Old Testament Commentary - Nehemiah 1

by Don R. Hender


Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
Commentary & Explanation
Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
                 CHAPTER 1                  

Nehemiah mourns and fasts and prays for the Jews in Jerusalem.

  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.
 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

  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.
 4a TG Fasting
 5a HEB the God, the great,and the
      revered
   b Deut. 7:9; Dan. 9:4
 6a TG Confession

  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.
 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.  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)

  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.
 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