Esther 2

Esther 2:1

Who Had Foreign Wives

The opposition of Jonathan and others (Ezra 10:15) has no effect on the people. The exiles do not let themselves be stopped by them and do as they promised (Ezra 10:16). A commission is formed and a session is organized to investigate the matter. As a result, the sending away must take place in good order. The sending away is not done without an investigation. Everything is done thoroughly, carefully, and without haste. Discipline in the church, too, may only take place after investigation by reliable people.

When it is clear which men have brought foreign women to live with them, they will proceed to send them away. Sending them away must have resulted in heartbreaking scenes. It is all the fruit of abandoning God and acting willfully. After three months – from the first day of the tenth month to the first day of the first month – the matter is settled and the cleansing is completed (Ezra 10:17). When finished, it heralds a new period of spiritual prosperity, as we can see from the expression “the first day of the first month”.

The first to be mentioned of those who have transgressed in this matter are the priests (Ezra 10:18). Even descendants of Jeshua, who came with the first group out of Babylon, have taken foreign wives. They are most guilty. As priests they have not obeyed the commission as it is written in Malachi 2 (Malachi 2:7). However, they confess their sin and promise to cleanse themselves by sending their wives away.

It is a sad and humbling fact that many faithful and devoted servants of the LORD had sons who did not walk in the footsteps of their father. We see this for example with Aaron and two of his sons, with Samuel and his sons, with some of David’s sons, with Hezekiah and his son. This should bring us to much prayer for the families of those who serve the Lord.

The transgressing priests bring a ram as a guilt offering (Ezra 10:19). A ram is the animal used in the ordination of a priest when he takes up the priestly ministry (Leviticus 8:22). By offering a ram as a trespass offering, the priests again consecrate themselves to the LORD. Bringing a trespass offering (Leviticus 5:14-19; Leviticus 6:1-7) means that not only sin is acknowledged, but also made good.

We are only free from our guilt when we see that the Lord Jesus is the true trespass offering, Who has put in order with God what we have been guilty of. He has been completely devoted to God in everything on earth (ram) and has always given to God what is His due and much more besides (trespass offering).

The list of names (Ezra 10:20-43) is this time very different from previous lists. Earlier lists contained names as an honorable mention for going a way of faith. This list contains names that evoke embarrassment, although these are people who want to submit to God again and therefore appear to be victorious over sin.

On this list are the names of people whose names are to be said: “All these had married foreign wives” (Ezra 10:44). Not only were wrong marriages entered into, but “some of them had wives [by whom] they had children”. Those children also have to be sent away. We see here that the more serious the deviation is, the more fruits of that deviation there are, and that as a result of the self-judgment the deeper the grief is.

Nothing and no one escapes God’s eye. “We must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10). It is to be hoped that the last chapter of our lives will also be the best in our history. That means there will be more self-judgment than ever, more appreciation of Christ, more separation to God, more priestly feelings, more suitability for the service of God. Whatever has happened in history, let’s make sure we end up as victors.

Esther 2:2

Who Had Foreign Wives

The opposition of Jonathan and others (Ezra 10:15) has no effect on the people. The exiles do not let themselves be stopped by them and do as they promised (Ezra 10:16). A commission is formed and a session is organized to investigate the matter. As a result, the sending away must take place in good order. The sending away is not done without an investigation. Everything is done thoroughly, carefully, and without haste. Discipline in the church, too, may only take place after investigation by reliable people.

When it is clear which men have brought foreign women to live with them, they will proceed to send them away. Sending them away must have resulted in heartbreaking scenes. It is all the fruit of abandoning God and acting willfully. After three months – from the first day of the tenth month to the first day of the first month – the matter is settled and the cleansing is completed (Ezra 10:17). When finished, it heralds a new period of spiritual prosperity, as we can see from the expression “the first day of the first month”.

The first to be mentioned of those who have transgressed in this matter are the priests (Ezra 10:18). Even descendants of Jeshua, who came with the first group out of Babylon, have taken foreign wives. They are most guilty. As priests they have not obeyed the commission as it is written in Malachi 2 (Malachi 2:7). However, they confess their sin and promise to cleanse themselves by sending their wives away.

It is a sad and humbling fact that many faithful and devoted servants of the LORD had sons who did not walk in the footsteps of their father. We see this for example with Aaron and two of his sons, with Samuel and his sons, with some of David’s sons, with Hezekiah and his son. This should bring us to much prayer for the families of those who serve the Lord.

The transgressing priests bring a ram as a guilt offering (Ezra 10:19). A ram is the animal used in the ordination of a priest when he takes up the priestly ministry (Leviticus 8:22). By offering a ram as a trespass offering, the priests again consecrate themselves to the LORD. Bringing a trespass offering (Leviticus 5:14-19; Leviticus 6:1-7) means that not only sin is acknowledged, but also made good.

We are only free from our guilt when we see that the Lord Jesus is the true trespass offering, Who has put in order with God what we have been guilty of. He has been completely devoted to God in everything on earth (ram) and has always given to God what is His due and much more besides (trespass offering).

The list of names (Ezra 10:20-43) is this time very different from previous lists. Earlier lists contained names as an honorable mention for going a way of faith. This list contains names that evoke embarrassment, although these are people who want to submit to God again and therefore appear to be victorious over sin.

On this list are the names of people whose names are to be said: “All these had married foreign wives” (Ezra 10:44). Not only were wrong marriages entered into, but “some of them had wives [by whom] they had children”. Those children also have to be sent away. We see here that the more serious the deviation is, the more fruits of that deviation there are, and that as a result of the self-judgment the deeper the grief is.

Nothing and no one escapes God’s eye. “We must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10). It is to be hoped that the last chapter of our lives will also be the best in our history. That means there will be more self-judgment than ever, more appreciation of Christ, more separation to God, more priestly feelings, more suitability for the service of God. Whatever has happened in history, let’s make sure we end up as victors.

Esther 2:5

Introduction

As has happened several times before, I wrote this commentary after giving sermons about this book of the Bible. It was with great joy that I was able to share the rich lessons from this book with the believers who attended the sermons, in Gummersbach, Germany. What I have been able to gather in the preparation, I have edited in such a way that the whole, now as a commentary, can be offered to anyone who wants to take knowledge of it.

The book contains rich lessons for those who are leaders in the church of God. By this I do not mean by people appointed leaders, but believers who show in their lives that they want to live according to the norms of God’s Word and are examples to others (Hebrews 13:7). These are the more mature believers who take care of God’s church (Hebrews 13:17; Acts 20:28). Such believers will not rule, but serve (1 Peter 5:1-3). Their great example is the Lord Jesus, who was in the midst of the disciples “as the one who serves” (Luke 22:26-27).

That does not mean that this book would not have lessons for those who are not leaders. The Lord Jesus is the example of service for every believer. Every one of God’s children is called to learn from Him as the Exemplar Servant. Because Nehemiah is so similar to Him, this book is full of applications for every believer.

The history and person of Nehemiah provide a variety of situations that we can translate into our time. In every situation we see Nehemiah act in a way that suits that particular situation. It seems as if he is present everywhere and has an appropriate answer to everything. He also knows how to step back in time. We will discover that the secret is his intense prayer life.

Being subservient does not mean being a ‘softy’. Nehemiah is not a weakling. He makes himself small before God; that is why he is fearless in his actions before people. He acts with authority and, if necessary, harshly, no matter whom he has in front of him. In this way he puts a stop to evil practices and brings about a reversal in wrong situations.

What a blessing this man has been for God’s people! May God grant us to be like Nehemiah and to take to heart the lessons of this book.

I have tried, as much as possible, to give a verse by verse commentary, with the emphasis on the application. In the study of Nehemiah 1-2, I base each verse on questions I can ask about the text. There will certainly be other questions to think of. I will gladly leave that to the reader for the next chapters. It can be a tool to better understand and apply the text. The question is followed by an explanation or clarification, with applications interwoven into it. In the first two chapters, as a kind of summary, I close each verse with some lessons I see in it. I hope it will be a stimulus for the reader to discover these lessons for themselves in the following chapters.

Ger de Koning Middelburg, Dutch version revised 2017 / English version April 2022

Introduction to the book of Nehemiah

The book is written by Nehemiah himself and is therefore an autobiography. Yet he tells no more about himself than is necessary to see his connection with the people of God and his service to them.

The subject of the book of Nehemiah is the rebuilding of the city wall around Jerusalem. The city is the area where everyday life takes place. The book deals with the civilian life of the Israelites, but in a situation where they are subject to the Gentiles.

Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem in the twentieth year of Arthahsasta (Artaxerxes). That is thirteen or fourteen years after Ezra, who returned in the seventh year of Arthahsasta. There are about ninety years between the return under Cyrus, mentioned in Ezra 1:1, and the arrival of Nehemiah in Jerusalem. With the arrival of Ezra and later that of Nehemiah, God has His own intentions. Nehemiah respected the position that Ezra has. Nehemiah appreciated it, as shown in his book (Nehemiah 8:1-2; 10; Nehemiah 12:27-43). There was no jealousy.

Ezra was a scribe and also a priest. He was an examiner of the Word of God, in which he had his sources, providing him with strength to act. Nehemiah was more of a practical man, a man busy with everyday things. They both had the same mind. How is it that the situation had become so that a Nehemiah was needed while Ezra was in Jerusalem? Had Ezra’s energy faded a bit?

The people we meet in the book of Nehemiah are those who had returned in the book of Ezra, but sometime later. The decay had come. Nehemiah is characterized by a deep sense of the decay of God’s people. On the other hand, Nehemiah is also characterized by an awareness of the faithfulness of God. Fortunately the Lord can send men like Nehemiah when Ezra’s service was no longer so emphatically present.

In Nehemiah it is about building a wall around the city of God, in which the temple of God stands. He dwells with His people. The personal application of the book is that we build a wall around the city of our souls, realizing that our “body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19). As we build this wall, we meet resistance. We must overcome this resistance. This gives rise to struggle and requires vigilance. When the people say “let us rise and build”, the enemy says “I will rise and resist”.

The book of Nehemiah is perhaps the most fundamental book of the Bible when it comes to personal service to God. For man in general, and for the believer in particular, there is no right to choose one’s own fulfillment of life. To start a study for a profession or to set up a career in business or to engage in any other work, without asking for the will of God, is not only foolish, it is also sin.

The Lord’s claims must be fully acknowledged. He needs to occupy the first place in all things. Our prayer must be: “Lord what do you want me to do and how and where and when do you want me to do it?” To this end, all areas of our lives must be handed over to Him: family, profession, church. Then God can reach His goal with us and our lives will be successful in the true sense of the word.

A division of the book

1. The servant and his special commission (Nehemiah 1-3). a. The servant is prepared, the hidden exercises of the heart (Nehemiah 1). b. The way is prepared, the circumstances controlled (Nehemiah 2). c. The rebuilding of the wall and the gates (Nehemiah 3). 2. Resistance and measures against the attacks of the enemy (Nehemiah 4-7). 3. Restoring the authority of God’s Word (Nehemiah 8-10). 4. The government of the city (Nehemiah 11-13).

Nehemiah, Ancestry, Time and Place

Name and origin of Nehemiah

Nehemiah means ‘comforted by Yahweh’. As an exile he is far from the place chosen by the LORD for His Name to dwell, but he experiences the comfort of the LORD. That means that he has sought that comfort. We need comfort when we are sad. The cause of sorrow will be unique to each person. To be a Nehemiah it is necessary to know the comfort of the Lord.

He is the son of Hacaliah. Hacaliah means ‘wait for Yahweh’. Before he receives a task from the LORD for the sake of His people, he must learn to wait for the LORD (cf. Lamentations 3:26). Patience is often a big stumbling block in the work for the Lord. Having a desire to do something for the Lord is one thing. It is another thing to wait for His time.

The time in which Nehemiah lives

We write “the month Chislev, [in] the twentieth year”. On the Jewish calendar, the month Chislev is the third month of the civil year, the beginning of winter. With us, November/December is then on the calendar. From about 165 BC onwards, on the twenty-fifth of this month, the “[feast of] the consecration of the temple” (John 10:22) is celebrated. This feast, also called “Chanukah Feast”, is celebrated to commemorate the restoration and cleansing of the temple by Judas, the Maccabee. The latter nullified its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes and rededicated the temple to God.

