Nehemiah 5:19

Neh 5:19 Think upon me, my God, for good, [according] to all that I have done for this people.

Ver. 19. Think upon me, my God, for good] i.e. Both of grace and glory, saith Lyra; a confluence of all comforts and contentments, especially spiritual blessings in heavenly things, Eph 1:3. He that first called riches goods was surely a better husband than divine, saith one. Ostendam tibi omne bonum, I will show thee all good, said God to Moses, when he gave him a glimpse of himself. Nil bonum absque summo Bone, saith Austin, There is no good without the chief Good. Say, therefore, with the Church, Hos 14:2, Take away all iniquity, and do good; and as here, Remember me, O my God, for good.

According to all that I have done for this people] Here is nothing for merit mongers. It is mercy in God to set his love on them that keep his commandments, Exo 20:6, to reward every man according to his works, Psa 62:12. A poor gardener, presenting a ripe root, being the best gift he had at hand, to the duke of Burgundy, was by him bountifully rewarded. His steward, observing this, and hoping for the like recompense, presented him with a very fair horse. The duke ( ut perspicaci erat ingenio, saith mine author, being a witty man) perceived the craft; and, therefore, thought good to receive the horse, and to give him nothing again. Let those that dream of merit expect the like disappointment; and let them learn from Nehemiah, Neh 13:22 (the best gloss upon this text), to urge, not their merits, with the Pharisee, but their miseries, with the publican, for obtaining mercy. So Psa 25:11.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neh_5:19

Think upon me, my God.

The saints support

I. The person petitioned.

1. General title: God.

2. Special relation: My.

II. The point prayed for. Lessons:

1. God the support of His saints.

2. Peculiar God to believer: My.

3. God hath remembrancers.

4. God is soonest drawn to His own.

5. Prayer proper for ones own good.

6. Works may be pleaded before God.

7. Mans works are the rule of Gods reward.

8. Everything well done shall be rewarded.

9. Good done to Gods people is most acceptable. (Wm. Gouge.)

The remembrance of good deeds a pillow of rest for a good man

I. Lifes review will be a review of the whole of life.

II. Lifes reward will be rendered according to its deeds. (Homiletic Commentary.)

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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neh 5:19. Think upon me, my God, for good — As I have done thy people good for thy sake, so do me good for thine own sake, for thou art pleased, and hast promised, graciously to reward us according to our works, and to mete to men the same measure which they mete to others. Thus he shows that he expected his reward only from God, who, he hoped, would show him kindness, similar to that which he had shown for his people. There is no reason to think he here speaks too much of himself, and his own worthy acts; for it was no more than was necessary in such a state of things, that posterity might be furnished with an example of extraordinary virtue; and no more than St. Paul was constrained to speak of himself in his second epistle to the Corinthians, of whom he would take nothing, that he might stop the mouths of false apostles, and covetous people.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5:19 Nehemiah’s prayer for God to remember and bless him was a sign of his dependence on God.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 19. Think upon me, my God, for good] Nehemiah wishes for no reward from man; and he only asks mercy at the hand of his God for what his providence enabled him to do; and which, according to the good hand of his God upon him, he had done faithfully. He does not offer his good deeds to God in extenuation of his sins, or as a compensation for the heaven he expected. Nothing of the kind: he simply says, what any good man might say, My God, as I have done good to them, so do good to me; or as the poet has sung: -

"Teach me to feel another's wo,

To hide the fault I see:

The mercy I to others show,

That mercy show to me!" POPE.

This is according to the precept of Christ: "Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; give, and it shall be given unto you."

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(19) Think upon me, my God.—Inserting the present prayer far from this people, Nehemiah humbly asks his recompense not from them, but from God. Nothing was more distant from his thoughts than the fame of his good deeds.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all, &c.] R.V. Remember unto me, O my God, for good, all, &c. ‘Remember’ is the natural translation here and in the similar passages, Neh_6:14, Neh_13:22; Neh_13:29; Neh_13:31. The A.V. unfortunately introduced the rendering ‘think upon’ as a variation. For the use of ‘remember’ in its application to the Deity, cf. 2Ch_6:42; Jdg_16:28; Psa_106:4; Jer_15:15. Nehemiah’s prayer differs in a measure from the appeal for ‘remembrance’ in the last three of these passages. In these the prayer is that the speaker may not be forgotten and so left in his present distress. Nehemiah prays with frank simplicity that God will recognize and reward his services to the people of Israel. In our ears the self-complacency of the petitions strikes a jarring note. But the words must not be judged by our modern standard. Their quaint candour quite disarms the charge of vanity. It is the ejaculation of a practical man, keenly alive to the responsibility of his position, very conscious of his loneliness, and sensible of the moral effort which it costs him at every fresh endeavour to please Jehovah in the service of the people.

