of him for the night, '_The Lord is my Comforter_.' Life in sunny
Shushan was surely no brighter than life in our more clouded land; they
had their times of sorrow as well as their times of joy, they had their
temptations, their cares, their anxieties, and their trials, just as we
have. How blessed for them in one and all of these to be reminded where
true comfort was to be found, so that they might turn to God in every
time of grief with the name of their little son on their lips, 'The Lord
is my Comforter.'

What do _we_ know of Nehemiah? Can we say from our heart, 'The Lord
is _my_ Comforter?' I take Him my every sorrow, I tell Him my every
trouble. He understands it, and He understands me, and He comforts me as
no other can. The Lord is indeed my Comforter.

So the little Nehemiah had grown up an ever-present reminder in his
parents' home of the comfort of God.

How many children Hachaliah had we are not told, but Nehemiah had
certainly one brother, Hanani. There had been some years before this a
parting in Hachaliah's family. Hanani, Nehemiah's brother, had left
Shushan for a distant land. Twelve years had passed since all the Jews
in Shushan had been roused by the news that Ezra the scribe was going
from Babylon to Jerusalem, and that he was calling upon all who loved
the home of their forefathers to go with him, and to help him in the
work he had undertaken. Bad news had been brought to Babylon of the
state of matters in Palestine; those who had returned with Zerubbabel
were not prospering, either in their souls or their bodies, and Ezra,
shocked by what he had heard, determined to go to Jerusalem that he
might reform the abuses which had arisen there, and do all in his power
to rouse the people to a sense of their duty. A brave company had set