The Pulpit Commentary — Nehemiah — Section 14

judgnrnnt of later ages. Historv puts him Ver. 6. -The queen. It appears from bef~re us as a weak mon1trch, one who could Ctesi,)S (' Exe. Pers.,'§ 44) that Artaxerxcs compromise the royal diguity by me.king Longuuanus had but one legitimate wife-I\ t:.erms with a revolted subject, while he dis- certain Damaspia. Nothing more is known graced it by breaking faith mth a conquered of her be~idcs this mention, and the fact enemy. But if weak a.s a king, a.s a man that she died on the samo day as her hus- he was kind-hearted and gentle. Few Persian band. (The Septuagint rendering of ha- monarchs won.Id have been sufficiently in- shegal by •i ,ra>..>..a1n} is wrong.) Sitting terested in tl1eir attendants to notice whether by him. Not an unusual circumstance. they were s:;,d or no ; fewer still would have Though, when the monarch entertained sho~ ~yrnpathy on such an occasion. A guests, the queen remained in her private Xerxes might have ordered the culprit to apartments (Esther i. 9-12), yet on other instant execution. Longimanus feels com- o<:Cl!Sio~s she frequently took her meals passion, and wishes to assuage the grief of with him (' Ancient Monarchies,' vol. iii. his servant. Then I was very sore afraid. p. 214). I set him a time. Nehemiah Notwithstanding the king's kind and com- probably mentioned some such time as a. pa.ssionate words, Nehemiah feels his danger. year, or two years-such a space as would He has looked 6&d in the king's presence. suffice for the double journey, and the He is about to ask permission to quit the restoration of the fortifications. He stayed court. These are both sins against the away, however, as he tells us (eh. v. 14), fundamental doctrine of Persian court life, twelve years, obtaining no doubt from time that to bask in the light of the royal coun- to time an extension of his leave (Bertheau). tenance is the height of felicity. Will the Ver. 7.-Let letters be given me to the king be displeased, refuse his reqnest, dis- govemors beyond the river. It is not quite miss him from his post, cast him into prison, clear why no letters were needed to the or will he pardon his rndeness and allow his governors between Susa and the Euphrates. request1 Perhaps, while travelling was safe, at any Ver. 3.-ltay the king live for ever. A rate with an escort, in the more central common form of Oriental compliment (1 provinces, beyond the river it became Uhsafe Kings i. 3 1 ; Dan. ii 4; i i i 9, &c.), bnt said (see Ezra viii. 31 ). now with special intention to conciliate, e.nd Ver. 8. -The king's forest. Patrick meant to express a deep interest in the royal snpposes the forest on Mount Lebanon to life and person. The city, the pla.ce of my be intended; but Nehemiah would scarcely fathers' sepulchre&. We see by this that have desired to transport timber for ordinary :!'i"ehemiah's family mnst have belonged to building pnrposes from such a distance. the capital The Persians, like the Jews, Moreover, the word used is one not applic- had a great respect for the tomb, and re- able to a natural forest, •but only to a park, garded its violation with horror. Artaxerxes or pleasure-ground planted with trees, and would naturally sympathise with the wish surrounded by a fence or wall. The word is of his follower to give secnrity to the city pardes, the Hebrew representative of that where his ancestors were interred. It would Persian term which the Greeks rendered by seem that the Persians generally at this time ,rapa.0Ete10,, whence our "paradise." We (Herod., i. 140), the kings certainly (' An- must understand a royal park in the vicinity cient Monarchies,' vol i i i . p. 2 3 1 , second of Jerusalem, of which a Jew, Asaph, was edition), buried their dead. Lieth waste. the keeper. The palace which appertained Nehemiah's warmth of feeling exaggerates to the house. The " house " here spoken of the fact ; bnt he may have been uncon.scio11S is undoubtedly the temple ; and the birah of the exaggeration. He repeats the phrase appertaining to it is, almost certainly, the to the chief men of Jerusalem after making fortress at the north-west angle of the his survey of the wall (ver. 17). temple area, which at once commanded and Ver. 4.-Then the king said unto me, protected it. Josephus says (' Ant. Jud. ,' For what dost thou make request 1 Arta- xv. 11, § 4) that this fortress was called xerxes understood that a complaint was con- Bap,c originally. In Roman times it was tained in Nehemiah's speech, and that he known as the "Turris Antonia." The house· must have a request to make. With gracious that I shall enter into. The governor's kindliness he facilitates its utterance. So I residence. Nehemia.h assumes that the prayed to the God of heaven. Nehemiah powers for which he asks involve his being was emphatically a man of prayer. In appointed governor of Judrea. The king every danger, in every di.ffic~ty,_ still more granted me, according to the good hand of at any crisis, prayer rose to hisJ1ps (see eh. my God upon me. Through God's special iv. 4, 9 ; v. 19 ; vi. 9, 14 ; XllL 14, &c.). favour towards me, the king was induced to Sometimes, as now, the JII'&yer was offered grant my request. ■ilently and swiftly. OIi, IJ, 1-8.] THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH. 11