Nehemiah 2: A Silent Prayer Of Nehemiah Series

Introduction: The first chapter of Nehemiah has the record of how he, a Jew in service of the Persian king, heard news about Jerusalem. It wasn’t good news and it drove Nehemiah to his knees, figuratively speaking, and he recorded one of the greatest prayers in the Old Testament. The news was still weighing heavily on his mind, even months later. He may have wondered what he, one single person, could do but he was about to find out.

Text: Nehemiah 2:1-8, KJV: 1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. 2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, 3 And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? 4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it. 6 And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. 7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; 8 And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

It would be impossible to list how many times saints made prayers to the LORD in the Old Testament period. The Scriptures record a good number of prayers, from conversations between God and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others but few where it’s stated someone prayed—and that was ll. This unspoken and unrecorded prayer of Nehemiah is something that to me stands out in the Scriptures, simply because the text of that prayer was never written. This speaks to some of us who pray silently—it’s okay to do this because our Father knows what we need even if we may have a hard time expressing this with spoken words.

Now may we focus on the unrecorded, unspoken prayer of Nehemiah in verse 4. A couple of comments are in order: first, Nehemiah had received news about Jerusalem, from some who were in his family or maybe in the same tribe, in the month Chisleu (1:1). This is about the same as December (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/nehemiah/1.htm). In some cases, months were numbered (as in Leviticus 16:29-34); others were named, such as this one.

The events of chapter 2 take place about four months later, in the month of Nisan (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/benson/nehemiah/2.htm). This month was parts of March and April, according to Benson’s commentary and was more or less the same as the month of Abib (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/nehemiah/2.htm). It was during this time that Nehemiah brought wine to the king because he was the king’s cupbearer. Charles Swindoll had some interesting insights about this in his book, “Hand Me Another Brick”. If I can remember correctly, one thing a cupbearer was required to do was taste the wine (and maybe some of the food) to see if any of it was poisoned. If not, no problem, but if it was, well then, scratch one cupbearer but the king keeps his job!

The king zeroed in on Nehemiah and noticed, “Something’s wrong with this guy, and I know he isn’t sick”, and asked him about it. Nehemiah had mentioned he had never been sad in the king’s presence before, implying he had brought wine to the king a number of times. It’s logical to state the king was able to recognize Nehemiah from any others who might have been is a similar position, like cupbearer.

When Nehemiah heard this, he was scared! Probably he had to pause for a moment, because anything he said could and might be used against him in the king’s court. As it was in the days of Esther, Persian kings had a great deal of power—and, it seems, weren’t afraid to use it. Then, he was able to put some of his thoughts into words.