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Nehemiah 2 · a question people ask

Ezra wouldn't ask the king for soldiers. Nehemiah came with them. Was one of them wrong?

In the text

Ezra gave his own reason: "For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the way" (Ezra 8:22), because they had told the king that God's hand is on all who seek him (Ezra 8:22). Nehemiah asked the king for letters and timber (2:7-8). About the soldiers he says only, "Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me" (2:9); he doesn't say he asked for them. Both men speak of God's good hand: Ezra says, "According to the good hand of our God on us they brought us a man of discretion" (Ezra 8:18), and Nehemiah writes, "The king granted my requests, because of the good hand of my God on me" (2:8). The Bible records both journeys and doesn't say either man was wrong. Ezra 8 asks the same question from Ezra's side.

The verses

“For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is on all those who seek him, for good; but his power and his wrath is against all those who forsake him.””
Ezra 8:22 · World English Bible
“Moreover I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah; and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house that I will occupy.” The king granted my requests, because of the good hand of my God on me. Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.”
Nehemiah 2:7-9 · World English Bible
“According to the good hand of our God on us they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and his brothers, eighteen;”
Ezra 8:18 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Nehemiah 2

Nehemiah 2: Let's rise up and build

When Nehemiah told the mockers, "we, his servants, will arise and build" (2:20), he used, in Hebrew, the very words the people had just said: "Let’s rise up and build" (2:18). And his call to build (2:17) repeats, in Hebrew, words from the bad news he had wept over (1:3-4).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions