Nehemiah 2


Nehemiah 2 is the second chapter of the Book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, or the 12th chapter of the book of Ezra-Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible, which treats the book of Ezra and the book of Nehemiah as one book. Jewish tradition states that Ezra is the author of Ezra-Nehemiah as well as the Book of Chronicles, but modern scholars generally accept that a compiler from the 5th century BCE is the final author of these books. From the time he hears about Jerusalem during the month of Kislev, Nehemiah waited until the month of Nisan to petition Artaxerxes I of Persia to be allowed to go and help the rebuilding of Jerusalem. His petition is granted by the king, and although with less authority than Ezra over the officials of "Beyond-the-River", Nehemiah was given an official position with an escort of officers and cavalry.

Text

20 verses. The original text of this chapter is in the Hebrew language.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Codex Leningradensis.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Alexandrinus.

Wise as serpents (2:1–8)

The scene of this part is the banqueting hall of King Artaxerxes, where Nehemiah carries out his duties as a cup-bearer. H. E. Ryle suggests that Nehemiah is the king's "favourite cup-bearer". Nehemiah is sad, and the king asks why. McConville argues that the display of a long face before the king shows three significant aspects of Nehemiah: courage, godliness and wisdom, which bear dire risk of his life.

Verse 1

  • "Nisan": While Ezra uses numbered months, Nehemiah uses 'Babylonian calendrical names'.
  • "Artaxerxes": or "Artaxerxes Longimanus"

    Verses 2–3

  • "Became very much afraid": Nehemiah is worried about offending the king, despite 'what sounds like comforting concern', because with Nehemiah functioning as the official wine-taster, 'the emperor might well be worried if Nehemiah looks sick'. Nonetheless, the king is happy to grant Nehemiah's requests, as Nehemiah then was given letters and a military escort as well as materials for his journey to Jerusalem.

    Reconnaissance and Opposition (2:9–20)

This part describes Nehemiah's journey to Jerusalem, and his first actions when he arrived there, especially his preliminary reconnaissance of the walls at night, and the revelation of his plan to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The resentment from local people recalls Ezra 1–6.

Verse 9

The military escort given by the king to Nehemiah consisted of officers, army, and cavalry. The evidence of Persian soldiers stationed in Judah is shown in the cist-type tombs which otherwise can only be found in Persian archaeological sites.

Verse 10

  • "Sanballat the Horonite": Smith-Christopher agrees with Blenkinsopp that "Horonite" here refers to Beth-Horon, northwest of Jerusalem, not the Horonaim of Moab.

    Verse 11

  • "Three days": The same "three days' interval" to 'rest after the journey and to prepare plans' is also used by Ezra.

    Verse 19

  • "Geshem the Arabian": another enemy of Nehemiah, who can be the same person as "Geshmu—King of Kedar", a name mentioned in a bowl from Ismalia, because "Kedar" is associated with "Arab" as in ; ; ;, also in Herodotus 3.4.88.
The three enemies geographically surrounded Nehemiah: Sanballat the Horonite to the north, Tobiah the Ammonite to the east, and Geshem to the south.

Good versus evil

According to J. Gordon McConville, a conflict between good and evil underlies the action of this chapter which is not immediately obvious in the English translation: Nehemiah's face is "sad" is actually described using the word "evil", which is also used for the word "trouble" of Jerusalem, whereas the expression "it pleased the king" is literally "it was good to the king", as also in "the good hand of God is upon Nehemiah", or "the good work", which is simply "the good". Verse 10 shows most pointed contrast, where "it displeased them" is literally "it was evil to them", whereas "welfare" of the Jews is "their good". In this context, the king's decision and the rebuilding of the walls are "good", whereas the broken walls, Nehemiah's grief, or the conspiration of Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, are "evil".