The term translated as sad
is literally the word bad.
When the word bad
is used to describe emotion, it commonly has a body part attached to it (Proverbs 25:20: a bad heart
= a heavy heart; Genesis 40:7: bad faces
= faces downcast). In the present verse, we are to understand that the king is noticing sadness on Nehemiah’s face (Nehemiah 2:2). Presumably, those who served the king were expected to present themselves as happy and on top of things; certainly, their personal struggles were not meant to affect their disposition in the king’s presence. To cross the king’s expectations could be lethal (Esther 1:12; Proverbs 23:1–2).
1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.