mh_parser/vol_split/16 - Nehemiah/Chapter 2.xml

<div2 id="Neh.iii" n="iii" next="Neh.iv" prev="Neh.ii" progress="92.83%" title="Chapter II">
<h2 id="Neh.iii-p0.1">N E H E M I A H</h2>
<h3 id="Neh.iii-p0.2">CHAP. II.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Neh.iii-p1">How Nehemiah wrestled with God and prevailed we
read in the foregoing chapter; now here we are told how, like
Jacob, he prevailed with men also, and so found that his prayers
were heard and answered. I. He prevailed with the king to send him
to Jerusalem with a commission to build a wall about it, and grant
him what was necessary for it, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.1-Neh.2.8" parsed="|Neh|2|1|2|8" passage="Ne 2:1-8">ver.
1-8</scripRef>. II. He prevailed against the enemies that would
have obstructed him in his journey (<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.9-Neh.2.11" parsed="|Neh|2|9|2|11" passage="Ne 2:9-11">ver. 9-11</scripRef>) and laughed him out of his
undertaking, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.19-Neh.2.20" parsed="|Neh|2|19|2|20" passage="Ne 2:19-20">ver. 19, 20</scripRef>.
III. He prevailed upon his own people to join with him in this good
work, viewing the desolations of the walls (<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.12-Neh.2.16" parsed="|Neh|2|12|2|16" passage="Ne 2:12-16">ver. 12-16</scripRef>) and then gaining them to lend
every one a hand towards the rebuilding of them, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.17-Neh.2.18" parsed="|Neh|2|17|2|18" passage="Ne 2:17,18">ver. 17, 18</scripRef>. Thus did God own him in the
work to which he called him.</p>
<scripCom id="Neh.iii-p0.1_1" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2" parsed="|Neh|2|0|0|0" passage="Ne 2" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Neh.iii-p0.2_1" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.1-Neh.2.8" parsed="|Neh|2|1|2|8" passage="Ne 2:1-8" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Neh.2.1-Neh.2.8">
<h4 id="Neh.iii-p1.8">Nehemiah's Request to the
King. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Neh.iii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 445.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Neh.iii-p2">1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the
twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, <i>that</i> wine <i>was</i>
before him: and I took up the wine, and gave <i>it</i> unto the
king. Now I had not been <i>beforetime</i> sad in his presence.
  2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why <i>is</i> thy
countenance sad, seeing thou <i>art</i> not sick? this <i>is</i>
nothing <i>else</i> but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore
afraid,   3 And said unto the king, Let the king live for
ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the
place of my fathers' sepulchres, <i>lieth</i> waste, and the gates
thereof are consumed with fire?   4 Then the king said unto
me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of
heaven.   5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king,
and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou
wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers'
sepulchres, that I may build it.   6 And the king said unto
me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey
be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me;
and I set him a time.   7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it
please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond
the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;
  8 And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest,
that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the
palace which <i>appertained</i> to the house, and for the wall of
the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king
granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p3">When Nehemiah had prayed for the relief of
his countrymen, and perhaps in David's words (<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.18" parsed="|Ps|51|18|0|0" passage="Ps 51:18">Ps. li. 18</scripRef>, <i>Build thou the walls of
Jerusalem</i>), he did not sit still and say, "Let God now do his
own work, for I have no more to do," but set himself to forecast
what he could do towards it. Our prayers must be seconded with our
serious endeavours, else we mock God. Nearly four months passed,
from Chisleu to Nisan (from November to March), before Nehemiah
made his application to the king for leave to go to Jerusalem,
either because the winter was not a proper time for such a journey,
and he would not make the motion till he could pursue it, or
