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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Nehemiah 2:4 - 2:4
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Then the king, feeling interested, asked him: For what dost thou make request? עַל בִּקֵּשׁ, to make request for or concerning a thing, like Ezr 8:23; Est 4:8; Est 7:7. The question shows that the king was inclined to relieve the distress of Jerusalem which had been just stated to him. “And so I prayed to the God of heaven,” to ensure divine assistance in the request he was about to lay before the king. Then Nehemiah answered (Neh 2:5), “If it please the king, and if thy servant is well-pleasing before thee, (I beg) that thou wouldest send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.” לִפְנֵי יִיטַב, here and Est 5:14, is of like meaning with בְּעֵינֵי יִיטַב or טֹּוב, Est 8:5; 2Sa 18:4 : if thy servant is right in thine eyes, i.e., if he thinks rightly concerning the matter in question. The matter of his request is directly combined with this conditional clause by אֲשֶׁר, the connecting term, I beg, being easily supplied from the king's question: For what dost thou beg?