“The twentieth year”, is the twentieth year of the reign of King Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2:1). Artaxerxes became king in 465 BC. So something is told about the life and work of Nehemiah in the period from 445 or 444 BC. The year is named after the time when a foreign ruler has control over Israel.

We can call the indication of the year a ‘rough’ dating and the indication of the month Chislev a ‘fine’ dating. Both time indications are important for the servant. He must know God’s calendar (Chislev) and the calendar used in the world (the twentieth year of Artaxerxes). He must have the awareness that God rules, while satan is still “the ruler of the world” (John 14:30). The servant observes what the world leaders decide, but he does not allow himself to be guided by those decisions; he tests those decisions against the Word of God.

Where Nehemiah is

The description of Nehemiah’s service begins when he is “in Susa the capitol”, the residence of the Persian kings. This means that he is completely surrounded by enemies of God’s people. He lives in the midst of people who do not take God into account, while his own eyes are fixed on Him. His heart is constantly in the land where he belongs.

He is at the court of the most powerful man of that time. In it we see that God has a remnant for His Name in all places. So we also know of a God-fearing Obadiah in the court of Ahab (1 Kings 18:3) and of saints in the house of Caesar.

Some lessons

1. Anyone who wants to do something for the Lord should be able to tell who he is in his relationship with the Lord, how he experiences it, Who the Lord is for him and what the Lord expects of him. 2. He must feel the spiritual climate of God’s people. Winter is approaching. The church, God’s people now, is for the most part in a lukewarm “Laodicéa” condition, not yet completely cold, but no longer warm either. Nevertheless, the faithful believer can devote himself completely to the Lord at this time.

His desire will be that the temple, which in the New Testament means both the church and the body of the believer (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19), will again fulfill God’s purpose. 3. He must know that he has no rights in the world. He depends on the favor of those above him. 4. He should also be aware of the spiritual climate of the world in which he lives. The enmity against God and His Word manifests itself in an ever bolder way.

Esther 2:6

Visit From Jerusalem

The reason for Nehemiah’s work is not a voice from heaven or a miraculous apparition. The reason is an ordinary event: Nehemiah is visited by his brother and some men from Judah. Nehemiah seizes this exquisite opportunity to get current news about the situation there. He wants to know how the Jews and the city of Jerusalem are doing.

Nehemiah’s question shows his great interest in the situation of the remnant of the people of God. Nehemiah has a responsible task in the palace of the king (Nehemiah 1:11). He occupies an influential position. However, this is not what concerns him. His interest is not in the expansion of the Persian Empire and increasing his influence in it. He does not take advantage of his brother’s visit to tell him about his magnificent position and his chances of promotion. Nor does he want to be updated by his brother on all kinds of family matters.

While performing his earthly activities, his heart goes out to those who had returned from Babylon to the promised land. In direct connection with this, he also asks about the city of Jerusalem, the dwelling place of God. Through this he shows that he has the same spirit as Moses, whose heart also went out to his people, to seek them out and set them free (Acts 7:23). Moses also gave up a prominent place for this.

The question may be asked of our interest in receiving visitors from another country. Are we curious about the beautiful nature, the building of houses, prosperity and the like, or about the situation of God’s children and how the church is doing as God’s house?

Some lessons

1. The reason for doing a work for the Lord often lies in everyday events. The way in which we react often reveals what our real interest is. A comment, a visit, a letter, an event (birth, death, accident), and much more, are all tests that reveal our real interests. They can cause our life to take a radical turn. 2. Someone who is truly open to the will of God is interested in every member of His people and in His dwelling place, the church. He does not care about a position in the world. He is prepared, if the Lord asks, to give it up.

Esther 2:7

Report on the Situation in Jerusalem

In sober terms, his visitors tell him that the remnant is in great distress and that Jerusalem no longer has a wall and gates. The fact that the city walls are badly damaged means that the inhabitants are without the necessary protection against enemies. The walls represent the separation from evil. There is no more separation between holy and unholy. The gates speak of letting in the good and removing the wrong. The gates speak of exercising Divine care or discipline.

God wants the walls of Jerusalem to be called salvation and its gates praise (Isaiah 60:18b). Separation from evil means salvation, salvation for God’s people and assures their continuance as God’s people. To be a people that sings His praises requires care and discipline. Unjudged sin prevents praise.

We might have expected that after the return of a remnant, this remnant would have experienced God’s special blessing by giving them the evidence of His approval. On the contrary, they are “in great distress and reproach”.

We can apply this to the situation that had arisen at the beginning of the nineteenth century, after believers from all kinds of denominations discovered the state of the church according to God’s thoughts. They separated themselves from man-made systems according to the Old Testament model, where the Lord Jesus was not given the place He deserves or where evil teachings about Him were proclaimed without exercising God’s discipline (Hebrews 13:13; 2 Timothy 2:19-22). Thereupon they came together in the Name of the Lord Jesus (Matthew 18:20).

This movement can be compared to what was taking place under Ezra. In Ezra we read about the restoration of the altar – applied: renewed view of the Lord’s Table – and the rebuilding of the temple – applied: renewed view of what the church of the living God is. But the fire and characteristic dedication of this movement has been extinguished. Love for the Lord and His Word and care for one another has faded away. The receiving at the Table of the Lord of all God’s children who do not live in sin nor are associated with sin has disappeared. Those who grew up in the tradition of that movement have largely fallen prey to liberalism on the one hand and sectarianism on the other.

The walls have been badly damaged, the gates burned. The movement resulting from a work of the Spirit has come to a standstill. What is left floats either on traditionalism or on emotion under the influence of charismatic teachings or on worldly thought patterns – products of postmodern thought – or on a mixture of these practices. The Word of God remains closed in many cases. It does not need to be opened if we find our certainty in tradition, feeling or reason. If the Word is opened, it is used to underline one’s own right or to make it clear that nothing can be said with certainty.

However, we may ask ourselves how it is in our personal lives, with the wall of separation from the world, with the wall of prayer and reading the Bible, with the wall of faithful imitation of the Lord Jesus, with the wall of personal surrender and living testimony, the wall of being a Christian every day. Are these walls in ruins?

Some lessons

1. When we ask about the situation of God’s people, we will discover that there is great unfaithfulness. 2. The walls, picture of separation, have been demolished. The separation between the church and the world has disappeared. At first hesitantly, the world has now been let in with great enthusiasm. She is taken in to tell how things should be done in the church, both in her meetings and in her preaching of the gospel. 3. The gates, picture of justice, have been burned. The evil that has entered is not judged. In the church everyone does what he or she thinks is right. A possible voice of protest is silenced.

Esther 2:8

The Reaction of Nehemiah

Nehemiah’s reaction to his brother’s account is moving. The message strikes him like a bomb. Nehemiah will have been raised by God-fearing parents. They will have taught him the history and the law of the Jewish people. This explains why he is so touched when he learns from his brother about the devastation of Jerusalem and the people. Such expressions of feelings, that show us the workings of his heart, are regular occurrences in his book. Each time during a description of the work, he airs his feelings.

When we receive or read a message, we can accept it as a notification. That way we will not deal with a message that comes from our own brother. Nehemiah knows him. He’s not a man of dramatic stories. If he says something, it’s completely trustworthy. Nehemiah doesn’t thank his brother kindly for the message. He’s not going to ask critical questions either. What he hears makes an enormous impression on him, he is overwhelmed by feelings of great dejection.

Through his brother’s message he gets a different view on his life. Inwardly involved as he is with the people in Jerusalem, he feels the degradation of the remnant as his own. Nehemiah knows God’s thoughts toward his people. Now he hears how far away the practical situation is in which the people find themselves.

Instead of immediately making feverish plans to change that situation, he sits down. Overwhelmed by intense grief about the situation in which the remnant of God’s people find themselves, he is incapable of anything but crying and mourning over several days.

It does not stop at this expression of sorrow and shame. He also fasts and prays. Fasting means giving up everything that is lawful in itself, but now has to make way in order to give himself completely to a certain cause. The legitimate needs of the body are not met for a time in order for the mind to concentrate fully on a matter that transcends bodily needs. We see this in prayer, which is almost always inextricably linked to fasting. Also here.

Nehemiah fasts and does not pray out of control. He knows himself before the face of “the God of heaven”. If that were not the case, all the exercises of his soul would be useless torments. The awareness of God’s face makes such exercises valuable experiences. What is hidden from the eye of men is perceived and rewarded by God with great pleasure (Matthew 6:17-18).

The expression “God of heaven” is significant. God has withdrawn into heaven. He no longer lives on earth in the midst of His people, a people that He has had to surrender into the hand of their enemies. He no longer acts in power for His people because they have rejected Him. But faith knows how to find Him, and He allows Himself to be found.

The same goes for us. The church has no external power or glory. It is connected with a rejected Lord, Who is now in heaven. But she knows that He is there and that “all power is given to Him in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). Therefore we will turn to Him in our need.

Some lessons

1. All the inner exercises of this dejected man find their way out in prayer. Many have experienced that their work for the Lord has begun with fasting and praying because of the desolate situation of which they have been informed. We can only help reduce a need when we have felt the misery in our own souls. We only receive an instruction from the Lord when He has opened our eyes and we see things as they really are, that is, as He sees them. Nehemiah is called to rebuild the walls, but first he weeps over their ruins. 2.

Serving God is not a hobby. He who thinks so, inevitably suffers shipwreck. Before, for example, doing children’s work, we must first see the appalling lack of Christian education in the schools and the blatant promotion of evil around us. The recognition of this situation on our knees before God is the beginning. 3. The Lord Jesus is moved with compassion over the flock like sheep who have no shepherd and in this He involves His disciples. For this He calls us to prayer (Matthew 9:36-38).

What does it do to us when we see the many people on the street? Do we care about them? 4. When we look at the walls with the eyes of the Lord Jesus, we first have to experience grief that so many people, and especially so many so-called Christians, do not show the Lord Jesus in their lives.

Esther 2:9

The Prayer of Nehemiah

The pleading ground (Nehemiah 1:5)

After the message, Nehemiah will have felt powerless. What can he do? Pray! He prays to “the God of heaven.” His prayer is based on the revelation of God, as he has come to know Him. Although he does not know God as we may know him, as Father, he prays to Someone He knows, to Someone of Whom He knows where He lives.

There is not any bravado. There is confidentiality and at the same time respect. Nehemiah knows God as the “great and awesome God”. In the face of God’s overwhelming greatness, he feels small. In front of the awesome God he is filled with awe. In His holy presence he feels how sinful he is (cf. Isaiah 6:1-5). But instead of getting out of his way, he resorts to that God in his need (cf. Isaiah 5:8).

Nehemiah is not afraid of God. Someone who gives God the place that belongs to Him and takes a position appropriate for him before God, does not need to be afraid of God. He not only knows Who God is, but also how God acts. God’s “covenant” and His “lovingkindness”, which is inseparable from it, form the argument for Nehemiah. The LORD spoke about this to Moses (Deuteronomy 7:9). This is also the plea for the prayer of Solomon (1 Kings 8:23).

The blessing of God’s covenant and His lovingkindness is for those who love Him and keep His commandments. Love and obedience always go hand in hand. They are the two characteristics of a person born of God. They have to do with the nature of God. “God is light” (1 John 1:5) and “God is love” (1 John 4:8; 16). The nature of God is manifested in His children through brotherly love and the keeping of the commandments of the Lord Jesus (1 John 2:3-11).

For Whom Nehemiah Prays (Nehemiah 1:6a)

Nehemiah made a passionate appeal to God to hear his prayer and to see him, the supplicant. He calls himself “Your servant”. There is no feeling of exaltation, of belonging to God’s chosen people, which the name “Israelites” would suggest. He begs for his brethren, the Israelites, whom he also calls “Your servants “. He unites them with himself to appear before God, together with them. He prays for them, but including himself with them.

Day and night he intercedes for them. Feelings of grief and affliction have not subsided over time. What he prays has occupied him constantly, even during his daily work, which he has simply had to do. He has not publicly displayed his grief. That it will eventually be visible in him (Nehemiah 2:2), is inescapable and underlines the fact that he is constantly busy with God’s people, his people and their circumstances.

