Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be
their
governor in the land of Judah
That is, by the king of Persia, which was not done when he was
first sent into Judea; but very probably when he had finished the
wall in fifty two days, he returned to Persia, and gave the king
an account of his success, and how things stood in those parts,
when he judged it necessary to send him again in the character of
a governor, and which was still within the same year, as follows:
from the twentieth year, even unto the thirty second year of
Artaxerxes, that is, twelve years; see ( Nehemiah
13:6 ) .
I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the
governor;
which was fit and proper for him, and used to be given him;
neither he, nor those that assisted him in the government, the
principal men he brought along with him, and put into posts and
places under him.