Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nehemiah 6:9

For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, [O God], strengthen my hands.

9. For they all made us afraid ] R.V. For they all would have made us afraid. The participle in the original does not convey more than that the attempt was made. It does not assert, as the A.V. rendering, that the attempt succeeded. By ‘they all’ Nehemiah refers to the enemies mentioned in Neh 6:1. The present verse is his comment upon the whole episode.

saying ] i.e. amongst themselves and in their own minds.

Their hands shall be weakened ] For this expression cf. Job 4:3; Isa 35:3; Jer 38:4 ; 2Ch 15:7. Cf. ‘fearful hearts and faint hands’ ( Sir 2:12 ); ‘hands that hang down’ (Heb 12:12).

Now therefore, O God, strengthen, &c.] R.V. But now, O God, strengthen. Marg. ‘Or, I will strengthen my hands ’. The adversative ‘but’ is required, since the clause is Nehemiah’s reply to his enemies’ machinations, which are summarized in the previous sentence. The construction in the Hebrew creates a difficulty in the translation. The words ‘O God’ are not in the original: the verb ‘strengthen’ may either be the imperative or the infinitive.

(i) The A.V. and R.V. and the majority of commentators accept the view that the verb is in the imperative, and regard the words as a prayerful soliloquy with which Nehemiah closes his description of this scene. To this rendering it is an objection (1) that the name of the Deity must be supplied in order to make the words intelligible; (2) that even for an interjectional prayer the language is abrupt; (3) that the substance as well as the form of the sentence differs from the interjectional prayers in Neh 5:19, Neh 6:14.

(ii) If the verb be in the infin., the words express Nehemiah’s resolution in the face of his difficulties, ‘I will strengthen my hands.’ There would be no difficulty presented by such a construction if either the infinitive had been preceded by a verb in a finite form, or the subject of the verb had been expressed. But as both those conditions are lacking, the infinitival construction is certainly extremely harsh and unusual. It is strange to find ‘a note added, in the form of a soliloquy, to a description of events which had happened at least 12 years before the final publication of these memoirs.’

Somewhat in favour of the latter view is the evidence of the Gr. and Latin versions, which give, ‘And I strengthened my hands.’ LXX. . Vulg. ‘quam ob causam magis confortavi manus meas,’ and ‘But I will strengthen my hands,’ Syr. and Arab. It may be contended that the Versions have merely aimed at giving the most probable sense, without facing the grammatical difficulty; and that, if so, their evidence is of little value. On the other hand their unanimity possibly indicates a difference of text at any early time. So far as they only record a traditional interpretation, they are opposed to the view that the words are a prayer. On the whole the rendering of the R.V. margin seems preferable. It is a harsh construction, but with a simple meaning. The explanation of a prayer escapes the difficulty of construction, but creates a greater objection in the ellipse of the Sacred Name. Among the older explanations of this clause there is the very strange one which suggested that Nehemiah’s words are addressed to Sanballat, whom he invites to strengthen his hands instead of weakening them in the task of completing the walls. For the phrase ‘strengthen my hands,’ cf. 1Sa 23:16, ‘strengthened his hands in God.’

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Neh 6:9

Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.

Gods various ways of strengthening His peoples hands

He sometimes does it by infusing into them an extraordinary measure of wisdom and knowledge. Joseph and Daniel appear to have been thus enriched, the faculty of interpreting dreams being conferred upon them, at a momentous juncture, to qualify them for a great and special work; our Lord promised His disciples that, in the critical moment, though not before, they should be supplied with the mouth of wisdom, that might answer all their adversaries. Sometimes the hands of such believers are strengthened by a strange alteration in the feelings of powerful foes towards them, or by an unexpected accession of friends from quarters where, perhaps, they have expected the least. When a mans ways please the Lord, He maketh even His enemies to be at peace with him. Laban shall be arrested in a dream by night, with the stern command, See that thou speak not to Jacob good or bad; the gaolers heart shall be softened, that he bring forth Paul and Silas out of their dungeon, and wash their stripes, and set meat before them; and the Pharisees, those determined foes of the gospel, moved by their hatred of the Sadducees, take the part of the preacher of the resurrection. God may add to our strength by confounding and debilitating our enemies; as He acted by David, when on his behalf He turned the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness; when He struck the inhabitants of Sodom with blindness; when He poured terror on the Syrian army that invaded Judea; and when the host of the Midianites fled in dismay before the lamps and pitchers of Gideon, and not a sword was drawn. And now that miracles are not wrought, we must still recognise in thousands of instances the overruling providence of God, working under the cover of natural causes to strengthen His peoples hands. (J. N. Pearson, M. A.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