Confession (Nehemiah 1:6b-7)

As already noted, Nehemiah does not only bring his fellowmen before God. He realizes that whoever prays for another person and brings that other person into God’s presence, thereby also comes into God’s presence himself. Thus you cannot remain upright yourself. He who thinks so, resembles the Pharisee about whom the Lord Jesus talks in Luke 18 (Luke 18:11a). That man prays, even mentions the Name of God, but does not stand in the presence of God. He is completely surrounded by his own presence. In that state it is not possible to intercede and you can’t possibly be an intercessor. To intercede presupposes to be aware of another person’s need, without feeling superior to that other person.

Nehemiah is standing before God. When he starts praying for his fellow people, he first sees his own sins and the sins of his family. Before he confesses the sins of the people, he first confesses those of himself and those of his family. In this way he paves the way spiritually to become a true intercessor.

Then he does not pray for ‘those others’, but speaks of “we” who have sinned heavily against God and disobeyed Him. God has made His commandments known, but the people do not care. He acknowledges that as a result they have forfeited every right to a blessing.

God’s Word in the prayer (Nehemiah 1:8-9)

Nehemiah quotes God’s Word to agree with its truth. God has acted, as He has said. The people have been unfaithful, and God has had to scatter them among the nations. Nehemiah justifies God’s actions and acknowledges their own unfaithfulness. But he does not leave it at that. He also knows what else God has said. He pleads with God that where He has fulfilled one word, He will also fulfill the other. This is real living “on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

This is how we should pray: in the awareness of what God did for us when He sent His Son to die for us on the cross, and what He did in His resurrection and ascension, and what He is going to do on His return. As we look at Christ on the cross and shedding His blood, we will experience the power of active prayer. His actions in the past guarantee the fulfillment of His promises in the future. With Him it is true that results from the past are a full guarantee for the future.

Nehemiah’s words are not a literal quotation from God’s Word. They are a summary of what God has said will happen, both in unfaithfulness and in conversion (Deuteronomy 4:27-31; Deuteronomy 30:4-10). We may remind Him of this and draw courage from it, as Nehemiah did. The Word gives hope (Psalms 119:49).

Nehemiah emphasizes in his prayer what God has said about Jerusalem: “The place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.” That’s what he’s about, that place. Nehemiah’s heart is full of the same thing of which God’s heart is full.

Your servants and Your people (Nehemiah 1:10)

By what right does Nehemiah speak of “Your servants and Your people”? Because God Himself delivered these people from Egypt and made them His people. Nehemiah reminds God of what He did many centuries ago. And even more recently, even though it is only a remnant that has left, He has delivered His people from exile. Everything has shown that God did not abandon His people. Wouldn’t He look at their misery in which they ended up again after their return to the land?

Nehemiah knows the heart of God. God has done too much for these people not to care about them now. Again we see a parallel between Nehemiah and Moses. After the sin of the people with the golden calf, God speaks to Moses about “your people” (Exodus 32:7), as if His people were the people of Moses and not His people. But Moses knows the heart of God and speaks to God about “Your people” (Exodus 32:11). Faith sees and maintains the connection that exists between God and His people.

Other intercessors (Nehemiah 1:11a)

Nehemiah does not imagine that he is the only one who cares about God’s people. Though he is alone, he knows that there are more who pray for God wanting to bring a turn in their fate. He does not make the mistake of Elijah in believing that he is the only faithful one left (1 Kings 19:10; 18; Romans 11:2-5). God always provides a remnant, consisting of several believers who remain faithful to Him at a time of general unfaithfulness.

When our hearts are weighed down by a heavy burden, we should not think that we are the only ones who feel this burden. Maybe we are alone, but we should know that God also makes others feel the same burden (cf. 1 Peter 5:9).

Prayer in view of his position (Nehemiah 1:11b)

The goal and the task for his people have become clear to him in prayer. But it is not yet clear when he can begin. For this he depends on the king’s permission. Time and permission lie humanly speaking in the hand of the king. Nehemiah acknowledges in his prayer that he is dependent on the king. That is why he asks God to let him have mercy of the king “today”. His task now is to wait for God’s answer.

Why would he mention that he is the king’s cupbearer? It seems that he does so because it is necessary for the report of his conversation with the king in the next chapter. He could have started to bring this up when he had a visit from Jerusalem. But he doesn’t see his social position as something to boast about. Nehemiah always gives the necessary information, without putting himself in the spotlight.

By stating “now I was the cupbearer to the king”, Nehemiah emphasizes his complete dependence on the king. Cupbearer is a position of great trust and responsibility. But Nehemiah does not use his position to influence the king and thus seek enlightenment for his people. Nehemiah might also have thought: “What happened to Israel is all their own fault. Nothing can change that. I have a good job and God Himself will take care of His people, He doesn’t need me for that.”

Nehemiah doesn’t do either. He makes himself one with the people and confesses the sin of the people as his own sin. Like Moses, he prefers to suffer affliction with the people of God rather “than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). We can only serve God if we are willing to bring sacrifices.

What we find with Nehemiah, who lives at the end of Israel’s history, we also see with Moses, at the beginning of Israel’s history. Moses also enjoys special privileges. He is at home in the court of Pharaoh, but he too does not use his position for the benefit of his people. As the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he could even have waited a while until he himself ascended the throne. He could have said that God’s providence put him in that position. But he loves God above the people and wishes to do only what God asks of him.

Some lessons

1. In the prayer of Nehemiah we are being taken into the deep feelings of a man burdened by the affliction of God’s people and the dishonor inflicted upon God with it. Thus we may speak to God with confidence and reverence from the fullness of our hearts. Boldly, but not irreverently, we may make God a partaker in our distress. God has known that for a long time, of course, but He wants us to pray to Him. He wants to use the prayer of His own in the fulfillment of His plans.

That gives prayer a special value and meaning. 2. In his prayer Nehemiah does not put himself above the people, or next to them, but he makes himself one with the people. It is necessary that we know ourselves to be inseparable from the people of God in order, as it were, to come together with them before God’s face. This profound awareness leads us to confess our own sins, the sins of our family and the sins of the people. 3. He justifies God. God has rightly scattered them.

The people have broken their allegiance, and God has no choice but to act this way. However, we also know that God can gather again what He has scattered, albeit on the condition of repentance. We may appeal to God’s faithfulness to His Word and to His past actions. 4. When we have thus set our hearts free in prayer, we can ask God to clear the way for us to go and help His people. Nehemiah depends on the permission of the king to go. Acting on his own power is strange to him and it will have to be the same with us. 5.

He has placed everything in the hands of God. Now it is waiting for His answer, for His time, an important point for anyone who wants to do something for the Lord.

Esther 2:10

The Prayer of Nehemiah

The pleading ground (Nehemiah 1:5)

After the message, Nehemiah will have felt powerless. What can he do? Pray! He prays to “the God of heaven.” His prayer is based on the revelation of God, as he has come to know Him. Although he does not know God as we may know him, as Father, he prays to Someone He knows, to Someone of Whom He knows where He lives.

There is not any bravado. There is confidentiality and at the same time respect. Nehemiah knows God as the “great and awesome God”. In the face of God’s overwhelming greatness, he feels small. In front of the awesome God he is filled with awe. In His holy presence he feels how sinful he is (cf. Isaiah 6:1-5). But instead of getting out of his way, he resorts to that God in his need (cf. Isaiah 5:8).

Nehemiah is not afraid of God. Someone who gives God the place that belongs to Him and takes a position appropriate for him before God, does not need to be afraid of God. He not only knows Who God is, but also how God acts. God’s “covenant” and His “lovingkindness”, which is inseparable from it, form the argument for Nehemiah. The LORD spoke about this to Moses (Deuteronomy 7:9). This is also the plea for the prayer of Solomon (1 Kings 8:23).

The blessing of God’s covenant and His lovingkindness is for those who love Him and keep His commandments. Love and obedience always go hand in hand. They are the two characteristics of a person born of God. They have to do with the nature of God. “God is light” (1 John 1:5) and “God is love” (1 John 4:8; 16). The nature of God is manifested in His children through brotherly love and the keeping of the commandments of the Lord Jesus (1 John 2:3-11).

For Whom Nehemiah Prays (Nehemiah 1:6a)

Nehemiah made a passionate appeal to God to hear his prayer and to see him, the supplicant. He calls himself “Your servant”. There is no feeling of exaltation, of belonging to God’s chosen people, which the name “Israelites” would suggest. He begs for his brethren, the Israelites, whom he also calls “Your servants “. He unites them with himself to appear before God, together with them. He prays for them, but including himself with them.

Day and night he intercedes for them. Feelings of grief and affliction have not subsided over time. What he prays has occupied him constantly, even during his daily work, which he has simply had to do. He has not publicly displayed his grief. That it will eventually be visible in him (Nehemiah 2:2), is inescapable and underlines the fact that he is constantly busy with God’s people, his people and their circumstances.

Confession (Nehemiah 1:6b-7)

As already noted, Nehemiah does not only bring his fellowmen before God. He realizes that whoever prays for another person and brings that other person into God’s presence, thereby also comes into God’s presence himself. Thus you cannot remain upright yourself. He who thinks so, resembles the Pharisee about whom the Lord Jesus talks in Luke 18 (Luke 18:11a). That man prays, even mentions the Name of God, but does not stand in the presence of God. He is completely surrounded by his own presence. In that state it is not possible to intercede and you can’t possibly be an intercessor. To intercede presupposes to be aware of another person’s need, without feeling superior to that other person.

Nehemiah is standing before God. When he starts praying for his fellow people, he first sees his own sins and the sins of his family. Before he confesses the sins of the people, he first confesses those of himself and those of his family. In this way he paves the way spiritually to become a true intercessor.

Then he does not pray for ‘those others’, but speaks of “we” who have sinned heavily against God and disobeyed Him. God has made His commandments known, but the people do not care. He acknowledges that as a result they have forfeited every right to a blessing.

God’s Word in the prayer (Nehemiah 1:8-9)

Nehemiah quotes God’s Word to agree with its truth. God has acted, as He has said. The people have been unfaithful, and God has had to scatter them among the nations. Nehemiah justifies God’s actions and acknowledges their own unfaithfulness. But he does not leave it at that. He also knows what else God has said. He pleads with God that where He has fulfilled one word, He will also fulfill the other. This is real living “on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

This is how we should pray: in the awareness of what God did for us when He sent His Son to die for us on the cross, and what He did in His resurrection and ascension, and what He is going to do on His return. As we look at Christ on the cross and shedding His blood, we will experience the power of active prayer. His actions in the past guarantee the fulfillment of His promises in the future. With Him it is true that results from the past are a full guarantee for the future.

Nehemiah’s words are not a literal quotation from God’s Word. They are a summary of what God has said will happen, both in unfaithfulness and in conversion (Deuteronomy 4:27-31; Deuteronomy 30:4-10). We may remind Him of this and draw courage from it, as Nehemiah did. The Word gives hope (Psalms 119:49).

Nehemiah emphasizes in his prayer what God has said about Jerusalem: “The place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.” That’s what he’s about, that place. Nehemiah’s heart is full of the same thing of which God’s heart is full.

Your servants and Your people (Nehemiah 1:10)

By what right does Nehemiah speak of “Your servants and Your people”? Because God Himself delivered these people from Egypt and made them His people. Nehemiah reminds God of what He did many centuries ago. And even more recently, even though it is only a remnant that has left, He has delivered His people from exile. Everything has shown that God did not abandon His people. Wouldn’t He look at their misery in which they ended up again after their return to the land?

Nehemiah knows the heart of God. God has done too much for these people not to care about them now. Again we see a parallel between Nehemiah and Moses. After the sin of the people with the golden calf, God speaks to Moses about “your people” (Exodus 32:7), as if His people were the people of Moses and not His people. But Moses knows the heart of God and speaks to God about “Your people” (Exodus 32:11). Faith sees and maintains the connection that exists between God and His people.

Other intercessors (Nehemiah 1:11a)

Nehemiah does not imagine that he is the only one who cares about God’s people. Though he is alone, he knows that there are more who pray for God wanting to bring a turn in their fate. He does not make the mistake of Elijah in believing that he is the only faithful one left (1 Kings 19:10; 18; Romans 11:2-5). God always provides a remnant, consisting of several believers who remain faithful to Him at a time of general unfaithfulness.

When our hearts are weighed down by a heavy burden, we should not think that we are the only ones who feel this burden. Maybe we are alone, but we should know that God also makes others feel the same burden (cf. 1 Peter 5:9).

