he only said, I was in
Shushan the palace. We may hence learn to be humble and modest, and
slow to speak of our own advancements. But in the providences of God
concerning him we may observe, to our comfort,
1. That when God has work to do he will never want instruments to do it
with.
2. That those whom God designs to employ in his service he will find
out proper ways both to fit for it and to call to it.
3. That God has his remnant in all places; we read of Obadiah in the
house of Ahab, saints in Caesar’s household, and a devout Nehemiah in
Shushan the palace.
4. That God can make the courts of princes sometimes nurseries and
sometimes sanctuaries to the friends and patrons of the church’s
cause.
II. Nehemiah’s tender and compassionate enquiry concerning the state of
the Jews in their own land,
v. 2.
It happened that a friend and relation of his came to the court, with
some other company, by whom he had an opportunity of informing himself
fully how it went with the children of the captivity and what posture
Jerusalem, the beloved city, was in. Nehemiah lived at ease, in honour
and fulness, himself, but could not forget that he was an Israelite,
nor shake off the thoughts of his brethren in distress, but in spirit
(like Moses,
he visited them and looked upon their burdens. As distance of
place did not alienate his affections from them (though they were out
of sight, yet not out of mind), so neither did,
1. The dignity to which he was advanced. Though he was a great man, and
probably rising higher, yet he did not think it below him to take
cognizance of his brethren that were low and despised, nor was he
ashamed to own his relation to them and concern for them.
2. The diversity of their sentiments from his, and the difference of
their practice accordingly. Though he did not go to settle at Jerusalem
himself (as we think he ought to have done now that liberty was
proclaimed), but conformed to the court, and staid there, yet he did
not therefore judge nor despise those that had returned, nor upbraid
them as impolitic, but kindly concerned himself for them, was ready to
do them all the good offices he could, and, that he might know which
way to do them a kindness, asked concerning them. Note, It is
lawful and good to enquire, “What news?” We should enquire especially
concerning the state of the church and religion, and how it fares with
the people of God; and the design of our enquiry must be, not that,
like the Athenians, we may have something to talk of, but that we may
know how to direct our prayers and our praises.
III. The melancholy account which is here given him of the present
state of the Jews and Jerusalem,
v. 3.
Hanani, the person he enquired of, has this character given of him
(ch. vii. 2),
that he feared God above many, and therefore would not only
speak truly, but, when he spoke of the desolations of Jerusalem, would
speak tenderly. It is probable that his errand to court at this time
was to solicit some favour, some relief or other, that they stood in
need of. Now the account he gives is,
1. That the holy seed was miserably trampled on and abused, in great
affliction and reproach, insulted upon all occasions by their
neighbours, and filled with the scorning of those that were at
ease.
2. That the holy city was exposed and in ruins. The wall of
Jerusalem was still broken down, and the gates were, as the
Chaldeans left them, in ruins. This made the condition of the
inhabitants both very despicable under the abiding marks of poverty and
slavery, and very dangerous, for their enemies might when they pleased
make an easy prey of them. The temple was built, the government
settled, and a work of reformation brought to some head, but here was
one good work yet undone; this was still wanting. Every Jerusalem, on
this side the heavenly one, will have some defect or other in it, for
the making up of which it will required the help and service of its
friends.
IV. The great affliction this gave to Nehemiah and the deep concern it
put him into,
v. 4.
1. He wept and mourned. It was not only just when he heard the
news that he fell into a passion of weeping, but his sorrow continued
certain days. Note, The desolations and distresses of the church
ought to be the matter of our grief, how much soever we live at ease.
2. He fasted and prayed; not in public (he had no opportunity of
doing that), but before the God of heaven, who sees in secret,
and will reward openly. By his fasting and praying,
(1.) He consecrated his sorrows, and directed his tears aright,
sorrowed after a godly sort, with an eye to God, because his
name was reproached in the contempt cast on his people, whose cause
therefore he thus commits to him.
(2.) He eased his sorrows, and unburdened his spirit, by pouring out
his complaint before God and leaving it with him.
(3.) He took the right method of fetching in relief for his people and
direction for himself in what way to serve them. Let those who are
forming any good designs for the service of the public take God along
with them for the first conception of them, and utter all their
projects before him; this is the way to prosper in them.
| Nehemiah’s Prayer. | B. C. 445. |
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5 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 mayest 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
sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned.
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 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. For I was
the king’s cupbearer.
We have here Nehemiah’s prayer, a prayer that has reference to all the
prayers which he had for some time before been putting up to God day
and night, while he continued his sorrows for the desolations of
Jerusalem, and withal to the petition he was now intending to present
to the king his master for his favour to Jerusalem. We may observe in
this prayer,
I. His humble and reverent address to God, in which he prostrates
himself before him, and gives unto him the glory due unto his name,
v. 5.
