Nehemiah 2:1-8
In the month of Nisan in the
twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the
wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the
king asked me, “Why
does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but
sadness of heart.”
I was very much afraid, but I
said to the king, “May
the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my
ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
The king said to me, “What is it you want?”
Then I prayed to the God of
heaven, and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor
in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are
buried so that I can rebuild it.”
Then the king, with the queen
sitting beside him, asked me, “How
long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send
me; so I set a time.
I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I
have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me
safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper
of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the
citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will
occupy?” And
because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests.
Last week, along with a couple other guys from our church
staff, I took a quick trip to Little Rock, Arkansas. We had arranged to spend a
day with a pastor there who we thought could help us with some leadership
issues here at FBCG. It was a very valuable time but once our meetings were
done we had a little time to kill so we decided to take in a little history.
We stopped by Little Rock Central High School; the site of a
famous moment in the Civil Rights movement. In 1957 nine African American
students tried to enroll in the school and touched off a national crisis now
remembered as the “Little
Rock Nine.”
Then we decided to stop by the Clinton Presidential Library.
Right off the bat one of our team was frustrated because it really isn’t
a library at all, but rather a museum; and it’s not free; you have to pay $7 to get
in.
But we went in anyway and took an hour or so to look around.
We saw an exact replica of the Oval office; we saw display after display of
gifts given the the President by heads-of-state and by American citizens. We
saw photos of key moments throughout the Clinton White House years.
But, obviously, we never saw or met Bill Clinton.
How different it would have been had Bill Clinton been there
himself to conduct a tour of the Clinton Presidential Library! No matter what I
thought of the man and his politics, the power and prestige of the office he
once held would have undoubtedly made an impact on how I experienced that
visit.
When reading the story of Nehemiah it’s
difficult for us to grasp the power that a man like King Artaxerxes would have
wielded in the ancient world. As the absolute monarch of the kingdom of Persia
Artaxerxes had the power of life and death over all those who dwelled under his
reign, and certainly over all those who served in his court.
Chapter 2 begins with these words:
In the month of Nisan in the
twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the
wine and gave it to the king.
At first glance there doesn’t
seem to be much going on in this sentence. We have already learned that
Nehemiah was “cupbearer to
the King,” so it makes
sense that he is bringing wine to the King. We know that one of the
responsibilities of the cupbearer was to make sure that the food and drink set
before the King were of the highest quality and were safe for him to eat and
drink. The cupbearer would make sure that the King’s wine and
food had been tested, sometimes even by himself, to make sure it had not been
poisoned in some way.
But we also notice that Nehemiah
once again mentions the “twentieth
year of King Artaxerxes.” While
we don’t know for sure, I think he does this as a way of telling us that
he has served the King for all of those 20 years. If that is so then we can
assume several things about Nehemiah.
First we can assume that
Nehemiah had to be very good at his job. A man with the power of an emperor
simply would not tolerate anything less than excellence from the position of
cupbearer. We can also assume that Nehemiah had earned the King’s trust.
Historians believe that Artaxerxes’ own father was betrayed and murdered
by one of his own bodyguards, so we can assume he was extremely vigilant about
who he trusted with his life.
Finally, we can assume that
Nehemiah possessed a degree of political savvy and wisdom that allowed him not
only to hold his position for two decades, but also to become a confidant of
King Artaxerxes.
I think we see similarities here
with several other stories of faithful men and women who who were used by God
even though they served under powerful pagan rulers. Joseph rose from a
captured slave to second in command in Pharaoh's Egypt and God used his
position to benefit his people in a time of great need. Daniel became an
advisor and prophet to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Esther became Queen and
played a pivotal role in the deliverance of the people of Israel.
The point is that even though we
may feel like we are far from where we want to be; and even though we may not
understand why we are in this particular situation; God can and will use us for
his purposes.
In less than 2 chapters we have
already seen two character traits in Nehemiah the man that we can assume were
consistent throughout his 20 years as cupbearer to the King. First, he was a
man of prayer; and second, he was a man of competent and faithful service.
We may not serve in the court of
the most powerful man on earth; and we may not have the opportunity to rebuild
the wall of a great city; but we can all be men and women of prayer, and we can
all be people of extraordinary service.
Pastor Brian Coffey
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