Nehemiah 1:4

Context

Chapter 1 of Nehemiah opens as a first-person memoir written by Nehemiah. The time is the month Chisleu (the ninth month of the Jewish calendar) in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, king of Persia. This year is generally dated to around 445 BC, in the reign of Artaxerxes I. The setting is the palace at Shushan, where Nehemiah served as the king's cupbearer. His brother Hanani arrives from Judah with news: the remnant who had escaped the captivity are in great affliction and reproach, the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire (1:2–3).

Verse 4 records Nehemiah's response to this news. He sat down and wept, mourned "certain days," and fasted and prayed. The content of that prayer follows in verses 5–11. The prayer invokes God's covenant, confesses the sins of Israel and of Nehemiah's own father's house, and asks that he be granted mercy in the sight of the king. In chapter 2, Nehemiah comes before the king in the month Nisan (the first month).

Interpretation

• As a model of piety: Many preachers and devotional writers read this verse as an example of intercessory prayer for a suffering community. Nehemiah took the suffering of his people, which he had not experienced directly, as his own grief.
• As a leader's preparation: This reading focuses on the order of events: before undertaking the work of rebuilding the wall, Nehemiah first wept, fasted, and prayed. It emphasizes the connection between prayer and concrete planning and action.
• As a historical and literary text: Commentators see sitting down, weeping, and fasting as reflecting the mourning customs of the time, and note a resemblance to the response in Ezra 9. They also point out that the title "the God of heaven" appears frequently in Persian-period literature such as Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel. In addition, many commentators hold that the reported destruction of the wall does not refer solely to the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, but relates to a more recent event, such as the halting of reconstruction recorded in Ezra 4:7–23. Opinions on this point, however, are divided.

Questions of Application

• The length of "certain days": Some interpreters hold that Nehemiah's prayer continued for about four months, from Chisleu to Nisan. Others regard this as conjecture, since the text does not specify the duration.
• Whether fasting is normative: Many denominations broadly agree in treating this verse as a basis for prayer with fasting. Explanations vary, however, as to whether such fasting is a duty for all believers or a voluntary practice suited to particular circumstances.
• Applying the rebuilding of the wall today: Some applications map the account of rebuilding the wall directly onto present-day undertakings such as church building projects. Others object that such applications go beyond the historical context of the text.

In the Korean Church

This verse commonly serves as the starting point for sermon series on the Book of Nehemiah and for sermons on prayer for the community. It is also frequently cited at prayer meetings for the nation and the church and in exhortations to prayer with fasting.

Related Passages

• Nehemiah 1:5–11
• Nehemiah 2:4
• Ezra 9:3
• Daniel 9:3
• Joel 2:12