Nehemiah 1:1-11

Prayer

Nehemiah 1:1-11a

Text Notes, Applications, and Questions

Main Idea

Nehemiah prayed after receiving bad news about Jerusalem and the Temple. What can we learn and apply to our lives from this example of effective prayer?

Prayer (1:1-11a)

Nehemiah (1) – The name Nehemiah means, “the Lord has comforted.” The same root occurs in the name of Nahum the prophet and in the famous phrase from Isaiah 40:1, “Comfort, comfort my people.” (CP, 136)

Twentieth year (1) – The custom of the time was to date all events from the beginning of the rule of the present king; each king’s rule would begin with the year one. Comparing this with Ezra 7: 1,8, and assuming that the Artaxerxes is the same person in each case, we can determine that the events of the book of Nehemiah begin thirteen years after Ezra’s start for Jerusalem, or twelve years after the conclusion of Ezra’s book, i.e., 445 B.C. (SBC)

• It seems peculiar that the name of the king is not mentioned here. It may have appeared in the sources the editor was using, but for the sake of brevity and because this section follows immediately after that in Ezra in which Artaxerxes had been identified as the ruler in his seventh year (7:8), he chose not to name him here. Artaxerxes I was clearly the king under whom Nehemiah served. His twentieth year was 445 B.C. (CP, 137)

Citadel of Susa (1) – Susa was the city in Elam, 200 miles east of Babylon, where the Persian kings maintained a residence, and from which they ruled their kingdom for a part of each year. (SBC)

• Nehemiah apparently knew nothing about how things were back in Judah. Susa was one of the most important capitals of the Persian Empire; it lies to the west of Persia proper, and thus not so far from Babylon. The obvious way to read this story is to assume that the king is still Artaxerxes I, and that the year is the twentieth of his reign (445). The date is thus a century after the time when Cyrus first encouraged Judahites to move from Babylon to rebuild the temple, and half-way through the life-time of the Persian Empire, which Alexander brought to an end in the 330s. Thirteen years have passed since Ezra’s mission, but it has been maintained that one or both actually belong later, in the reign of Artaxerxes II. (OTE, 80)

Hanani (2) – [He] was probably Nehemiah’s own brother: cf. 7:2. From the emphasis which is made in the sentence, it would appear that the visitors from Judah had not searched Nehemiah out with a grievance, but that Nehemiah had initiated the inquiry concerning his fellow-Jews who had “escaped,” i.e. returned to their homeland, and concerning affairs at Jerusalem. (SBC)

I questioned them (2) – Something of Nehemiah’s character already begins to appear here with his concern for the condition of others of “the household of faith.” (CP, 138)

Remnant … survived (2) – Nehemiah’s choice of words, echoed by his brother, may have been a conscious allusion to the promise of a ‘remnant’ and ‘survivors’, who would not merely escape destruction but ‘lean upon the Lord … in truth’ (Isa. 10:20-22). (TOTC, 85)

• The description of the community as “the group of survivors that was left from the exile” could recognize that it included both people who had returned from exile in Babylon but had survived the exile in Judah itself and identified with the community headed up by people who had moved from Babylon over the previous century. But the expression indicates that the community was still in a weak and reduced state. It is only a group of survivors. The point is underscored by the further description of it as in great trouble and disgrace. (OTE, 81)

Trouble and disgrace (3) – Their report in verse 3 indicates both physical and mental distress, arising out of the condition of the city’s walls and gates. The breaking down of the wall (chiefly of stone) and the burning of the gate (chiefly of timbers) had been done by Nebuchadnezzar, 141 years earlier. Some suppose that this is a reference to more recent events of which Nehemiah would not have been aware before this, and that therefore, the walls and gates had been partially restored after the Captivity. The Bible makes no mention of previous reconstruction of the walls, except in the false report of Israel’s enemies in Ezra 4:12. If there had been any repairs, they surely could not have been very extensive. (SBC)

Wall of Jerusalem (3) – Without walls the city would have no defense against vandalism or military action, except what they could supply with watchful human bodies. They would be especially vulnerable to the Samaritans, their nearest, neighbors. (SBC)

• The reply would be badly misunderstood if we just took it to speak of the ruins left by Nebuchadrezzar. That was ancient history (587 BC), but this was news and a shattering blow. Its most likely background is the sequence in Ezra 4:7-23, in which a bid to rebuild the walls had been reported to king Artaxerxes and promptly crushed ‘by force and power’. It was an ominous development, for the ring of hostile neighbors round Jerusalem could now claim royal backing. The patronage which Ezra had enjoyed (cf. Ezra 7:21-26) was suddenly in ruins, as completely as the city walls and gates. Jerusalem was not only disarmed but on its own. (TOTC, 85; cf. CP, 139)
• A city has walls and gates for its protection; even Susa is a fortress city. In the twenty-first century, Jerusalem’s impressive walls and gates are simply an impressive tourist attraction, but in the fifth century they would potentially be a matter of life and death. And they are broken down and burned. While it is possible that Hanani is simply reporting that the city is still in the state it has been since its destruction by the Babylonians, the devastating effect of the news on Nehemiah rather suggest that some other disaster has happened more recently and that this is when news of it reached Susa; Hanani is referring not merely to the long-lasting trouble and disgrace. We have no other record of such an event, but it would fit with the account of troubled relations in the region, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the Judahites were better at building a temple and sorting out inter-marriage problems than at fighting off a siege. (OTE, 81)