It is much the same with that of Daniel,
It teaches us to draw near to God,
1. With a holy awe of his majesty and glory, remembering that he is the
God of heaven, infinitely above us, and sovereign Lord over us, and
that he is the great and terrible God, infinitely excelling all
the principalities and powers both of the upper and of the lower world,
angels and kings; and he is a God to be worshipped with fear by all his
people, and whose powerful wrath all his enemies have reason to be
afraid of. Even the terrors of the Lord are improvable for the comfort
and encouragement of those that trust in him.
2. With a holy confidence in his grace and truth, for he keepeth
covenant and mercy for those that love him, not only the mercy that
is promised, but even more than he promised: nothing shall be thought
too much to be done for those that love him and keep his
commandments.
II. His general request for the audience and acceptance of all the
prayers and confessions he now made to God
(v. 6):
“Let thy ear be attentive to the prayer, not which I say
(barely saying prayer will not serve), but which I pray
before thee (then we are likely to speed in praying when we pray in
praying), and let they eyes be open upon the heart from which
the prayer comes, and the case which is in prayer laid before thee.”
God formed the eye and planted the ear; and therefore
shall he not see clearly? shall not he hear attentively?
III. His penitent confession of sin; not only Israel has sinned (it was
no great mortification to him to own that), but I and my father’s
house have sinned,
v. 6.
Thus does he humble himself, and take shame to himself, in this
confession. We have (I and my family among the rest) dealt
very corruptly against thee,
v. 7.
In the confession of sin, let these two things be owned as the
malignity of it–that it is a corruption of ourselves and an affront to
God; it is dealing corruptly against God, setting up the
corruptions of our own hearts in opposition to the commands of God.
IV. The pleas he urges for mercy for his people Israel.
1. He pleads what God had of old said to them, the rule he had settled
of his proceedings towards them, which might be the rule of their
expectations from him,
He had said indeed that, if they broke covenant with him, he would
scatter them among the nations, and that threatening was
fulfilled in their captivity: never was people so widely dispersed as
Israel was at this time, though at first so closely incorporated; but
he had said withal that if they turned to him (as now they began
to do, having renounced idolatry and kept to the temple service) he
would gather them again. This he quotes from
and begs leave to put God in mind of it (though the Eternal Mind needs
no remembrancer) as that which he guided his desires by, and grounded
his faith and hope upon, in praying this prayer: Remember, I beseech
thee, that word; for thou hast said, Put me in remembrance.
He had owned
(v. 7),
We have not kept the judgments which thou commandedst thy servant
Moses; yet he begs
(v. 8),
Lord, remember the word which thou commandedst thy servant
Moses; for the covenant is often said to be commanded. If God were
not more mindful of his promises than we are of his precepts we should
be undone. Our best pleas therefore in prayer are those that are taken
from the promise of God, the word on which he has caused us to
hope,
Ps. cxix. 49.
2. He pleads the relation wherein of old they stood to God: “These are
thy servants and thy people
(v. 10),
whom thou hast set apart for thyself, and taken into covenant with
thee. Wilt thou suffer thy sworn enemies to trample upon and oppress
thy sworn servants? If thou wilt not appear for thy people, whom wilt
thou appear for?” See
As an evidence of their being God’s servants he gives them this
character
(v. 11):
“They desire to fear thy name; they are not only called by thy
name, but really have a reverence for thy name; they now worship thee,
and thee only, according to thy will, and have an awe of all the
discoveries thou art pleased to make of thyself; this they have a
desire to do,” which denotes,
(1.) Their good will to it. “It is their constant care and endeavour to
be found in the way of their duty, and they aim at it, though in many
instances they come short.”
(2.) Their complacency in it. “They take pleasure to fear thy name (so
it may be read), not only do their duty, but do it with delight.” Those
shall graciously be accepted of God that truly desire to fear his name;
for such a desire is his own work.
3. He pleads the great things God had formerly done for them
(v. 10):
“Whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, in the days of old.
Thy power is still the same; wilt thou not therefore still redeem them
and perfect their redemption? Let not those be overpowered by the enemy
that have a God of infinite power on their side.”
Lastly, He concludes with a particular petition, that God would
prosper him in his undertaking, and give him favour with the king:
this man he calls him, for the greatest of men are but men
before God; they must know themselves to be so
(Ps. ix. 20),
and others must know them to be so. Who art thou that thou shouldst
be afraid of a man? Mercy in the sight of this man is what he prays
for, meaning not the king’s mercy, but mercy from God in his address to
the king. Favour with men is then comfortable when we can see it
springing from the mercy of God.
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