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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nehemiah 2:4

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nehemiah 2:4

Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

4. For what dost thou make request ] See Est 4:8; Est 7:1; Est 7:7. The king is favourable, and asks how he can render assistance.

So I prayed ] Literally, ‘And I prayed’. Nehemiah instantaneously turns from the great king of Persia to the King of kings. The simplicity with which Nehemiah narrates this little incident of his momentary ejaculatory prayer adds wonderfully to the vividness of the scene. For Nehemiah’s habit of recourse to prayer see ch. Neh 4:4; Neh 4:9, Neh 5:19, Neh 6:9; Neh 6:14, Neh 13:14.

It is not easy to parallel this act of ejaculatory prayer from the Old Testament. In the New Testament we turn to the examples of our Lord, e.g. Joh 11:41; Joh 12:27; Luk 23:34; and St Stephen, Act 7:60.

The object of his prayer is doubtless for wisdom to make his request aright and for a favourable assent from the king. He could not but expect that the king would be startled by the magnitude of a request, first to nominate his cupbearer as the royal commissioner at Jerusalem, and then to empower him to rebuild its walls and defences.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

I prayed to the God of heaven – Mentally and momentarily, before answering the king.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 4. So I prayed to the God of heaven.] Before he dared to prefer his request to the king, he made his prayer to God, that his suit might be acceptable: and this he does by mental prayer. To the spirit of prayer every place is a praying place.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

I prayed to the God of heaven, to direct my thoughts and words, and to incline the kings heart to grant my request.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Then the king said unto me, for what dost thou make request?…. The king supposed that there was a meaning in those looks and words of his, that he had a favour to ask of him, and therefore encourages him to it; or the king of himself moved this, as being desirous of doing anything for him he would propose, to make him easy:

so I prayed to the God of heaven; secretly, in an ejaculatory way, giving him thanks for thus disposing the king’s heart towards him, and entreating he might be directed what to ask, and in a proper manner, and that he might succeed.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then the king, feeling interested, asked him: For what dost thou make request? , to make request for or concerning a thing, like Ezr 8:23; Est 4:8; Est 7:7. The question shows that the king was inclined to relieve the distress of Jerusalem which had been just stated to him. “And so I prayed to the God of heaven,” to ensure divine assistance in the request he was about to lay before the king. Then Nehemiah answered (Neh 2:5), “If it please the king, and if thy servant is well-pleasing before thee, (I beg) that thou wouldest send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.” , here and Est 5:14, is of like meaning with or , Est 8:5; 2Sa 18:4: if thy servant is right in thine eyes, i.e., if he thinks rightly concerning the matter in question. The matter of his request is directly combined with this conditional clause by , the connecting term, I beg, being easily supplied from the king’s question: For what dost thou beg?

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(4) So I prayed to the God of heaven.The first note of that habit of ejaculatory prayer which is a characteristic of this book.

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

4. For what dost thou make request The king’s heart was at once touched with sympathy for the sorrow of his cupbearer, and prompted to offer him assistance. Thus God disposeth the hearts of kings.

I prayed That he might so order his request as to secure the king’s favour. He that would prevail with men and kings must first know how to prevail in prayer with God.

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

Neh 2:4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

Ver. 4. Then the king said unto me ] Some think that Nehemiah looked thus sad before the king on purpose, to make way to this his request.

For what dost thou make request? ] Not for any other honour or great office about the court or in the country; not for any private friend, or the like, but the good of the Church. Thus Nebridius, in Jerome, though a courtier and nephew to the empress, yet never made suit but for the relief of the poor afflicted. Thus Terence, that noble general under Valens, the emperor, being bidden to ask what he would, asked nothing but that the Church might be rid of Arians. And when the emperor, being himself an Arian, tore his petition, he said he would never ask anything for himself if he might not prevail for the Church (Theodoret).

So I prayed to the God of heaven ] Darting up an ejaculation, a sudden and secret desire to God, to order and speed his petition. Begin all with prayer, and then expect a blessing. Call in the Divine help, if it be but by darting out our desires to God. Thus Moses cried to God, yet said nothing, Exo 14:15 . Hannah was not heard, and yet she prayed. Austin reports the custom of the Egyptian Churches, to pray frequently and fervently, but briefly, and by way of ejaculation, ne fervor languesceret, lest their heat should abate, Crebras habere orationes, sed brevissimas et raptim eiaculatas.

