cal statement to the effect that he was appointed 'governor' or pasha 'in the land of Judah' in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, and retained the office for twelve years. During all that time he might have drawn about £5 a day, with rations; but he had not. On the contrary, the city and the province were the better for him in various ways: he gave the labour of his servants without charge; he avoided the temptation to acquire land; he did not allow his subordinates to do so; and he practised a large-handed hospitality toward 'an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, beside those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us.' All was done from the highest motives. You have no call to impoverish yourself; feather your nest while you have the chance, as the rulers did before you. Such might be the advice of shrewd men. It is not likely that Nehemiah was impoverished; but at least he knew well what he was doing. For all this required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy on this people;' the blessing of him that was ready to perish was worth more to G him than all gain. And it was not mere constitutional softness or generosity that led-him to act thus: So did not I because of the fear of God.' The God whom he served was the same who had spoken to Moses out of the burning bush, 'I have surely seen the affliction of My people . . . I know their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them' (Exod. iii. 7, 8); and he understood, as the usurers did not, the true way to get profit out of the poor: 'He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given, will He pay him again' (Prov. xix. 17). Out of a good conscience and a perfectly humble heart Nehemiah cried, 'Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.' With all his greatness of station and of influence and, it would seem, of comparative wealth, none of these furnished him with that on which he could rest his heart. Like the king whose city he had set himself to restore, he said, 'But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me' wonder of unfathomable grace! Thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God' (Ps. xl. 17). 'Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.'-2 COR. xi. 14, 15. 'My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.'-PROV. i. 10. CHAPTER VII. HARD-WON VICTORY. NEHEMIAH had no sooner stamped out the feud which threatened to destroy the city of God from within, than he found himself assailed by his persevering enemies outside. The work of building the wall was now all but finished: There was no breach left therein, though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates.' When Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem and the rest heard this, their rage grew intense. The feeble Jews had not been disheartened by their mocking; they had baffled their plot, they had persevered, and actually restored the defences of Jerusalem. But the mortar was still wet; the gates were not finished and closed; there was still time to lay these defences in the dust. The instinctive hatred they had felt toward Nehemiah so soon as they heard of his |