He may think that this way of speaking about Jerusalem will make the king sympathetic. – ESV Study Bible notes, “Nehemiah first shows his loyalty and explains the reason for his grief, without yet making his request. When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about all of this, they were greatly displeased that someone had come to help the people of Israel. The king had also sent me with army officers and horsemen. Then I went to the governors of the province Beyond the River and presented them the king’s letters. I also said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let him give me letters to the governors of the province Beyond the River so that they will grant me safe passage until I reach Judah, and also a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to rebuild the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple, the city wall, and for the house that I will live in.” The king granted me these requests because the gracious hand of my God was on me. – I replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why shouldn’t I look sad when the city my ancestors are buried in lies in ruins and its gates have been burned down?” Then the king asked me, “What is it that you want?” I quickly prayed to the God of heaven then answered the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.” Then the king, with his queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long would your trip take and when would you return?” After I gave him a definite time, it pleased the king to send me. – NLT Illustrated Study Bible reminds us, “Nehemiah…did not know how the kign would respond if he told him the reason for his sorrow (King Artaxerxes had previously ordered that Jerusalem not be rebuilt, Ezra 4:21-22)…” In this situation Nehemiah expresses fear when the Persian king notes that Nehemiah has come before him with a sad look on his face…Possibly, Nehemiah expected to be punished for bringing his sorrow before the king (cf Est 4:2)…” In one instance, the wife of a condemned noble stood outside the palace gate, weeping until Darius relented and agreed to spare her husband. Herodotus writes of people with complaints gathering outside the king’s gate and wailing without bringing their trouble within the palace. – NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible provides this historical context, “Given the self-indulgence of the Persian monarchs, it seems in character that they would prohibit their subjects from imposing grief upon them. Evidence from the Jewish Elephantine papyri demonstrates that the king is Artaxerxes I, under whom Ezra also returned.” – ESV Archaeology Study Bible has this to say about the date, “Nehemiah counts the years of the Persian king by means of the Jewish civil calendar, which began in the fall. Nehemiah was very much afraid because he was about to say something that the king might take as disloyalty.” The king’s diagnosis of sadness of the heart perceives some discontentment as the cause. Nehemiah did not show his grief immediately…perhaps because it was part of his duty to be positive and encouraging. Nehemiah’s expression of sadness is the prelude to his request. In that case, this incident in the month of Nisan would be four months after the news about Jerusalem came to Nehemiah. Of various proposed solutions, the best is perhaps that the author counts the years of Artaxerxes’ reign from the actual month of his accession (which is not precisely known), so that his ‘twentieth year’ might span two calendar years (446-445 BC). – ESV Study Bible writes, “The date, Nisan, in the twentieth year (i.e., March/April of 445 BC), is surprising because Nisan is the first month, and yet the earlier events of ch 1 took place in Chislev, the ninth month (December). I had never been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, “Why do you look so sad when you are not sick? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” This terrified me. – Then in the month of Nisan, in Artaxerxes’ 20th year, when wine was brought to me I took the wine and gave it to the king.
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