The Kings Cup-Bearer | Page 6

Jerusalem, than he went to
his private apartments in the palace, and began to plead with God. He
feels that all the trouble that has come upon his nation has been richly
deserved, so he begins with a humble confession of sin.
'Let Thine ear now be attentive, and Thine eyes open, that Thou mayest
hear the prayer of Thy servant, which I pray before Thee now, day and
night, for the children of Israel Thy servants, and confess the sins of the
children of Israel, which we have sinned against Thee.' And then,
coming nearer home, he adds, 'both I and my father's house have
sinned.'
Was it some special sin which he confessed before God then? Can his
sin, and the sin of his father's house, have been the refusing twelve
years ago to leave home and comforts behind them, and to return with
Ezra to Jerusalem?
Then Nehemiah pleads God's promises to His people in time past, and
ends by definitely stating his own special need and request (Neh. i.
8-11).
By day and by night Nehemiah prays, and nearly four months go by
before he does anything further.
The next step was not an easy one. He had determined to speak to the
great Persian monarch--to bring before him the desolate condition of
Jerusalem, and to ask for leave of absence from the court at Shushan, in
order that he might go to Jerusalem, and do all in his power to restore it
to something of its former grandeur.
It is not surprising that Nehemiah dreaded this next step. The Persian
kings had a great objection to being asked a favour. Xerxes, the
husband of Queen Esther, when on his way to Greece with his
enormous army, passed through Lydia in Asia Minor. Here he was
feasted and entertained by a rich man named Pythius, who also gave

him a large sum of money for the expense of the war, and furnished
five sons for the army. After this Pythius thought he might venture to
ask a favour of the Persian monarch, so he requested that his eldest son
might be allowed to leave his regiment, in order that he might stay at
home to be the comfort and support of his aged father. But, instead of
granting this very natural request, Xerxes was so much enraged at
having been asked a favour, that he commanded the eldest son to be
killed and cut in two, and then caused his entire army to file between
the pieces of the body.
Artaxerxes, the king whom Nehemiah served, was considered one of
the gentlest of Persian monarchs, and yet even he was guilty of acts of
savage cruelty, of which we cannot read without a shudder. For
example, when he came to the throne, he found in the palace a certain
eunuch named Mithridates, who had been concerned in his father's
murder. He condemned this man to be put to death in the most horrible
and cruel way. He was laid on his back in a kind of horse-trough, and
strongly fastened to the four corners of it. Then another trough was put
over him, leaving only his head and hands and feet uncovered, for
which purpose holes were made in the upper trough. Then his face was
smeared with honey, and he was placed in the scorching rays of the sun.
Hundreds of flies settled on his face, and he lay there in agony for
many long days. Food was given him from time to time, but he was
never moved or uncovered, and it was more than a fortnight before
death released him from his sufferings.
It was the very king who had put one of his subjects to this death of
awful torment before whom Nehemiah had to appear, and of whom he
had to make a request. No wonder, then, that he dreaded the interview,
and that he felt that he needed many months of prayer to make him
ready for it. It was in the month Chisleu (December) that Hanani had
arrived, it was not until Nisan (April) that he made up his mind to
speak to the king.
Before leaving his room that morning, he knelt down, and put himself
and his cause in the Lord's hands, Neh. i. 11.
Then, attired in his official dress, the Rab-shakeh sets forth for the state

apartments of the palace. The central building of that magnificent pile
in which the king held court was very fine and imposing, as may be
seen to-day from the extensive ruins of Shushan. In the centre of it was
the Great Hall of Pillars, 200 feet square. In this hall were no less than
thirty-six pillars, arranged in six rows, and all sixty feet high. Round
this grand hall were the