Nehemiah 1:1-4

Nehemiah 1:1 to Nehemiah 7:73 a. Extract from the memoirs of Nehemiah

1. The Superscription. -In many MSS. and editions the beginning of this book is closely united with the last verse of Ezra, and in some it appears without line or interval between as part of Ezra" (Davidson's Hebrew Text).

The words R.V. marg. the history. (a) The rendering -words" merely calls attention to the fact that we here have a portion of the writings of Nehemiah himself. (b) The rendering -history" is more formal, and is capable of being understood in two different ways, (1) as a reference to a well-known work of history from the pen of Nehemiah, as in -the histories (marg. Heb. words) of Shemaiah, the prophet, and Iddo, the seer" (2 Chronicles 12:15) and -the history (marg. Heb. words) of Jehu, the son of Hanani" (2 Chronicles 20:34); (2) as a descriptive heading of the present book, -the history of Nehemiah" being equivalent to -the acts of Nehemiah"; the common expression -the acts of," e.g. Solomon (1 Kings 11:41), is literally -the words of."

In order to choose between these renderings, we must remember that the clause is probably an editorial heading, inserted by the Chronicler in the compilation of his work. Perhaps the preference should be given to (a) -the words of," on the ground that when Ezra and Nehemiah formed one continuous work it was not likely that a heading (whether giving the title of a work that is quoted, or describing the remainder of the Chronicler's book) would be inserted in the middle of the text. But the insertion of a note, to explain the transition from the 1st person, used in the extracts from Ezra's memoirs, to the 1st person used in the memoirs of Nehemiah, is only what we might expect.

For superscriptions introduced by editorial hands, compare Isaiah 1:1; Jeremiah 1:1; Hosea 1:1; Amos 1:1; Micah 1:1. This, however, is the only superscription of the kind in an historical book.

Hachaliah R.V. Hacaliah, cf. Nehemiah 10:1. The father's name enables us to distinguish Nehemiah from the men of the same name mentioned in Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 3:16. The name Hacaliah does not occur elsewhere in the O.T.

We are not told what tribe Nehemiah belonged to. Some have supposed the tribe of Levi; and in favour of this suggestion should be observed (a) the mention of his -brother" Hanani's appointment (Nehemiah 7:2) along with the appointment of the porters, singers, and Levites; (b) the prominent consideration paid by Nehemiah to the interests of the priests and Levites.

Others have suggested the tribe of Judah, and in support of their view refer to the mention of his -house" (Nehemiah 1:6).

Nehemiah 1:1 to Nehemiah 2:11. Nehemiah's Commission

1 4. The Evil Tidings from Jerusalem

1 b. And R.V. Now. See note on Ezra 1:1. The copula implies that something has preceded. The Memoirs of Nehemiah did not open with these words. The Chronicler only gives us extracts (Nehemiah 1:1; Nehemiah 1:1; Nehemiah 7:73 a, Nehemiah 12:27-43; Nehemiah 13:4-31). The retention of the copula at the beginning of the section shows that there was no intention to conceal the fragmentary character of the section.

Chisleu R.V. Chislev. See note on Ezra 10:9. Hanani's arrival was in the winter, some three or four months before the events narrated in Nehemiah 2:1 ff.

in the twentieth year R.V. marg. -see ch. Nehemiah 2:1." In ch. Nehemiah 2:1 we find that the events described in the beginning of that chapter are said to have taken place in the month Nisan, in the 20th year of king Artaxerxes. Now Nisan is the first month, Chislev the ninth month in the year. How then comes it that in this verse the events of the ninth month seem to precede those of the first month, in the 20th year of Artaxerxes?

(a) The explanation usually given is that Nehemiah employs the post-exilic calendar, in which Tisri (the seventh month) opens the sacred Jewish year, Chislev being then the third and Nisan the seventh months.

The objections, however, to this explanation are considerable:

(1) There is nothing in the context, here or in Nehemiah 2:1, to cause Nehemiah to employ a sacred in preference to a civil computation. As he reckons the year by the reign of the Persian king, and employs the Babylonian (not the old Hebrew) names of months, we should expect him to adopt the calendar in vogue in the Persian dominion.

