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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 (Neh 2:1-8). II. He prevailed against the enemies that would have obstructed him in his journey (Neh 2:9-11) and laughed him out of his undertaking (Neh 2:19, Neh 2:20). III. He prevailed upon his own people to join with him in this good work, viewing the desolations of the walls (Neh 2:12-16) and then gaining them to lend every one a hand towards the rebuilding of them (Neh 2:17, Neh 2:18). Thus did God own him in the work to which he called him.

INTRODUCTION TO NEHEMIAH 2 Nehemiah being sorrowful in the king's presence, the reason of it was asked by the king, which he declared, and then took the opportunity to request of the king that he might be sent to Jerusalem to rebuild it, which was granted him, Neh 2:1, upon which he set out, and came to Jerusalem, to the great grief of the enemies of Israel, Neh 2:9 and after he had been three days in Jerusalem, he privately took a survey of it, to see what condition it was in, unknown to the rulers there, Neh 2:12, whom he afterwards exhorted to rise up and build the wall of the city, which they immediately set about, Neh 2:17 not regarding the scoffs and taunts of their enemies, Neh 2:19.

Then I went on to the pool of the fountain, and to the king's pool..... That led to the fountain Siloah or Gihon, so called; it was the way to the potter's field, to Bethlehem, Hebron, Gaza, and Egypt. Rauwolff says (t) there is still standing on the outside of the valley Tyropaeum (which distinguishes the two mountains Zion and Moriah) the gate of the fountain, which hath its name, because it leadeth towards the fountain of Siloah, called the king's pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass; because of the heaps of rubbish that lay there. (t) Travels, par. 3. c. 3. p. 227.

Artaxerxes, observing the sorrow of Nehemiah, inquires into the cause, Neh 2:1, Neh 2:2. Nehemiah shows him the cause, and requests permission to go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, Neh 2:3-6. The king grants it, and gives him letters to the governors beyond the river, Neh 2:7, Neh 2:8. He sets out on his journey, Neh 2:9. Sanballat and Tobiah are grieved to find he had got such a commission, Neh 2:10. He comes to Jerusalem; and, without informing any person of his business, examines by night the state of the city, Neh 2:11-16. He informs the priests, nobles, and rulers, of his design and commission, Neh 2:17, Neh 2:18. The design is turned into contempt by Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, Neh 2:19. Nehemiah gives them a suitable answer, Neh 2:20.

The dragon well - Perhaps so called because of the representation of a dragon, out of whose mouth the stream issued that proceeded from the well. Dung port - This was the gate on the eastern side of the city, through which the filth of the city was carried into the valley of Hinnom.

ARTAXERXES, UNDERSTANDING THE CAUSE OF NEHEMIAH'S SADNESS, SENDS HIM WITH LETTERS AND A COMMISSION TO BUILD AGAIN THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM. (Neh. 2:1-20) it came to pass in the month Nisan--This was nearly four months after he had learned the desolate and ruinous state of Jerusalem (Neh 1:1). The reasons for so long a delay cannot be ascertained. I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king--XENOPHON has particularly remarked about the polished and graceful manner in which the cupbearers of the Median, and consequently the Persian, monarchs performed their duty of presenting the wine to their royal master. Having washed the cup in the king's presence and poured into their left hand a little of the wine, which they drank in his presence, they then handed the cup to him, not grasped, but lightly held with the tips of their thumb and fingers. This description has received some curious illustrations from the monuments of Assyria and Persia, on which the cupbearers are frequently represented in the act of handing wine to the king.

I went out by night by the gate of the valley--that is, the Jaffa gate, near the tower of Hippicus. even before the dragon well--that is, fountain on the opposite side of the valley. and to the dung port--the gate on the east of the city, through which there ran a common sewer to the brook Kedron and the valley of Hinnom.

Nehemiah Journeys to Jerusalem with the King's Permission, and Furnished with Royal Letters. He Makes a Survey of the Walls, and Resolves to Undertake the Work of Building Them - Nehemiah 2 Three months after receiving the tidings concerning Jerusalem, Nehemiah perceived a favourable opportunity of making request to the king for leave to undertake a journey to the city of his fathers for the purpose of building it, and obtained the permission he entreated, together with letters to the governors on this side the Euphrates to permit him to pass through their provinces, and to the keeper of the royal forests to supply wood for building the walls and gates, and an escort of captains of the army and horsemen for his protection (Neh 2:1-9), to the great vexation of Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite (Neh 2:10). In the third night after his arrival at Jerusalem, Nehemiah rode round the city to survey the walls, and incited the rulers of the people and the priests to undertake the work of rebuilding them (Neh 2:11-18). Sanballat and other enemies of the Jews expressed their contempt thereat, but Nehemiah encountered their ridicule with serious words (Neh 2:19, Neh 2:20).

"And I went out by night by the valley-gate, and towards the dragon-well, and to the dung-gate." אל־פּני, in the direction towards. The dragon-well only occurs here by this name. Judging from its position between the valley-gate and the dung-gate, it is either identical with the well of Gihon (Robinson, Palestine, ii. p. 166), whose waters supply the upper and lower pools in the valley of Gihon, the present Birket el Mamilla and Birket es Sultan, or situate in its immediate neighbourhood. The valley-gate is the modern gate of the city leading to the valley of Gihon, and situated at or near the present Jaffa gate; see rem. on Neh 3:13. The dung-gate (האשׁפּת שׁער), which in Neh 3:13 also is placed next the valley-gate, and was a thousand cubits distant therefrom, must be sought for on the south-western side of Zion, where a road, to the south of Nebi Dd and the Zion gate, now descends into the valley of Hinnom, towards Sr Baher. "And I viewed the walls of Jerusalem which lay broken down, and its gates which were consumed by fire." The word שׁבר, which the lxx read, "I was breaking down," gives no tolerable sense; for it cannot mean, I broke through the walls, or, I made a path through the ruins. Many MSS, however, and several editions, offer שׂבר; and R. Norzi informs us that D. Kimchi and Aben Ezra read שׁבר. שׂבר, of which only the Piel occurs in Hebrew, answers to the Aramaean סבר, to look to something; and to the Arabic sbr, to investigate; and ב סבר means to look on, to consider, to direct the eyes and thoughts to some object. In the open מ of הם Hiller conjectures that there is a trace of another reading, perhaps מפרצים; comp. Neh 1:3.