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Nehemiah 2:1-10
Background for the Sermon on January 8,
2006
Nehemiah
states that this event occurred during the month of Nisan in the
twentieth year
of King Artaxerxes' reign. According to the Expositor's Bible
Commentary, this
would have been between April 13, 445
BC and April 1, 444
BC.
This is still located in Susa, the capital
of the Persian Empire. Susa was in
modern-day Iran. The chain
of events the
passage describes started when Nehemiah was serving some wine to the
king. Since
Nehemiah was the cupbearer, he would have just made sure that the wine
wasn't
poisoned in an attempt to assassinate the king.
Nehemiah
pointed out that he had not been sad in the king's presence. There was
a good
reason for this, and he had reason to be afraid when the king asked him
why he
was sad. The Expositor's Bible Commentary points out that people of
that time
would wait until some special occasion or when the king was in a
generous mood
before making requests of the king. It also points out that people were
expected to maintain a cheerful expression when in the king's presence,
but
Nehemiah apparently showed his concern for Jerusalem's condition,
even
though it was no doubt unintentional.
Nehemiah
expressed to the king his concern over the condition of Jerusalem, which had
been
destroyed when it was conquered by the Babylonians about 150 years
before. The Temple and the
walls of Jerusalem had been
destroyed,
leaving the residents vulnerable to attack. Nehemiah would have been
familiar
with the prophets’ warnings about the destruction of Jerusalem. The ruined
city would have
been a reminder of the nation’s disobedience. God had warned through
the
prophets that Jerusalem would be
destroyed because
of Israel's failure to
obey his
commands. Worshipping other gods was a continual problem for Israel for
centuries before
the destruction of Jerusalem.
Since
the cupbearer would have been one of the king's most trusted advisers,
Nehemiah
was in a particularly good position to make a request of the king. It
is
interesting that just before he presents this request to the king, he
takes the
matter to God first. He asks to go to Jerusalem and rebuild
it. He gave
the king a specific timetable of how long it would take and when he
expected to
return.
He
asked for letters that would guarantee safe passage through the
provinces on
the way to Judah. These would
show that
his trip and plans to rebuild Jerusalem had the
king's
approval. When verse 7 refers to the provinces "beyond the River" it
is referring to the Euphrates River in
modern-day Iraq. He also
asked for a
letter for the man overseeing the king's forest to make sure that he
would be
supplied with materials for rebuilding Jerusalem. At the end
of verse 8,
he points out the reason that the king granted his request—not because
of
Nehemiah's reputation but because of God's hand upon him. He clearly
knew that
God was at work in the midst of all that was going on and knew that
this was
something God wanted him to do.
As
Nehemiah traveled to Judah, he showed
the letters
from the king that proved his mission had the approval of the king. The
king
had sent soldiers along with Nehemiah to make sure that everything was
done as the
king had commanded. Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite were
particularly threatened by the fact that someone was rebuilding the
nation of Israel. The
Expositor's Bible
Commentary states that the description of Sanballat as "the Horonite"
shows he was from an area east of the Sea of Galilee in modern Jordan. Tobiah,
being an
Ammonite, would have also been in modern Jordan. It is from
the ancient
Ammonite nation that the modern capital of Jordan, Amman, gets its
name.
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