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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Nehemiah, Chapter II].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC16001.HTM">Previous</A>]
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[<A HREF="MHC16003.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
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<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1708)
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</TD></TR></TABLE>
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<HR>
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>N E H E M I A H</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. II.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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How Nehemiah wrestled with God and prevailed we read in the foregoing
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chapter; now here we are told how, like Jacob, he prevailed with men
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also, and so found that his prayers were heard and answered.
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I. He prevailed with the king to send him to Jerusalem with a
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commission to build a wall about it, and grant him what was necessary
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for it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:1-8">ver. 1-8</A>.
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II. He prevailed against the enemies that would have obstructed him in
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his journey
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:9-11">ver. 9-11</A>)
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and laughed him out of his undertaking,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:19-20">ver. 19, 20</A>.
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III. He prevailed upon his own people to join with him in this good
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work, viewing the desolations of the walls
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:12-16">ver. 12-16</A>)
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and then gaining them to lend every one a hand towards the rebuilding
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of them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:17,18">ver. 17, 18</A>.
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Thus did God own him in the work to which he called him.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ne2_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Nehemiah's Request to the King.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 445.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year
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of Artaxerxes the king, <I>that</I> wine <I>was</I> before him: and I took
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up the wine, and gave <I>it</I> unto the king. Now I had not been
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<I>beforetime</I> sad in his presence.
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2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why <I>is</I> thy countenance
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sad, seeing thou <I>art</I> not sick? this <I>is</I> nothing <I>else</I> but
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sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,
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3 And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why
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should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my
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fathers' sepulchres, <I>lieth</I> waste, and the gates thereof are
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consumed with fire?
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4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request?
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So I prayed to the God of heaven.
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5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy
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servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send
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me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I
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may build it.
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6 And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,)
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For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So
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it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
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7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let
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letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they
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may convey me over till I come into Judah;
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8 And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that
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he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace
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which <I>appertained</I> to the house, and for the wall of the city,
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and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted
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me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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When Nehemiah had prayed for the relief of his countrymen, and perhaps
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in David's words
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+51:18">Ps. li. 18</A>,
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<I>Build thou the walls of Jerusalem</I>), he did not sit still and
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say, "Let God now do his own work, for I have no more to do," but set
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himself to forecast what he could do towards it. Our prayers must be
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seconded with our serious endeavours, else we mock God. Nearly four
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months passed, from Chisleu to Nisan (from November to March), before
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Nehemiah made his application to the king for leave to go to Jerusalem,
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either because the winter was not a proper time for such a journey, and
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he would not make the motion till he could pursue it, or because it was
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so long before his month of waiting came, and there was no coming into
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the king's presence uncalled,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Es+4:11">Esth. iv. 11</A>.
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Now that he attended the king's table he hoped to have his ear. We are
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not thus limited to certain moments in our addresses to the King of
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kings, but have liberty of access to him at all times; to the throne of
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grace we never come unseasonably. Now here is,</P>
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<P>
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I. The occasion which he gave the king to enquire into his cares and
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griefs, by appearing sad in his presence. Those that speak to such
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great men must not fall abruptly upon their business, but fetch a
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compass. Nehemiah would try whether he was in a good humour before he
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ventured to tell him his errand, and this method he took to try him. He
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took up the wine and gave it to the king when he called for it,
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expecting that then he would look him in the face. He had not used to
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be sad in the king's presence, but conformed to the rules of the court
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(as courtiers must do), which would admit no sorrows,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Es+4:2">Esth. iv. 2</A>.
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Though he was a stranger, a captive, he was easy and pleasant. Good men
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should do what they can by their cheerfulness to convince the world of
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the pleasantness of religious ways and to roll away the reproach cast
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upon them as melancholy; but there is a time for all things,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+3:4">Eccl. iii. 4</A>.