Prayer in view of his position (Nehemiah 1:11b)

The goal and the task for his people have become clear to him in prayer. But it is not yet clear when he can begin. For this he depends on the king’s permission. Time and permission lie humanly speaking in the hand of the king. Nehemiah acknowledges in his prayer that he is dependent on the king. That is why he asks God to let him have mercy of the king “today”. His task now is to wait for God’s answer.

Why would he mention that he is the king’s cupbearer? It seems that he does so because it is necessary for the report of his conversation with the king in the next chapter. He could have started to bring this up when he had a visit from Jerusalem. But he doesn’t see his social position as something to boast about. Nehemiah always gives the necessary information, without putting himself in the spotlight.

By stating “now I was the cupbearer to the king”, Nehemiah emphasizes his complete dependence on the king. Cupbearer is a position of great trust and responsibility. But Nehemiah does not use his position to influence the king and thus seek enlightenment for his people. Nehemiah might also have thought: “What happened to Israel is all their own fault. Nothing can change that. I have a good job and God Himself will take care of His people, He doesn’t need me for that.”

Nehemiah doesn’t do either. He makes himself one with the people and confesses the sin of the people as his own sin. Like Moses, he prefers to suffer affliction with the people of God rather “than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). We can only serve God if we are willing to bring sacrifices.

What we find with Nehemiah, who lives at the end of Israel’s history, we also see with Moses, at the beginning of Israel’s history. Moses also enjoys special privileges. He is at home in the court of Pharaoh, but he too does not use his position for the benefit of his people. As the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he could even have waited a while until he himself ascended the throne. He could have said that God’s providence put him in that position. But he loves God above the people and wishes to do only what God asks of him.

Some lessons

1. In the prayer of Nehemiah we are being taken into the deep feelings of a man burdened by the affliction of God’s people and the dishonor inflicted upon God with it. Thus we may speak to God with confidence and reverence from the fullness of our hearts. Boldly, but not irreverently, we may make God a partaker in our distress. God has known that for a long time, of course, but He wants us to pray to Him. He wants to use the prayer of His own in the fulfillment of His plans.

That gives prayer a special value and meaning. 2. In his prayer Nehemiah does not put himself above the people, or next to them, but he makes himself one with the people. It is necessary that we know ourselves to be inseparable from the people of God in order, as it were, to come together with them before God’s face. This profound awareness leads us to confess our own sins, the sins of our family and the sins of the people. 3. He justifies God. God has rightly scattered them.

The people have broken their allegiance, and God has no choice but to act this way. However, we also know that God can gather again what He has scattered, albeit on the condition of repentance. We may appeal to God’s faithfulness to His Word and to His past actions. 4. When we have thus set our hearts free in prayer, we can ask God to clear the way for us to go and help His people. Nehemiah depends on the permission of the king to go. Acting on his own power is strange to him and it will have to be the same with us. 5.

He has placed everything in the hands of God. Now it is waiting for His answer, for His time, an important point for anyone who wants to do something for the Lord.

Esther 2:11

The Prayer of Nehemiah

The pleading ground (Nehemiah 1:5)

After the message, Nehemiah will have felt powerless. What can he do? Pray! He prays to “the God of heaven.” His prayer is based on the revelation of God, as he has come to know Him. Although he does not know God as we may know him, as Father, he prays to Someone He knows, to Someone of Whom He knows where He lives.

There is not any bravado. There is confidentiality and at the same time respect. Nehemiah knows God as the “great and awesome God”. In the face of God’s overwhelming greatness, he feels small. In front of the awesome God he is filled with awe. In His holy presence he feels how sinful he is (cf. Isaiah 6:1-5). But instead of getting out of his way, he resorts to that God in his need (cf. Isaiah 5:8).

Nehemiah is not afraid of God. Someone who gives God the place that belongs to Him and takes a position appropriate for him before God, does not need to be afraid of God. He not only knows Who God is, but also how God acts. God’s “covenant” and His “lovingkindness”, which is inseparable from it, form the argument for Nehemiah. The LORD spoke about this to Moses (Deuteronomy 7:9). This is also the plea for the prayer of Solomon (1 Kings 8:23).

The blessing of God’s covenant and His lovingkindness is for those who love Him and keep His commandments. Love and obedience always go hand in hand. They are the two characteristics of a person born of God. They have to do with the nature of God. “God is light” (1 John 1:5) and “God is love” (1 John 4:8; 16). The nature of God is manifested in His children through brotherly love and the keeping of the commandments of the Lord Jesus (1 John 2:3-11).

For Whom Nehemiah Prays (Nehemiah 1:6a)

Nehemiah made a passionate appeal to God to hear his prayer and to see him, the supplicant. He calls himself “Your servant”. There is no feeling of exaltation, of belonging to God’s chosen people, which the name “Israelites” would suggest. He begs for his brethren, the Israelites, whom he also calls “Your servants “. He unites them with himself to appear before God, together with them. He prays for them, but including himself with them.

Day and night he intercedes for them. Feelings of grief and affliction have not subsided over time. What he prays has occupied him constantly, even during his daily work, which he has simply had to do. He has not publicly displayed his grief. That it will eventually be visible in him (Nehemiah 2:2), is inescapable and underlines the fact that he is constantly busy with God’s people, his people and their circumstances.

Confession (Nehemiah 1:6b-7)

As already noted, Nehemiah does not only bring his fellowmen before God. He realizes that whoever prays for another person and brings that other person into God’s presence, thereby also comes into God’s presence himself. Thus you cannot remain upright yourself. He who thinks so, resembles the Pharisee about whom the Lord Jesus talks in Luke 18 (Luke 18:11a). That man prays, even mentions the Name of God, but does not stand in the presence of God. He is completely surrounded by his own presence. In that state it is not possible to intercede and you can’t possibly be an intercessor. To intercede presupposes to be aware of another person’s need, without feeling superior to that other person.

Nehemiah is standing before God. When he starts praying for his fellow people, he first sees his own sins and the sins of his family. Before he confesses the sins of the people, he first confesses those of himself and those of his family. In this way he paves the way spiritually to become a true intercessor.

Then he does not pray for ‘those others’, but speaks of “we” who have sinned heavily against God and disobeyed Him. God has made His commandments known, but the people do not care. He acknowledges that as a result they have forfeited every right to a blessing.

God’s Word in the prayer (Nehemiah 1:8-9)

Nehemiah quotes God’s Word to agree with its truth. God has acted, as He has said. The people have been unfaithful, and God has had to scatter them among the nations. Nehemiah justifies God’s actions and acknowledges their own unfaithfulness. But he does not leave it at that. He also knows what else God has said. He pleads with God that where He has fulfilled one word, He will also fulfill the other. This is real living “on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

This is how we should pray: in the awareness of what God did for us when He sent His Son to die for us on the cross, and what He did in His resurrection and ascension, and what He is going to do on His return. As we look at Christ on the cross and shedding His blood, we will experience the power of active prayer. His actions in the past guarantee the fulfillment of His promises in the future. With Him it is true that results from the past are a full guarantee for the future.

Nehemiah’s words are not a literal quotation from God’s Word. They are a summary of what God has said will happen, both in unfaithfulness and in conversion (Deuteronomy 4:27-31; Deuteronomy 30:4-10). We may remind Him of this and draw courage from it, as Nehemiah did. The Word gives hope (Psalms 119:49).

Nehemiah emphasizes in his prayer what God has said about Jerusalem: “The place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.” That’s what he’s about, that place. Nehemiah’s heart is full of the same thing of which God’s heart is full.

Your servants and Your people (Nehemiah 1:10)

By what right does Nehemiah speak of “Your servants and Your people”? Because God Himself delivered these people from Egypt and made them His people. Nehemiah reminds God of what He did many centuries ago. And even more recently, even though it is only a remnant that has left, He has delivered His people from exile. Everything has shown that God did not abandon His people. Wouldn’t He look at their misery in which they ended up again after their return to the land?

Nehemiah knows the heart of God. God has done too much for these people not to care about them now. Again we see a parallel between Nehemiah and Moses. After the sin of the people with the golden calf, God speaks to Moses about “your people” (Exodus 32:7), as if His people were the people of Moses and not His people. But Moses knows the heart of God and speaks to God about “Your people” (Exodus 32:11). Faith sees and maintains the connection that exists between God and His people.

Other intercessors (Nehemiah 1:11a)

Nehemiah does not imagine that he is the only one who cares about God’s people. Though he is alone, he knows that there are more who pray for God wanting to bring a turn in their fate. He does not make the mistake of Elijah in believing that he is the only faithful one left (1 Kings 19:10; 18; Romans 11:2-5). God always provides a remnant, consisting of several believers who remain faithful to Him at a time of general unfaithfulness.

When our hearts are weighed down by a heavy burden, we should not think that we are the only ones who feel this burden. Maybe we are alone, but we should know that God also makes others feel the same burden (cf. 1 Peter 5:9).

Prayer in view of his position (Nehemiah 1:11b)

The goal and the task for his people have become clear to him in prayer. But it is not yet clear when he can begin. For this he depends on the king’s permission. Time and permission lie humanly speaking in the hand of the king. Nehemiah acknowledges in his prayer that he is dependent on the king. That is why he asks God to let him have mercy of the king “today”. His task now is to wait for God’s answer.

Why would he mention that he is the king’s cupbearer? It seems that he does so because it is necessary for the report of his conversation with the king in the next chapter. He could have started to bring this up when he had a visit from Jerusalem. But he doesn’t see his social position as something to boast about. Nehemiah always gives the necessary information, without putting himself in the spotlight.

By stating “now I was the cupbearer to the king”, Nehemiah emphasizes his complete dependence on the king. Cupbearer is a position of great trust and responsibility. But Nehemiah does not use his position to influence the king and thus seek enlightenment for his people. Nehemiah might also have thought: “What happened to Israel is all their own fault. Nothing can change that. I have a good job and God Himself will take care of His people, He doesn’t need me for that.”

Nehemiah doesn’t do either. He makes himself one with the people and confesses the sin of the people as his own sin. Like Moses, he prefers to suffer affliction with the people of God rather “than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). We can only serve God if we are willing to bring sacrifices.

What we find with Nehemiah, who lives at the end of Israel’s history, we also see with Moses, at the beginning of Israel’s history. Moses also enjoys special privileges. He is at home in the court of Pharaoh, but he too does not use his position for the benefit of his people. As the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he could even have waited a while until he himself ascended the throne. He could have said that God’s providence put him in that position. But he loves God above the people and wishes to do only what God asks of him.

Some lessons

1. In the prayer of Nehemiah we are being taken into the deep feelings of a man burdened by the affliction of God’s people and the dishonor inflicted upon God with it. Thus we may speak to God with confidence and reverence from the fullness of our hearts. Boldly, but not irreverently, we may make God a partaker in our distress. God has known that for a long time, of course, but He wants us to pray to Him. He wants to use the prayer of His own in the fulfillment of His plans.

That gives prayer a special value and meaning. 2. In his prayer Nehemiah does not put himself above the people, or next to them, but he makes himself one with the people. It is necessary that we know ourselves to be inseparable from the people of God in order, as it were, to come together with them before God’s face. This profound awareness leads us to confess our own sins, the sins of our family and the sins of the people. 3. He justifies God. God has rightly scattered them.

The people have broken their allegiance, and God has no choice but to act this way. However, we also know that God can gather again what He has scattered, albeit on the condition of repentance. We may appeal to God’s faithfulness to His Word and to His past actions. 4. When we have thus set our hearts free in prayer, we can ask God to clear the way for us to go and help His people. Nehemiah depends on the permission of the king to go. Acting on his own power is strange to him and it will have to be the same with us. 5.

He has placed everything in the hands of God. Now it is waiting for His answer, for His time, an important point for anyone who wants to do something for the Lord.

Esther 2:12

The Prayer of Nehemiah

The pleading ground (Nehemiah 1:5)

After the message, Nehemiah will have felt powerless. What can he do? Pray! He prays to “the God of heaven.” His prayer is based on the revelation of God, as he has come to know Him. Although he does not know God as we may know him, as Father, he prays to Someone He knows, to Someone of Whom He knows where He lives.

