shed. The walls are built, the gates are set up, the bare spaces
in the city have been built over, the whole place has been strongly
fortified, the people have been brought back to their allegiance to God,
and, as the topstone of his work, he has seen, just before his departure
for Persia, the city and all it contained dedicated to the service of
the Great King.

Very glad, very thankful is Nehemiah, as he enters once more the
glorious palace on the top of the hill, and stands before his master
Artaxerxes, the long-handed, to give in his report of all he has done
since the king gave him leave to return to his native land.

Nehemiah finds himself once more surrounded by luxury and refinement and
beauty. What is Jerusalem compared with Shushan? Surely, now his work is
accomplished, he will settle down to a life of ease in Persia, where he
may dwell free from fear or anxiety or care, eating the dainties from
the king's table, and partaking of all the pleasures of an Eastern
court. After the rough life he has led during the last thirteen years,
after the perils he has undergone, and the difficulties he has
surmounted, he may surely retire, now that his work has been so happily
accomplished, and spend the remainder of his life in peace and comfort.

But no; Nehemiah's heart was in Jerusalem, he preferred Jerusalem above
his chief joy. All the time he had been absent he had been hungering for
news, and receiving none; there were no posts across the vast deserts,
nor did he live in these luxurious days when the heartache of anxiety
may be relieved and set at rest by a telegram. What had been going on in
his absence? Were the Samaritans quiet, or had Sanballat and Tobiah
taken the opportunity afforded by his absence, and invaded Jerusalem?
And the people; how were they? Were they keeping the solemn covenant
which had been sealed in his presence? Were they continuing to serve and
obey the Heavenly King? All this, and much more, Nehemiah longed to
hear.

He is therefore only too thankful when, after spending a year in Persia,
Artaxerxes gives him leave to return as governor of Jerusalem.

'In the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes, King of Babylon, came I
unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king.

'After certain days.' This is a common expression in the Bible for a
year. The same Hebrew word is translated a whole year in many other
passages, _e.g._ Lev. xxv. 29, Num. ix. 22. Thus we may safely con