Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures has served as a standard reference for more than a century. The subtitle “Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical” aptly describes the three-pronged approach to the biblical text. This translated version of the German text is often considered by many to be superior to the original.
“So I prayed to the God of heaven.—A beautiful mark of Nehemiah’s piety. He first addresses the King of kings, and then the earthly monarch. He knew in whose hands were kings’ hearts. For the phrase ‘God of heaven,’ see on chap. 1:5.” (Page 10)
“It is a good sign when envious people combat a work; for one can conclude from that that it provokes the devil, and that makes us the more joyful.” (Pages 13–14)
“The joy of the Lord is your strength,i.e., a mirthfulness which springs from right relations to God is an element and sign of spiritual strength.” (Page 35)
“The exactions of Persian monarchs would not endure any independence of conduct in their presence. Everybody was expected to reflect the sunlight of the king’s majesty.” (Page 10)
“Nehemiah’s informers tell him that the remnant (han-nisharim, ‘the left-over ones’) in the province are in great affliction (the general word for adversity) and reproach (the word explaining the cause of the adversity). They were the objects of scorn and contemptuous treatment from the neighboring peoples. The wall of Jerusalem they also represent as broken down and its gates burned. Nebuchadnezzar had broken down the walls a hundred and forty-two years before (2 Kings 25:10) and the attempt to rebuild them had been stopped by the Pseudo-Smerdis (the Artaxerxes of Ezra 4:7) seventy-six years before this embassy to Nehemiah.” (Page 7)