There is not any bravado. There is confidentiality and at the same time respect. Nehemiah knows God as the “great and awesome God”. In the face of God’s overwhelming greatness, he feels small. In front of the awesome God he is filled with awe. In His holy presence he feels how sinful he is (cf. Isaiah 6:1-5). But instead of getting out of his way, he resorts to that God in his need (cf. Isaiah 5:8).

Nehemiah is not afraid of God. Someone who gives God the place that belongs to Him and takes a position appropriate for him before God, does not need to be afraid of God. He not only knows Who God is, but also how God acts. God’s “covenant” and His “lovingkindness”, which is inseparable from it, form the argument for Nehemiah. The LORD spoke about this to Moses (Deuteronomy 7:9). This is also the plea for the prayer of Solomon (1 Kings 8:23).

The blessing of God’s covenant and His lovingkindness is for those who love Him and keep His commandments. Love and obedience always go hand in hand. They are the two characteristics of a person born of God. They have to do with the nature of God. “God is light” (1 John 1:5) and “God is love” (1 John 4:8; 16). The nature of God is manifested in His children through brotherly love and the keeping of the commandments of the Lord Jesus (1 John 2:3-11).

For Whom Nehemiah Prays (Nehemiah 1:6a)

Nehemiah made a passionate appeal to God to hear his prayer and to see him, the supplicant. He calls himself “Your servant”. There is no feeling of exaltation, of belonging to God’s chosen people, which the name “Israelites” would suggest. He begs for his brethren, the Israelites, whom he also calls “Your servants “. He unites them with himself to appear before God, together with them. He prays for them, but including himself with them.

Day and night he intercedes for them. Feelings of grief and affliction have not subsided over time. What he prays has occupied him constantly, even during his daily work, which he has simply had to do. He has not publicly displayed his grief. That it will eventually be visible in him (Nehemiah 2:2), is inescapable and underlines the fact that he is constantly busy with God’s people, his people and their circumstances.

Confession (Nehemiah 1:6b-7)

As already noted, Nehemiah does not only bring his fellowmen before God. He realizes that whoever prays for another person and brings that other person into God’s presence, thereby also comes into God’s presence himself. Thus you cannot remain upright yourself. He who thinks so, resembles the Pharisee about whom the Lord Jesus talks in Luke 18 (Luke 18:11a). That man prays, even mentions the Name of God, but does not stand in the presence of God. He is completely surrounded by his own presence. In that state it is not possible to intercede and you can’t possibly be an intercessor. To intercede presupposes to be aware of another person’s need, without feeling superior to that other person.

Nehemiah is standing before God. When he starts praying for his fellow people, he first sees his own sins and the sins of his family. Before he confesses the sins of the people, he first confesses those of himself and those of his family. In this way he paves the way spiritually to become a true intercessor.

Then he does not pray for ‘those others’, but speaks of “we” who have sinned heavily against God and disobeyed Him. God has made His commandments known, but the people do not care. He acknowledges that as a result they have forfeited every right to a blessing.

God’s Word in the prayer (Nehemiah 1:8-9)

Nehemiah quotes God’s Word to agree with its truth. God has acted, as He has said. The people have been unfaithful, and God has had to scatter them among the nations. Nehemiah justifies God’s actions and acknowledges their own unfaithfulness. But he does not leave it at that. He also knows what else God has said. He pleads with God that where He has fulfilled one word, He will also fulfill the other. This is real living “on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

This is how we should pray: in the awareness of what God did for us when He sent His Son to die for us on the cross, and what He did in His resurrection and ascension, and what He is going to do on His return. As we look at Christ on the cross and shedding His blood, we will experience the power of active prayer. His actions in the past guarantee the fulfillment of His promises in the future. With Him it is true that results from the past are a full guarantee for the future.

Nehemiah’s words are not a literal quotation from God’s Word. They are a summary of what God has said will happen, both in unfaithfulness and in conversion (Deuteronomy 4:27-31; Deuteronomy 30:4-10). We may remind Him of this and draw courage from it, as Nehemiah did. The Word gives hope (Psalms 119:49).

Nehemiah emphasizes in his prayer what God has said about Jerusalem: “The place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.” That’s what he’s about, that place. Nehemiah’s heart is full of the same thing of which God’s heart is full.

Your servants and Your people (Nehemiah 1:10)

By what right does Nehemiah speak of “Your servants and Your people”? Because God Himself delivered these people from Egypt and made them His people. Nehemiah reminds God of what He did many centuries ago. And even more recently, even though it is only a remnant that has left, He has delivered His people from exile. Everything has shown that God did not abandon His people. Wouldn’t He look at their misery in which they ended up again after their return to the land?

Nehemiah knows the heart of God. God has done too much for these people not to care about them now. Again we see a parallel between Nehemiah and Moses. After the sin of the people with the golden calf, God speaks to Moses about “your people” (Exodus 32:7), as if His people were the people of Moses and not His people. But Moses knows the heart of God and speaks to God about “Your people” (Exodus 32:11). Faith sees and maintains the connection that exists between God and His people.

Other intercessors (Nehemiah 1:11a)

Nehemiah does not imagine that he is the only one who cares about God’s people. Though he is alone, he knows that there are more who pray for God wanting to bring a turn in their fate. He does not make the mistake of Elijah in believing that he is the only faithful one left (1 Kings 19:10; 18; Romans 11:2-5). God always provides a remnant, consisting of several believers who remain faithful to Him at a time of general unfaithfulness.

When our hearts are weighed down by a heavy burden, we should not think that we are the only ones who feel this burden. Maybe we are alone, but we should know that God also makes others feel the same burden (cf. 1 Peter 5:9).

Prayer in view of his position (Nehemiah 1:11b)

The goal and the task for his people have become clear to him in prayer. But it is not yet clear when he can begin. For this he depends on the king’s permission. Time and permission lie humanly speaking in the hand of the king. Nehemiah acknowledges in his prayer that he is dependent on the king. That is why he asks God to let him have mercy of the king “today”. His task now is to wait for God’s answer.

Why would he mention that he is the king’s cupbearer? It seems that he does so because it is necessary for the report of his conversation with the king in the next chapter. He could have started to bring this up when he had a visit from Jerusalem. But he doesn’t see his social position as something to boast about. Nehemiah always gives the necessary information, without putting himself in the spotlight.

By stating “now I was the cupbearer to the king”, Nehemiah emphasizes his complete dependence on the king. Cupbearer is a position of great trust and responsibility. But Nehemiah does not use his position to influence the king and thus seek enlightenment for his people. Nehemiah might also have thought: “What happened to Israel is all their own fault. Nothing can change that. I have a good job and God Himself will take care of His people, He doesn’t need me for that.”

Nehemiah doesn’t do either. He makes himself one with the people and confesses the sin of the people as his own sin. Like Moses, he prefers to suffer affliction with the people of God rather “than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). We can only serve God if we are willing to bring sacrifices.

What we find with Nehemiah, who lives at the end of Israel’s history, we also see with Moses, at the beginning of Israel’s history. Moses also enjoys special privileges. He is at home in the court of Pharaoh, but he too does not use his position for the benefit of his people. As the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he could even have waited a while until he himself ascended the throne. He could have said that God’s providence put him in that position. But he loves God above the people and wishes to do only what God asks of him.

Some lessons

1. In the prayer of Nehemiah we are being taken into the deep feelings of a man burdened by the affliction of God’s people and the dishonor inflicted upon God with it. Thus we may speak to God with confidence and reverence from the fullness of our hearts. Boldly, but not irreverently, we may make God a partaker in our distress. God has known that for a long time, of course, but He wants us to pray to Him. He wants to use the prayer of His own in the fulfillment of His plans.

That gives prayer a special value and meaning. 2. In his prayer Nehemiah does not put himself above the people, or next to them, but he makes himself one with the people. It is necessary that we know ourselves to be inseparable from the people of God in order, as it were, to come together with them before God’s face. This profound awareness leads us to confess our own sins, the sins of our family and the sins of the people. 3. He justifies God. God has rightly scattered them.

The people have broken their allegiance, and God has no choice but to act this way. However, we also know that God can gather again what He has scattered, albeit on the condition of repentance. We may appeal to God’s faithfulness to His Word and to His past actions. 4. When we have thus set our hearts free in prayer, we can ask God to clear the way for us to go and help His people. Nehemiah depends on the permission of the king to go. Acting on his own power is strange to him and it will have to be the same with us. 5.

He has placed everything in the hands of God. Now it is waiting for His answer, for His time, an important point for anyone who wants to do something for the Lord.

Esther 2:13

The Prayer of Nehemiah

The pleading ground (Nehemiah 1:5)

After the message, Nehemiah will have felt powerless. What can he do? Pray! He prays to “the God of heaven.” His prayer is based on the revelation of God, as he has come to know Him. Although he does not know God as we may know him, as Father, he prays to Someone He knows, to Someone of Whom He knows where He lives.

There is not any bravado. There is confidentiality and at the same time respect. Nehemiah knows God as the “great and awesome God”. In the face of God’s overwhelming greatness, he feels small. In front of the awesome God he is filled with awe. In His holy presence he feels how sinful he is (cf. Isaiah 6:1-5). But instead of getting out of his way, he resorts to that God in his need (cf. Isaiah 5:8).

Nehemiah is not afraid of God. Someone who gives God the place that belongs to Him and takes a position appropriate for him before God, does not need to be afraid of God. He not only knows Who God is, but also how God acts. God’s “covenant” and His “lovingkindness”, which is inseparable from it, form the argument for Nehemiah. The LORD spoke about this to Moses (Deuteronomy 7:9). This is also the plea for the prayer of Solomon (1 Kings 8:23).

The blessing of God’s covenant and His lovingkindness is for those who love Him and keep His commandments. Love and obedience always go hand in hand. They are the two characteristics of a person born of God. They have to do with the nature of God. “God is light” (1 John 1:5) and “God is love” (1 John 4:8; 16). The nature of God is manifested in His children through brotherly love and the keeping of the commandments of the Lord Jesus (1 John 2:3-11).

For Whom Nehemiah Prays (Nehemiah 1:6a)

Nehemiah made a passionate appeal to God to hear his prayer and to see him, the supplicant. He calls himself “Your servant”. There is no feeling of exaltation, of belonging to God’s chosen people, which the name “Israelites” would suggest. He begs for his brethren, the Israelites, whom he also calls “Your servants “. He unites them with himself to appear before God, together with them. He prays for them, but including himself with them.

Day and night he intercedes for them. Feelings of grief and affliction have not subsided over time. What he prays has occupied him constantly, even during his daily work, which he has simply had to do. He has not publicly displayed his grief. That it will eventually be visible in him (Nehemiah 2:2), is inescapable and underlines the fact that he is constantly busy with God’s people, his people and their circumstances.

Confession (Nehemiah 1:6b-7)

As already noted, Nehemiah does not only bring his fellowmen before God. He realizes that whoever prays for another person and brings that other person into God’s presence, thereby also comes into God’s presence himself. Thus you cannot remain upright yourself. He who thinks so, resembles the Pharisee about whom the Lord Jesus talks in Luke 18 (Luke 18:11a). That man prays, even mentions the Name of God, but does not stand in the presence of God. He is completely surrounded by his own presence. In that state it is not possible to intercede and you can’t possibly be an intercessor. To intercede presupposes to be aware of another person’s need, without feeling superior to that other person.

Nehemiah is standing before God. When he starts praying for his fellow people, he first sees his own sins and the sins of his family. Before he confesses the sins of the people, he first confesses those of himself and those of his family. In this way he paves the way spiritually to become a true intercessor.

Then he does not pray for ‘those others’, but speaks of “we” who have sinned heavily against God and disobeyed Him. God has made His commandments known, but the people do not care. He acknowledges that as a result they have forfeited every right to a blessing.

God’s Word in the prayer (Nehemiah 1:8-9)

Nehemiah quotes God’s Word to agree with its truth. God has acted, as He has said. The people have been unfaithful, and God has had to scatter them among the nations. Nehemiah justifies God’s actions and acknowledges their own unfaithfulness. But he does not leave it at that. He also knows what else God has said. He pleads with God that where He has fulfilled one word, He will also fulfill the other. This is real living “on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

This is how we should pray: in the awareness of what God did for us when He sent His Son to die for us on the cross, and what He did in His resurrection and ascension, and what He is going to do on His return. As we look at Christ on the cross and shedding His blood, we will experience the power of active prayer. His actions in the past guarantee the fulfillment of His promises in the future. With Him it is true that results from the past are a full guarantee for the future.

