2:1 Then in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought to me, I took the wine and gave it to the king. Previously I had not been depressed in the king’s presence.
The date was 445 B.C. This decree to rebuild the walls was the starting date of Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks. Jesus would enter Jerusalem exactly 483 lunar years after this degree was made.
Nehemiah was to taste the wine in order to keep the Persian king from being assassinated. Assassination by poisonous wine was a popular way to remove pagan kings.
Nehemiah had been fasting and praying for his people, so he does not look very well. Sadness was a dangerous emotion to express in front of pagan kings. The kings wanted their subjects to be happy, since the attitude of his cabinet reflected the royal attitude of their kingdoms.
2:2 So the king said to me, “Why do you appear to be depressed when you aren’t sick? What can this be other than sadness of heart?” This made me very fearful.
Since depression was not tolerated in the king’s presence, then Nehemiah had good reason to be afraid.
2:3 I replied to the king, “O king, live forever!
The cupbearer’s job was to protect the king from being poisoned so that the king could live and rule for a long time period.
2:4 The king responded, “What is it you are seeking?” Then I quickly prayed to the God of heaven
The Persian king wanted to help his favorite cupbearer with his problem. Nehemiah prayed that God would give him the right answer.
2:5 and said to the king, “If the king is so inclined and if your servant has found favor in your sight, dispatch me to Judah, to the city with the graves of my ancestors, so that I can rebuild it.”
This was a huge request. Nehemiah was telling the king that there were more important things in life than serving the king.
2:6 Then the king, with his consort sitting beside him, replied, “How long would your trip take, and when would you return?” Since the king was amenable to dispatching me, I gave him a time.
The king’s consort was the Queen. Why did the Holy Spirit mention the Queen? This queen may have been Queen Esther. She may have influenced the king on this request.
2:7 I said to the king, “If the king is so inclined, let him give me letters for the governors of Trans-Euphrates that will enable me to travel safely until I reach Judah,
This would be a long and dangerous trip. Nehemiah asked for letters of introduction to various governors along the route. These governors would provide him lodging during the trip.
2:8 and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king’s nature preserve, so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, for the good hand of my God was on me.
Nehemiah asked for timber to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Lumber was a very precious and valuable commodity in the Middle East. There is an ancient document from an ancient city in Mesopotamia in which a forest official was taken to court for cutting down a tree.
The fortress adjacent to the temple would later be rebuilt by King Herod. It would be called the Antonia Fortress. Paul would later give testimony in this fort to both the Jewish and Roman leaders.
When this decree was issued, the divine clock started for the prophesied time of Messiah’s first coming to Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25-27).
2:9 Then I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, and I presented to them the letters from the king. The king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.
When Ezra returned to Jerusalem during the second exile of Jews, he felt like he needed protection from robbers. However, he refused to ask the king for armed guards. God protected him on his trip. If God requires one of his children to travel for his service, then the child of God is protected by angels until he completes the task.
Nehemiah did not ask for soldiers either, but the king sent a military escort. The king must have really loved Nehemiah. The journey from Persia to Jerusalem would take about 3–4 months.
2:10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard all this, they were very displeased that someone had come to seek benefit for the Israelites.
Sanballat was the governor of the Persian province of Samaria. His name has been found on one of the famous Elephantine papyri, dated 407 B.C.
Tobiah was an Ammonite. The Ammonites had been perennial enemies of Israel.
These two men were the enemies of God and the enemies of Israel. They were not very happy that the cupbearer of the king was coming to help the Jews rebuild their wall.
2:11 So I came to Jerusalem. When I had been there for three days,
Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. Satan had already planned resistance against him.
2:12 I got up during the night, along with a few men who were with me. But I did not tell anyone what my God was putting on my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no animals with me, except for the one I was riding.
No one in Jerusalem had any idea what Nehemiah was doing in Israel. Nehemiah investigated the condition of the walls at night with just a few men in which he trusted. He only took one horse, so that he could keep the investigation quiet.
2:13 I proceeded through the Valley Gate by night, in the direction of the Well of the Dragons and the Dung Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem that had been breached and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.
Nehemiah investigated the Valley Gate, the Well of the Dragons, and the Dung Gate. These gates had been burned by the enemies of God. Satan did not want Jerusalem to once again become the center of Jewish worship. Jewish worship pointed to the one true God and the atonement of Christ to come.
The Hebrew for “the well of dragons” is עֵ֣ין הַתַּנִּ֔ין (ayin ha-tanin), meaning “the eyes of the dragon.” Some modern English versions, mistranslate this as “jackal well.” The reason for this mistranslation is evolutionary bias. The translators do not believe that dinosaurs and men ever existed together, so they mistranslate the verse. The Hebrew verse means dragon, dinosaur, or sea monster. These dinosaurs evidently walked off of Noah’s ark, survived into historic times for a while, and then gave rise to many of the dragon legends which have been passed down into the ancient histories of every continent. The dragon well was known as such by the Jebusites. The Jebusites were the Canaanites who controlled Jerusalem before King David conquered them. It is very possible that this well was given its name by the first inhabitants who migrated there after the dispersion from the Tower of Babel. At this time, these dinosaurs may have frequented this spring.
2:14 I passed on to the Gate of the Well and the King’s Pool, where there was not enough room for my animal to pass with me.
Nehemiah investigated the King’s pool. There was so much debris, that his horse could not walk through the carnage.
2:15 I continued up the valley during the night, inspecting the wall. Then I turned back and came to the Valley Gate, and so returned.
Nehemiah circled the entire city and completed his inspection.
2:16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had been doing, for up to this point I had not told any of the Jews or the priests or the nobles or the officials or the rest of the workers.
Nehemiah was a laymen who was working quietly behind the scenes to do God’s work. He did not need anyone’s applause.
2:17 Then I said to them, “You see the problem that we have: Jerusalem is desolate and its gates are burned. Come on! Let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that this reproach will not continue.”
Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed these walls in 586 B.C. Nehemiah approached the city council with his investigation report.
2:18 Then I related to them how the good hand of my God was on me and what the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let’s begin rebuilding right away!” So they readied themselves for this good project.
Nehemiah revealed his divine source. Nehemiah was a divinely-inspired leader sent from God. The Jerusalem leaders were excited to hear this news.
2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard all this, they derided us and expressed contempt toward us. They said, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
Geshem the Arab joined the anti-Israeli confederacy. He was a powerful Arabian chieftain of Dedan in Northwest Arabia. Nehemiah was surrounded by enemies who tried to intimidate him by insinuating that he wanted to rebel against the king of Persia. Satan’s first stage of discouragement on a new believer is usually ridicule. These three men began to ridicule Nehemiah, hoping to discourage him from rebuilding these walls.
2:20 I responded to them by saying, “The God of heaven will prosper us. We his servants will start the rebuilding. But you have no just or ancient right in Jerusalem.”
Nehemiah did not mind the ridicule. He reminded his ridiculers that the God of heaven would prosper this building project. These three men had no right to even be in Jerusalem. This was God’s city. God gave this city to the Jewish people, not to the Horonites, the Ammonites, or the Arabs.