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Nehemiah now saw cause both to be sad and to appear so. The miseries of
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Jerusalem gave him cause to be sad, and his showing his grief would
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give occasion to the king to enquire into the cause. He did not
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dissemble sadness, for he was really in grief for the afflictions of
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Joseph, and was not like the hypocrites who <I>disfigure their
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faces;</I> yet he could have concealed his grief if it had been
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necessary (the heart knows its own bitterness, and in the midst of
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laughter is often sad), but it would now serve his purpose to discover
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his sadness. Though he had wine before him, and probably, according to
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the office of the cup-bearer, did himself drink of it before he gave it
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to the king, yet it would not <I>make his heart glad,</I> while God's
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Israel was in distress.</P>
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<P>
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II. The kind notice which the king took of his sadness and the enquiry
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he made into the cause of it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick?</I> Note,
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1. We ought, from a principle of Christian sympathy, to concern
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ourselves in the sorrows and sadnesses of others, even of our
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inferiors, and not say, What is it to us? Let not masters despise their
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servants' griefs, but desire to make them easy. The great God is not
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pleased with the dejections and disquietments of his people, but would
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have them both <I>serve him with gladness</I> and <I>eat their bread
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with joy.</I>
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2. It is not strange if those that are sick have sad countenances,
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because of what is felt and what is feared; sickness will make those
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grave that were most airy and gay: yet a good man, even in sickness,
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may be of good cheer if he knows that his sins are forgiven.
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3. Freedom from sickness is so great a mercy that while we have that
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we ought not to be inordinately dejected under any outward burden; yet
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sorrow for our own sins, the sins of others, and the calamities of
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God's church, may well sadden the countenance, without sickness.</P>
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<P>
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III. The account which Nehemiah gave the king of the cause of his
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sadness, which he gave with meekness and fear.
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1. With fear. He owned that now (though it appears by the following
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story that he was a man of courage) <I>he was sorely afraid,</I>
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perhaps of the king's wrath (for those eastern monarchs assumed an
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absolute power of life and death,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+2:12,13,5:19">Dan. ii. 12, 13; v. 19</A>)
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or of misplacing a word, and losing his request by the mismanagement of
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it. Though he was a wise man, he was jealous of himself, lest he should
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say any thing imprudently; it becomes us to be so. A good assurance is
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indeed a good accomplishment, yet a humble self-diffidence is not man's
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dispraise.
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2. With meekness. Without reflection upon any man, and with all the
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respect, deference, and good-will, imaginable to the king his master,
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he says, "<I>Let the king live for ever;</I> he is wise and good, and
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the fittest man in the world to rule." He modestly asked, "<I>Why
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should not my countenance be sad</I> as it is <I>when</I> (though I
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myself am well and at east) <I>the city</I>" (the king knew what city
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he meant), "<I>the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste?</I>"
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Many are melancholy and sad but can give no reason for being so, cannot
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tell why nor wherefore; such should chide themselves for, and chide
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themselves out of, their unjust and unreasonable griefs and fears. But
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Nehemiah could give so good a reason for his sadness as to appeal to
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the king himself concerning it. Observe,
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(1.) He calls Jerusalem <I>the place of his fathers' sepulchres,</I>
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the place where his ancestors were buried. It is good for us to think
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often of our fathers' sepulchres; we are apt to dwell in our thoughts
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upon their honours and titles, their houses and estates, but let us
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think also of their sepulchres, and consider that those who have gone
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before us in the world have also gone before us out of the world, and
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their monuments are momentos to us. There is also a great respect owing
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to the memory of our fathers, which we should not be willing to see
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injured. All nations, even those that have had no expectation of the
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resurrection of the dead, have looked upon the sepulchres of their
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ancestors as in some degree sacred and not to be violated.
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(2.) He justifies himself in his grief: "I do well to be sad. Why
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should I not be so?" There is a time even for pious and prosperous men
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to be sad and to show their grief. The best men must not think to
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antedate heaven by banishing all sorrowful thoughts; it is a vale of
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tears we pass through, and we must submit to the temper of the climate.
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(3.) He assigns the ruins of Jerusalem as the true cause of his grief.
