So far as anyone can tell, Ezra remained in Jerusalem after his book ends with the reforms in 457 BC. The various nations around them had lost all their hopes of seducing the Judeans. So they began a campaign of harassment. For Ezra, this called for some protection. Apparently he built up some fortifications around the Temple. The troublemakers notified Artaxerxes, who agreed with them that Ezra’s commission did not include fortifications. Troops were dispatched to tear down the wall and burn the gates.
Sometime after that, word returned to the Judeans in Babylon of what happened. Eventually the news spread to various Judeans who had been taken into imperial service. Among these was Nehemiah, the Cup Bearer. Ostensibly this was the man who took a sip of the ruler’s wine cup before it was served. This way, if the wine was poisoned, it sickened the Cup Bearer first. By this time it was mostly ceremonial, but the position had grown in influence in the imperial court. Nehemiah was thus essential personnel, one of the imperial councilors with what amounts to a reserve commission in the military at the rank of general. He was trained accordingly, but his primary mission was highly political as part of the inner circle trusted by the Emperor personally.
So in the previous chapter, in 445 BC when Nehemiah gets the news of the destruction of the fortifications of Jerusalem in the face of serious threats, he’s heartbroken. He renders an eloquent prayer to Jehovah on behalf of His people. He fasts and prays for four months.
This left him looking rather dreary on the next public event at which he performs his ceremonial duties. This was normally forbidden, but Artaxerxes wasn’t that difficult to serve. The Emperor noticed Nehemiah’s haggard face, surmised that it was a matter of fasting and praying, and asked him what it was about. Nehemiah prayed silently in his heart while answering the Emperor. This was his one chance to do something for his nation and his God.
Surely Artaxerxes remembered sending troops to destroy the fortifications. But here Nehemiah makes a strong appeal, discussing how much of a threat there was to the people and the Temple that the Emperor so wanted to see finished. So the ruler asked his servant what he proposed to do about it.
Nehemiah took this as an answer to his prayers. He suggested going back in person to visit the people and rebuild the city fortifications with a proper imperial permit. Nehemiah’s training gave him a reasonable idea of how long it would take. He pressed further for a specific written commission to pass through, and an order for sufficient timber from the Imperial Forester, so he could build the walls and restore the palace. Nehemiah would be the ranking imperial official in that part of the empire, so it naturally means having a palace for his residence.
Because Nehemiah was riding in a military chariot as an officer escorted by imperial troops, he got there a lot quicker than was normal for the Returnees traveling mostly on foot. He issued the copies of imperial orders to the Satrap and various governors and officials. This includes Sanballat who was governor of Samaria, and Tobiah, an Ammonite noble serving on the Satrap’s staff. They were deeply disturbed by this turn of events.
Upon arriving at Jerusalem, Nehemiah dismissed the bulk of his escort, keeping only a personal bodyguard required for members of the imperial court. It was enough to discourage, say, a false flag attack from Judah’s enemies that could be blamed on someone else. The two previously mentioned enemies were joined by an Arab nobleman named Geshem. There’s no doubt they had spies in and around Jerusalem, and Nehemiah suspected this, so he outsmarted them.
He waited three days, then at night slipped out quietly through the western gate that led down into the Tyropoeon Valley, riding a donkey and escorted by his bodyguard. He turned sharply left along the base of what was left of the city wall. The ancient valley had been filled with rubble at least once, so the sides of the ridge line weren’t that steep any more. He managed to get around as far as the pool (later called Siloam) that Hezekiah had built out on the end of the ridge, when he dug the tunnel to divert the water from the Gihon Spring on the east face of the ridge. At the pool, the rubble was too thick to keep going along the base of the wall.
So Nehemiah was forced to take the path down into the valley, and turned to continue up the Kidron Valley a ways until he could see the main eastern gate near that ancient spring. Then he returned and made his way back up to where he first came out.
The next morning, he called the officials together, which would have included Ezra. Nehemiah revealed his prayers and the nature of his commission and his plans. It was the very blessed thing they had not dared to hope, so they were quick to agree.
As soon as word got back to the trio of Judah’s enemies, they sent a message to Nehemiah mocking the whole idea as rebellion. Nehemiah outranked them, but his God outranked the whole world. They had no say in the matter. He warned them not to get in the way or they would pay dearly.
