An Overview of the Book of Nehemiah

The book of Nehemiah contains narratives that deal with the last events of the Hebrew Scriptures, recounting the circumstances of the third wave of Jewish people returning from the Babylonian exile in 444 BC, the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, and the rededication of the temple and people to godliness. The book begins in the Persian city of Susa, with Nehemiah hearing of the ongoing disrepair of the walls and gates of Jerusalem, which leads to his request to King Artaxerxes that he be allowed to lead a return to Jerusalem to see to the reconstruction of the city. That request being granted, the book then details Nehemiah’s successful work as governor in rebuilding the walls, the opposition that the people faced, and the spiritual renewal that followed that successful labor. The book concludes with an account of Nehemiah’s final efforts to sustain that commitment to spiritual faithfulness. The close of the book includes information that marks the conclusion of the biblical history of the OT, though 2 Chronicles serves as the last book in the Hebrew canon. Nehemiah has the records of the last actions of the OT, marking the beginning of the silence of divine revelation lasting until the first events opening the NT, namely Luke’s record of the angel Gabriel appearing to Zacharias in Lk 1.

Who Wrote the Book of Nehemiah?

In the Hebrew Bible the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are treated as a single book (“Ezra-Nehemiah”), spanning nearly a century of history. The latter part, separated as a distinct book in the English Bible (“Nehemiah”), contains the “Nehemiah memoirs” which purport to be the first-person writings of Nehemiah, the two-term governor of Judea in the fifth century BC. Some of the material contained in the book (particularly most of chap. 7, which is a near-exact repetition of the earlier writing of Ezr 2) is obviously drawn from other sources, which the author/editor chose to include in the text. This commentary adopts the traditional view that Nehemiah is the author/editor of the book bearing his name.

When Was the Book of Nehemiah Written?

The events recounted in Nehemiah range from the report of the disrepair of Jerusalem coming to Nehemiah in 445 BC, through his first term as governor of Judea (a period of approximately twelve years), followed by a period of undetermined length during which Nehemiah was presumably back in Persia, and a brief account (chap. 13) of several corrective actions Nehemiah takes in an apparent second term as governor. All told, the events of the book span approximately 15-20 years, bringing its events to a close about 425 BC and the book in its final form before the end of the fifth century BC.

Who Was the Original Audience for the Book of Nehemiah?

Nehemiah wrote his book to the faithful remnant of post-exilic Israel to show them God’s gracious restoration of the Jewish people from captivity. By revealing God’s blessing in recapitulating the conquest as in the days of Joshua, he also looks forward to the ultimate blessing of restoration at the end of days (see comments at the end of chap. 13).

What Are the Purpose and Theme of the Book of Nehemiah?

One obvious purpose of the book of Nehemiah is to chronicle the history of the Jewish people during the period of the return from exile to see them reestablished in the land of promise and awaiting the coming of Messiah. Too often the book is seen as mere history, or as a leadership manual using Nehemiah for a character study. Additionally, prayer is a common theme in Nehemiah as the narrator prays several times (1:5-11; 2:4; 4:9) and regularly brackets a section of the text with “Remember me, O my God” or “Remember them” (5:19; 6:14; 13:14, 22, 29, 31).

Yet, the book is primarily a recapitulation of the initial conquest of the land of Canaan under Joshua, as will be detailed throughout the commentary. This understanding of Nehemiah as a “second Joshua” parallels the common portrait of Ezra as a “second Moses,” one who restores the law to the people. Just as Moses brought the law to the people but it was left to Joshua to bring the people into the land, so Nehemiah completes that which Ezra initiates. Much textual evidence supports this interpretation, including: (1) Nehemiah’s opening appeal to Dt 20:2-4 (Neh 1:8-9); (2) Nehemiah’s secret scouting of Jerusalem’s walls in 2:13-15 (compare the spies’ visit to Jericho in Jos 13:16); (3) the division of the labor of the walls in Neh 3 paralleling the division of the conquest of the land in Jos 13–19 (note Nehemiah’s explicit but rare usage of “portion” in Neh 2:20, and “inheritance,” in 11:20; for the use of “portion” in Joshua, see Jos 14:4; 15:13; 17:14; 19:9; 22:25; for some of the uses of “inheritance,” see Jos 11:23; 13:6-8, 14-15, 23-24, 28-29, 32-33); (4) the restoration of the Feast of Booths, explicitly reminiscent of similar celebrations in the time of Joshua (Neh 8:17), and culminating in the dedication of the walls as the Jewish people marched around the city led by trumpet-blowing priests (Neh 12). This march clearly echoes a similar procession initiating the prior conquest under Joshua with the defeat of Jericho (Jos 6). For these reasons, the central theme of the book of Nehemiah is “the reconquest of Canaan.”

What Does the Book of Nehemiah Contribute to the Bible?

Nehemiah completes the historical record of God’s great narrative of His work with the Jewish people in the OT—from the call of Abraham and the exodus from Egypt, through the initial conquest and the reigns of the kings, to the Babylonian exile and the return of the Jewish people to the promised land. As the book concludes, Israel is a purified people, restored to the land of promise, worshiping in a rebuilt temple—all things necessary and in preparation for the coming of Messiah.

What Is the Background of the Book of Nehemiah?

Nehemiah is about events during the end of the Babylonian exile, during the period when, under the Persians who conquered the Babylonians, the Jewish people were allowed to return to the land of Israel. The northern kingdom of Israel, comprised primarily of ten Jewish tribes, had been defeated and scattered by the Assyrian conquest in 721 BC. The southern kingdom of Judah, made up primarily of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin with substantial numbers of Levites, endured until the Babylonian conquest under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC. Nebuchadnezzar took captive much of the population of Jerusalem, including the noble and royal families, deporting them to Babylon.

With the later fall of the Babylonian empire to that of the Medes and Persians (beginning in 539 BC), the Jewish people were eventually allowed to begin returning to their homeland after the 70 years of exile prophesied by Jeremiah (Jr 29:10). The first return under Zerubbabel (a descendant of David) occurred in 538 BC, followed by a later return led by Ezra the priestly scribe in 458 BC. Thus, some of these Jewish people had been back in the land for over 90 years as the book of Nehemiah opens (445 BC), explaining his surprise and lament that the walls and gates of Jerusalem remained in shambles, and prompting Nehemiah’s request of Artaxerxes that he might lead an expedition to restore Jerusalem.

In the absence of a strong political presence in Judea, local power devolved to several petty nobles, among them Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab (the descendants of many of Israel’s ancient enemies); these figures became Nehemiah’s nemeses in his work of reconstruction and restoration.