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Note, All the grievances of the church, but especially its desolations,
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are, and ought to be, matter of grief and sadness to all good people,
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to all that have a concern for God's honour and that are living members
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of Christ's mystical body, and are of a public spirit; they favour even
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Zion's dust,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:14">Ps. cii. 14</A>.</P>
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<P>
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IV. The encouragement which the king gave him to tell his mind, and the
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application he thereupon made in his heart to God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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The king had an affection for him, and was not pleased to see him
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melancholy. It is also probable that he had a kindness for the Jews'
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religion; he had discovered it before in the commission he gave to
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Ezra, who was a churchman, and now again in the power he put Nehemiah
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into, who was a statesman. Wanting therefore only to know how he might
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be serviceable to Jerusalem, he asks this its anxious friend, "<I>For
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what dost thou make request?</I> Something thou wouldst have; what is
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it?" He was afraid to speak
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
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but this gave him boldness; much more may the invitation Christ has
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given us to pray, and the promise that we shall speed, enable us to
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come boldly to the throne of grace. Nehemiah immediately <I>prayed to
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the God of heaven</I> that he would give him wisdom to ask properly and
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incline the king's heart to grant him his request. Those that would
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find favour with kings must secure the favour of the King of kings. He
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prayed to the God of heaven as infinitely above even this mighty
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monarch. It was not a solemn prayer (he had not opportunity for that),
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but a secret sudden ejaculation; he lifted up his heart to that God who
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understands the language of his heart: <I>Lord, give me a mouth and
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wisdom; Lord, give me favour in the sight of this man.</I> Note, It is
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good to be much in pious ejaculations, especially upon particular
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occasions. Wherever we are we have a way open heaven-ward. This will
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not hinder any business, but further it rather; therefore let no
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business hinder this, but give rise to it rather. Nehemiah had prayed
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very solemnly with reference to this very occasion
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+1;11"><I>ch.</I> i. 11</A>),
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yet, when it comes to the push, he prays again. Ejaculations and
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solemn prayers must not jostle out one another, but each have its
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place.</P>
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<P>
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V. His humble petition to the king. When he had this encouragement he
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presented his petition very modestly and with submission to the king's
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wisdom
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
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but very explicitly. He asked for a commission to go as governor to
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Judah, to build the wall of Jerusalem, and to stay there for a certain
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time, so many months, we may suppose; and then either he had his
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commission renewed or went back and was sent again, so that he presided
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there twelve years at least,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+5:14"><I>ch.</I> v. 14</A>.
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He also asked for a convoy
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
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and an order upon the governors, not only to permit and suffer him to
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pass through their respective provinces, but to supply him with what he
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had occasion for, with another order upon the keeper of the forest of
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Lebanon to give him timber for the work that he designed.</P>
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<P>
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VI. The king's great favour to him in asking him <I>when he would
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return,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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He intimated that he was unwilling to lose him, or to be long without
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him, yet to gratify him, and do a real office of kindness to his
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people, he would spare him awhile, and let him have what clauses he
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pleased inserted in his commission,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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Here was an immediate answer to his prayer; for the seed of Jacob never
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sought the God of Jacob in vain. In the account he gives of the success
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of his petition he takes notice,
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1. Of the presence of the queen; she sat by
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
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which (they say) was not usual in the Persian court,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Es+1:11">Esth. i. 11</A>.
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Whether the queen was his back friend, that would have hindered him,
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and he observes it to the praise of God's powerful providence that
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though she was by yet he succeeded, or whether she was his true friend,
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and it is observed to the praise of God's kind providence that she was
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present to help forward his request, is not certain.
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2. Of the power and grace of God. He gained his point, not according to
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his merit, his interest in the king, or his good management, but
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<I>according to the good hand of his God upon him.</I> Gracious souls
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take notice of God's hand, his good hand, in all events which turn in
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favour of them. <I>This is the Lord's doing,</I> and therefore doubly
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acceptable.</P>
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<A NAME="Ne2_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_17"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_18"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_19"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ne2_20"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Nehemiah's Journey to Jerusalem; the Malice of Sanballat, &c.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 445.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>9 Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them
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the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army
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and horsemen with me.
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10 When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the
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Ammonite, heard <I>of it,</I> it grieved them exceedingly that there
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was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
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11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
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12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me;
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|
neither told I <I>any</I> man what my God had put in my heart to do at
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|
Jerusalem: neither <I>was there any</I> beast with me, save the beast
|
|
that I rode upon.
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|
13 And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even
|
|
before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the
|
|
walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof
|
|
were consumed with fire.
|
|
14 Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the
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|
king's pool: but <I>there was</I> no place for the beast <I>that was</I>
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|
under me to pass.
