Upon hearing of the terrible condition of Jerusalem and the plight of the Jews living in the province of Judah, Nehemiah wept and mourned for some time (Nehemiah 1:4). Whenever one separates himself from the people of the world and seeks to live a godly life, he will suffer persecution (cp. 2Timothy 3:12). The original Jews who returned to their homeland to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple following the decree of Cyrus (Ezra 1:1-3) refused to permit the heathen nations round about them to take part in the building project (Ezra 4:1-3). Therefore, their enemies became a constant source of trouble for them, whether frustrating the building process or writing to the king that the building project should be stopped (cp. Ezra 4:4-5). So, this had been the state of the Jews in the province of Judah until the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia (Nehemiah 1:1). The people of the land were in great affliction, and the walls of Jerusalem were in ruins (Nehemiah 1:3).
Therefore, Nehemiah wept and mourned over the report given him and fasted and prayed to the Lord, God of heaven (Nehemiah 1:4). He began by acknowledging the truth that the God of Israel was a great and mighty God who keeps covenant with those who love and obey him (Nehemiah 1:5). It seems that the Jews, who returned to the land, expected the Lord to treat them well, according to how he had done previously under the Mosaic Covenant. However, the people of Judah rebelled, until the Lord put her away, as a husband would do to an unfaithful wife. While it is true, that the Lord had granted that a remnant should return to the land, it is also true that it was necessary for the returning remnant to show herself to be faithful. Therefore, trouble from neighboring lands was permitted to test the hearts of the Jews returning to the land (cp. Ezra 4:1-5).
Therefore, Nehemiah asked God to be attentive to his prayer and let his eyes consider the condition of his people and the land, where he had placed his name (Nehemiah 1:6). For several months Nehemiah prayed to the Lord (cp. Nehemiah 1:1 and 2:1), confessing the sins of the people both then and the sins that brought them into captivity. He confessed how unfaithful they had been to him, rejecting his laws and statutes under the Mosaic Covenant (Nehemiah 1:7). He also asked the Lord to remember his promise that, if his children were unfaithful to him, and he cast them out of the land, if they repented, even though the Lord judged them unfaithful and scattered them among the heathen nations, yet he would forgive them, and bring them back to the land (Nehemiah 1:8-9).
Moreover, Nehemiah’s mention of how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt with great power, points to Moses’ own prayer in Numbers 14:13-19. There he claimed, if the Lord refused to forgive his people, the heathen nations would believe the God of Israel may have been mighty to save his people, but he was unable or not powerful enough to keep his people and bless them. This was Nehemiah’s point, that, if the Lord didn’t help his people, the nations would assume the Lord was powerful enough to cause his people to return to the land, but too week to defend them and save them from their enemies (Nehemiah 1:10).
Nehemiah had a plan, and he was willing, not only to pray for the prosperity of his people, but he made himself available to the Lord to do his work, asking that the Lord would prosper him, vis-à-vis grant his request, as he went before the king, being his cupbearer (Nehemiah 1:11).
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