Or, Decisive Requests and Rallying for Good Work
Scripture: Nehemiah 2:1-10
Date: March 2, 2025
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Why are we working our way through Ezra-Nehemiah-Esther? We all could use more Old Testament in our lives; it is Scripture “inspired by God and profitable” (2 Timothy 3:16). Add to that, it is “our” history, not because we are (the new) Israel, but because the history is for us; “these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). Plus, these stories of cultural rebuilding and reformation give us hope in our work; “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).
This is narrative that builds up our knowledge, our affections, our hope. Here is a true story of the interplay of prayer and God’s stirring up the heart of political powers, of vision and sacrificial labor and ridicule and resistance, of believing God’s Word and seeking to live by it at cultural/city-national scale. We could use some more of this. We could stand to ask a bit bigger. We have not because we’ve asked not, so we’re not ready to risk it when God opens the door.
Nehemiah was a Jew, working in the winter palace of the Persian king, serving in the official role of cupbearer. He heard a report from his brother that the walls back home (though Nehemiah had never been “home” in his life to this point) were broken down. Though he knew that the current state of things was a judgment on Israel’s disobedience, he also knew that God covenanted to bless obedience. So Nehemiah began to pray, and he asked a big ask from God.
In chapter 2 he makes his second big ask, directly to Artaxerxes. We’ll take it in two parts. You can see in verses 9-10 the names of some local opposition, you can see again in verses 19-20 even more. You can also see Nehemiah’s recognition of the “good hand of God” in the first half (verse 8) and the second half (verse 18). Seems reasonable to divide the chapter in the middle, and both parts say Let us build, first in request to the king (verses 1-10), then in rallying the people (verses 11-20).
It’s been four months since Chislev (Nehemiah 1:1), now it’s the month of Nisan, the springtime. The wine was before (Artaxerxes), which seems likely to indicate a royal banquet or party. Herodotus recorded that Persian kings often held feasts and sometimes the king would make a show of lavish power to reinforce loyalty. It would fit with Nehemiah’s timing if so, since he’d been praying and fasting for a while, and certainly had not been out of the king’s presence for that whole time.
As cupbearer the wine was his job. I took up the wine and gave it to the king. How much clout Nehemiah had in Artaxerxes’ court is unknown. But in order to hand the cup to the king, Nehemiah had to be close. Now I had not been sad in his presence. Why now? It’s not just because four months of fasting and praying give a man funeral-face; hypocrites look gloomy when they fast for attention (Matthew 6:18). This “look” was a no-no in general in front of the king, let alone at a feast, so a chosen risk now. This is strategic sadness. It didn’t go unnoticed.
And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” We don’t know Artaxerxes’ feelings about this yet. Is he mad that Nehemiah is showing his feelings? Does the king actually care? The ESV translation is fine, but it could be taken as a “bad/evil heart.” Does the king suspect irritation, maybe disloyalty on Nehemiah’s face?
Nehemiah knows this is risky. Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, “Let the king live forever.” Perhaps his reply was typical, perhaps it was making sure the king knew that the king wasn’t the problem. Of course, as we see, Nehemiah had been consumed with his concern for months, he couldn’t get it out of his mind, and he knew that what he wanted would be a big ask.
He proceeds with diplomacy but onto dangerous ground. “Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my father’s graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” Nehemiah doesn’t use the name “Jerusalem.” It’s not because Artaxerxes didn’t know where Nehemiah was from, but it might have been a name with too much baggage. It was that “rebellious city” (Ezra 4:12). Nehemiah plays on the sympathy strings, for a sacred yet broken place.
Artaxerxes didn’t miss that this was a polite way to ask for something. “What are you requesting?”
This was it. We’re sort of holding our breath with Nehemiah. He shoots an “arrow prayer” (Kidner) —swiftly released and direct to the point, a flash prayer, between the question and his answer. So I prayed to the God of heaven. He’d been praying, and he saw God open this door. “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father’s graves, that I may rebuild it.” Nehemiah still doesn’t say the words “Jerusalem” or “walls,” but it required reversing Artaxerxes’ decree:
Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me. And take care not to be slack in this matter. (Ezra 4:21–22a ESV)
A few things suggest that the scene changes between verses 5 and 6. First, the queen is mentioned for the first time. Second, it was apparently not usual for the queen to be at the banquet. Third, the king moves past the “Yes you can go” to a question about trip specifics that assumes the yes was said; where did that time go? Whether or not this is a more private conversation, it is more detailed.
The king asked, “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” Nehemiah doesn’t record his answer to whether or not he could go and rebuild, but the rebuilding, in principle, was approved. The only other return of Nehemiah recorded happened 12 years later (Nehemiah 5:14). It’s a reasonable assumption that that wasn’t the original plan, and maybe Nehemiah had returned for an earlier check-in that wasn’t included in his narrative.
Nehemiah’s ask required Artaxerxes to overturn his policy from 10 years previous. Nehemiah asked big, and got his answer, and then asked for more. “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah.” Now why would these guys stop Nehemiah? He wasn’t carrying gold and silver like Ezra’s crew did. In fact, it seems that Nehemiah thinks he’d be going by himself, and still he anticipated resistance.
He’s not finished with the big ask: “and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” The lumber would be for three projects, including now for the first time mention of the wall of the city. His brother Hanani told Nehemiah, and Nehemiah had detailed plan in mind.
He asked and he received. While he had been careful and persuasive, Nehemiah understood that success was because the good hand of my God was upon me.
Verses 9-10 skip over the three-plus months of travel and get right to the important part: the haters. This is a foreshadowing of the second half of the chapter and the next few chapters.
One new piece of info is that the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. Remember that Ezra went out of his way not to request military escort, but Artaxerxes seems to have initiated this part. Nehemiah has a royal entourage and arrived in style (Kidner).
But when Sanballat…and Tobiah..heard this they threw a fit. It displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel. These guys had their own schemes for regional control, and weren’t impressed with anyone messing with their system.
Sometimes you’ve just got to do something by faith. Like what? This is where any sermon call to action is always a challenge. The people who feel the weight are already tired from trying to fit ten days of work into seven. The people who are distracted expect two or three bullets of simple action without putting any effort into their own thinking.
The Nehemiah narrative shows us what kind of praying, preparing, and risk-taking come from those who believe that God will do what He said. This story rebuilds our hope while we rebuild. And hope in what? That God’s good hand would be on us and give us success.
God has chosen you to glorify Jesus in your calling. Which means, God has chosen to give you faith in Jesus as well as ideas for Jesus. The blessing you’re about to get is for God to fulfill “every resolve for good.” So, Christian, what have you resolved/committed to for Him to fulfill?
[M]ay God make you worthy of his calling and fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12, ESV)