"I am doing a great work, so that I can not come down; why should the work cease whilst I leave it and come down to you?"
To understand fully the circumstances under which the above words were said, it will be necessary to pick up a few threads of history.
Nehemiah was one of the captive princes of Judea, carried away to the court of Artaxerxes, the Persian King. Through his ability and faithfulness, he had been made cup-bearer to the king. But he could not forget Jerusalem. One day as he was walking before Susa, the Metropolis of the Persian, he heard some strangers that were entering the city, talking together in the Hebrew tongue. Upon inquiring about the condition of Jerusalem, he found that the wall of the city had been thrown down, and that thus it was at the mercy of neighboring enemies.
