3 and say to the king, `Let the king to the age live! wherefore should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of the graves of my fathers, `is' a waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?'
and they say to me, `Those left, who have been left of the captivity there in the province, `are' in great evil, and in reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burnt with fire.'
And Bath-Sheba boweth -- face to the earth -- and doth obeisance to the king, and saith, `Let my lord, king David, live to the age.'
My tongue doth cleave to my palate, If I do not remember thee, If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.
The queen, on account of the words of the king and his great men, to the banquet-house hath come up. Answered hath the queen, and said, `O king, to the ages live; let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor thy countenance be changed:
And Ahaz lieth with his fathers, and they bury him in the city, in Jerusalem, but have not brought him in to the graves of the kings of Israel, and reign doth Hezekiah his son in his stead.
And Hezekiah lieth with his fathers, and they bury him in the uppermost of the graves of the sons of David, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem have done honour to him at his death, and reign doth Manasseh his son in his stead.
Then Daniel hath spoken with the king: `O king, to the ages live:
For Thy servants have been pleased with her stones, And her dust they favour.
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,