Neh 1:5-11 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 5 Lord God of heaven - What was, before the captivity, Jehovah, God of hosts or armies. Great - Able to do mighty things. Terrible

Nehemiah 1:5-11

Verse 5

Lord God of heaven - What was, before the captivity, Jehovah, God of hosts or armies.

Great - Able to do mighty things.

Terrible - able to inflict the heaviest judgments. Verse 6

Let thine ear - Hear what we say and confess.

Thine eyes open - see what we suffer. Verse 7

Have not kept thy commandments - The moral precepts by which our lives should be regulated.

Statutes - What refers to the rites and ceremonies of thy religion.

Judgments - The precepts of justice relative to our conduct to each other. Verse 8

Thy servant Moses - See the parallel places in Lev 26:33 (note), Deu 4:25-27 (note), Deu 28:64 (note), and the notes there. Though in an enemy's country, and far from the ordinances of God, Nehemiah did not forget the law: he read his Bible well, and quotes correctly. Verse 11

Mercy in the sight of this man - Favour before the king, Ahasuerus. He seems then to have been giving him the cup.

For I was the king's cup-bearer - The king's butler, (the Persians call him saky), which gave him the opportunity of being frequently with the king; and to be in such a place of trust, he must be in the king's confidence. No Eastern potentate would have a cup-bearer with whom he could not trust his life, poison being frequently administered in this way. This verse seems to have been a mental prayer, which Nehemiah now put up as he was delivering the cup into the king's hand.