NEHEMIAH נחמיה

The book of Nehemiah is the continuation of the account that begins in the book of Ezra. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah originally made up one book in the Hebrew scriptural canon.

The book of Nehemiah records an important time period in Jewish history, which included the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem as well as the rebuilding of the spiritual lives of the Jews who had returned from captivity.

When the Israelites returned to Jerusalem after their long captivity in Babylon, they found their city in ruins. The protective wall around the city of Jerusalem had been reduced to rubble, which left the Israelites vulnerable to attacks by their enemies. Under the direction of Nehemiah, the Israelites began to rebuild the wall.

During the reconstruction of the wall, the Israelites faced opposition. When Nehemiah’s enemies tried to lure him away from the site, he responded, “I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:3).

In so doing, Nehemiah demonstrated his commitment to fulfilling the pledge he had made to the LORD to rebuild Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 1:11; 2:4–5). Nehemiah can serve as an example to us of the importance of remaining faithful to the LORD even in the midst of opposition.

Nehemiah 1:3-4 – “They said to me, ‘Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.’ As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.”

Nehemiah 1:11 – “O LORD, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”

Nehemiah 6:15-16 – “So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.”

Nehemiah 8:10 – “Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our LORD. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.’”

Nehemiah 9:10 – “You sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day.”

Nehemiah, also spelled Nehemias, was a Jewish leader who supervised the rebuilding of Jerusalem after his release from captivity by the Persian king Artaxerxes I. He also instituted extensive moral and liturgical reforms in rededicating the Jews to Yahweh.

Nehemiah was the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes I at a time when Judah in Palestine had been partly repopulated by Jews released from their exile in Babylonia. The Temple at Jerusalem had been rebuilt, but the Jewish community there was dispirited and defenseless against its non-Jewish neighbors.

Distressed at the news of the desolate condition of Jerusalem, Nehemiah obtained permission from Artaxerxes to journey to Palestine to help rebuild its ruined structures. He was provided with an escort and with documents that guaranteed the assistance of Judah’s Persian officials.

Nehemiah journeyed to Jerusalem and aroused the people there to the necessity of repopulating the city and rebuilding its walls. Nehemiah encountered hostility from the (non-Jewish) local officials in neighboring districts, but in the space of 52 days, the Jews under his direction succeeded in rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls.

Nehemiah then apparently served as governor of the small district of Judea, he undertook various religious and economic reforms before returning to Persia. On a second visit to Jerusalem, he strengthened his fellow Jews’ observance of the Sabbath and ended the custom of Jewish men marrying foreign-born wives.

This latter act helped to keep the Judaeans separate from their non-Jewish neighbors. Nehemiah’s reconstructive work in Palestine was subsequently continued by the religious leader Ezra (q.v.).

The first part of the book of Ezra records the experiences of the returning exiles (Ezra 1:1-6:22). King Cyrus commissioned Sheshbazzar to lead the first group of Jewish refugees back to their homeland and to serve as the first Persian governor of the Persian province of Judah.

The second half of the book records the experiences of Ezra, a priestly scribe commissioned by Persian King Artaxerxes to lead the second group of exiles back to their homeland and to re-establish obedience to the Law and right worship (Ezra 7:1-26). Nehemiah 12:1 and 13 identify Ezra as a priestly teacher of the Law, and Nehemiah 12:26, 33, and 36 also mention Ezra.

The book of Ezra also recounts the efforts of Judah’s Samaritan neighbors to frustrate the attempts of the Jewish settlers to return to normality. The Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel and banished its twelve tribes into exile in the Assyrian-controlled territories. They then imported five different Gentile peoples to occupy what became the Assyrian Province of Samaria.

These groups adopted Yahweh as their local deity, established a separate non-Aaronic priesthood and form of worship, adopted only the first five books of Moses as their sacred texts, and built a temple on Mt. Gerizim.

They did not welcome the return of a central authority for the worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem and their efforts to undermine the reestablishment of civil and religious order in Judah and Jerusalem continues into the Book of Nehemiah.

Fourteen years after Ezra’s return from the Babylonian exile, King Artaxerxes I of Persia sent another royal official to assist the people of Judah. Nehemiah held the important office of royal cupbearer to the king at the Persian capital of Susa.

However, when he heard that without a wall to protect the city of Jerusalem that its citizens were at the mercy of marauders, he requested permission to travel to Judah to rebuild the holy city’s walls. Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem with the king’s authority to gather whatever supplies he needed and immediately organized the people to defend Jerusalem and rebuild its walls.

The events in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther took place during the rule of the Medo-Persian Empire located in northeast Mesopotamia which is present-day Iran.

These Bible books return to the Biblical theme of the preservation of the faithful remnant of the covenant people of Israel who are the “holy seed” promised in Genesis 3:15 from which the Messiah was destined to come to redeem humanity.

There is a dark side to Nehemiah’s ambition, however. He is also portrayed as a leader whose task-oriented nature could lead him to lose sight of people (see his confession of guilt in Neh. 5:10). This trait became most evident when Nehemiah returned from a time in Persia to find that his ministry had failed despite its earlier success (chapter 13).

Though his frustration is understandable, Nehemiah seems to go too far by becoming rather abusive against those who have broken their promises to God (13:25, 28; compare Ezra 9:3–5; 10:1).

His career as a leader thus traces a familiar and troubling path: Nehemiah begins his ministry by confessing that he is a sinner like his people (Neh. 1:6) and he overcomes many obstacles through perseverance and prayer, but he concludes his ministry through confessing the sins of others with no mention of his own (13:29, 31).

In this regard, Nehemiah resembles other Old Testament leaders, such as David, Solomon, and Josiah, who started well but did not finish well. In light of this focus on Nehemiah, the book that bears his name may seem somewhat unrelated to God’s universal purposes.

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah in Hebrew Scripture are the key literary sources for the period of the Restoration, the formation of the Jewish religious community after the Babylonian Captivity.

The prophets Haggai and Zechariah also played important roles in encouraging the people of Judah to return to their homeland and rebuild the Jerusalem Temple following the Babylonian Exile. Eventually, Nehemiah served as Governor of Judah and during that time rebuilt the walls and gates of Jerusalem. Ezra restored the Mosaic Law and the liturgical practices of Judaism.

The book of Ezra was originally combined with the Book of Nehemiah and served as a continuation of the Israelite history in the First and Second Chronicles.

The Diaspora, or major dispersion of the Jewish people, occurred during the period known as the Babylonian Exile when the Jews were deported in three waves following the invasions of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

Following the King’s victory in the Battle of Carchemish over Egypt (Jeremiah 46:2), he laid siege to Jerusalem in the third year of King Jehoiakim of Judah. The first group of exiles included Daniel and his three companions Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (Daniel 1:1-7).

The second deportation occurred following the King’s attack on Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:10-17), and the third major deportation to Babylon occurred following the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple (2 Kings 25:8-12).

The Babylonian Exile marks an epochal point in the history of Judah and Jerusalem, a period that serves as the point of division between the pre-exilic and post-exilic eras.