Then the king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time.The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him), “How long will your journey be? When will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time for him.And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.And the king said unto me (the queen also sitting by him), For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
3 sermons cite this verse
… yet. When you've been called to it, God will open up doors of opportunity for you to do it. This is Jeremiah, and I'm sorry, Nehemiah chapter two, verses one through six. Here's what it says. And it came to pass, verse one, one through six, and it came to pass in the month of Nisan, on the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. Therefore the king said to me, why is your face sad since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart. So I became dreadfully afraid and said to the king, may the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city the place of my father's tombs lies waste and its gates are burned with fire. Then the king said to me, what do you request? So I prayed to the God of heaven and I said to the king, if it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's tombs that I may rebuild it. Then the king said to me, the queen also sitting beside him, how long will your journey be and when will you return? Here's the key words. So it pleased the king to send me and I set him a tie. The king gave him an opportunity to take leave …
… Ahasuerus, King Artaxerxes being the king that's mentioned in Nehemiah 1 and 2 that Nehemiah serves. In fact, some scholars suggest that the queen who's listed in Nehemiah 2 verse 6, they suggest that queen is Esther. It certainly would have been possible that she was still alive even after her husband had died, and it's very likely she could have been sitting on the throne. Scholars say the fact that Nehemiah somewhat randomly mentions the presence of the queen in verse six, suggests that she had some kind of special significance to him. And that might have been because she was a fellow Jew named Esther. Either way, Queen Esther had stood up in the government to protest a racial genocide that was being planned against her people, which leads me to our first observation. Number one, God's plan of restoration involves spiritual awakening. that's gonna happen through Zerubbabel and Ezra. It involves social reform that's gonna come through Esther. And then it's going to cause economic flourishing. That's what you see here in Nehemiah. …
… And so the king said to me, the queen was sitting right beside him, how long are you going to be gone and when will you return? So I said to the king, if it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province beyond the river, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah. and a letter to Asaph, who was the keeper of the king's forest out there, that he could give me carte blanche to take as much timber for the beams of the gates of the fortress of the temple as I want, for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall occupy. And the king granted me what I asked for the good hand of my God was upon me. Then I came to the governors of the province beyond the river, also known for us as the Alamance campus, okay? So Alamance, we love you guys out there, but I gave them the king's letters. …