The prayer of Nehemiah, found at the beginning of the book of Nehemiah, is one of the more emotional confessions and passionate intercessory prayers in all Scripture. In it, Nehemiah, a Jewish exile and cupbearer to the Persian king, petitions the Lord for favor before seeking the king’s permission to return home and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
The book of Nehemiah is mostly a continuation of the book of Ezra. Although most of the information contained in Nehemiah is pulled from the personal accounts of Nehemiah, most scholars agree that Ezra the scribe penned both the book of Ezra and the book of Nehemiah. In fact, in the Hebrew Bible, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are treated as one book rather than two and are considered the historical follow-up to 1 and 2 Chronicles.
The book of Nehemiah begins with Nehemiah, a trusted cupbearer to King Artaxerxes of Persia, learning about the state of the Jewish exiles who had previously returned to Jerusalem with Ezra and Zerubbabel. The report he received, however, was not encouraging. Nehemiah learned that “the remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire” (Nehemiah 1:3).
Nehemiah’s heart grieved upon receiving news that his people were in disarray and the city of David was still in ruins. In his own words, Nehemiah confessed that “when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 1:4).
Nehemiah’s prayer begins in the following verses (Nehemiah 1:5-11).
As stated, Ezra and Nehemiah are the direct sequel to Chronicles, tracing the history of the children of Israel from exile in Babylon and Persia back to their ancestral home in Jerusalem. However, the question must be asked: why were the Israelites in exile in the first place?
For generations, the children of Israel had fallen into apostasy, breaking their covenant with God in their affair with the false gods of the surrounding nations.
Longing for His people to return to holiness, God would send prophets like Habakkuk and Jeremiah to call the nation to repentance. If they refused, God promised to use the invasion of a foreign power and subsequent captivity to break them of their idolatry.
Soon this prophecy would come true as God would raise Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon as an instrument of judgment against His people.
In 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar overcame the southern kingdom of Judah, taking several of the nation’s best youth back to Babylon, including Daniel and his friends.
In 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar suppressed a failed Jewish rebellion, carrying off an additional ten thousand hostages, including Jehoiachim and the prophet Ezekiel.
And in 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar would finally destroy Jerusalem and the temple, taking the survivors to Babylon.
To many Jews, Jerusalem’s destruction of Jerusalem and their subsequent exile meant the end of their national sovereignty, perhaps the end of their relationship with the God of Abraham. However, even in their darkest hours, God was still with His people and had a plan for their restoration.
Through Jeremiah, God had promised to use Israel’s captivity to break them of their idolatry and return their hearts to Him. Furthermore, after seventy years, God would bring His people back to Jerusalem and establish a covenant through His promised Messiah (Jeremiah 29:10-11; 32:36-44; 33).
Not surprisingly, the people of Israel longed to return to their ancestral home, finding hope in the promise of their eventual return (Psalms 137:1).
True to God’s word, things changed. Under Cyrus the Great, the Persian Empire conquered and supplant Babylon as the dominant world power by 539 BC. Soon after, the Persian kings created a policy that granted all subjugated peoples the freedom to worship their gods and live by their customs. This would greatly benefit the Jewish exiles living in Persia.
Furthermore, in 538 BC, Cyrus permitted Zerubbabel and a remnant of Hebrew exiles to return to Israel to begin rebuilding the city (Ezra 1:2-4). The Persians would even help finance the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem (Ezra 5:13; 6:8). Temple restoration began in earnest in 536 BC (Ezra 3), and by 516, the second temple was finished.
Roughly sixty years later, the Jewish scribe Ezra would be called upon to lead a second caravan back to Jerusalem, focusing on spiritual reformation and returning to the Word of God (Ezra 7:1-6).
Thirteen years later, in 446 BC, Nehemiah learned that Jeruselam’s walls and perimeter gates were still in ruins. With the temple rebuilt and the spiritual health of his people improving, Nehemiah also longed to return to Jerusalem and help rebuild the city’s infrastructure and perimeter defenses against those who might seek to undo all the returning exiles had rebuilt.
Before he could do anything, however, Nehemiah prayed.
The prayer of Nehemiah has a specific context that directly relates to the history of Israel and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. However, there are several takeaways that believers of all ages can learn regarding prayer.
