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JULY 25
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and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of
to fear Your name; and let Your servant pros- the king’s forest, that he must give me timber
per this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the to make beams for the gates of the citadel
sight of this man.” which pertains to the temple, for the city wall,
For I was the king’s cupbearer. and for the house that I will occupy.” And the
king granted them to me according to the
good hand of my God upon me.
9 Then I went to the governors in the region
beyond the River, and gave them the king’s let-
1:11 the king’s cupbearer.As an escort of the ters. Now the king had sent captains of the
monarch at meals,the cupbearer had a unique army and horsemen with me. When Sanballat
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advantage to petition the king. Not only did the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official
the king owe him his life since the cupbearer heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a
tested all the king’s beverages for possible man had come to seek the well-being of the
poison,thus putting his own life at risk,but he children of Israel.
also became a close confidant.God sovereignly
used this relationship between a Gentile and
Jew to deliver His people, such as He did with
Joseph, Daniel, Esther, and Mordecai.
2:10 Sanballat…Tobiah. These men were
probably also behind the opposition described
in Ezra 4:7–23 which stopped the work in
And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, Jerusalem. Sanballat served as governor of
2 in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, Samaria and Tobiah, of the region east of the
when wine was before him, that I took the wine Jordan. These district magistrates were lead-
and gave it to the king. Now I had never been ers of Samaritan factions (see chap. 6) to the
sad in his presence before. Therefore the king north and east. They had lost any recourse to
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said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are prevent Judah from rebuilding since God’s
not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.” people were authorized to fortify their settle-
ment against attack from enemies such as
these two officials.To overtly attack or oppose
the Jews would be to oppose the Persian king.
2:2 dreadfully afraid. Nehemiah feared that
either his countenance, his explanation, or his
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request would anger the king and thus lead to So I came to Jerusalem and was there
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his death (Esth.4:11 with 5:1–3). three days. Then I arose in the night, I and a
few men with me; I told no one what my God
had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor
was there any animal with me, except the one
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So I became dreadfully afraid, and said to 13
the king, “May the king live forever! Why on which I rode. And I went out by night
should my face not be sad, when the city, the through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well
place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its and the Refuse Gate, and viewed the walls of
gates are burned with fire?” Jerusalem which were broken down and its
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4 Then the king said to me, “What do you gates which were burned with fire. Then I
request?” went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s
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So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said Pool, but there was no room for the animal
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to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your under me to pass. So I went up in the night by
servant has found favor in your sight, I ask the valley, and viewed the wall; then I turned
that you send me to Judah, to the city of my back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so
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fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” returned. And the officials did not know
6 Then the king said to me (the queen also sit- where I had gone or what I had done; I had not
ting beside him), “How long will your journey yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the
be? And when will you return?” So it pleased officials, or the others who did the work.
the king to send me; and I set him a time. 17 Then I said to them, “You see the distress
7 Furthermore I said to the king, “If it pleas- that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its
es the king, let letters be given to me for the gates are burned with fire. Come and let us
governors of the region beyond the River, that build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no
they must permit me to pass through till I come longer be a reproach.” And I told them of the
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