Nehemiah 5:19

Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all, &c. R.V. Remember unto me, O my God, for good, all, &c. -Remember" is the natural translation here and in the similar passages, Nehemiah 6:14; Nehemiah 13:22; Nehemiah 13:29; Nehemiah 13:31. The A.V. unfortunately introduced the rendering -think upon" as a variation. For the use of -remember" in its application to the Deity, cf. 2 Chronicles 6:42; Judges 16:28; Psalms 106:4; Jeremiah 15:15. Nehemiah's prayer differs in a measure from the appeal for -remembrance" in the last three of these passages. In these the prayer is that the speaker may not be forgotten and so left in his present distress. Nehemiah prays with frank simplicity that God will recognize and reward his services to the people of Israel. In our ears the self-complacency of the petitions strikes a jarring note. But the words must not be judged by our modern standard. Their quaint candour quite disarms the charge of vanity. It is the ejaculation of a practical man, keenly alive to the responsibility of his position, very conscious of his loneliness, and sensible of the moral effort which it costs him at every fresh endeavour to please Jehovah in the service of the people.

To illustrate the thought cf. Sir 17:22, -The alms of a man are as a signet with him, and he will keep the good deeds of man as the apple of the eye." Hebrews 6:10, -For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love which ye showed toward his name, in that ye ministered unto the saints, and still do minister."