is a Chaldean word which
means Master. Thus, in the New Testament, we find the Jewish teachers
often addressed by the title Rabbi, Master. But the title Rab was also
used in speaking of the highest officials in an Eastern court. Three
such titles we find in the Bible:

Jer. xxxix. 13. RAB-SARIS, Master of the Eunuchs.

Jer. xxxix. 13. RAB-MAG, Master of the Magi.

2 Kings xviii. 17. RAB-SHAKEH, Master of the Cup-bearers.

This last office, that of Rab-shakeh, was a very important and
responsible one. It was the duty of the man who held it to take charge
of the king's wine, to ensure that no poison was put into it, and to
present it in a jewelled cup to the king at the royal banquets. It was a
position of great trust and power; great trust, because the king's life
rested in the cup-bearer's keeping; great power, because whilst the
Persian monarchs, believing that familiarity breeds contempt, kept
themselves secluded from the public gaze, and admitted very few to their
august presence, the cup-bearer had access at all times to the king, and
had the opportunity of speaking to him which was denied to others.

Strange that a Jew, one of a captive race, should be chosen to fill so
important a post. But King Artaxerxes knew his man. He felt he could
trust him fully, and he was not disappointed in his confidence, for the
great Rab-shakeh served a higher Master than the King of Persia, he was
a faithful servant of the God of Heaven.

The Rab-shakeh's name was Nehemiah, a name chosen by his parents, not as
a fancy name or as a family name, but chosen for the same reason which
usually influenced Jewish parents in the selection of names for their
children, because of its beautiful meaning. Nehemiah meant _The Lord my
Comforter_.

What a sweet thought for Hachaliah and his wife as they called their
boy in from play, or as they put him in his little bed and took leave
of him for the night, '_The Lord is my Comforter_.' Life in sunny
Shushan was surely no brighter than life in our more clouded land; they
had their times of sorrow as well as their times of joy, they had their
temptations, their cares, their anxieties, and their trials, just as we
have. How blessed for them in one and all of these to be reminded where
true comfort was to be found, so that they might turn to God in every
time of grief with the name of their little son on their lips, 'The Lord
is my Comforter.'

What do _we_ know of Nehemiah?