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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Nehemiah 2:16 - 2:16
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He had spoken to no one of his purpose (Neh 2:12); hence the rulers of the city knew neither whither he was going nor what he was doing (i.e., undertaking) when he rode by night out of the city gate accompanied by a few followers. As yet he had said nothing either to the Jews (the citizens of Jerusalem), the priests, the nobles, the rulers, or the rest who did the work. הַחֹרִים and הַסְּגָנִים are connected, as in Ezr 9:2 הַשָּׂרִים and הַסְּגָנִים. The nobles (חֹרִים, nobiles) or princes are the heads of the different houses or races of the people; סְגָנִים, the rulers of the town, the authorities. הַמְּלָאכָה עֹשֵׂה, the doers of the work, are the builders; comp. Ezr 3:9. When these are, in comparison with the priests, nobles, and rulers, designated as יֶתֶר, the remnant, this is explained by the fact that the priests and rulers of the people were not actively engaged in building. הַמְּלָאכָה, the work in question, i.e., here the building of the walls. כֵּן עַד, until thus, i.e., until now, until the time apparent from the context. Nehemiah then, having inspected the condition of the ruined walls, and being now persuaded of the possibility of restoring them, made known his resolution to the nobles, the rulers, and the community, i.e., to a public assembly called together for this purpose (Neh 2:17). “Ye see (have before your eyes, know from experience) the distress that we are in, that Jerusalem lieth waste: come (לְכוּ), let us build up the walls of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.” In other words: Let us by building our walls put an end to the miserable condition which gives our adversaries occasion to reproach us.