And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, [that] wine [was] before him: and I took up the wine, and gave [it] unto the king. Now I had not been [beforetime] sad in his presence.
Ver. 1. And it came to pass in the month Nisan] Time and place is to be registered of special mercies received. "This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord," Psalms 102:18 .
In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes] Surnamed Longhand, as our Edward I was called Longshanks, and another Longespee, or Longsword. This Longhand is renowned for the fairest among men in that age, Mακροχειρ, Omnium hominum puleherrimus (Aemil. Prob.); of all men most handsome; and no wonder, if he were (as is generally thought) the son of that fairest Esther.
That wine was before him] There was a feast, as Nehemiah 2:6. Not by chance, but by God's providence; who of small occasions worketh greatest matters many times, as he put small thoughts into the heart of Ahasuerus for great purposes, Esther 6:1 .
And I took up the wine, &c.] As Esther was come to the kingdom, so Nehemiah to this office, for such a time as this, Esther 4:14. Though he were a prisoner, a stranger, one of another religion, yet is he the king's cupbearer and taster; and once of great trust and credit. This was a strange work of God, to cause heathen princes thus to favour the religion that they knew not, and to defend that people which their subjects hated.
Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence] Princes are usually set upon the merry pin; and all devices are used, by jesters and otherwise, to make them merry; no mourner might be seen in Ahasuerus's court, Esther 4:4. But good Nehemiah had been, for certain months' time, afflicting his soul and macerating his body, as in the former chapter: hence his present sadness, which the king (being a wise man and a loving master) soon observed.