Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

2:1 The date, Nisan, in the twentieth year (i.e., March/April of 445 b.c.), is surprising because Nisan is the first month, and yet the earlier events of ch. 1 took place in Chislev, the ninth month (December). Of various proposed solutions, the best is perhaps that the author counts the years of Artaxerxes' reign from the actual month of his accession (which is not precisely known), so that his "twentieth year" might span two calendar years (446-445 b.c.). In that case, this incident in the month of Nisan would be four months after the news about Jerusalem came to Nehemiah.

2:2 Nehemiah's expression of sadness is the prelude to his request. Nehemiah did not show his grief immediately (i.e., during the four months since 1:1), perhaps because it was part of his duty to be positive and encouraging. But now he has decided to speak. The king's diagnosis of sadness of the heart perceives some discontentment as the cause. Nehemiah was very much afraid because he was about to say something that the king might take as disloyalty.

2:3 Let the king live forever! Nehemiah first shows his loyalty and explains the reason for his grief, without yet making his request. my fathers' graves. He may think that this way of speaking about Jerusalem will make the king sympathetic.

2:4 The king then invites a request. So I prayed. Nehemiah had prayed a great deal, of course (see 1:4), but here he quickly speaks to God (probably silently) before he answers the king.

2:5-6 Continuing in great deference, Nehemiah makes his request (v. 5). The king agrees without deliberation, apart perhaps from a glance at the queen sitting beside him, and demands only that Nehemiah commit to a date when he will return to Susa.

2:7-8 Nehemiah, emboldened, now asks for specific authority to show letters to the governors of the province Beyond the River, who no doubt included the very people who had previously persuaded Artaxerxes to halt the rebuilding of the city (Ezra 4:7-9). He goes further, however, requesting timber from the king's forest for specific projects. The location of this forest is unknown. It might refer to Lebanon, or to some area nearer Jerusalem. At that time the land in general was more forested than in modern times. The name Asaph suggests that he was a Jewish royal official. The fortress of the temple was a special defense of the temple, probably on the northern, most vulnerable side, where later the Roman Antonia Fortress stood. It may have included the towers mentioned in Neh. 3:1. For the wall of the city the wood would have been needed mainly for the gates. Finally Nehemiah asks for wood to repair his own house, possibly an existing house passed down in his own family. Artaxerxes agrees, following his own previous generosity to the project in Jerusalem (Ezra 7:21-24), and also that of his predecessors, Cyrus (Ezra 1:4) and Darius (Ezra 6:8-12).

2:8 for the good hand of my God was upon me. See note on v. 18.

2:9 Nehemiah's imperial authority is visible in the officers and horsemen sent with him.

2:10 Sanballat the Horonite is known from other sources to have been governor of Samaria at a later time, and may be so already. His Babylonian name does not necessarily mean that he was Babylonian; he probably came from Upper or Lower Beth-horon near Jerusalem (Josh. 16:3, 5). Tobiah is a Jewish name, yet as an Ammonite he belongs to a people that was one of Israel's historic enemies (2 Sam. 10:1-11). The term servant here may mean that he is an official, also from Samaria. These Samarians apparently wanted to assert their authority in Judah.

2:11-12 three days. Ezra 8:32 speaks of a similar length of time. in the night. Nehemiah aims to keep his mission secret from potential enemies as long as possible, but also from his own people till his plans are fully formed (see also Neh. 2:16).

2:13-15 Nehemiah surveys the walls chiefly on the southern and eastern sides, i.e., the so-called city of David and the Kidron Valley. The Valley Gate was probably on the southwestern side of the city of David, and the Dung Gate, leading to the city dump, at its southern tip. The Dragon Spring, Fountain Gate, and King's Pool are unidentified, but were no doubt on the east where the Kidron Valley's water sources were. The valley is the Kidron Valley, to which Nehemiah has had to descend because he cannot pass close to the walls higher up, since the rubble from their destruction has made passage impossible. He returns by the Valley Gate, having apparently made only a partial circuit.