20 Then answering them I said, The God of heaven, he will be our help; so we his servants will go on with our building: but you have no part or right or any name in Jerusalem.
But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of families in Israel said to them, You have no part with us in the building of a house for our God; we ourselves will do the work together for the Lord, the God of Israel, as Cyrus, king of Persia, has given us orders.
Then the king said to me, What is your desire? So I made prayer to the God of heaven.
Let those who are on my side give cries of joy; let them ever say, The Lord be praised, for he has pleasure in the peace of his servant.
Who said, Cornelius, your prayer has come to the ears of God, and your offerings are kept in his memory.
And the crown will be for grace to Heldai and Tobijah and Jedaiah and the son of Zephaniah, to keep their memory living in the house of the Lord.
I will give to them in my house, and inside my walls, a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an eternal name which will not be cut off.
Do good to Zion in your good pleasure, building up the walls of Jerusalem.
We will be glad in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will put up our flags: may the Lord give you all your requests.
It is common knowledge among all the king's servants and the people of every part of the kingdom, that if anyone, man or woman, comes to the king in his inner room without being sent for, there is only one law for him, that he is to be put to death; only those to whom the king's rod of gold is stretched out may keep their lives: but I have not been sent for to come before the king these thirty days.
He gave himself to searching after God in the days of Zechariah, who made men wise in the fear of God; and as long as he was true to the Lord, God made things go well for him.
And so Aaron will have the names of the children of Israel on the priest's bag over his heart whenever he goes into the holy place, to keep the memory of them before the Lord.
And let him take it to Aaron's sons, the priests; and having taken in his hand some of the meal and of the oil, with all the perfume, let him give it to the priest to be burned on the altar, as a sign, an offering made by fire, for a sweet smell to the Lord.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Nehemiah 2
Commentary on Nehemiah 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
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.
Neh 2:1-8
When Nehemiah had prayed for the relief of his countrymen, and perhaps in David's words (Ps. 51:18, Build thou the walls of Jerusalem), 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, Esth. 4:11. 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,
Neh 2:9-20
We are here told,