Nehemiah’s words are not a literal quotation from God’s Word. They are a summary of what God has said will happen, both in unfaithfulness and in conversion (Deuteronomy 4:27-31; Deuteronomy 30:4-10). We may remind Him of this and draw courage from it, as Nehemiah did. The Word gives hope (Psalms 119:49).

Nehemiah emphasizes in his prayer what God has said about Jerusalem: “The place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.” That’s what he’s about, that place. Nehemiah’s heart is full of the same thing of which God’s heart is full.

Your servants and Your people (Nehemiah 1:10)

By what right does Nehemiah speak of “Your servants and Your people”? Because God Himself delivered these people from Egypt and made them His people. Nehemiah reminds God of what He did many centuries ago. And even more recently, even though it is only a remnant that has left, He has delivered His people from exile. Everything has shown that God did not abandon His people. Wouldn’t He look at their misery in which they ended up again after their return to the land?

Nehemiah knows the heart of God. God has done too much for these people not to care about them now. Again we see a parallel between Nehemiah and Moses. After the sin of the people with the golden calf, God speaks to Moses about “your people” (Exodus 32:7), as if His people were the people of Moses and not His people. But Moses knows the heart of God and speaks to God about “Your people” (Exodus 32:11). Faith sees and maintains the connection that exists between God and His people.

Other intercessors (Nehemiah 1:11a)

Nehemiah does not imagine that he is the only one who cares about God’s people. Though he is alone, he knows that there are more who pray for God wanting to bring a turn in their fate. He does not make the mistake of Elijah in believing that he is the only faithful one left (1 Kings 19:10; 18; Romans 11:2-5). God always provides a remnant, consisting of several believers who remain faithful to Him at a time of general unfaithfulness.

When our hearts are weighed down by a heavy burden, we should not think that we are the only ones who feel this burden. Maybe we are alone, but we should know that God also makes others feel the same burden (cf. 1 Peter 5:9).

Prayer in view of his position (Nehemiah 1:11b)

The goal and the task for his people have become clear to him in prayer. But it is not yet clear when he can begin. For this he depends on the king’s permission. Time and permission lie humanly speaking in the hand of the king. Nehemiah acknowledges in his prayer that he is dependent on the king. That is why he asks God to let him have mercy of the king “today”. His task now is to wait for God’s answer.

Why would he mention that he is the king’s cupbearer? It seems that he does so because it is necessary for the report of his conversation with the king in the next chapter. He could have started to bring this up when he had a visit from Jerusalem. But he doesn’t see his social position as something to boast about. Nehemiah always gives the necessary information, without putting himself in the spotlight.

By stating “now I was the cupbearer to the king”, Nehemiah emphasizes his complete dependence on the king. Cupbearer is a position of great trust and responsibility. But Nehemiah does not use his position to influence the king and thus seek enlightenment for his people. Nehemiah might also have thought: “What happened to Israel is all their own fault. Nothing can change that. I have a good job and God Himself will take care of His people, He doesn’t need me for that.”

Nehemiah doesn’t do either. He makes himself one with the people and confesses the sin of the people as his own sin. Like Moses, he prefers to suffer affliction with the people of God rather “than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). We can only serve God if we are willing to bring sacrifices.

What we find with Nehemiah, who lives at the end of Israel’s history, we also see with Moses, at the beginning of Israel’s history. Moses also enjoys special privileges. He is at home in the court of Pharaoh, but he too does not use his position for the benefit of his people. As the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he could even have waited a while until he himself ascended the throne. He could have said that God’s providence put him in that position. But he loves God above the people and wishes to do only what God asks of him.

Some lessons

1. In the prayer of Nehemiah we are being taken into the deep feelings of a man burdened by the affliction of God’s people and the dishonor inflicted upon God with it. Thus we may speak to God with confidence and reverence from the fullness of our hearts. Boldly, but not irreverently, we may make God a partaker in our distress. God has known that for a long time, of course, but He wants us to pray to Him. He wants to use the prayer of His own in the fulfillment of His plans.

That gives prayer a special value and meaning. 2. In his prayer Nehemiah does not put himself above the people, or next to them, but he makes himself one with the people. It is necessary that we know ourselves to be inseparable from the people of God in order, as it were, to come together with them before God’s face. This profound awareness leads us to confess our own sins, the sins of our family and the sins of the people. 3. He justifies God. God has rightly scattered them.

The people have broken their allegiance, and God has no choice but to act this way. However, we also know that God can gather again what He has scattered, albeit on the condition of repentance. We may appeal to God’s faithfulness to His Word and to His past actions. 4. When we have thus set our hearts free in prayer, we can ask God to clear the way for us to go and help His people. Nehemiah depends on the permission of the king to go. Acting on his own power is strange to him and it will have to be the same with us. 5.

He has placed everything in the hands of God. Now it is waiting for His answer, for His time, an important point for anyone who wants to do something for the Lord.

Esther 2:14

The Prayer of Nehemiah

The pleading ground (Nehemiah 1:5)

After the message, Nehemiah will have felt powerless. What can he do? Pray! He prays to “the God of heaven.” His prayer is based on the revelation of God, as he has come to know Him. Although he does not know God as we may know him, as Father, he prays to Someone He knows, to Someone of Whom He knows where He lives.

There is not any bravado. There is confidentiality and at the same time respect. Nehemiah knows God as the “great and awesome God”. In the face of God’s overwhelming greatness, he feels small. In front of the awesome God he is filled with awe. In His holy presence he feels how sinful he is (cf. Isaiah 6:1-5). But instead of getting out of his way, he resorts to that God in his need (cf. Isaiah 5:8).

Nehemiah is not afraid of God. Someone who gives God the place that belongs to Him and takes a position appropriate for him before God, does not need to be afraid of God. He not only knows Who God is, but also how God acts. God’s “covenant” and His “lovingkindness”, which is inseparable from it, form the argument for Nehemiah. The LORD spoke about this to Moses (Deuteronomy 7:9). This is also the plea for the prayer of Solomon (1 Kings 8:23).

The blessing of God’s covenant and His lovingkindness is for those who love Him and keep His commandments. Love and obedience always go hand in hand. They are the two characteristics of a person born of God. They have to do with the nature of God. “God is light” (1 John 1:5) and “God is love” (1 John 4:8; 16). The nature of God is manifested in His children through brotherly love and the keeping of the commandments of the Lord Jesus (1 John 2:3-11).

For Whom Nehemiah Prays (Nehemiah 1:6a)

Nehemiah made a passionate appeal to God to hear his prayer and to see him, the supplicant. He calls himself “Your servant”. There is no feeling of exaltation, of belonging to God’s chosen people, which the name “Israelites” would suggest. He begs for his brethren, the Israelites, whom he also calls “Your servants “. He unites them with himself to appear before God, together with them. He prays for them, but including himself with them.

Day and night he intercedes for them. Feelings of grief and affliction have not subsided over time. What he prays has occupied him constantly, even during his daily work, which he has simply had to do. He has not publicly displayed his grief. That it will eventually be visible in him (Nehemiah 2:2), is inescapable and underlines the fact that he is constantly busy with God’s people, his people and their circumstances.

Confession (Nehemiah 1:6b-7)

As already noted, Nehemiah does not only bring his fellowmen before God. He realizes that whoever prays for another person and brings that other person into God’s presence, thereby also comes into God’s presence himself. Thus you cannot remain upright yourself. He who thinks so, resembles the Pharisee about whom the Lord Jesus talks in Luke 18 (Luke 18:11a). That man prays, even mentions the Name of God, but does not stand in the presence of God. He is completely surrounded by his own presence. In that state it is not possible to intercede and you can’t possibly be an intercessor. To intercede presupposes to be aware of another person’s need, without feeling superior to that other person.

Nehemiah is standing before God. When he starts praying for his fellow people, he first sees his own sins and the sins of his family. Before he confesses the sins of the people, he first confesses those of himself and those of his family. In this way he paves the way spiritually to become a true intercessor.

Then he does not pray for ‘those others’, but speaks of “we” who have sinned heavily against God and disobeyed Him. God has made His commandments known, but the people do not care. He acknowledges that as a result they have forfeited every right to a blessing.

God’s Word in the prayer (Nehemiah 1:8-9)

Nehemiah quotes God’s Word to agree with its truth. God has acted, as He has said. The people have been unfaithful, and God has had to scatter them among the nations. Nehemiah justifies God’s actions and acknowledges their own unfaithfulness. But he does not leave it at that. He also knows what else God has said. He pleads with God that where He has fulfilled one word, He will also fulfill the other. This is real living “on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

This is how we should pray: in the awareness of what God did for us when He sent His Son to die for us on the cross, and what He did in His resurrection and ascension, and what He is going to do on His return. As we look at Christ on the cross and shedding His blood, we will experience the power of active prayer. His actions in the past guarantee the fulfillment of His promises in the future. With Him it is true that results from the past are a full guarantee for the future.

Nehemiah’s words are not a literal quotation from God’s Word. They are a summary of what God has said will happen, both in unfaithfulness and in conversion (Deuteronomy 4:27-31; Deuteronomy 30:4-10). We may remind Him of this and draw courage from it, as Nehemiah did. The Word gives hope (Psalms 119:49).

Nehemiah emphasizes in his prayer what God has said about Jerusalem: “The place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.” That’s what he’s about, that place. Nehemiah’s heart is full of the same thing of which God’s heart is full.

Your servants and Your people (Nehemiah 1:10)

By what right does Nehemiah speak of “Your servants and Your people”? Because God Himself delivered these people from Egypt and made them His people. Nehemiah reminds God of what He did many centuries ago. And even more recently, even though it is only a remnant that has left, He has delivered His people from exile. Everything has shown that God did not abandon His people. Wouldn’t He look at their misery in which they ended up again after their return to the land?

Nehemiah knows the heart of God. God has done too much for these people not to care about them now. Again we see a parallel between Nehemiah and Moses. After the sin of the people with the golden calf, God speaks to Moses about “your people” (Exodus 32:7), as if His people were the people of Moses and not His people. But Moses knows the heart of God and speaks to God about “Your people” (Exodus 32:11). Faith sees and maintains the connection that exists between God and His people.

Other intercessors (Nehemiah 1:11a)

Nehemiah does not imagine that he is the only one who cares about God’s people. Though he is alone, he knows that there are more who pray for God wanting to bring a turn in their fate. He does not make the mistake of Elijah in believing that he is the only faithful one left (1 Kings 19:10; 18; Romans 11:2-5). God always provides a remnant, consisting of several believers who remain faithful to Him at a time of general unfaithfulness.

When our hearts are weighed down by a heavy burden, we should not think that we are the only ones who feel this burden. Maybe we are alone, but we should know that God also makes others feel the same burden (cf. 1 Peter 5:9).

Prayer in view of his position (Nehemiah 1:11b)

The goal and the task for his people have become clear to him in prayer. But it is not yet clear when he can begin. For this he depends on the king’s permission. Time and permission lie humanly speaking in the hand of the king. Nehemiah acknowledges in his prayer that he is dependent on the king. That is why he asks God to let him have mercy of the king “today”. His task now is to wait for God’s answer.

Why would he mention that he is the king’s cupbearer? It seems that he does so because it is necessary for the report of his conversation with the king in the next chapter. He could have started to bring this up when he had a visit from Jerusalem. But he doesn’t see his social position as something to boast about. Nehemiah always gives the necessary information, without putting himself in the spotlight.

By stating “now I was the cupbearer to the king”, Nehemiah emphasizes his complete dependence on the king. Cupbearer is a position of great trust and responsibility. But Nehemiah does not use his position to influence the king and thus seek enlightenment for his people. Nehemiah might also have thought: “What happened to Israel is all their own fault. Nothing can change that. I have a good job and God Himself will take care of His people, He doesn’t need me for that.”

Nehemiah doesn’t do either. He makes himself one with the people and confesses the sin of the people as his own sin. Like Moses, he prefers to suffer affliction with the people of God rather “than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). We can only serve God if we are willing to bring sacrifices.