Prayed (4) – This prayer by Nehemiah is as noble as that of Ezra (9:6-15), though Ezra was a religious official and Nehemiah was a secular ruler. This speaks well of Nehemiah’s habits of spirituality and fellowship with God: his practice of the ceremonies of religion. (SBC)

• He prays as someone who is himself committed to what he prays about and he prays urgently to get God to take action that only God can take; further he recognizes the failure of the people on whose behalf he prays. His reaction to the news from Jerusalem reminds us of Ezra’s reaction to the news about the marriages, though it is expressed in different terms. Nehemiah sits (in shock like Ezra?) and weeps mourns like a person grieving over someone’s death. (OTE, 82-83)
• Nehemiah’s response to the report reflects his spiritual sensitivity and compassion. (CP, 139)
• One of the most striking characteristics of Nehemiah was his recourse to prayer (cf. 4:4,9; 5:19; 6:9,14; 13:14). Those who are the boldest for God have the greatest need to be in prayer. (LCS, 72)

Lord, the God of heaven (5) – The prayer begins in verse 5 with praise to God for His (1) greatness and (2) character of loving kindness. So Jesus began His model prayer with praise: a good model for us today. (SBC)

• Nehemiah’s prayer begins with two forms of confession… First there is confession of who God is; that is a common feature of prayer in the Bible. It is the foundation for all that follows. We pray because God is the God who has invited us to call him by name, the name Yahweh, but the God who is not merely someone in a personal relationship with us but is the all-powerful Lord (the God of the heavens). To put the same two points the other way around, this God is great and awe-inspiring, yet also one who keeps covenant and commitment, one who can be relied on to be faithful to words and undertakings. … Nehemiah knows he needs to recognize that you can only appeal to these qualities if you are people who dedicate themselves to God (the verb is the one conventionally translated “love,” but it signifies a self-giving loyalty, not merely an emotion) and who keeps God’s commands. … It is possible that God may keep a covenant and commitment even though the other party in the relationship does not do so. But we would be unwise to presume this, like a husband who is unfaithful to his wife who assumes that everything will be okay if he expresses regret. (OTE, 83)
• The opening verses of invocation are important for their emphasis upon the power of God, especially as Nehemiah here uses the title “God of heaven,” which became increasingly more common in postexilic piety (e.g. Jonah 1:9; Dan. 2:37-44). A clue to the interpretation of the entire prayer is also hinted at in the invocation. Whereas the delegation from Jerusalem contented itself with the reporting of the city’s reproach in the eyes of jealous neighbors, Nehemiah discerns the true source of the problem: Israel’s failure with regard to the covenant. His invocation of the God “who keeps covenant and steadfast love” (1:5) displays a keen insight into the reason for Jerusalem’s reproach as well as the relationship of God to the sorry condition of the city. (IBCTP, 64)

Covenant of love (5) – The covenant does not set up a business transaction between two parties. In its essence, the covenant establishes a relationship. More importantly, the covenant does not dispense with the need for mercy, indeed the covenant itself grows out of God’s mercy, grace, and steadfast love. Covenant and mercy go hand in hand, and our need of mercy is in no way obviated by a contractual arrangement. Nehemiah’s confession is an appeal to God’s mercy. (IBCTP, 65)

• The relationship between God and His people, the Jews. The whole history of Israel was the history of the covenant. It was not an agreement between equals but the gracious gift of a Sovereign to His subjects. Its main content was God’s promises to multiply Israel, to give the people the land of Canaan, to protect them, and to make them an example to the nations of God’s goodness. In return, the Jews were to fear, love, serve, and obey God alone. (LCS, 72)

Those who love him (5) – [Love] is the attitude expected of covenanting parties toward one another. On God’s side, it meant unfailing loyalty: constant provision of needs, protection from danger, and restoration of the nation once the people had repented from disobedience. It included forgiveness and mercy, for its essence was God’s bending to love His creatures, even the unrepentant. The people’s response was to be “covenant love” toward God and each other. (LCS, 72-73)

