1. Nehemiah 2:6 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why need we know that “the queen [was] sitting beside him”?

Nehemiah 2:6 (ESV)

6 And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time.

The term translated as queen is not the common Hebrew word for the king’s wife. The present term comes from a root that means to ravish. So perhaps we do better to think of a concubine or an official consort than of the king’s wife. That this pleasing woman is sitting beside the king suggests a more relaxed atmosphere for the conversation with Nehemiah than would be possible in an official setting. That in turn could suggest a more congenial spirit on the king’s part toward Nehemiah’s request.