Jer. xxxix. 13.  Rab-Saris, Master of the Eunuchs.

     Jer. xxxix. 13.  Rab-MAG, Master of the Magi.

     2 Kings xviii. 17.  Rab-shakeh, Master of the Cup-bearers.

This last office, that of Rab-shakeh, was a very important and responsible one.  It was the duty of the man who held it to take charge of the king’s wine, to ensure that no poison was put into it, and to present it in a jewelled cup to the king at the royal banquets.  It was a position of great trust and power; great trust, because the king’s life rested in the cup-bearer’s keeping; great power, because whilst the Persian monarchs, believing that familiarity breeds contempt, kept themselves secluded from the public gaze, and admitted very few to their august presence, the cup-bearer had access at all times to the king, and had the opportunity of speaking to him which was denied to others.

Strange that a Jew, one of a captive race, should be chosen to fill so important a post.  But King Artaxerxes knew his man.  He felt he could trust him fully, and he was not disappointed in his confidence, for the great Rab-shakeh served a higher Master than the King of Persia, he was a faithful servant of the God of Heaven.

The Rab-shakeh’s name was Nehemiah, a name chosen by his parents, not as a fancy name or as a family name, but chosen for the same reason which usually influenced Jewish parents in the selection of names for their children, because of its beautiful meaning.  Nehemiah meant The Lord my Comforter.

What a sweet thought for Hachaliah and his wife as they called their boy in from play, or as they put him in his little bed and took leave 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.