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

For what: 1Ki 3:5, Est 5:3, Est 5:6, Est 7:2, Mar 10:51

So I prayed: Neh 1:4, Neh 1:11, 2Sa 15:31, Pro 3:6, Phi 4:6

Reciprocal: Gen 24:12 – I pray Gen 24:45 – speaking Gen 39:4 – Joseph 1Sa 1:13 – spake 1Ki 8:50 – and give them Neh 2:6 – So it pleased Neh 2:20 – The God Pro 21:1 – The king’s Pro 22:11 – the king Isa 49:17 – children Jer 29:12 – General Jer 40:5 – or go Dan 1:9 – General Jon 1:9 – the God Act 23:19 – What Phi 2:13 – to will Rev 16:11 – the God

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

EJACULATORY PRAYER

So I prayed to the God of heaven.

Neh 2:4

Our thoughts are now upon that moment of ejaculatory prayer, and its lesson for our own faith and our own prayers.

What has Nehemiah to say to us?

I. He bids us cherish and cultivate the habit of ejaculation.In other words, he bids us tell Him all, freely while reverently, at all times and in all places. What an unspiritual environment was Nehemiahs at that moment! What an unspiritual position and office were Nehemiahs amidst that scene! It was not the position of the great trusted adviser, like Daniel, sharing the cares of empire with his prince; still less was it the prophetic position of a Daniel preaching righteousness to the frightened revellers from the text upon the wall. Yet there and then he knew the way to God, and instantly he took it; the communication was open, and it worked as effectually in the Persian palace at the hour of wine, as if Nehemiah, like Hezekiah, had been kneeling in the temple with his eyes upon the sanctuary.

The message is direct to you and me. Strength and calm for every crisis come with telling Jesus all! And every crisis implies occasions whose outside is altogether secular, surroundings which seem to be entirely unreligious, if not actively hostile to religion. Where is the Lord God of Nehemiah? He is here now. He is with you on the journey, in the drawing-room, in the counting-house, in the shop, in the study, amidst the company from which you shrink, but in which it is your duty to be. He is with you while you hear or read the assault upon the Bible, upon the Gospel, upon the Lord; the question which puts some anxious problem of practical right or wrong before you. So I prayed unto the God of heaven, who was also the God of Nehemiah, and the Master of Artaxerxes and his will. For you, as for Nehemiah, that way of escape, that you may be able to bear itthat blessed way of escape, into the heart of the Lord Who lives and hearsis wide open, anywhere and everywhere.

II. Another message which this servant of God brings us is concerning the answers which come to such prayers.In Nehemiahs case nothing ostensibly supernatural occurred. This whole book records no miracle, nor does that of Ezra. No finger wrote upon the wall to tell Artaxerxes what to say, and to alarm him into a consciousness of Nehemiahs relations with the Eternal. The king thought the matter over, consulted the queen beside him, asked another simple question, felt a sympathy with Nehemiahs plans and wishes, saw no reason to the contrary, and gave him exactly the leave he wanted. The God of heaven answered at once, and to the very purpose; but He answered through the channel of the Persians mind and volition, not forced but sovereignly manipulated by Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.

We read such an incident in the Bible, and we accept it as true, and perhaps let it pass as true; true for days when the miraculous was in the air. But it is just such an incident as offers itself for the closest repetition now. There was no miracle in that air, save the miracle of the presence of the faithfulness, of the power of God, and of His welcome to His servant to tell him all. Then let us each be a Nehemiah, in intercourse with God in our twentieth-century surroundings, and accept His answers as they commonly come through His silent handling of those surroundings, and of us amidst them.

III. But Nehemiahs messages from the kings palace are not all delivered. One, and a most important one, remains.This prayer of ejaculation is not the first prayer recorded in the book; the first chapter gives us another, which is long, deliberate, imploring, and in secret. I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven; the last petition in that prayer being that God would prosper His servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.

Let us ponder this. That secret and sustained intercourse with God prepared Nehemiah for the momentary prayer in the strange publicity so soon to follow. His ejaculation was the prompt utterance of a soul which cultivated beforehand, in holy readiness for instant use, the sense of the blessed Presence, and by faith abode in that invisible sanctuary. It was habitual prayerfulness in special action.

So it must be with us too in the common hours of life, so pregnant with deadly perils and temptations if we are not men of prayer. We must prepare in secret for our spiritual victories out of doors. We must make time for deliberate confession and supplication alone, if we are to be ready in the social circle, to dart our word-long petition unerringly to the throne of grace, and bring the blessing down. We must pray, if we would pray. It shall not be in vain for us, any more than for Nehemiah.

Bishop H. C. G. Moule.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Neh 2:4. Then the king said, For what dost thou make request? Something thou wouldest have, what is it? The king had an affection for him, and was not pleased to see him dejected, and thus gave him encouragement to tell his mind. So I prayed to the God of heaven I silently in my mind besought God to direct my thoughts and words, and to incline the kings heart to grant my request.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

2:4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed {e} to the God of heaven.

(e) I desired God in my heart to prosper my enterprise.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes