associated with the seventy years' desolation, Nehemiah is connected with the

seventy years' captivity:

'The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are

in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken

down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire' (Neh. 1:3).

The effect of this report upon Nehemiah is very similar to the effect

of Jeremiah's words on Daniel; to appreciate the parallel, Daniel 9 and

Nehemiah 1 should be read together.

In Nehemiah two things reach a crisis.  As the king's cupbearer,

Nehemiah held a high office, for, in effect, he stood between the king and

possible death by poisoning.  To have appeared at all distraught in the royal

presence might have proved fatal; for he might have fallen under suspicion

and have been executed immediately.  So, when the king comments upon his sad

looks, we read: 'Then I was very sore afraid' (Neh. 2:2).  Nehemiah then

tells the king of the condition of the city of Jerusalem, and the king asks,

'For what dost thou make request?'  Then we read, 'So I prayed to the God of

heaven.  And I said unto the king' (Neh. 2:4,5).

We pause a moment to observe this true conception of prayer.  In

Nehemiah's day ritual was of divine institution; and place, time and attitude

in prayer were ordained by law.  But Nehemiah was no formalist, for true

prayer is ever above all forms.  Without any apparent interval, a prayer

winged its way into the presence of a greater King than Artaxerxes and

deliverance followed.

One other point of interest is contained in Nehemiah 2:6.  Nehemiah

requests of the king that he may be granted leave of absence to go into Judah

and rebuild the city of Jerusalem.  The king replies to Nehemiah (the queen

also sitting by him), 'For how long shall thy journey be, and when wilt thou

return?'  The queen here mentioned in the parenthesis is none other than

Esther, who had already been instrumental in the deliverance of her people as

recorded in the book bearing her name.  The presence of the queen here is one

of the links in the working out of God's purpose.  Under Mordecai, Esther

saved Israel; her presence here evidently influenced Artaxerxes, and her son,

Cyrus, has his own place in the scheme, as we have seen.