(2) The custom of reckoning Nisan as the first and Chislev as the ninth month in the year was almost universal in Western Asia.

(3) In post-exilic Jewish writings we find this method of computing the months employed with reference to sacred and secular matters indifferently (cf. Zechariah 1:7; Zechariah 7:1; Esther 2:16; Esther 3:7; Esther 3:13; Esther 8:9; Esther 9:1; 1Ma 4:52; 1Ma 10:21; 1Ma 16:14, 2Ma 15:36).

(4) The system of reckoning the 1st of Tisri, the Feast of Trumpets, as New Year's Day is to be dated, according to Jewish tradition, either from the age of Alexander the Great, or, more probably, from the time of the adoption of the Seleucid era (312 b.c.). (The theory which connects it with the restoration of the daily burnt-offering -on the first day of the seventh month" Ezra 3:6, cf. Nehemiah 8:11, rests on no foundation.) Even where reference is made to -the Feast of Trumpets," the feast is stated to occur in the seventh month (see Leviticus 23:24-25; Numbers 29:1).

In the opinion of some scholars (e.g. Wellhausen, Hist. of Isr.p. 109) the Hebrew year was reckoned from autumn to autumn until the Exile, and then the influence of the Babylonian usage caused a change from autumn to spring to take place. There are some indications of an early Israelite practice of reckoning the year from autumn to autumn (Exodus 23:16; Exodus 34:22; Leviticus 25:22, cf. Genesis 7:11); and Josephus (Ant.i. 1. 3) says this was altered by Moses, in order that the year might date from the month in which the Exodus occurred. But the impression produced by the narrative of the regal period (see 2 Samuel 11:1; 1 Kings 20:22; 1 Kings 20:26; Jeremiah 36:9; Jeremiah 36:22) is in favour of the mode of reckoning from spring to spring. It seems on every account more probable, that Nehemiah would follow the numeration of months, starting from the month Nisan, which both his countrymen and the people, among whom he lived, commonly employed.

(b) Another explanation has been given, that the years of Artaxerxes" reign were not reckoned, as calendar years, from the month Nisan, but from the month in which he ascended the throne: if therefore his reign began in any one of the months between Nisan and Chislev (i.e. Iyyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Ab, Elul, Tisri, Marcheswan), Chislev would precede Nisan in the year so calculated. But for this view there is no evidence from other sources.

(c) It is better to acknowledge that we have here a contradiction, and to suppose that a mistake has been made either by the Compiler or by a scribe, who was anxious that the extract from Nehemiah's writings should open with the mention of a date, and inserted, from ch. Nehemiah 2:1, the year of the king's reign, not perceiving the difficulty to which it would give rise. The omission of the king's name is an additional reason for suspecting an error in the text.

Shushan Shushan or Susa, alter its capture by Cyrus (546?), became -the principal capital of the Persian Empire, and its river, the Choaspes, a branch of the Eulaeus (Ulai, Daniel 8:2; Daniel 8:16), had the honour of supplying the (Persian) kings with the only drinking water they would use" (-The Story of the Nations:" Media, p. 318). "The city of Susa was cut in two by a wide river, known at present under the name of Ab-Kharkha (ancient Choaspes). On the right bank were the populous quarters; on the left, temples, or at least a Ziggurat, the royal city, the citadel, and the palace, the ruins of which, entombed in an immense earth-mound, rise in the midst of the other lesser mounds, like a steep islet from the sea." (id.pp. 333 f.)