because it was so long before his month of waiting came, and there
was no coming into the king's presence uncalled, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Esth.4.11" parsed="|Esth|4|11|0|0" passage="Es 4:11">Esth. iv. 11</scripRef>. Now that he attended the king's
table he hoped to have his ear. We are not thus limited to certain
moments in our addresses to the King of kings, but have liberty of
access to him at all times; to the throne of grace we never come
unseasonably. Now here is,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p4">I. The occasion which he gave the king to
enquire into his cares and griefs, by appearing sad in his
presence. Those that speak to such great men must not fall abruptly
upon their business, but fetch a compass. Nehemiah would try
whether he was in a good humour before he ventured to tell him his
errand, and this method he took to try him. He took up the wine and
gave it to the king when he called for it, expecting that then he
would look him in the face. He had not used to be sad in the king's
presence, but conformed to the rules of the court (as courtiers
must do), which would admit no sorrows, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Esth.4.2" parsed="|Esth|4|2|0|0" passage="Es 4:2">Esth. iv. 2</scripRef>. Though he was a stranger, a
captive, he was easy and pleasant. Good men should do what they can
by their cheerfulness to convince the world of the pleasantness of
religious ways and to roll away the reproach cast upon them as
melancholy; but there is a time for all things, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.4" parsed="|Eccl|3|4|0|0" passage="Ec 3:4">Eccl. iii. 4</scripRef>. Nehemiah now saw cause both to be
sad and to appear so. The miseries of Jerusalem gave him cause to
be sad, and his showing his grief would give occasion to the king
to enquire into the cause. He did not dissemble sadness, for he was
really in grief for the afflictions of Joseph, and was not like the
hypocrites who <i>disfigure their faces;</i> yet he could have
concealed his grief if it had been necessary (the heart knows its
own bitterness, and in the midst of laughter is often sad), but it
would now serve his purpose to discover his sadness. Though he had
wine before him, and probably, according to the office of the
cup-bearer, did himself drink of it before he gave it to the king,
yet it would not <i>make his heart glad,</i> while God's Israel was
in distress.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p5">II. The kind notice which the king took of
his sadness and the enquiry he made into the cause of it (<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.2" parsed="|Neh|2|2|0|0" passage="Ne 2:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>Why is thy countenance
sad, seeing thou art not sick?</i> Note, 1. We ought, from a
principle of Christian sympathy, to concern ourselves in the
sorrows and sadnesses of others, even of our inferiors, and not
say, What is it to us? Let not masters despise their servants'
griefs, but desire to make them easy. The great God is not pleased
with the dejections and disquietments of his people, but would have
them both <i>serve him with gladness</i> and <i>eat their bread
with joy.</i> 2. It is not strange if those that are sick have sad
countenances, because of what is felt and what is feared; sickness
will make those grave that were most airy and gay: yet a good man,
even in sickness, may be of good cheer if he knows that his sins
are forgiven. 3. Freedom from sickness is so great a mercy that
while we have that we ought not to be inordinately dejected under
any outward burden; yet sorrow for our own sins, the sins of
others, and the calamities of God's church, may well sadden the
countenance, without sickness.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p6">III. The account which Nehemiah gave the
king of the cause of his sadness, which he gave with meekness and
fear. 1. With fear. He owned that now (though it appears by the
following story that he was a man of courage) <i>he was sorely
afraid,</i> perhaps of the king's wrath (for those eastern monarchs
assumed an absolute power of life and death, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.12-Dan.2.13 Bible:Dan.5.19" parsed="|Dan|2|12|2|13;|Dan|5|19|0|0" passage="Da 2:12,13,5:19">Dan. ii. 12, 13; v. 19</scripRef>) or of
misplacing a word, and losing his request by the mismanagement of
it. Though he was a wise man, he was jealous of himself, lest he
should say any thing imprudently; it becomes us to be so. A good
assurance is indeed a good accomplishment, yet a humble
self-diffidence is not man's dispraise. 2. With meekness. Without
reflection upon any man, and with all the respect, deference, and
good-will, imaginable to the king his master, he says, "<i>Let the
king live for ever;</i> he is wise and good, and the fittest man in
the world to rule." He modestly asked, "<i>Why should not my
countenance be sad</i> as it is <i>when</i> (though I myself am
well and at ease) <i>the city</i>" (the king knew what city he
meant), "<i>the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste?</i>"
Many are melancholy and sad but can give no reason for being so,
cannot tell why nor wherefore; such should chide themselves for,
and chide themselves out of, their unjust and unreasonable griefs
and fears. But Nehemiah could give so good a reason for his sadness
as to appeal to the king himself concerning it. Observe, (1.) He
calls Jerusalem <i>the place of his fathers' sepulchres,</i> the
place where his ancestors were buried. It is good for us to think
often of our fathers' sepulchres; we are apt to dwell in our
thoughts upon their honours and titles, their houses and estates,
but let us think also of their sepulchres, and consider that those
who have gone before us in the world have also gone before us out
of the world, and their monuments are momentos to us. There is also
a great respect owing to the memory of our fathers, which we should
not be willing to see injured. All nations, even those that have
had no expectation of the resurrection of the dead, have looked
upon the sepulchres of their ancestors as in some degree sacred and
not to be violated. (2.) He justifies himself in his grief: "I do
well to be sad. Why should I not be so?" There is a time even for
pious and prosperous men to be sad and to show their grief. The
best men must not think to antedate heaven by banishing all
sorrowful thoughts; it is a vale of tears we pass through, and we
must submit to the temper of the climate. (3.) He assigns the ruins
of Jerusalem as the true cause of his grief. Note, All the
grievances of the church, but especially its desolations, are, and
ought to be, matter of grief and sadness to all good people, to all
that have a concern for God's honour and that are living members of
Christ's mystical body, and are of a public spirit; they favour
even Zion's dust, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.14" parsed="|Ps|102|14|0|0" passage="Ps 102:14">Ps. cii.
14</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p7">IV. The encouragement which the king gave
him to tell his mind, and the application he thereupon made in his
heart to God, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.4" parsed="|Neh|2|4|0|0" passage="Ne 2:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
The king had an affection for him, and was not pleased to see him
melancholy. It is also probable that he had a kindness for the
Jews' religion; he had discovered it before in the commission he
gave to Ezra, who was a churchman, and now again in the power he
put Nehemiah into, who was a statesman. Wanting therefore only to
know how he might be serviceable to Jerusalem, he asks this its
anxious friend, "<i>For what dost thou make request?</i> Something
thou wouldst have; what is it?" He was afraid to speak (<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.2" parsed="|Neh|2|2|0|0" passage="Ne 2:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), but this gave him
boldness; much more may the invitation Christ has given us to pray,
and the promise that we shall speed, enable us to come boldly to
the throne of grace. Nehemiah immediately <i>prayed to the God of
heaven</i> that he would give him wisdom to ask properly and
incline the king's heart to grant him his request. Those that would
find favour with kings must secure the favour of the King of kings.
He prayed to the God of heaven as infinitely above even this mighty
monarch. It was not a solemn prayer (he had not opportunity for
that), but a secret sudden ejaculation; he lifted up his heart to
that God who understands the language of his heart: <i>Lord, give
me a mouth and wisdom; Lord, give me favour in the sight of this
man.</i> Note, It is good to be much in pious ejaculations,
especially upon particular occasions. Wherever we are we have a way
open heaven-ward. This will not hinder any business, but further it
rather; therefore let no business hinder this, but give rise to it
rather. Nehemiah had prayed very solemnly with reference to this
very occasion (<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Neh.1 Bible:Neh.11" parsed="|Neh|1|0|0|0;|Neh|11|0|0|0" passage="Ne 1;11"><i>ch.</i> i.
11</scripRef>), yet, when it comes to the push, he prays again.
