This is the first time that we read about Nehemiah’s appointment to this position of official authority. King Artaxerxes had granted permission to his cupbearer to go to Jerusalem for an undisclosed period of time to rebuild the city walls (Nehemiah 2:6), but no mention had been made in that passage that this permission involved an appointment as governor. The present passage, however, implies that this was indeed the case.
14 Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor.