Neh 2:8

“And a letter to Asaph and that you send a letter to Asaph. the guardian of the king’s orchard He was appointed over the king’s forests. to make beams This is the intensive conjugation: to make ceilings and beams for the gates of the castles of the Temple Mount, for they had built the Temple as it should be built, but the gates of the walls of the Temple Mount and the wall for the court surrounding the Temple had not yet been built. and for the wall of the city and to make beams for the wall of the city. and for the house to which I shall go and to make a house in which I shall dwell for my needs. and the king gave me all I asked him for. according to the good hand according to the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, which was good upon me, to cause me to succeed.”

“And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest,.... The forest or mountain of Lebanon, which, because of its odoriferous and fruit bearing trees, was more like an orchard or paradise, as this word signifies, and so it is translated in Ecc 2:5 and at the extreme part of it, it seems, there was a city called Paradisus (r); such an officer as here was among the Romans, called Saltuarius (s), and is now among us: that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertaineth to the house; not the king's palace near the temple, for that might have occasioned suspicion in the king, that his view was to set up himself as king in Judea; but for the gates of the courts adjoining to the temple, and of the wall of the outward court, and of the wall which was to encompass the mountain of the house, the whole circumference of it: and for the wall of the city; to make gates of in various places for that, where they stood before: and for the house which I shall enter into; and dwell in during his stay at Jerusalem: and the king granted me; all the above favours: according to the good hand of my God upon me; the kind providence of God, which wrought on the heart of the king, and disposed it towards him, and overruled all things for good. (r) Ptolem. Geograph. l. 5. c. 15. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 23. (s) Vid. Servium in Virgil. Aeneid. l. 2. ver. 485.”

“Asaph the keeper of the king's forest - הפרדס hapardes of the paradise of the king. This I believe is originally a Persian word; it frequently occurs in Arabic, ferdoos, and in Greek, παραδεισος, and in both signifies a pleasant garden, vineyard, pleasure garden, and what we call a paradise. Above the hall of audience, in the imperial palace at Dehli, the following Persian couplet is inscribed: - "If there be a paradise on the face of the earth, this is it, this is it, this is it." Thus we find that the word is applied to denote splendid apartments, as well as fine gardens; in a word, any place of pleasure and delight. The king's forest mentioned in the text might have been the same to Artaxerxes, as the New Forest was to William the Conqueror, or Windsor Forest to the late amiable sovereign of the British people, George the Third. And the king granted me, etc. - This noble spirited man attributes every thing to God. He might have said, I had been long a faithful servant to the king; and he was disposed, in reward of my fidelity, to grant my request; but he would not say so: "He granted my request, because the good hand of my God was upon me." God favored me, and influenced the king's heart to do what I desired.”

“Forest. Hebrew pordes, “paradise,” or garden planted with trees. Pliny ([Natural History?] v. 23.) mentions a “paradise,” in Cœlosyria. (Grotius) — But Nehemias might petition to be supplied with cedars from Libanus, (Tirinus) as they had been given for the temple, 1 Esdras iii. 7. (Haydock) — Tower. Hebrew bira, means also “a palace or temple.” It may designate the porch of the temple, which was 120 cubits high; (2 Paralipomenon iii. 4.; Calmet) though that had been lately repaired by Esdras. (Menochius) — Others think the doors of the courts are meant, as they were as strong as those of towers. (Vatable) — They were not yet finished, chap. x. 9. Many believe that (Calmet) Nehemias speaks of the royal palace, which had been almost contiguous to the temple, (Menochius) where he intended to build one for himself, while he should reside in the city. (Tirinus) — But this might give umbrage to the king. (Calmet) — He could not, however, intend his favourite to remain without a suitable palace; and the latter seems to have designed not only to repair that which Solomon had founded, but also to erect another house for the governor. (Haydock) — Good hand; favour, (Menochius) and powerful aid. (Haydock)”