Nehemiah, the cup-bearer of Artaxerxes at Susa, plunged in grief at the news of the desolation of Jerusalem, obtained permission from the king to rebuild the ruins.
Then one of the king's concubines and his cup-bearer, cook, groom, messenger and horses were strangled and laid by him, and round about offerings of all his goods and cups of gold - no silver or bronze.
In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes (445 B.C.), Nehemiah the royal cup-bearer at Shushan (Susa, the royal winter palace) was visited by friends from Judah and was overcome with grief at the tidings of the miserable condition of Jerusalem and the pitiful state of the Judaean remnant which had escaped the captivity.
Another brother, Larichus, was public cup-bearer at Mytilene - a position for which it was necessary to be well born.
One of his wives was strangled and laid beside him, his cup-bearer and other attendants, his charioteer and his horses were killed and placed in the tomb, which was then filled up with earth and an enormous mound raised high over all.