“When I heard these words, I sat down and went and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” (Nehemiah 1:4, emphasis added)
The report of Jerusalem’s ruined state deeply troubled Nehemiah, who loved his people and loved his home. Knowing he was called to aid in the restoration of Jerusalem, Nehemiah understood that now was the time for serious prayer.
Here, Nehemiah coupled prayer with fasting in preparation for what was to come.
In fact, throughout the Bible, we find special occasions where God’s people partner fasting with prayer in a time of mourning, revival, or preparation. When done in obedience and with proper motives and the right heart, prayer, and fasting can strengthen the individual, sharpen one’s focus, and align the petitioner’s heart with God’s heart.
Nehemiah’s intention and spiritual discipline prepared him for his eventual conversation with the Persian king, his journey back to Jerusalem, and the work he would lead in rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls.
“I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserved the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments.” (Nehemiah 1:5)
Like the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus outlined in the gospels, Nehemiah begins his prayer by identifying its recipient. This may seem like an obvious approach to prayer. However, in addressing God at the start, Nehemiah affirms who God is as who He has revealed Himself to be through His Word.
Like a phone call or text message sent to the wrong number, getting the recipient wrong impacts the following conversation. It does not matter what is said or how sincerely it is communicated. If we address the wrong person, the conversation will never go where it should.
Given Israel’s history of idolatry and false worship, Nehemiah intentionally addressed the correct God. Not his ideas about God or some false image of who others believed him to be. Nehemiah began his prayer by addressing the God of heaven, who revealed Himself to His people through history and His Word. Anything or anyone else would not suffice.
“Let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now day and night.” (Nehemiah 1:6, emphasis added)
Nehemiah would become famous for his quick, one-sentence prayers. This instance warranted continuous, persistent prayer. Short prayers can still be powerful and effective. Here, however, Nehemiah prayed day and night. Desperate times had called for desperate prayers, and this was a call that inspired some serious sweat on Nehemiah’s part.
“…on behalf of the sons of Israel, Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.” (Nehemiah 1:7)
Many prayers involve petitions and requests. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. Nehemiah himself would soon ask God for favor in returning to rebuild Jerusalem. However, before he gets to any petition, Nehemiah offers a simple and straightforward confession.
The people of Israel were in this position because they had failed to obey God’s commandments. Time and time again, the children of Israel had broken their covenant with God and abandoned their first love in pursuit of other gods. Nehemiah’s prayer, therefore, is as much an acknowledgment of Israel’s sin as it is a profession of God’s faithfulness.
Nevertheless, in his prayer, Nehemiah intercedes on behalf of his people, standing before God to acknowledge that before he had the right to ask anything of the God of heaven, one request had to be made, one that sought forgiveness for the nation’s sins.
“Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses…” (Nehemiah 1:8-9)
Throughout Israel’s history, God’s people had frequently forgotten the power and promises of God. Unfortunately, forgetting God’s promises to His people often proved as disastrous as disregarding His commands.
Nehemiah recalls and recites the promises of God, asking God to act following one particular promise:
“If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I have chosen to have My name dwell.” (Nehemiah 1:8-9)
“O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.” (Nehemiah 1:11)
To conclude his prayer, Nehemiah asks God to grant him favor in asking the Persian king for leave to return to Jerusalem. Accordingly, Nehemiah recognized from a long history of God’s faithfulness that if God was with him, nothing was impossible. Without God, nothing he was about to do would prosper. Therefore, before Nehemiah took a single step toward Jerusalem, he committed to sit in the presence of God and seek His favor.
The follow-up to Nehemiah’s prayer was not hesitation or a need for additional confirmation. It was movement. Having humbled himself before the Lord and requesting his favor, Nehemiah’s next step was action, trusting in the faithfulness and promises of God.
Nehemiah returned to work in the Persian courts in the days that followed, making his request known to King Artaxerxes. And as God had previously stirred the heart of Cyrus to permit the Israelites to return to their ancestral home, he would move Artaxerexes’ heart again to grant Nehemiah’s request.
As Nehemiah prepared his return, he continued to pray, seeking God’s guidance, favor, and strength. Throughout the building of Jerusalem’s walls, he also prayed. Nehemiah was a man of work and action, but before he built anything, Nehemiah turned to the Lord in prayer. Prayer was at the center of Nehemiah’s faith.
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/Jon Frederick
This article is part of our prayer resources meant to inspire and encourage your prayer life when you face uncertain times. Remember, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, and God knows your heart even if you can't find the words to pray.
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