What we find with Nehemiah, who lives at the end of Israel’s history, we also see with Moses, at the beginning of Israel’s history. Moses also enjoys special privileges. He is at home in the court of Pharaoh, but he too does not use his position for the benefit of his people. As the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he could even have waited a while until he himself ascended the throne. He could have said that God’s providence put him in that position. But he loves God above the people and wishes to do only what God asks of him.

Some lessons

1. In the prayer of Nehemiah we are being taken into the deep feelings of a man burdened by the affliction of God’s people and the dishonor inflicted upon God with it. Thus we may speak to God with confidence and reverence from the fullness of our hearts. Boldly, but not irreverently, we may make God a partaker in our distress. God has known that for a long time, of course, but He wants us to pray to Him. He wants to use the prayer of His own in the fulfillment of His plans.

That gives prayer a special value and meaning. 2. In his prayer Nehemiah does not put himself above the people, or next to them, but he makes himself one with the people. It is necessary that we know ourselves to be inseparable from the people of God in order, as it were, to come together with them before God’s face. This profound awareness leads us to confess our own sins, the sins of our family and the sins of the people. 3. He justifies God. God has rightly scattered them.

The people have broken their allegiance, and God has no choice but to act this way. However, we also know that God can gather again what He has scattered, albeit on the condition of repentance. We may appeal to God’s faithfulness to His Word and to His past actions. 4. When we have thus set our hearts free in prayer, we can ask God to clear the way for us to go and help His people. Nehemiah depends on the permission of the king to go. Acting on his own power is strange to him and it will have to be the same with us. 5.

He has placed everything in the hands of God. Now it is waiting for His answer, for His time, an important point for anyone who wants to do something for the Lord.

Esther 2:15

The Prayer of Nehemiah

The pleading ground (Nehemiah 1:5)

After the message, Nehemiah will have felt powerless. What can he do? Pray! He prays to “the God of heaven.” His prayer is based on the revelation of God, as he has come to know Him. Although he does not know God as we may know him, as Father, he prays to Someone He knows, to Someone of Whom He knows where He lives.

There is not any bravado. There is confidentiality and at the same time respect. Nehemiah knows God as the “great and awesome God”. In the face of God’s overwhelming greatness, he feels small. In front of the awesome God he is filled with awe. In His holy presence he feels how sinful he is (cf. Isaiah 6:1-5). But instead of getting out of his way, he resorts to that God in his need (cf. Isaiah 5:8).

Nehemiah is not afraid of God. Someone who gives God the place that belongs to Him and takes a position appropriate for him before God, does not need to be afraid of God. He not only knows Who God is, but also how God acts. God’s “covenant” and His “lovingkindness”, which is inseparable from it, form the argument for Nehemiah. The LORD spoke about this to Moses (Deuteronomy 7:9). This is also the plea for the prayer of Solomon (1 Kings 8:23).

The blessing of God’s covenant and His lovingkindness is for those who love Him and keep His commandments. Love and obedience always go hand in hand. They are the two characteristics of a person born of God. They have to do with the nature of God. “God is light” (1 John 1:5) and “God is love” (1 John 4:8; 16). The nature of God is manifested in His children through brotherly love and the keeping of the commandments of the Lord Jesus (1 John 2:3-11).

For Whom Nehemiah Prays (Nehemiah 1:6a)

Nehemiah made a passionate appeal to God to hear his prayer and to see him, the supplicant. He calls himself “Your servant”. There is no feeling of exaltation, of belonging to God’s chosen people, which the name “Israelites” would suggest. He begs for his brethren, the Israelites, whom he also calls “Your servants “. He unites them with himself to appear before God, together with them. He prays for them, but including himself with them.

Day and night he intercedes for them. Feelings of grief and affliction have not subsided over time. What he prays has occupied him constantly, even during his daily work, which he has simply had to do. He has not publicly displayed his grief. That it will eventually be visible in him (Nehemiah 2:2), is inescapable and underlines the fact that he is constantly busy with God’s people, his people and their circumstances.

Confession (Nehemiah 1:6b-7)

As already noted, Nehemiah does not only bring his fellowmen before God. He realizes that whoever prays for another person and brings that other person into God’s presence, thereby also comes into God’s presence himself. Thus you cannot remain upright yourself. He who thinks so, resembles the Pharisee about whom the Lord Jesus talks in Luke 18 (Luke 18:11a). That man prays, even mentions the Name of God, but does not stand in the presence of God. He is completely surrounded by his own presence. In that state it is not possible to intercede and you can’t possibly be an intercessor. To intercede presupposes to be aware of another person’s need, without feeling superior to that other person.

Nehemiah is standing before God. When he starts praying for his fellow people, he first sees his own sins and the sins of his family. Before he confesses the sins of the people, he first confesses those of himself and those of his family. In this way he paves the way spiritually to become a true intercessor.

Then he does not pray for ‘those others’, but speaks of “we” who have sinned heavily against God and disobeyed Him. God has made His commandments known, but the people do not care. He acknowledges that as a result they have forfeited every right to a blessing.

God’s Word in the prayer (Nehemiah 1:8-9)

Nehemiah quotes God’s Word to agree with its truth. God has acted, as He has said. The people have been unfaithful, and God has had to scatter them among the nations. Nehemiah justifies God’s actions and acknowledges their own unfaithfulness. But he does not leave it at that. He also knows what else God has said. He pleads with God that where He has fulfilled one word, He will also fulfill the other. This is real living “on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

This is how we should pray: in the awareness of what God did for us when He sent His Son to die for us on the cross, and what He did in His resurrection and ascension, and what He is going to do on His return. As we look at Christ on the cross and shedding His blood, we will experience the power of active prayer. His actions in the past guarantee the fulfillment of His promises in the future. With Him it is true that results from the past are a full guarantee for the future.

Nehemiah’s words are not a literal quotation from God’s Word. They are a summary of what God has said will happen, both in unfaithfulness and in conversion (Deuteronomy 4:27-31; Deuteronomy 30:4-10). We may remind Him of this and draw courage from it, as Nehemiah did. The Word gives hope (Psalms 119:49).

Nehemiah emphasizes in his prayer what God has said about Jerusalem: “The place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.” That’s what he’s about, that place. Nehemiah’s heart is full of the same thing of which God’s heart is full.

Your servants and Your people (Nehemiah 1:10)

By what right does Nehemiah speak of “Your servants and Your people”? Because God Himself delivered these people from Egypt and made them His people. Nehemiah reminds God of what He did many centuries ago. And even more recently, even though it is only a remnant that has left, He has delivered His people from exile. Everything has shown that God did not abandon His people. Wouldn’t He look at their misery in which they ended up again after their return to the land?

Nehemiah knows the heart of God. God has done too much for these people not to care about them now. Again we see a parallel between Nehemiah and Moses. After the sin of the people with the golden calf, God speaks to Moses about “your people” (Exodus 32:7), as if His people were the people of Moses and not His people. But Moses knows the heart of God and speaks to God about “Your people” (Exodus 32:11). Faith sees and maintains the connection that exists between God and His people.

Other intercessors (Nehemiah 1:11a)

Nehemiah does not imagine that he is the only one who cares about God’s people. Though he is alone, he knows that there are more who pray for God wanting to bring a turn in their fate. He does not make the mistake of Elijah in believing that he is the only faithful one left (1 Kings 19:10; 18; Romans 11:2-5). God always provides a remnant, consisting of several believers who remain faithful to Him at a time of general unfaithfulness.

When our hearts are weighed down by a heavy burden, we should not think that we are the only ones who feel this burden. Maybe we are alone, but we should know that God also makes others feel the same burden (cf. 1 Peter 5:9).

Prayer in view of his position (Nehemiah 1:11b)

The goal and the task for his people have become clear to him in prayer. But it is not yet clear when he can begin. For this he depends on the king’s permission. Time and permission lie humanly speaking in the hand of the king. Nehemiah acknowledges in his prayer that he is dependent on the king. That is why he asks God to let him have mercy of the king “today”. His task now is to wait for God’s answer.

Why would he mention that he is the king’s cupbearer? It seems that he does so because it is necessary for the report of his conversation with the king in the next chapter. He could have started to bring this up when he had a visit from Jerusalem. But he doesn’t see his social position as something to boast about. Nehemiah always gives the necessary information, without putting himself in the spotlight.

By stating “now I was the cupbearer to the king”, Nehemiah emphasizes his complete dependence on the king. Cupbearer is a position of great trust and responsibility. But Nehemiah does not use his position to influence the king and thus seek enlightenment for his people. Nehemiah might also have thought: “What happened to Israel is all their own fault. Nothing can change that. I have a good job and God Himself will take care of His people, He doesn’t need me for that.”

Nehemiah doesn’t do either. He makes himself one with the people and confesses the sin of the people as his own sin. Like Moses, he prefers to suffer affliction with the people of God rather “than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). We can only serve God if we are willing to bring sacrifices.

What we find with Nehemiah, who lives at the end of Israel’s history, we also see with Moses, at the beginning of Israel’s history. Moses also enjoys special privileges. He is at home in the court of Pharaoh, but he too does not use his position for the benefit of his people. As the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he could even have waited a while until he himself ascended the throne. He could have said that God’s providence put him in that position. But he loves God above the people and wishes to do only what God asks of him.

Some lessons

1. In the prayer of Nehemiah we are being taken into the deep feelings of a man burdened by the affliction of God’s people and the dishonor inflicted upon God with it. Thus we may speak to God with confidence and reverence from the fullness of our hearts. Boldly, but not irreverently, we may make God a partaker in our distress. God has known that for a long time, of course, but He wants us to pray to Him. He wants to use the prayer of His own in the fulfillment of His plans.

That gives prayer a special value and meaning. 2. In his prayer Nehemiah does not put himself above the people, or next to them, but he makes himself one with the people. It is necessary that we know ourselves to be inseparable from the people of God in order, as it were, to come together with them before God’s face. This profound awareness leads us to confess our own sins, the sins of our family and the sins of the people. 3. He justifies God. God has rightly scattered them.

The people have broken their allegiance, and God has no choice but to act this way. However, we also know that God can gather again what He has scattered, albeit on the condition of repentance. We may appeal to God’s faithfulness to His Word and to His past actions. 4. When we have thus set our hearts free in prayer, we can ask God to clear the way for us to go and help His people. Nehemiah depends on the permission of the king to go. Acting on his own power is strange to him and it will have to be the same with us. 5.

He has placed everything in the hands of God. Now it is waiting for His answer, for His time, an important point for anyone who wants to do something for the Lord.

Esther 2:17

Nehemiah Busy in His Service

In the month Chislev, the third month of the civil year, Nehemiah heard the message concerning Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1:1). Here we are in the month Nisan. That is the seventh month of the civil year, with us March/April. Four months have passed since his prayer and still he has not received an answer.

He does not know in advance how long he has to wait for the answer. Yet he patiently waits. He leaves time in God’s hand. He is content that God determines the right time. He does not rush into the task he sees before him. In the meantime, he continues to do his work faithfully in the place where the LORD has brought him.

It may happen that one hears of a need. Overwhelmed by pity some go straight to work without waiting for God’s voice and time. That is not the way of God’s plan for His work. Seeing need is not a vocation. First a need must have penetrated deep into the heart. Then we become aware that it is not we, but only God Who can provide for that need. First, need must become a burden so heavy that the only way out we see is the Lord Jesus, Who has said: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). This verse is certainly important for the gospel, but it is also very important for those who want to be servants.

Perhaps Nehemiah prayed that God would remove the burden from his heart. Maybe he has prayed or God wants to make that burden even heavier, so that all that remains for him to do is to act. This is how we may do it if we are told something about a need. The need has remained in his heart. We can imagine him wondering if he should talk to the king about his need and if so, when, or if he still has to wait for God.

He will have had peace of mind at the thought that God can bring him into the king’s favor by a miracle when he calls him to do a work in Jerusalem. God turns the hearts of kings like channels of water (Proverbs 21:1). We will get these confirmations of faith if we increasingly perceive that the Lord wants to use us for a particular work.

Nehemiah has never been sad in the presence of the king. This indicates that he is now and also that this is visible. Showing sadness does not fit in the presence of mighty rulers who see themselves as distributors of blessing. These people only want happy faces in their immediate surroundings. As an exile Nehemiah will always have had sorrow in his heart (Proverbs 14:13), but will always have been able to keep it hidden. However, the traces of fasting and praying cannot be denied.

