13 matching verse commentaries
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Nehemiah's Distress. (b. c. 445.) 1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, 2 That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
How Nehemiah wrestled with God and prevailed we read in the foregoing chapter; now here we are told how, like Jacob, he prevailed with men also, and so found that his prayers were heard and answered. I. He prevailed with the king to send him to Jerusalem with a commission to build a wall about it, and grant him what was necessary for it, ver. 1-8....
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Saying and doing are often two things: many are ready to say, "Let us rise up and build," who sit still and do nothing, like that fair-spoken son who said,"I go, Sir, but went not." The undertakers here were none of those. As soon as they had resolved to build the wall about Jerusalem they lost no time, but set about it presently, as we find in...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
We left all hands at work for the building of the wall about Jerusalem. But such good work is not wont to be carried on without opposition; now here we are told what opposition was given to it, and what methods Nehemiah took to forward the work, notwithstanding that opposition. I. Their enemies reproached and ridiculed their undertaking, but their...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
How bravely Nehemiah, as a wise and faithful governor, stood upon his guard against the attacks of enemies abroad, we read in the foregoing chapter. Here we have him no less bold and active to redress grievances at home, and, having kept them from being destroyed by their enemies, to keep them from destroying one another. Here is, I. The complaint...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The cries of oppressed poverty being stilled, we are now to enquire how the building of the wall goes forward, and in this chapter we find it carried on with vigour and finished with joy, notwithstanding the restless attempts of the gates of hell to hinder it. How the Jews' enemies were baffled in their design to put a stop to it by force we read...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The success of one good design for God and our generation should encourage us to proceed and form some other; Nehemiah did so, having fortified Jerusalem with gates and walls, his next care is, I. To see the city well kept, ver. 1-4. II. To see it well peopled, in order to which he here reviews and calls over the register of the children of the...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Ezra came up out of Babylon thirteen years before Nehemiah came, yet we have here a piece of good work which he did, that might have been done before, but was not done till Nehemiah came, who, though he was not such a scholar nor such a divine as Ezra, nor such a scribe in the law of his God, yet was a man of a more lively active spirit. His zeal...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The tenth day of the seventh month between the feast of trumpets (ch. viii. 2) and the feast of tabernacles (ver. 14) was appointed to be the day of atonement; we have no reason to think but that it was religiously observed, though it is not mentioned. But here we have an account of an occasional fast that was kept a fortnight after that, with...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
We have in this chapter a particular account of the covenant which in the close of the foregoing chapter was resolved upon; they struck while the iron was hot, and immediately put that good resolve in execution, when they were in a good frame, lest, if it should be delayed, it might be dropped. Here we have, I. The names of those that set their...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Jerusalem was walled round, but it was not as yet fully inhabited, and therefore was weak and despicable. Nehemiah's next care is to bring people into it; of that we have here an account. I. The methods taken to replenish it, ver. 1, 2. II. The principal persons that resided there, of Judah and Benjamin (ver. 3-9), of the priests and Levites, ver....
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter are preserved upon record, I. The names of the chief of the priests and the Levites that came up with Zerubbabel, ver. 1-9. II. The succession of the high priests, ver. 10, 11. III. The names of the next generation of the other chief priests, ver. 12-21. IV. The eminent Levites that were in Nehemiah's time, ver. 22-26. V. The...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Nehemiah, having finished what he undertook for the fencing and filling of the holy city, returned to the king his master, who was not willing to be long without him, as appears (v. 6). But, after some time, he obtained leave to come back again to Jerusalem, to redress grievances, and purge out some corruptions which had crept in in his absence;...