Nehemiah 13:6

6 But in all this I was not in Jerusalem; for in the thirty-second year of Arthasastha king of Babylon I came to the king, and after a certain time I made my request of the king;

Nehemiah 13:6 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 13:6

But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem
Nehemiah, who was absent all the while these things were done by Eliashib, or otherwise they would not have been suffered:

for in the thirty second year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, came I
unto the king from Jerusalem;
after he had governed there twelve years, to whom he came to give an account of affairs there; this was not Xerxes, as some ^F2 have thought, for he reigned but twenty one years; but Darius Hystaspis, who reigned thirty six years, according to Ptolemy's canon, and with which Herodotus ^F3 agrees; he is called king of Babylon, because that, with the whole empire, was in the hands of the king of Persia, as it had been from the times of Cyrus:

and after certain days obtained I leave of the king;
to return to Jerusalem again; not after five years, as Dr. Prideaux ^F4 thinks; for it is not likely that Nehemiah would stay so long ere he asked leave of the king to return to Jerusalem, which was so much his care, and on whose prosperity his heart was so much set; rather at most it was but a full year he stayed ere he got leave to return, as Vatablus and Piscator interpret it; in which sense the phrase of certain days is used in ( Leviticus 25:29 ) , and in other places quoted by the last mentioned interpreter.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 Apud Ganz. Tzemach David, par. 2. fol. 8. 2.
F3 Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 1.
F4 Connect. par. 1. p. 397.

Nehemiah 13:6 In-Context

4 And before this time Eliasib the priest dwelt in the treasury of the house of our God, connected with Tobias;

5 and he made himself a great treasury, and there they were formerly in the habit of bestowing the offerings, and the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithe of the corn, and the wine, and the oil, the ordered portion of the Levites, and singers, and porters; and the first-fruits of the priests.

6 But in all this I was not in Jerusalem; for in the thirty-second year of Arthasastha king of Babylon I came to the king, and after a certain time I made my request of the king;

7 and I came to Jerusalem, and I understood the mischief which Eliasib had done in the case of Tobias, in making for him a treasury in the court of the house of God.

8 And it appeared very evil to me: so I cast forth all the furniture of the house of Tobias from the treasury.