Your ear… your eyes (6) – Nehemiah’s request that God will heed his prayer reminds us of Solomon’s petition (1 Kgs 8:52). God is not human with ears and eyes, but we have no other means of addressing him but with human language. Prayer can degenerate into vain repetitions, but Nehemiah’s consistent and persistent prayers have poured forth from a burdened heart. In the parable of the persistent widow, Jesus taught that persevering prayer is effective (Matt. 18:1-8). (CP, 141)

Your servant (6) – The mention of “thy servant’’ and “thy servants” was the formula of polite address. (SBC)

• Nehemiah goes on to appeal to the fact that he is God’s servant. He has applied the term “God’s servants” to his people, the people who failed and did damage, but evidently that was a kind of honorary description. They had not been behaving like servants. But when he calls himself God’s servant, he means he really is committed to his master. The point is made explicit by his going on to refer to servants who revere God’s name – in other words, people who know who God is and who behave accordingly. Revering God implies doing what God says. … Nehemiah want God to note the commitment of servants like himself and Hanani, and even to take more account of the latter than the former. On their behalf he is prepared to say, “I am willing to do whatever you ask to make up for the offense we caused you – tell me what it is.” He thereby puts himself in the position of being the unconditional servant of the master. (OTE, 85)

I confess (6) – The remembrance of God’s covenant, in verse 5, has raised the matter of the partner’s response (to ‘love him and keep his commandments’, 5c). This inevitably leads to heart-searching and confession, in which Nehemiah, faced with such a standard, owns to personal (6c) as well as corporate guilt. He will have to come empty-handed with his request. (TOTC, 85)

• This insight [(Israel’s failure with the covenant)] moves Nehemiah to confess the sin of his people. In the tradition of past mediators (Moses, Exod. 34:9; Isaiah, Isa. 6:5; Ezra, Ezra 9; cf. Daniel, Dan. 9:3-19), Nehemiah confesses his own involvement in the sin of the people, thus identifying with their condition and situation (1:6). The exile proved to be an effective if harsh lesson for the people of God. Jeremiah’s understanding of the captivity as a manifestation of God’s chastisement was met with beatings and imprisonment (Jeremiah 18-20), but now the exiles were fully convinced of the truth of his warnings. (IBCTP, 64)
• Nehemiah … simply acknowledges there guilt. This aspect of the confession is quite different from Ezra’s earlier confession (Ezra 9:6-15). There, though Ezra begins with an acknowledgement of the people’s sin as the reason for the exile (v. 7), he quickly moves to the confession of a specific sin that he did not share, that of intermarriage. Nehemiah seems to be more concerned with the sinful condition of his people that with the symptomatic outcroppings. This sinful condition he confesses simply and succinctly as sins “against you.” (IBCTP, 64-65)

Including myself (6) – As he knows he has to identify with his people’s waywardness in order to make confession of it, he know that the present generation of his people has to identify with their forebears’ waywardness and make confession of it. There is no pretending that the sins of one generation are not visited on the next generation. (OTE, 84)

Acted very wickedly (7) – [In the commentary author’s translation he uses “damage.”] This word [damage] is also repeated [in the original language] to underscore the point – more literally, “with damage we acted damagingly.” It is the word used in Ezra to refer to damaging the temple. It is as if people were seeking to damage God or damage God’s interests when they failed to do what God said, as if they were seeking to attack God. Yet Nehemiah also knows that the same Torah that warned of the consequences of willful failure also promised that chastisement need not be the end. (OTE, 84)

Remember the instruction … (8-10) – He is empty-handed, but not uninvited. He knows the threats and promises of Scripture well enough to make a strong, not tentative plea. … Most significantly inverse 10 he quotes the words which Moses had pleaded for Israel on mount Sinai (Deut. 9:29), that God would stand by his own (thy servants and thy people) and by the work he had so strenuously begun. At that point Israel had been threatened with extinction; now, it seems, Nehemiah sees the situation as hardly less perilous. Like Moses, he must stand in the breach with his intercession. (TOTC, 86)

• The heart of the prayer is also its turning point (vv. 8-9). Nehemiah reminds God that the lesson has been learned; the exiles have been scattered among the peoples for their unfaithfulness. This is to be seen as a testimony to God’s power and control of history. Israel is in God’s hands, not subject to the capricious machinations of human despots. Therefore, God’s judgment upon Israel’s sin, related in the summary of Deuteronomy 30:1-5 in Nehemiah 1:8, has been carried out. But as the positive confession of verse 10 intimates (“your servants”) and verse 11a declares (“your servants who delight in revering your name”), the signs of repentance are present as well, and so Nehemiah appeals to God to remember the promise of return also contained in Deuteronomy 30:1-5 (1:9). (IBCTP, 65)

If you are unfaithful … (8-9) – Nehemiah’s prayer at this point is … a composite of several Scriptures:

1) If you are unfaithful I will scatter you: Lev. 26:33.

