CHAPTER 2 Nov.15 
The King Allows Nehemiah to Go to Jerusalem
It happened in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence. 2The king said to me, Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very much afraid. 3I said to the king, Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire? 4Then the king said to me, For what do you make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5I said to the king, If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favour in your sight, that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may build it. 6The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him), How long shall your journey be? And when will you return?  So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. 7Moreover I said to the king, If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah; 8and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. The king granted my requests because of the good hand of my God upon me.
Nehemiah Inspects the Walls of Jerusalem 
 9Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me captains of the army and horsemen. 10When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, because a man had come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. 11So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. 12I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me, except the animal that I rode on. 13I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the jackal’s well, and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down, and its gates which were consumed with fire. 14Then I went on to the spring gate and to the king’s pool; but there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass. 15Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall; and I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, and so returned. 16The rulers didn’t know where I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest who did the work.
Nehemiah Encourages Rebuilding 
17Then I said to them, You see the evil situation that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we won’t be disgraced. 18I told them of the hand of my God which was for good upon me, as also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. They said, Let us arise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for the good work. 19But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they ridiculed us and despised us and said, What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king? 20Then I answered them and said to them, The God of heaven will prosper us. Therefore we, His servants, will arise and build; but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

Commentary

2:2 The king’s servants were supposed to be always happy and positive in his presence. But Nehemiah’s very body language reflected the pain he felt for his impoverished and spiritually weak brethren in Judah. He didn’t allow his own wealth and comfortable social standing somehow isolated himself from them, and as such is a valuable example to the more wealthy and comfortable members of the body of Christ today.
2:4 So I prayed- There are times when we need to pray in a half second, with eyes open and fully engaged in a situation. But the fact God welcomes and accepts this kind of prayer doesn’t mean that we can reduce all our prayer life to this level; carefully prepared, prolonged prayer is also to feature.  
2:6 The queen was also sitting by him- The implication seems to be that she influenced him to be positive towards Nehemiah and the Jews. She may have been Esther, or some other Jewess.
2:12 God put the idea of rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls into Nehemiah’s heart, and yet it’s clear from 2:2 (see note there) that his own conscience had led him to this idea. God therefore confirms us in the desires of our hearts, positively or negatively.
2:16 We feel here and in :12; 5:7 (“consulted with myself”) Nehemiah’s loneliness in his mission; a feature of all God’s true servants, no matter whether or not they like Nehemiah they are flanked by supporters and resources to perform their mission.
2:20 Gentiles didn’t come and help the Jews in building. It could be that their refusal of Gentile help to build the temple, insisting that only Jews work in it (see too Ezra 4:3), was actually going too far; by being so exclusive, they were disallowing the fulfilment of the prophecies both in Zech. 6 and in Isaiah, that Gentiles would help in the final rebuilding of Zion.