Nehemiah 2:6

"I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may build it.”"

Key Reflection

Nehemiah 2:6 highlights Nehemiah's request to King Artaxerxes for permission and resources to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, including his family’s ancestral tombstones. This request was deeply personal, blending familial duty with the broader mission to restore and protect God’s chosen city. In first-century Persian culture, such a request would have been significant, as it involved traveling far from the king's court and undertaking a project that could be seen as both sacrificial and of great importance to Nehemiah's identity and heritage.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

The queen -Though the Persian kings practiced polygamy, they always had one chief wife, who alone was recognized as “queen.” The chief wife of Longimanus was Damaspia. I set him a time -Nehemiah appears to have stayed at Jerusalem twelve years from his first arrivalNehemiah 5:14; but he can scarcely have mentioned so long a term to the king. Probably his leave of absence was prolonged from time to time.

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