Nehemiah 2:3

3 and said unto the king, "Let the king live for ever. Why should not my countenance be sad when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchers, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?"

Nehemiah 2:3 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 2:3

And I said unto the king, let the king live for ever
Which some think he said to take off the king's suspicion of his having a design upon his life, though it seems to be a common salutation of the kings in those times, see ( Daniel 6:6 Daniel 6:21 ) ,

why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my
fathers' sepulchres, [lieth] waste, and the gates thereof are
consumed with fire?
a man's native place, and where his ancestors lie interred, being always reckoned near and dear, the king and his nobles could not object to his being concerned for the desolations thereof.

Nehemiah 2:3 In-Context

1 And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him; and I took up the wine and gave it unto the king. Now I had not before been sad in his presence.

2 Therefore the king said unto me, "Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart." Then I was very sore afraid,

3 and said unto the king, "Let the king live for ever. Why should not my countenance be sad when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchers, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?"

4 Then the king said unto me, "For what dost thou make request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.

5 And I said unto the king, "If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah,unto the city of my fathers' sepulchers, that I may build it."