2) But if you return to me: Dt. 30:2f.

3) I will gather them from there and will bring them: Dt. 30:4;

4) to the place where I have chosen to cause my name to dwell: Dt. 12:5. (SBC)

• It is best to see the prayer to this point as a summary of Nehemiah’s struggles with God over the four-month gap between his conversation with the delegation from Jerusalem and his audience with Artaxerxes. (IBCTP, 65)

Dwelling for my Name (9) – This expression implies the Divine Presence dwelling with the restored community. It is precisely that, according to Nehemiah, which the currently prevailing conditions show lie in the future. In Ezekiel’s vision, the glory of the Lord departed from the Jerusalem temple (11:22-24) and the Sovereign Lord promised, “Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone” (11:16). This suggests that the divine glory is present among the exiles in Babylon. The unanswered question is, “Did the divine glory return to the rebuilt Jerusalem temple?” (CP, 142)

This man (11) – The expression this man does not belittle the king. It does recognize that the monarch was a human being with whom Nehemiah had to deal. Only God could establish the environment in which Nehemiah could find favor before the king. (CP, 143)

Cupbearer (11) – The duty of a cupbearer went far beyond that of serving the king’s drink or food. He would be the taster who would assure that the food was safe and that no poison had been added by his enemies; he risked his life on the king’s popularity or unpopularity at every meal, to protect the royal household. At the same time, he must be the most trusted person in the whole empire. If he added poison when the food had been brought to him, it would be beyond the last defense short of the king’s palate. In addition, he had access to the entire palace, including the king’s harem; no one else in the kingdom, outside the royal family, would be trusted farther than this. His position was next to that of the crown prince himself.

It is a credit to Nehemiah that, having attained this highest position open to him in the most powerful kingdom of his day, he was willing, like Moses, out of compassion for his brethren to make himself one of them for a sufficient length of time to improve their condition as far as he was able. (SBC)

• The cupbearer (the same word as the ‘butler’ of the Joseph story, Gen. 402ff.) was a high official in the royal household, whose basic duty of choosing and tasting the wine to demonstrate that it was not poisoned, and of presenting it to the king, gave him frequent access to the king’s presence and made him potentially a man of influence. (TOTC, 86)

Prayer and Action – Nehemiah 1 is a blend of prayer and action. All who lead must place a high priority on prayer. Why is prayer so important? Here are the four shortest reasons I know.

Prayer makes me wait. I cannot pray and act at the same time. I have to wait to act until I finish praying. Prayer forces me to leave the situation with God; it makes me wait.

Prayer clears my vision. Southern California often has an overhanging weather problem in the mornings because of its coastal location until the sun “burns through” the morning fog. Prayer does that. When you first face a situation, is it foggy? Prayer will “burn through.” Your vision will clear so you can see through God’s eyes.

Prayer quiets my heart. I cannot worry and pray at the same time. I am doing one or the other. Prayer makes me quiet. It replaces anxiety with a calm spirit. Knees don’t knock when we kneel on them!

Prayer activates my faith. After praying I am more prone to trust God. And how petty and negative and critical I am when I don’t pray! Prayer sets faith on fire.

Don’t just fill the margins of your Bible with words and thoughts about ways a leader prays. Do it! Don’t just stop with just a sterile theology of prayer. Pray! Prayer was the first major step Nehemiah took in his journey to effective leadership.

The Lord is the Specialist we need for those uncrossable and impossible experiences. He delights in accomplishing what we cannot pull off. But He awaits our cry. He listens for our request. Nehemiah was quick to call for help. His favorite position when faced with problems was the kneeling position. (LL, 64, quoting Charles Swindoll from Hand Me Another Brick)

Additional Questions:¹

1. What were the conditions in Jerusalem at this time? How does this correspond to what we learned in Ezra?
2. In 1:4, what can we learn about Nehemiah (his character, values, and so on) from his reaction to this news?
3. What elements in Nehemiah’s prayer might you find useful as a model for your own prayer life?
4. Why do you think Nehemiah made this confession of sin in verses 6 and 7?
5. What does Nehemiah’s prayer reveal to you about his faith?
6. Why do you think Nehemiah asked God to remember His promises (see 1:8-10)?
7. Think about the lessons from Nehemiah’s life that can be found in chapter 1. What kinds of insights and principles can you discover that apply to believers today?
8. Think of a person whom you consider to be a prayer warrior. How has that person’s life been an example to you?
9. What was Nehemiah’s response when faced with a seemingly hopeless predicament?
10. What does Nehemiah’s prayer reveal about his view of himself and of God?
11. How do you think prayer prepared Nehemiah to lead his people?
12. If God knows all of our fears, desires, and needs, why does he want us to pray about them?
13. In what ways can prayer change a person’s attitude towards life’s difficulties?