To illustrate the thought cf. Sir_17:22, ‘The alms of a man are as a signet with him, and he will keep the good deeds of man as the apple of the eye.’ Heb_6:10, ‘For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love which ye showed toward his name, in that ye ministered unto the saints, and still do minister.’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Good. A good conscience confidently hopeth for a reward. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

As I have done thy people good for thy sake, so do me good for thine own sake; for thou art pleased, and hast promised graciously to reward us according to our works, and to mete to men the same measure which they mete to others.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. Think upon me, my God, for good — The prayer of conscious innocence and self-sacrifice, such as any pure and lofty soul might naturally write down in his diary, if he were beset with the difficulties that surrounded Nehemiah.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Think upon me, my God. Compare Neh_13:14, Neh_13:22, Neh_13:31. This is no "prayer for posthumous fame" (Stanley, "Lectures on the Jewish Church," Third Series, p. 135), but simply an appeal to God, beseeching him to bear in mind the petitioner"s good deeds, and reward them at his own good time and in his own way. As Butler observes ("Analogy," Part 1Ch 3), the sense of good and ill desert is inseparably connected with an expectation of reward or punishment, and so with the notion of a future life, since neither are the righteous adequately rewarded nor the wicked adequately punished in this life.

Prayer for Divine remembrance.

"Think upon me, O my God," etc. This and other similar prayers of good Nehemiah strike us at first as unseemly; and certainly they are more consonant with the spirit of the Old Testament than that of the New. Our Lord teaches us to say after our best works, "We are unprofitable servants, we have done that which was our duty to do." Besides which, the sense of sin on the one hand, and of entire indebtedness to Divine grace for all the good we have and do on the other, foster a humility which prevents the complacent thought of our good deeds, especially before God. Still the doctrine of reward according to works belongs to the Christian equally with the Mosaic religion. We are taught to hope for future recompense of the good we have done; and there can, therefore, be no essential impropriety in at times praying for it. It is a probable supposition (Ewald) that Nehemiah Wrote these prayers after he had learned by painful experience how little of appreciation, gratitude, or reward he could expect from men. "They forget or neglect me, or requite me evil, but do not thou be unmindful.

I WHO MAY OFFER SUCH A PRAYER. Those who have served God"s people, and therefore God himself

1. With sincere regard for God. His will, approval, recompense. They whose good works are done" to be seen of men" "have their reward," but may not look to God for it.

2. Disinterestedly. Not from selfishness or ambition.

3. Devotedly. With great zeal.

4. Abundantly. Rendering great service.

5. Self-denyingly. At considerable sacrifice of ease, time, strength, substance, etc.

6. Un-weariedly.

II WHEN SUCH A PRAYER IS SUITABLE.

1. When reward cannot be expected from men. Either on account of their want of appreciation of what is done for them, or inability from poverty or otherwise to requite it suitably.

2. When men show positive ingratitude, or return evil for good.

3. Even when men remember and reward. For the godly man feels that without the Divine favour all that man can give will be vain and unsatisfying.

III WHY A FAVOURABLE ANSWER MAY BE EXPECTED. Because of

1. The relation of God to his praying servant. "My God.

2. The Divine character. Righteous, and loving righteousness; good, and approving the good. (see Heb_6:10)

3. The union which exists between God and his people. So that he regards what is done to "this people" as done to himself.

4. The Divine promises. Such as Mat_10:42 Mat_25:34-40.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

According - As I have done thy people good for thy sake, so do me good for thine own sake; for thou art pleased, and hast promised graciously to reward us according to our works, and to mete to men the same measure which they meet to others.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.