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|
15 Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the
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|
wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and
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|
<I>so</I> returned.
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|
16 And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did;
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|
neither had I as yet told <I>it</I> to the Jews, nor to the priests,
|
|
nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did
|
|
the work.
|
|
17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we <I>are</I> in,
|
|
how Jerusalem <I>lieth</I> waste, and the gates thereof are burned
|
|
with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that
|
|
we be no more a reproach.
|
|
18 Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon
|
|
me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they
|
|
said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands
|
|
for <I>this</I> good <I>work.</I>
|
|
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the
|
|
Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard <I>it,</I> they laughed us to
|
|
scorn, and despised us, and said, What <I>is</I> this thing that ye
|
|
do? will ye rebel against the king?
|
|
20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven,
|
|
he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and
|
|
build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in
|
|
Jerusalem.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We are here told,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Now Nehemiah was dismissed by the court he was sent from. The king
|
|
appointed <I>captains of the army</I> and <I>horsemen</I> to go <I>with
|
|
him</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
both for his guard and to show that he was a man whom <I>the king did
|
|
delight to honour,</I> that all the king's servants might respect him
|
|
accordingly. Those whom the King of kings sends he thus protects, he
|
|
thus dignifies with a host of angels to attend them.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. How he was received by the country he was sent to.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. By the Jews and their friends at Jerusalem. We are told,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) That while he concealed his errand they took little notice of him.
|
|
He was at <I>Jerusalem three days</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
and it does not appear that any of the great men of the city waited on
|
|
him to congratulate him on his arrival, but he remained unknown. The
|
|
king sent horsemen to attend him, but the Jews sent none to meet him;
|
|
he had no beast with him, but that which he himself rode on,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
Wise men, and those who are worthy of double honour, yet covet not to
|
|
come with observation, to make a show, or make a noise, no, not when
|
|
they come with the greatest blessings. Those that shortly are to have
|
|
<I>the dominion in the morning</I> the world now knows not, but they
|
|
lie hid,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+3:1">1 John iii. 1</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) That though they took little notice of him he took great notice of
|
|
them and their state. He arose in the night, and viewed the ruins of
|
|
the walls, probably by moon-light
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
that he might see what was to be done and in what method they must go
|
|
about it, whether the old foundation would serve, and what there was of
|
|
the old materials that would be of use. Note,
|
|
|
|
[1.] Good work is likely to be well done when it is first well
|
|
considered.
|
|
|
|
[2.] It is the wisdom of those who are engaged in public business, as
|
|
much as may be, to <I>see with their own eyes,</I> and not to proceed
|
|
altogether upon the reports and representations of others, and yet to
|
|
do this without noise, and if possible unobserved.
|
|
|
|
[3.] Those that would build up the church's walls must first take notice
|
|
of the ruins of those walls. Those that would know how to amend must
|
|
enquire what is amiss, what needs reformation, and what may serve as it
|
|
is.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) That when he disclosed his design to the rulers and people they
|
|
cheerfully concurred with him in it. He did not tell them, at first,
|
|
what he came about
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
because he would not seem to do it for ostentation, and because, if he
|
|
found it impracticable, he might retreat the more honourably. Upright
|
|
humble men will not sound a trumpet before their alms or any other of
|
|
their good offices. But when he had viewed and considered the thing,
|
|
and probably felt the pulse of the rulers and people, he told them
|
|
<I>what God had put into his heart</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
even to <I>build up the wall of Jerusalem,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe,
|
|
|
|
[1.] How fairly he proposed the undertaking to them: "<I>You see the
|
|
distress we are in,</I> how we lie exposed to the enemies that are
|
|