They all made us afraid, i.e. they endeavoured to do so, and actually did terrify some persons.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

For they all made us afraid,…. Or you all, as Aben Ezra interprets it; or all the Heathen nations, as Jarchi; this was the design of all those scandalous reports, to intimidate them, and with this they pleased themselves, as follows:

their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done; this they hoped would be the effect of those reports sent to them:

now, therefore, O God, strengthen my hands; and let them not have what they will, and hope for; according to Aben Ezra, these words are directed to Sanballat, that if he was a friend, as he pretended, that instead of weakening, he would strengthen his hands by a sincere reconciliation; so Vatablus; but they are an address to God, such short ejaculations being usual with Nehemiah.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(9) Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.The answer sent was that the thing was not true, and that the report itself did not exist. The reflection in Nehemiahs journal was that they sought to make him afraid. Quoting this, he adds the prayer that he recorded when he wrote it. It is one of those sudden, interjectional petitions which abound in the narrative, and is all the more remarkable from the absence of the words O God, which are here inserted.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

9. Made us afraid Kept us in continual anxiety and alarm, and apprehensive of some hostile movement against us.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Neh 6:9 For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, [O God], strengthen my hands.

Ver. 9. For they all made us afraid ] This they aimed at; but could not attain unto; for faith quelleth and killeth distrustful fear, Psa 46:1-2 . Audacia est pro muro, saith Sallust. Let the wicked flee when none pursueth, but the righteous will be bold as as lion, Pro 28:1 .

Saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work ] So measuring them by themselves, as if they would have been soon scared and discouraged. But they knew not the Aes triplex, the power of the Spirit, that spirit of power (opposed to the spirit of fear), of love, and of a sound mind, 2Ti 1:7 . They knew not the privy armour of proof that these good Jews had about their hearts.

Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands ] He acknowledgeth himself to be in the condition of a poor garrison soldier, that hath no help or supplies but from the Captain of his salvation which, therefore, he thus humbly calleth in and craveth. Of ejaculations, see Neh 2:4 . This here is despatched in four words.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

made us afraid. Sought to make them afraid, but Nehemiah had no fear. See Neh 6:11.

NOW. Some codices, with three (and one in margin) early printed editions, read “Thou”.

hands. Some codices, with six early printed editions, read “hand”.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

For they: Neh 6:14, Neh 4:10-14, 2Ch 32:18

Their hands: 2Ch 15:7, Ezr 4:1-24, Isa 35:3, Isa 35:4, Jer 38:4, Heb 12:12

Now therefore: 1Sa 30:6, Psa 56:3, Psa 71:1, Psa 68:35, Psa 138:3, Isa 41:10, Zec 10:12, 2Co 12:9, Eph 3:16, Eph 6:10, Phi 4:13, 1Pe 5:10

Reciprocal: Gen 49:24 – his bow Jdg 7:11 – thine hands 2Sa 4:1 – his hands Ezr 4:4 – weakened Ezr 4:24 – So Neh 2:19 – Geshem Neh 6:11 – would go Neh 6:19 – to put Jer 18:19 – hearken Eze 30:24 – I will Luk 13:31 – Get

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Neh 6:9. For they all made us afraid That is, they endeavoured to do so, and actually did terrify some persons. Now, therefore, O God, strengthen my hands It is a great relief to good people, that in all their straits and difficulties they can have recourse to God, and by faith and prayer derive from him grace to silence their fears and strengthen their hands, while their enemies are endeavouring to fill them with fears and to weaken their hands. And this prayer of Nehemiah is particularly suitable when we are entering on any particular services or conflicts in our Christian warfare, and especially need to have our hands strengthened.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments