Nehemiah Asks to Rebuild Jerusalem

Nehemiah was in Susa, at the palace, when Hanani, one of his brothers, arrived with some men from Judah. Nehemiah asked about the Jews who had survived the exile and about Jerusalem. They said the people there were in great trouble and disgrace, and that Jerusalem’s wall was broken down and its gates had been burned.

When Nehemiah heard this, he sat down and wept. For several days he mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. He confessed the sins of Israel, including his own family’s sin, and remembered God’s words through Moses about scattering his people if they were unfaithful, and gathering them if they returned to him. Nehemiah asked God to give him mercy in the sight of the king, because he was the king’s cup bearer.

In the month of Nisan, Nehemiah brought wine to King Artaxerxes. The king noticed that he looked sad, and Nehemiah was very afraid. He explained that the city of his fathers’ tombs lay in ruins and its gates had been burned. When the king asked what he wanted, Nehemiah prayed and asked to be sent to Judah to rebuild the city.

He also asked for letters to the governors beyond the River and for timber from Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest. The king granted his requests, and Nehemiah knew God’s good hand was on him.

Nehemiah travelled with the king’s letters, and the king sent army officers and horsemen with him. Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant were deeply displeased that someone had come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. After Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem and stayed three days, he went out at night with a few men. He had not yet told anyone what God had put into his heart to do for Jerusalem. He inspected the broken walls and burned gates.

Then Nehemiah spoke to the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the rulers, and the others who would do the work. He pointed to Jerusalem’s ruined condition and urged them to rebuild the wall so they would no longer be disgraced. He told them how God had been good to him and what the king had said. They answered, “Let’s rise up and build.”

Later, when Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem mocked them and accused them of rebelling against the king, Nehemiah answered that the God of heaven would prosper his servants, and they would arise and build.