The Pulpit Commentary — Nehemiah — Section 10

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1.-Piety in a palace. I. PIETY and POSITION. "As I was in Shuslmn the pala0e." Piety tends to prosperity ; it inculcates habits favourable to advancement; it imparts graces calculated to attract. Goodness is often rewarded ; it will dwell in a better palace in the life to come. II. PIETY and PURITY. Nehemiah was humble amidst the pride of the palace; he was pure amidst the luxury of the palace ; he was faithful to his Jewish faith and to his God amidst the heathenism of the palace ; he was sympathetic amidst the conventionality of the palace ; he was prayerful amidst the levity of the palace ; he was pious amidst the anxieties of the palace life. III. PIETY and PATRIOTISM. 1. Inqniring. Nehemiah asked concerning the welfare of his brethren ; his own comfort did not render him indifferent to the suB'ering of others. 2. Sorrowful. He wept because the wall of Jerusalem was broken down ; his patriotism was manifested in holy grief. 3. Prayerful. See here the prayer of the patriot. IV. PIETY and PROVIDENCE. Nehemiah in the palace was able to render effective aid to Israel ; God places his instruments where they can best serve his purpose. Christ in heaven pleads the cause and helps the service of the good.-E. vers. 1-4.-Prosperity an<l adversity. It is a fact of no small significance that the Hebrew author of this book was in the palace at Susa. "I was in Shushan (in) the palace" (ver. 1). The Jewish captives in Persia were byno means all in aforlorn or destitute condition. We find them filling honourable offices-Nehemiah was cup- bearer to the king-and even attaining to the highest posts in the state, as in the case of Daniel. We are reminded that- I. WE MAY FIND SOME MITIGATION IN OUR EVIL CONDITION. We have evidences enough, both in the Bible and in secular history, of the evils of absolutism, of intrusting the power of life and death, of prosperity and adversity, to one man ; but we have proof that in Persia men of humble station could rise to exalted position. Here was "a career open to ability." Seldom an evil estate without one mitigating feature ; seldom a cloudy day without an interval of blue sky ; few lives without some sources of happiness. Obscurity, with all its dulness, has freedom from the glare and hatred of public life. Hard work knows, as luxury and indolence cannot, the enjoyment of repose. " Not always fall of leaf, nor ever spring ; No endless night, nor yet eternal day. The saddest bird a season finds to sing, The roughest storm a calm may soon allay. Thus, with succeeding years, God tempers all, That man may hope to rise, yet fear to fall." II. WE SHALL REAP SATISFACTION IF WE sow PIETY AND VIRTUE. Wherever the Jew has gone, whether forcibly deported or whether he has voluntarily migrated, he has carried with him the virtues of his race. Beyond question the law of Moeee trained a people to the practice of a severe morality. Purity, temperance, industry1 and frugality have been the characteristics of the race in every land and age. Ancl these have placed them everywhere in positions of honour and of trust. Thus OIi, I. 1--11.] THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH. 7