Shushan had formerly been the capital of the kingdom of Elam, whose territory had embraced the alluvial plain E. of the lower Tigris, and stretched S. along the shores of the Persian Gulf (Kiepert). For a mention of the early Elamite kingdom see the reference in Genesis 14:1 ff. to the invasion of Chedor-laomer (Kudur-lagamer). In the Assyrian Inscriptions of Assur-bani-pal, king of Assyria (668 626), we have an extraordinarily vivid and minute account of that monarch's two campaigns against the kingdom of Elam. Few, if any, of the treasures of the Assyrian Rooms in the British Museum exceed in dramatic interest, vigour of treatment, and beauty of preservation, the representation, on three slabs (nos. 45 47) in the Kouyunjik Gallery, of the overthrow and death, by the banks of Eulaeus, of Teumman, king of Elam. Assur-bani-pal entered Shushan with his victorious army and carried away enormous treasure. The city was sacked and its fortifications destroyed. Elam as a kingdom ceased to exist. Shushan however rose from its ashes. Darius Hystaspes rebuilt the city and erected there a magnificent palace. This was destroyed by fire. But on its site Artaxerxes built another and yet more splendid residence. The remnants of -a magnificent piece of painted and glazed tiles representing striding lions, which formed the decoration of the pillared porticos" (Ragozin's Media) have been discovered; and along it ran an inscription on which appears the name of Artaxerxes. This was probably the palace in which Nehemiah attended the king as cupbearer.

It became the usual winter residence of the Persian kings, who made use of Ecbatana for their summer quarters. The importance of the town caused the whole district to be called -Susiana" in the Macedonian period. After its capture by the Mahommedans it sank gradually into decay. The modern town of Dizfûl stands near the site of Shushan. Other passages of Scripture which make mention of Shushan (Daniel 8:2; Esth. passim) point to the fact that a large number of Jews resided in the city.

the palace R.V. marg. the castle. The word -bîrah" is used here, in Daniel 8:2, and in Esther, as an appellation of Shushan. It is applied in 1 Chronicles 29:1; 1 Chronicles 29:19 to the Temple at Jerusalem; in Nehemiah 2:8; Nehemiah 7:2, to the -capitol" or -castle" of Jerusalem. In Ezra 6:2 (Aram.) it is used of Ecbatana. It means something more than -the royal house of residence," for which we have -palace" (bîthan) (Esther 1:5; Esther 7:7-8) or -the king's house" (Esther 2:8; Esther 4:13). It is probably a special title of Shushan, denoting it as a stronghold as well as a royal city.

The Vulgate here renders by -castro": the LXX. transliterates (ἀβιρά).

2. Hanani, one of my brethren Cf. Nehemiah 7:2 -my brother Hanani," where the context places it beyond all doubt that the word -brother" is not to be understood in the sense of -fellow-countryman." But -brother" may mean -cousin" or -relative," cf. Genesis 14:16; Genesis 24:48; and we find -brethren" used for -fellow-tribesmen" in 2 Samuel 19:12; Nehemiah 3:1. The term -one of my brethren" favours the explanation that Hanani was a relative, not his actual brother.

certain men of Judah R.V. certain men out of Judah. The R.V. gives the truer rendering of the preposition. The emphasis does not lie upon the men being Jews, but upon their having just come from Judea.

the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity i.e. the Jews in the land of Judea as distinguished from those in Babylon and dispersed in other countries. They are described as refugees, or as the children of refugees, who had survived the captivity; cf. Ezra 3:8; Ezra 8:35; Nehemiah 8:17.

-that had escaped," one word in the Hebrew, the same abstract substantive as in Ezra 9:15, -A remnant that is escaped."

-the captivity," not collectively -the captives," abstract for concrete like -hag-gôlah" (Ezra 2:1), but descriptively, -the scene or condition of captivity" (sh'bhî).

and concerning Jerusalem Nehemiah's anxious enquiry relates to two things, the welfare of the people and the condition of the city. He does not ask about the Temple.

