John Trapp on Nehemiah 1:6

Verſe 6. Let thine eares now be attentive, and thine eyes open] Should not God ſee, as well as hear (ſaith a Divine) his children ſhould want many things? We apprehend not all our wants: and ſo cannot pray for relief of all. He of his own accord (without any Monitour) is wont to aid us. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous: and his eares are open to their prayer. Pſal. 34.15.

That thou mayeſt hear the prayer of thy ſervant] If not ſecundum voluntatem, yet ad utilitatem: but uſually God anſwereth his ſervants prayers; fitting his mercy ad cardinem deſiderii, Aug. Confeſſ. l. 5. c. 8. as here; and letting it be unto them, even as they will.

Which I pray before thee now day and night] Chriſt requireth his ſervants and ſuppliants to pray and not faint, Luke 18.1. Ordinarily, morning and evening without faile; Extraordinarily, oftner. The Jewes divide their day into Prayer, Work, and Repaſt: neither will they omit prayer for their meat, or labour. The Mahometans what occaſion ſoever they have, either by profit or pleaſure, to divert them, will pray five times every day; and upon the Friday, (which is their Sabbath) ſixtimes. Vae torpori noſtro! how few and feeble are our prayers for our ſelves and for our brethren in diſtreſſe;Grand Sig. Seraglio. 181. who have for that cauſe an unanſwerable action againſt us!

And confeſſe the ſinnes of the children of Iſrael] This He did more fully and at large, then is here ſet downe: and he fitly beginneth with Confeſſion: that having gotten off the guilt of ſinne, he might with more courage and comfort deprecate wrath, and beg mercy.

Which we have ſinned againſt thee] There lay the pinch of his grief, that they ſinned againſt ſo good a God.

Both I and my fathers houſe have ſinned] Hîc igitur Lyra deliravit, Lyra is out when he ſaith here, that Nehemiah confeſſed his owne ſinnes, but onely as a member of the ſame body, he himſelf being innocent. Comparatively innocent he was doubtleſſe; but that he was not without ſinne, and ſuch ſinnes as he had cauſe to confeſſe to be God-provoking ſinnes, is clear by this very text. He was ſenſible of his owne ſinnes, and of other-mens ſinnes too. The ſinnes of our Anceſtors not bewailed and diſclaimed, are ſet upon our ſcore, Dan. 5.22.