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Scriptural Text [&
Editorial] |
Commentary & Explanation |
Footnotes ~ References ~
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CHAPTER 1
Nehemiah mourns and fasts and prays for the Jews in Jerusalem.
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1
THE words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah.
And it came to pass in the month aChisleu, in the
twentieth year [445/444 BC Bible time]a, as I was in bShushan
the palace,
2 That aHanani, one of my brethren,
came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the
Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning
Jerusalem.
3 And they said unto me, The aremnant that
are left of the captivity there in the province are in
great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken
down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
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1a in
the twentieth year [445/444 BC Bible time ~ 465-445/4] Some 93
years prior, the Decree of Cyrus was for the first return of the Jews to
Jerusalem and though it did take some time to put the Jewish colony
together and to travel to Jerusalem, the Artaxerses of Ezra 4:7 of about
521 BC so dated with Darius I Ezra 4:5 and that of Nehemiah would well
have been two separate Artaxerxes, that is Artaxerxes I and Artaxerxes II.
The first colony of Jews associated with Ezra at the last was sent to
Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, which is said to have been rebuilt after
23 years. So the temple was already built prior to this Nehemiah of 444
BC, yet the security of Jerusalem had never been obtained. That effort to
secure Jerusalem had not been going on for decades as there wasn't even
left a wall of protection and separation left about Jerusalem for
security. |
1a
IE the ninth Hebrew month,
beginning at the new moon of
December, named Kislev.
b
OR Susa (the chief city of all
Persia);
Esth. 1:2
2a
Neh. 7:2
3a
TG
Israel, Remnant of
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4 ¶ And it came to pass,
when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned
certain days, and afasted, and prayed before the
God of heaven,
5 And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven,
athe great and terrible God, that
bkeepeth covenant and mercy for them that
love him and observe his commandments:
6 Let
thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the
prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for
the children of Israel thy servants, and aconfess the sins
of the children
of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house
have sinned.
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4a
TG
Fasting
5a
HEB the God, the great,and the
revered
b
Deut. 7:9;
Dan. 9:4
6a
TG
Confession
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7 We have dealt very
corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the
statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.
8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou
commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will
ascatter you abroad among the nations:
9 But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments,
and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the
heaven, yet will I agather thema from thence, and will bring them unto
the place that I have chosen to set my name there.
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9a will
I gather them In the book of Ezra, the Lord had already,
through Cyrus, sent a Jewish 'colony' back to Jerusalem to rebuild the
temple which took some 23 years. But the 'mission' to secure the city of
Jerusalem had wained and slacked as there was no wall about Jerusalem.
Thus through Nehemiah the Lord will send another colony, some 90 years
after the first, to build the wall, as Artaxerxes (II), King of Persia,
makes Nehemiah (a) governor empowered to rebuild Jerusalem's city wall.
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8a
1 Ne. 22:3(3-5);
2 Ne. 25:15(14-16)
D&C 45:19(16-25)
9a
Deut. 30:3(1-5);
Micah 7:11-12
1 Ne. 22:10-12;
2 Ne. 21:12(11-16)
D&C 45:25(24-25)
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10 Now these are
thy servants and thy apeople, whom thou hast redeemed
by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.
11 O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to
the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to
afear thy name: and bprosper, I pray thee, thy
servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the
king's cupbearer. |
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10a
Ex. 33:13;
2 Ne. 29:4;
D&C 86:11
D&C 109:59(59-67)
11a
OR reverence thy name
b
Gen. 24:12
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