3. The reply of the Jews corresponds to the enquiry, and is given in two sentences, the one relating to the inhabitants, the other to the walls and defences of Jerusalem.

in the province See note on Ezra 2:1.

great affliction and reproach Compare the description in Nehemiah 2:17 and the sarcasms of Sanballat in Nehemiah 4:2-3. This -affliction and reproach" is something quite distinct from the humiliation of being subject to foreign rulers, as in Nehemiah 9:37. The -affliction" denotes -the evil plight" within the walls; the -reproach," the scornful attitude of enemies without. Cf. Psalms 79:4-9, -we are become a reproach to our neighbours, &c.…; for we are brought very low," and Psalms 89:38-46.

the wall …is broken down Speaking of the wall, the Jews describe its present condition; speaking of the gates, they refer to a past event. For the condition of -the wall," cf. Nehemiah 2:13. -Broken down": in order to deprive a walled city of its power of resistance, a victorious enemy used to make breaches in the walls at one or more vulnerable points. Cf. 2 Kings 14:13 (2 Chronicles 32:5).

the gates … are burnt with fire cf. Nehemiah 2:13. -The gates," as in Jeremiah 17:27, are the fortified gateways, the principal objects of assault. The verb here is in the past tense, and alludes to an historical event, not to a long-standing condition.

It has been commonly supposed that the Jews are informing Nehemiah of the condition in which the walls and gates of Jerusalem had been lying ever since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, 143 years previously (588); and Rashi points out that the walls and gates are mentioned and not the Temple, because the Temple had been rebuilt, and -the walls" and -the gates" remained in ruins. But this explanation is not sufficient. (1) If Nehemiah's brethren informed him of a condition of things which had continued ever since the return from the Captivity, we fail to see any reason for the vehement consternation into which he was thrown. (2) As a reply to an enquiry concerning the condition of Jerusalem, we should not expect the words -the gates … are burned with fire," relating to so distant an event as the Chaldean overthrow. (3) The verb -are burned" seems to denote a recent event = -have been burned."

It is more natural to suppose that Nehemiah's brethren inform him of a recent catastrophe at Jerusalem. It is a probable conjecture that they refer to a forcible interference, on the part of Samaritan foes, with some recent attempt of the Jews, perhaps led by Ezra, to rebuild their walls. This may be the failure described in Ezra 4. Artaxerxes" decree of prohibition was, we may well imagine, followed up by hostile action, on the part of the enemies of the Jews, by the demolition of the wall, so far as it had been built, and by the destruction of the gates.

Nehemiah, a leading Jew at the court, would have been made acquainted both with the project of rebuilding the wall and with the fact of Artaxerxes having prohibited it. Hence his anxious enquiry about the people beset with foes, and about the city whose defences were in danger. The Temple, on the other hand, had long been rebuilt with the sanction of the Persian king, Darius. There was no apprehension to be felt on its behalf.

The news which he receives at first overwhelms Nehemiah with dismay. He connects in his mind the religious and national independence of his people with a strong and fortified Jerusalem. For the moment his hopes for his people seem to be shattered at a blow.

4. I sat down and wept Cf. Ezra 9:3 -sat down astonied," Psalms 137:1 -we sat down and wept." Nehemiah's sudden grief shows that the information brought by his -brethren" was unexpected.

mourned A word in the original used especially for formal lamentation, e.g. over the dead, Genesis 37:35, or on account of sin, Nehemiah 8:9; Ezra 10:6; Daniel 10:2.

certain days R.V. certain days. Literally -days," sometimes used to denote a short indefinite period, cf. Nehemiah 13:6; it is rendered -a season" in Genesis 40:4, -many days," 1 Kings 17:15.

fasted, and prayed Cf. Ezra 8:23.

before the God of heaven See note on Ezra 1:2. The use of this Divine title in Nehemiah's writings is of especial interest, on account of the frequency with which it occurs in Persian inscriptions. It is not merely to be understood as an abridged form of the title of universal sovereignty, -God of heaven and earth," but rather as indicating that the Almighty dwelt in the heaven of heavens beyond the visible sky, cf. Psalms 115:16.

-before:" literally -in the presence of." This expression has sometimes been understood by commentators to denote -turning with the face towards Jerusalem," as in Daniel 6:10-11. But it is too general to admit of such a limitation (cf. 1 Samuel 1:12).