round about us, how justly they reproach us as foolish and despicable,
|
|
how easily they may make a prey of us whenever they have a mind;
|
|
<I>come, therefore, and let us build up the wall.</I>" He did not
|
|
undertake to do the work without them (it could not be the work of one
|
|
man), nor did he charge or command imperiously, though he had the
|
|
king's commission; but in a friendly brotherly way he exhorted and
|
|
excited them to join with him in this work. To encourage them hereto,
|
|
he speaks of the design, <I>First,</I> As that which owed it origin to
|
|
the special grace of God. He takes not the praise of it to himself, as
|
|
a good thought of his own, but acknowledges that God <I>put it into his
|
|
heart,</I> and therefore they all ought to countenance it (whatever is
|
|
of God must be promoted), and might hope to prosper in it, for what God
|
|
puts men upon he will own them in. <I>Secondly,</I> As that which owed
|
|
its progress hitherto to the special providence of God. He produced the
|
|
king's commission, told them how readily it was granted and how forward
|
|
the king was to favour his design, in which he saw the hand of his God
|
|
<I>good upon him.</I> It would encourage both him and them to proceed
|
|
in an undertaking which God had so remarkably smiled upon. Thus he
|
|
proposed it to them; and,
|
|
|
|
[2.] They presently came to a resolution, one and all, to concur with
|
|
him: <I>Let us rise up and build.</I> They are ashamed that they have
|
|
sat still so long without so much as attempting this needful work, and
|
|
now resolve to rise up out of their slothfulness, to bestir themselves,
|
|
and to stir up one another. "<I>Let us rise up,</I>" that is, "let us
|
|
do it with vigour, and diligence, and resolution, as those that are
|
|
determined to go through with it." <I>So they strengthened their
|
|
hands,</I> their own and one another's, <I>for this good work.</I>
|
|
Note, <I>First,</I> Many a good work would find hands enough to be laid
|
|
to it if there were but one good head to lead in it. They all saw the
|
|
desolations of Jerusalem, yet none proposed the repair of them; but,
|
|
when Nehemiah proposed it, they all consented to it. It is a pity that
|
|
a good motion should be lost purely for want of one to move it and to
|
|
break the ice in it. <I>Secondly,</I> By stirring up ourselves and one
|
|
another to that which is good, we strengthen ourselves and one another
|
|
for it; for the great reason why we are weak in our duty is because we
|
|
are cold to it, indifferent and unresolved. Let us now see how
|
|
Nehemiah was received,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. By those that wished ill to the Jews. Those whom God and his Israel
|
|
blessed they cursed.
|
|
|
|
(1.) When he did but show his face it vexed them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Sanballat and Tobiah, two of the Samaritans, but by birth the former a
|
|
Moabite, the latter an Ammonite, when they saw one come armed with a
|
|
commission from the king to do service to Israel, <I>were exceedingly
|
|
grieved</I> that all their little paltry arts to weaken Israel were
|
|
thus baffled and frustrated by a fair, and noble, and generous project
|
|
to strengthen them. Nothing is a greater vexation to the enemies of
|
|
good people, who have misrepresented them to princes as turbulent, and
|
|
factious, and not fit to live, than to see them stand right in the
|
|
opinion of their rulers, their innocency cleared and their reproach
|
|
rolled away, and that they are thought not only fit to live, but fit to
|
|
be trusted. When they saw a man come in that manner, who professedly
|
|
<I>sought the welfare of the children of Israel,</I> it vexed them to
|
|
the heart. <I>The wicked shall see it, and be grieved.</I>
|
|
|
|
(2.) When he began to act they set themselves to hinder him, but in
|
|
vain,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+2:19,20"><I>v.</I> 19, 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
[1.] See here with what little reason the enemies attempted to
|
|
discourage him. They represented the undertaking as a silly thing:
|
|
<I>They laughed us to scorn and despised us</I> as foolish builders,
|
|
that could not finish what we began. They represented the undertaking
|
|
also as a wicked thing, no better than treason: <I>Will you rebel
|
|
against the king?</I> Because this was the old invidious charge, though
|
|
now they had a commission from the king and were taken under his
|
|
protection, yet still they must be called rebels.
|
|
|
|
[2.] See also with what good reason the Jews slighted these
|
|
discouragements. They bore up themselves with this that they were the
|
|
<I>servants of the God of heaven,</I> the only true and living God,
|
|
that they were acting for him in what they did, and that therefore he
|
|
would bear them out and prosper them, though the heathen raged,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+2:1">Ps. ii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
They considered also that the reason why these enemies did so malign
|
|
them was because they had no right in Jerusalem, but envied them their
|
|
right in it. Thus may the impotent menaces of the church's enemies be
|
|
easily despised by the church's friends.</P>
|
|
|
|
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