Nevertheless, Nehemiah will also have done his work with pleasure. The Lord brought him there and charged him with this work. That is how he will have seen it. It is important for us to be able to say the same of our job in society. We may also enjoy our daily work while thanking God the Father through the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:17).

Nevertheless, at the same time we realize that the earth is not our ultimate goal. We do not belong here, heaven is our home. As a cobbler, who whistled, once said: “I am on a journey to heaven and on the way I make shoes. The Lord Jesus was known as “the carpenter” (Mark 6:3). Before He began His travels through Israel, He worked as a carpenter. You can be sure that He loved His work and did a good job.

Until the Lord calls us to do a work for Him, we must remain faithful in our earthly profession and find full satisfaction in it. Dissatisfaction with our job in society or the reward for it, or a difficult relationship with colleagues in the workplace, should not be a reason to give up that job in order to serve the so-called higher things. That is a great self-deception that will certainly result in great dishonor for the Lord Jesus.

Some lessons

1. When we have brought a matter before the Lord in prayer, we must learn to wait patiently for further instructions from Him. That does not mean that we should sit and wait with our arms crossed. Each of us must “remain in that calling in which he was called” (1 Corinthians 7:20) and do what belongs to that calling. While we are busy like this, we may look forward to His answer to our prayer (Habakkuk 2:1). 2. That time of expectation is a time of inner exercise in which many questions will impose themselves on us. It is good to undergo such exercises, which often involve struggle. If they really are exercises of faith, they will throw us upon the Lord. We will be purified by them.

Esther 2:18

The King’s Question

It doesn’t escape the king that his cupbearer doesn’t look as happy as usual. He notices that it is because of something that pains his heart. He asks Nehemiah about it. The king’s question is the introduction to the radical change in Nehemiah’s life that he so fervently desires. The king must have often asked Nehemiah something or said something to him. Not once, however, has this made his heart beat faster, because these are general questions or remarks that do not touch his heart. What the king asks now does make his heart beat faster.

The reason for the king’s question and remark is what he sees on Nehemiah’s face. The king then sees the effect of prayer and fasting. On his face the condition of his heart can be read (cf. Genesis 31:2). The king notes this. He has an eye for his staff.

Do we also have an eye for what is going on around us? We easily ask: “How are you?” We answer just as easily: “I am well.” In doing so, we are more polite than expressing real interest or allowing others to share in what concerns us. Reading faces is important. Eyes can tell a lot. The eye is the mirror of the soul. Real attention for people makes us look deeper than the surface.

The king’s remark means a great danger to Nehemiah. As has been said, kings do not tolerate sad faces in their presence. It could cost him his job and even his life. Hence his fear. There is another reason for his fear. That fear relates to God. Is this the moment God gives to reveal what has occupied him for four months?

Nehemiah doesn’t have to think long about the answer. He doesn’t have time for that either. He can’t retreat for a moment to reflect. He immediately realizes that the king’s question has to do with his prayers. On the one hand he is overwhelmed by the question, on the other hand he sees that God might open a door. When God sees that we are ready to take up a service for Him, He opens the door.

Some lessons

1. Can we ‘read’ faces? Do we look deeper than the surface? Do we listen between the lines what someone really wants to say? Do we listen behind someone’s story his real need? 2. When we, like Nehemiah, are busy day and night with a particular work in our minds, we will immediately notice when the Lord begins to answer our prayers.

Esther 2:19

Nehemiah’s Answer

With words indicating that he knows his own place and showing respect for the king’s position, Nehemiah speaks to him. In almost passionate terms, he makes the king a partaker of what occupies his heart and what can be read on his face. From the fullness of his heart, he tells about the city to which the heart of every Israelite goes.

It is as if Nehemiah can finally give air to a secret that he has carried with him for so long. His feelings for ‘the city’, instead of becoming weaker, have only grown stronger. His love for ‘the city’ does not depend on the fame and wealth it once possessed, the great kings who ruled it, nor it’s the impressive past. His love concerns the city itself because it is the city of God, because he knows and believes in the future of this city.

That is why he speaks of the city as “the place of my fathers’ tombs”. His pious ancestors all wanted to be buried in the land of promise, because they believed in the resurrection. They believed – and so does Nehemiah – that God will fulfill all His promises. They all died in the faith that He will do so (Hebrews 11:13).

Nehemiah is concerned about the present situation in which the city finds itself, because he believes in the future of that city. He sees before him God’s plan for that city. He also sees how sharp the contrast is between the glorious future and the present situation. His desire is to work to ensure that the present and the future are more in harmony.

If we want to do a work for the Lord, we can only do so if we have a view of the future. What is important is that we see the church as it will one day be blameless before God. The current situation of unfaithfulness, lukewarmness, and worldliness of the church on earth will affect us. There will be a longing in us to be used by God to make believers committed to Him again.

A lesson

A view of the future of the church puts the present state of the church in the true light. The Lord Jesus has given Himself for the church in order to sanctify and cleanse her. He wants to present to Himself the church having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing (Ephesians 5:25-27). His love for the church must fill us to be used.

Esther 2:20

Question and Prayer

After the moving testimony of Nehemiah’s love for Jerusalem, the king asks another question. He does not ask any further about the circumstances, but asks the question that for Nehemiah is God’s answer to his prayers. The king will have noticed in Nehemiah’s answer a deep desire to do something for Jerusalem. God controls his heart and gives him the question in his mouth. In this way Nehemiah is, as it were, given his answer to prayer on a silver platter.

Nehemiah receives the hearing of his prayer in the daily circumstances of his life. This also often happens to us, for example when the Lord allows us to meet certain people. Sometimes He also lets us hear certain comments that are not even addressed to us personally, but in which we hear God’s voice.

For months now Nehemiah has been carrying the burden of what he has heard from his brother on his heart. He knows that he can only go if the king allows it, and this will only be the case if the Lord wants it. The answer to his prayer comes in a way and at a time when he might least expect it. It can be the same with us.

Although Nehemiah knows what he wants, he does not immediately answer the king’s question. First Nehemiah speaks to God, then to the king. God is here, as in the book of Ezra, “the God of heaven”. Because of the unfaithfulness of the people He no longer lives on earth in the temple.

Some lessons

1. A sincere, moving testimony of what is in us for the Lord Jesus and His church is never without consequence. It opens doors, brings about changes in circumstances and in people’s hearts. The same goes for John the baptist who, when he sees the Lord Jesus, wholeheartedly says: “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:36). As a result, two of his disciples leave him and follow the Lord Jesus (John 1:37). 2. It remains necessary, even as the door opens further and further, to remain dependent on the Lord and ask Him what to do or say next.

Esther 2:21

Nehemiah Makes His Wish Known

Full of confidence, but with due respect, he addresses himself to the king. What he says shows his acknowledgment of the king’s position and his own position. He asks for the king’s benevolence. Without his benevolent consent, he can forget his purpose. The fact that God seems to open the door does not make Nehemiah so overconfident that he wants to open the door with a wild move. He remains the servant dependent on the king.

Yet he is also so bold as to point out to the king his behavior as a servant. He asks in so many words if the king is satisfied with him. He can do so because, as a dutiful man, he has always served his lord to his full satisfaction. Without self-exaltation Nehemiah points this out to the king as a possible reason to grant him his request.

Nehemiah is open about his purpose. He has sketched the ruins. But he is not someone who stands on the sidelines shouting all kinds of cries about how bad things are, while he is not prepared to roll up his sleeves. No, he’s sketching a real picture, but he’s also determined to give all his strength to the city that’s in ruins, no matter what it costs him. He wants to rebuild the city, which he again connects to “my fathers’ tombs”. His heart is full of it.

Some lessons

1. When people to whom we are subject invite us to make a request, we may do so boldly. We may see it as a work of God in their hearts. 2. We do not need to present things more beautifully than they are. 3. We do not have to present ourselves worse than we are, as long as we can sincerely point out the quality of our work. Those who have always been honest in their work can say this quietly if the situation demands it (cf. 1 Samuel 12:3-4).

Esther 2:22

Nehemiah Gets Permission to Go

God also uses external circumstances to fulfill His plans. The remark that the king had his wife sitting next to him seems such a circumstance. Men among themselves can be harsh and insensitive. It is often noticeable that those same men behave much more courteously in the presence of their wife. As far as Artaxerxes is concerned, it seems that the presence of his wife makes him mild-mannered and therefore even more inclined to grant Nehemiah’s request.

The influence of women on the decisions of prominent persons can be for the better, but also for the worse. We see an influence for the better in the case of Esther (Esther 7:1-10). An influence for the worse is seen in Herodias (Matthew 14:1-12). A case in which someone wants to use her influence for good, but to whom her husband does not listen, we see in Pilate’s wife (Matthew 27:19).

What influence does our wife have on us? It may be useful to find out how we behave in the presence of our wife and how we behave when she is not there. If honest self-examination reveals a difference, let us confess it to our wife and the Lord and change it.

The king’s questions make it clear to Nehemiah that God is opening the door further and further. His questions concern the duration of the journey and when he will be back, so how long he thinks he will be absent. The absence of Nehemiah is, of course, of great importance to the king, because there has to be a new cupbearer for that period of time.

The “definite time” that Nehemiah has given is twelve years (cf. Nehemiah 2:1; Nehemiah 13:6). The building of the wall is finished in fifty-two days (Nehemiah 6:15), but that is with much help. Has Nehemiah assumed that he should not count on much help for the work? God has given it to him in his heart, but what about the remaining ones? Are they as full of zeal as he is? He doesn’t know that.

In our calculations, we too shouldn’t include dependence on others. God can give helpers, but He is not obliged to do so.

Some lessons

1. A woman’s influence on her husband’s decisions is great. The husband should also be open to it. He has to judge whether that influence has a good effect or a wrong one. 2. In a work that the Lord asks of us, we should depend only on Him and not on others. He calls persons, not groups, although He may form those persons into a group.

Esther 2:23

What Other Things Nehemiah Asks for

Nehemiah has permission to go. This permission does not make him overconfident, but bold. All his thoughts are with the work that awaits him in Jerusalem. The fact that he can go, however, doesn’t put him in a rush, making him busy to leave as soon as possible. He remains pragmatic. He doesn’t leave on the off chance. Not only does he think about Jerusalem, he also thinks about the journey to Jerusalem and the problems he may encounter during the journey. He asks for things he will need, both for the journey and for his stay in Judah. He gets what he asks for and even more than that.

He thinks that when crossing borders he will be asked what he is planning to do. Letters from the king will guarantee him a free passage (Nehemiah 2:7). So he asks for a valid passport. He also asks for a letter that will assure him of the necessary materials for reconstruction (Nehemiah 2:8). He also thinks of his own accommodation. After all, he comes to a country where he has no possession whatsoever. Nehemiah asks with great boldness for everything he thinks he needs. He asks in faith. He does not ask too much. He recognizes the king’s possibilities. Thus we may ask God to provide a solution to practical problems.

It is good to realize that Nehemiah does not know what the king will answer to his questions. For us the tension is gone because we know the outcome. But to learn from Nehemiah’s actions, we will have to realize how exciting it must have been for him to ask all this.

Nehemiah gets everything he asked for. He sees in it “the good hand of my God”. He doesn’t forget that God works behind the scenes. He knows God as his personal God. This personal bond with God is necessary to notice His hand. After the deep soul-exercises and a door that opens more and more, he gets a view of the way God wants him to go. God uses the king to provide Nehemiah with what is necessary for the journey. If we are dependent on the Lord, we will see what we need and may count on Him to provide for it.

Nehemiah goes on his way, straight to his goal. The letters are doing their work. With everything Nehemiah has asked for, he also gets something he has not asked for. He has not asked for accompaniment, but if the king wants to send it along, he accepts this escort (Nehemiah 2:9). Perhaps the officers of the army and horsemen should be more of a reassurance for the king that Nehemiah will return safely, than it is about Nehemiah personally and the task he has to perform. God can use anything to carry out His plans, including the possibly selfish motives of a king, and thereby protect His servant.

Some lessons

1. Not only the goal is important, but also the way to that goal. What we need on that path, we may boldly ask the Lord. He has everything ready and will gladly give it in answer to our prayer. When He gives it, it is another proof of “His good hand” over us. 2. In order to do the work we want to do, the Lord also wants to give us what we need. When we think about that work, we will see what we are lacking. The Lord wants to provide for this.