Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Nehemiah 2

Neh 2:1 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.

Nisan

i.e. April.

Artaxerxes the king

See Ezr 4:6; 7:1.

Neh 2:3 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?

Israel (history). Neh 2:1-9; Neh 8:1-8. (Gen 12:2, 3; Rom 11:26.)

Neh 2:6 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.

I set him a time

Neh 5:14; 13:6.

Neh 2:8 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.

the good hand of my God upon me

Neh 2:18; 6:9; Ezr 5:5; 7:6, 9, 28.

Neh 2:10 When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

Tobiah

Two Tobiahs are distinguished by many:

1. "Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite," Neh 2:10, 19; 4:3, 7; 6:1, 12, 14.
2. A Jew, unable to prove his genealogy. But the reference to the latter (Neh 7:62) indicates that he was already dead. But one Tobiah, and he the Ammonite, is active in this book.

Neh 2:11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.

came to Jerusalem

Cf. Ezr 8:32.

Neh 2:13 And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.

the gate of the valley

2Ch 26:9.

Neh 2:14 Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.

the gate of the fountain

Neh 3:15.

the king's pool

Isa 7:3.

Neh 2:15 Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.

the brook

2Sa 15:23.

Neh 2:18 Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

the hand of my God

Neh 2:8, etc. [above]

they strengthened their hands

Cf. Ezr 4:4.

Neh 2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?

laughed us to scorn

The obstacle of ridicule.

Neh 2:20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

ye have no portion

Cf. Ezr 4:3.