It is noteworthy that Nehemiah avoids the name of the city that is on his mind, namely, Jerusalem. Had he mentioned the city’s name, he could have awakened in the king’s mind the decree he’d earlier issued that all reconstruction work on this city must cease (Ezra 4:21). By describing the city as the place of my fathers’ graves
Nehemiah is showing the king why the matter weighs so heavily on his heart. The reference to my fathers’ graves
also plays on the king’s emotion since he too would have been concerned to show respect to his own ancestors’ graves.
3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”