Ejaculations and solemn prayers must not jostle out one another,
but each have its place.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p8">V. His humble petition to the king. When he
had this encouragement he presented his petition very modestly and
with submission to the king's wisdom (<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.5" parsed="|Neh|2|5|0|0" passage="Ne 2:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), but very explicitly. He asked for
a commission to go as governor to Judah, to build the wall of
Jerusalem, and to stay there for a certain time, so many months, we
may suppose; and then either he had his commission renewed or went
back and was sent again, so that he presided there twelve years at
least, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Neh.5.14" parsed="|Neh|5|14|0|0" passage="Ne 5:14"><i>ch.</i> v. 14</scripRef>. He
also asked for a convoy (<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.7" parsed="|Neh|2|7|0|0" passage="Ne 2:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>), and an order upon the governors, not only to permit
and suffer him to pass through their respective provinces, but to
supply him with what he had occasion for, with another order upon
the keeper of the forest of Lebanon to give him timber for the work
that he designed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p9">VI. The king's great favour to him in
asking him <i>when he would return,</i> <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.6" parsed="|Neh|2|6|0|0" passage="Ne 2:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. He intimated that he was unwilling
to lose him, or to be long without him, yet to gratify him, and do
a real office of kindness to his people, he would spare him awhile,
and let him have what clauses he pleased inserted in his
commission, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.8" parsed="|Neh|2|8|0|0" passage="Ne 2:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Here
was an immediate answer to his prayer; for the seed of Jacob never
sought the God of Jacob in vain. In the account he gives of the
success of his petition he takes notice, 1. Of the presence of the
queen; she sat by (<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.6" parsed="|Neh|2|6|0|0" passage="Ne 2:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>), which (they say) was not usual in the Persian court,
<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Esth.1.11" parsed="|Esth|1|11|0|0" passage="Es 1:11">Esth. i. 11</scripRef>. Whether the
queen was his back friend, that would have hindered him, and he
observes it to the praise of God's powerful providence that though
she was by yet he succeeded, or whether she was his true friend,
and it is observed to the praise of God's kind providence that she
was present to help forward his request, is not certain. 2. Of the
power and grace of God. He gained his point, not according to his
merit, his interest in the king, or his good management, but
<i>according to the good hand of his God upon him.</i> Gracious
souls take notice of God's hand, his good hand, in all events which
turn in favour of them. <i>This is the Lord's doing,</i> and
therefore doubly acceptable.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Neh.iii-p0.3" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.9-Neh.2.20" parsed="|Neh|2|9|2|20" passage="Ne 2:9-20" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Neh.2.9-Neh.2.20">
<h4 id="Neh.iii-p9.6">Nehemiah's Journey to Jerusalem; the Malice
of Sanballat, &amp;c. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Neh.iii-p9.7">b. c.</span> 445.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Neh.iii-p10">9 Then I came to the governors beyond the river,
and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of
the army and horsemen with me.   10 When Sanballat the
Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard <i>of it,</i>
it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the
welfare of the children of Israel.   11 So I came to
Jerusalem, and was there three days.   12 And I arose in the
night, I and some few men with me; neither told I <i>any</i> man
what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither <i>was
there any</i> beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.
  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 king's pool: but <i>there was</i> no place for
the beast <i>that was</i> under me to pass.   15 Then went I
up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back,
and entered by the gate of the valley, and <i>so</i> returned.
  16 And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did;
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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p11">We are here told,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p12">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> (<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.9" parsed="|Neh|2|9|0|0" passage="Ne 2:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p13">II. How he was received by the country he
was sent to.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p14">1. By the Jews and their friends at
Jerusalem. We are told,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p15">(1.) That while he concealed his errand
they took little notice of him. He was at <i>Jerusalem three
days</i> (<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.11" parsed="|Neh|2|11|0|0" passage="Ne 2:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), 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, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.12" parsed="|Neh|2|12|0|0" passage="Ne 2:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.1" parsed="|1John|3|1|0|0" passage="1Jo 3:1">1 John iii.
1</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p16">(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
(<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.13" parsed="|Neh|2|13|0|0" passage="Ne 2:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p17">(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 (<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.16" parsed="|Neh|2|16|0|0" passage="Ne 2:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), 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> (<scripRef id="Neh.iii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.12" parsed="|Neh|2|12|0|0" passage="Ne 2:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), even to <i>build up the wall of
Jerusalem,</i> <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.17" parsed="|Neh|2|17|0|0" passage="Ne 2:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>.
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 class="indent" id="Neh.iii-p18">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, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.10" parsed="|Neh|2|10|0|0" passage="Ne 2:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Neh.2.19-Neh.2.20" parsed="|Neh|2|19|2|20" passage="Ne 2:19,20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>.
[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, <scripRef id="Neh.iii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.1" parsed="|Ps|2|1|0|0" passage="Ps 2:1">Ps. ii. 1</scripRef>.
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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