Nehemiah 1:3

The remnant that are left of the Captivity.

The small numbers of those in Palestine compared with the great population in the days of the Jewish kings seemed like only. "remnant." We have found that only from 40,000 to 50,000 returned at first.

In the province.

Judea, now. province of the Persian Empire. All the conquered countries were called provinces.

These were in great affliction and reproach.

They were surrounded with tribes who hated them, the Samaritans, Ammonites and Arabians, and were reproached with their weakness. The people were often murdered by lawless marauders, and the city itself had no walls to protect its population. In that age and state of society an unwalled city was in. deplorable condition.

The wall.. is broken down.

See 2 Kings 25:10 and Jeremiah 52:14. The general of Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the walls and gates over. hundred and fifty years before and they had not been rebuilt. An attempt had been made to rebuild them, but it had been stopped (Ezra 4:12-16).

Gates burned.

It had not been before stated that the Assyrians burned the gates, but we learn from their sculptures that this was their custom.