Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name.

“I was the king's cupbearer--This officer, in the ancient Oriental courts, was always a person of rank and importance; and, from the confidential nature of his duties and his frequent access to the royal presence, he possessed great influence.”

Now in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king.

“The reasons for so long a delay cannot be ascertained. I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king--XENOPHON has particularly remarked about the polished and graceful manner in which the cupbearers of the Median, and consequently the Persian, monarchs performed their duty…”

Then the king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?”

“I set him a time--Considering the great despatch made in raising the walls, it is probable that this leave of absence was limited at first to a year or six months, after which he returned to his duties in Shushan.”

So I went out at night through the Valley Gate toward the Well of the Serpent and the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been…

“I went out by night by the gate of the valley--that is, the Jaffa gate, near the tower of Hippicus. even before the dragon well--that is, fountain on the opposite side of the valley.”

Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to get through;

“I went on to the gate of the fountain--that is, Siloah, from which turning round the fount of Ophel.”

About that time there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews. Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous.

“The condition of the poorer inhabitants was indeed deplorable; for, besides the deficient harvests caused by the great rains (Ezr 10:9; also Hag 1:6-11), a dearth was now threatened by the enemy keeping such a multitude pent up in the city, and preventing the country…”

The fifth time, Sanballat sent me this same message by his young servant, who had in his hand an unsealed letter that read: “It is reported among the nations—and Geshem…

“Letters were, and are still, sent to persons of distinction in a bag or purse, and even to equals they are enclosed--the tie being made with a colored ribbon.”

Later, I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his house.

“Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah, &c.--This man was the son of a priest, who was an intimate and confidential friend of Nehemiah. The young man claimed to be endowed with the gift of prophecy.”

Then I put my brother Hanani in charge of Jerusalem, along with Hananiah the commander of the fortress, because he was a faithful man who feared God more than most.

“I gave my brother Hanani . . . charge over Jerusalem--If, as is commonly supposed, Nehemiah was now contemplating a return to Shushan according to his promise, it was natural that he should wish to entrust the custody of Jerusalem and the management of its…”

Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt.

“This extent, in the then state of Jerusalem, was the more observable as the population was comparatively small, and the habitations of the most rude and simple construction--mere wooden sheds or coverings of loose, unmortared stones.”

Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials, and the people to be enrolled by genealogy.

“It is transcribed in the following verses, and differs in some few particulars from that given in Ezr 2:1-61.”

The priests: the descendants of Jedaiah (through the house of Jeshua), 973;

“The priests--It appears that only four of the courses of the priests returned from the captivity; and that the course of Abia (Lu 1:5) is not in the list.”

Some of the heads of the families contributed to the project. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 darics of gold, 50 bowls, and 530 priestly garments.

“Their donations consisted principally in garments. This would appear a singular description of gifts to be made by any one among us; but, in the East, a present of garments, or of any article of use, is conformable to the prevailing sentiments and customs of…”

Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform built for this occasion.

“Ezra . . . stood upon a pulpit of wood--Not made in the form known to us, but only a raised scaffold or platform, broad enough to allow fourteen persons to stand with ease upon it.”

Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God.

“Also day by day . . . he read in the book of the law of God--This was more than was enjoined (De 31:10-12), and arose from the exuberant zeal of the time.”

On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads.

“A solemn fast was now observed for the expression of those penitential and sorrowful feelings which the reading of the law had produced, but which had been suppressed during the celebration of the feast; and the sincerity of their repentance was evinced by the decisive…”

While they stood in their places, they read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and they spent another quarter…

“This solemn diet of worship, which probably commenced at the morning sacrifice, was continued for six hours, that is, till the time of the evening sacrifice.”

Then the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting: Blessed be Your glorious name, and may…

“Then the Levites . . . said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God--If this prayer was uttered by all these Levites in common, it must have been prepared and adopted beforehand, perhaps, by Ezra; but it may only embody the substance of the…”

You gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner of the land.

“Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations--that is, put them in possession of a rich country, of an extensive territory, which had been once occupied by a variety of princes and people. and didst divide them into corners--that is, into tribes.”

“The rest of the people—the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, temple servants, and all who had separated themselves from the people of the land to obey the Law of God—along with…

“THE REST OF THE PEOPLE BOUND THEMSELVES TO OBSERVE IT. Those who were not present at the sealing ratified the covenant by giving their assent, either in words or by lifting up their hands, and bound themselves, by a solemn oath, to walk in God's…”

These are the heads of the provinces who settled in Jerusalem. (In the villages of Judah, however, each lived on his own property in their towns—the Israelites, priests, Levites, temple…

“Israel--This general name, which designated the descendants of Jacob before the unhappy division of the two kingdoms under Rehoboam, was restored after the captivity, the Israelites being then united with the Jews, and all traces of their former separation being obliterated.”

Now these are the priests and Levites who went up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

“But these were divided by Zerubbabel, or Jeshua, into the original number of twenty-four. Twenty-two only are enumerated here, and no more than twenty in Ne 12:12-21.”

Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim was the father of Eliashib, Eliashib was the father of Joiada,

“Jeshua begat Joiakim, &c.--This enumeration was of great importance, not only as establishing their individual purity of descent, but because the chronology of the Jews was henceforth to be reckoned, not as formerly by the reigns of their kings, but by the successions of their…”

At that time the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people, and in it they found the passage stating that no Ammonite or Moabite should…

“Eliashib the priest . . . was allied unto Tobiah--This person was the high priest (Ne 13:28; also Ne 3:1), who, by virtue of his dignified office, had the superintendence and control of the apartments attached to the temple.”

While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to Artaxerxes king of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign.

“How long [Nehemiah] remained there is not expressly said, but "after certain days," which is a Scripture phraseology for a year or a number of years, he obtained leave to resume the government of Jerusalem; to his deep mortification and regret, he found matters in…”