In Nehemiah, chapter one, verse eleven, this “man” was Artaxerxes, King of Persia, Nehemiah prayed that God would grant him favor with the King on behalf of the Jews. When we desire to obtain anything from other people, we should first present our concerns to God. He can then move the hearts and minds of influential leaders to do His will, as in Proverbs twenty-one, verse one.
The prayer of Nehemiah for Israel at the end of this theme verse is deep. Who desire to fear thy name is who are not only called by thy name, but have a reverence for it: who now worship thee, and thee only, according to thy will, and have an awful sense of all the discoveries which thou art pleased to make of thyself. Those who truly desire to fear his name shall be graciously accepted by God.
Grant him mercy in the sight of this man: The king, upon whom he was going to attend: who, though a god by office, was but a man by nature, and therefore his heart was wholly at God’s disposal. Favor with men is then comfortable when we see it springing from the mercy of God.
For I was the king’s cup-bearer: Whereby I had the opportunity to speak to him, and some favor with him, which encouraged me to make this prayer and to hope for some success. Many of the Jews, by the singular favor of God, obtained considerable dignities in their captivity, as Daniel and his companions, Zerubbabel and others; among whom was this pious man, who was advanced to this office of cup-bearer when he was but a youth; which, it must be observed, was a place of great honor and advantage in the Persian court, because of the privilege which it gave him who bore it, of being daily in the king’s presence, and the opportunity which he had thereby of gaining his favor for the procuring of any petition he should make to him. That it was a place of great temporal advantage, seems evident by Nehemiah’s gaining those immense riches which enabled him, for so many years, as in Nehemiah five, verses fourteen and nineteen, out of his privy purse only, to live in his government with great splendor and expense, without burdening the people at all.