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.
And they were powerful words. He spoke straight from his heart about things that seemed to weigh heavily on his mind, ever since Hanani and the others had told him about the state of Jerusalem. Nehemiah, I suppose, took a deep breath and said, first, let the king live forever (a most respectful opening statement) then gave the king a one-sentence appraisal of Jerusalem. Nehemiah, again, as I suppose, chose his words carefully when he said “Why shouldn’t my face be sad when my hometown is laid waste and the gates are burned with fire (and, implying) and haven’t been repaired yet?
We may never know, and I doubt Nehemiah expected, just why the king said what he did next. The king asked Nehemiah, “What are you asking for?”
I think that response took Nehemiah totally by surprise! It’s anybody’s guess how often, if at all, a king would ask a non-threatening question of anyone, such as this one. For the king to ask a servant, like a cupbearer, a question like this seems to be rare.
Oddly enough, Nehemiah seemed to be ready. The first thing he did was make a silent prayer. There are no words of Nehemiah recorded here. This is another indication that every prayer to the LORD has to be a masterpiece of speech or oratory—God isn’t impressed by how many words we use or how flowery we speak—but He sees our hearts and knows all that is in our hearts. He also knows when we may not be able to speak, That seems to be the case here.
Even so, Nehemiah, after that prayer, made his request known to the king. He first asked the king’s permission to go back to Judah (the name of the province) so he could build the place of his (ancestors’) tombs. From this it seems that the king of Persia had respect for the ancestors and traditions of various captive peoples. Judah, of course, was one of these provinces
Nehemiah had stated, “If it please the king” and apparently the king was pleased because he granted permission to go. Now, he did ask “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” and Nehemiah was ready. We’re not told how he had arrived at the figures such as travel time, construction time, or other things that a lot of us would be completely unable to estimate. The pastor in Virginia whom I had mentioned observed that Nehemiah was a great organizer—and good for him, because some of us are not!
Ask my wife, and she’ll tell you I have trouble organizing a ham and cheese sandwich! No, it’s not really that bad, but, let’s remember, the LORD must have been giving Nehemiah insight into what needed done and what he personally needed to do. So, then, he was able to give the king a more or less definite time (where he would be gone, it seems) and that kind of “homework” really seemed to please the king.
That wasn’t all. Nehemiah, we remember, was a cupbearer to the king as such probably had a good idea of the bureaucracy in (plaguing?) the Empire. Nehemiah knew he would need timber for the city gates and other uses. I have to confess, this seems odd as Haggai the prophet had preached to the people of Jerusalem to go to the mountains, cut wood, and build the house (Temple; Haggai 1:7). Hence, a request for a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so that Nehemiah could get all the timber he needed.
As Charles Swindoll points out, humorously, in “Hand Me Another Brick”, can you imagine if Nehemiah had traveled all the way to the king’s forest—wherever it was—and asked for timber, only to be told, in so many words, “no letter-no lumber”. The LORD had led Nehemiah to ask for this and it’s a good idea for all of us to at least try to make plans, for anything, with the LORD’s help, of course. And, as Nehemiah recorded, the king granted everything he asked for.
But to return to Nehemiah’s silent prayer itself for a moment. Again, we don’t have a record of one single word Nehemiah spoke during this time. Even so, I think there are a couple of things he may have mentioned (this, of course, is pure speculation):
First, he may have prayed for wisdom and the right words to say to the king. He didn’t want to bee too formal, and appear fake; nor to familiar, and appear flippant. Kings, we remember, had about as close to absolute power that anyone has ever had.
Second, Nehemiah may have prayed for the LORD to give the king a receptive heart. He, Nehemiah, no doubt had been wondering and pondering just how to arrange and/or to organize a project like this. Had the king refused to speak to him, or had the king said no, history would have been very different indeed.
Third, Nehemiah may have prayed for the LORD’s will to be done. He had no idea if his request would be honored or rejected. He also may not have known if the king would allow him to go (I like your plan, but you’re staying here).
To sum up, Nehemiah was in a place where he needed to pray but probably, because of the conditions, was not able to offer a spoken, verbal, prayer. Even though he prayed silently, that was enough for the LORD to hear, and LORD did hear. Nehemiah’s requests were answered.
Will every prayer be answered like Nehemiah’s prayer was? None of us can know for sure. We do have the assurance that our LORD hears and answers as He seems best. The answer may be Yes, the answer may be No, or the answer may be Not Yet. But no matter how He answers, He always knows what is best for us. We have a wonderful God to serve and love!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)
