Nehemiah 2:2

2 and the king saith to me, `Wherefore [is] thy face sad, and thou not sick? this is nothing except sadness of heart;' and I fear very much,

Nehemiah 2:2 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 2:2

Wherefore the king said unto me, why is thy countenance sad,
seeing thou art not sick?
&c.] He had no disorder upon him to change his countenance and make him sorrowful, and therefore asks what should be the reason of it:

this is nothing else but sorrow of heart;
this is not owing to any bodily disease or pain, but some inward trouble of mind; or "wickedness of heart" ^F16, some ill design in his mind, which being conscious of, and thoughtful about, was discovered in his countenance; he suspected, as Jarchi intimates, a design to kill him, by putting poison into his cup:

then I was very sore afraid;
lest the king should have suspicion of an ill design on him; or lest, since he must be obliged to give the true reason, he should not succeed in his request, it being so large, and perhaps many about the king were no friends to the Jews.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 (bl er) (ponhria kardiav) , Sept. "malum nescio quod in corde tuo est", V. L.

Nehemiah 2:2 In-Context

1 And it cometh to pass, in the month of Nisan, the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, wine [is] before him, and I lift up the wine, and give to the king, and I had not been sad before him;

2 and the king saith to me, `Wherefore [is] thy face sad, and thou not sick? this is nothing except sadness of heart;' and I fear very much,

3 and say to the king, `Let the king to the age live! wherefore should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of the graves of my fathers, [is] a waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?'

4 And the king saith to me, `For what art thou seeking?' and I pray unto the God of the heavens,

5 and say to the king, `If to the king [it be] good, and if thy servant be pleasing before thee, that thou send me unto Judah, unto the city of the graves of my fathers, and I built it.'