Nehemiah

Overview

Nehemiah continues the story of Ezra; in the Hebrew Bible the two were one book. It is written largely in the first person, as Nehemiah's own memoir, with official lists and community records woven in. Nehemiah, a Jewish cupbearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes I, comes to Jerusalem in 445 BC, the king's twentieth year, as governor of Judah. He rebuilds the city walls in fifty-two days against fierce opposition, and with Ezra the scribe leads a renewal of the covenant. The book ends after his second term, around 432 BC.

Nehemiah is a man of action and of prayer: short "arrow prayers" punctuate the story ("So I prayed to the God of heaven", "Remember me, O my God"). The book's movement is from broken walls to a rebuilt city, and from a rebuilt city to a people re-formed by God's law, though the closing chapter shows how quickly that commitment wears thin. Scholars discuss how the memoir and the Ezra material were combined, and the relative dates of Ezra's and Nehemiah's work; the book presents them as contemporaries in chapters 8 and 12.

Structure: Part 1 Nehemiah's call and the rebuilding of the wall (chapters 1–7); Part 2 the law read and the covenant renewed (8–10); Part 3 repopulating and dedicating the city (11–12); Part 4 Nehemiah's second term and reforms (13).

Part 1 — The Wall Rebuilt (chapters 1–7)

News from Jerusalem (1). In the month Chislev, in the citadel of Susa, Nehemiah's brother Hanani arrives from Judah: the survivors are "in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire." Nehemiah sits down and weeps, mourning, fasting and praying for days. His prayer confesses Israel's sin, "both I and my father's house have sinned", and appeals to God's word to Moses: if they scatter for unfaithfulness but return, God will gather them, even from "the uttermost part of the heaven". He asks for favour "in the sight of this man", the king, for "I was the king's cupbearer."

Before the king (2:1–8). Four months later, in Nisan, Artaxerxes notices his sadness: "Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick?" Afraid, since gloom before the king was dangerous, Nehemiah explains that the city of his fathers' tombs lies waste. "For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven." He asks to be sent to rebuild it, and for letters to the governors Beyond the River and to Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, for timber. "The king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me."

Arrival and the night inspection (2:9–20). He travels with army officers and horsemen. Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official are "grieved exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel." After three days he rides out secretly at night with a few men, inspecting the walls from the Valley Gate round to the Fountain Gate, where the rubble is too thick for his animal to pass. Then he tells the leaders: "Ye see the distress that we are in… come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach." They reply, "Let us rise up and build." When Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem the Arab mock and accuse them of rebellion, Nehemiah answers, "The God of heaven, he will prosper us… but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem."

Who built what (3). A detailed list follows the wall anticlockwise, gate by gate. The high priest Eliashib and the priests build the Sheep Gate; men of Jericho, Tekoa, Gibeon and Mizpah take sections; goldsmiths, perfumers and merchants work; Shallum repairs his part "he and his daughters"; many build opposite their own houses. Only the nobles of Tekoa "put not their necks to the work".

Mockery and threat (4). Sanballat sneers, "What do these feeble Jews?" and Tobiah adds, "if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall." Nehemiah prays, "Hear, O our God; for we are despised", and the wall is joined to half its height, "for the people had a mind to work." When enemies plot a surprise attack and Judah's workers grow exhausted, Nehemiah stations families with swords, spears and bows: "Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight." From then on half work and half stand guard; the builders carry loads with one hand and a weapon in the other; a trumpeter stands by Nehemiah, "our God shall fight for us." They work from dawn until the stars appear, and no one takes off his clothes except to wash.

Injustice within (5). A great outcry rises from the poor. Some lack grain; others have mortgaged fields, vineyards and houses, or borrowed to pay the king's tax, and their sons and daughters have been sold into bondage to fellow Jews. Nehemiah is "very angry". He rebukes the nobles and officials: "ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God?" He has them swear to stop charging interest and to restore fields and houses, and shakes out his garment as a curse on any who break the oath. The people say "Amen". For twelve years as governor he refuses the food allowance earlier governors took, works on the wall himself, and feeds 150 Jews and officials at his own table. "Think upon me, my God, for good."

Plots against Nehemiah (6:1–14). With the wall almost complete, Sanballat and Geshem invite him four times to meet in the plain of Ono, intending harm. "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease?" A fifth message comes as an open letter: Nehemiah plans to rebel and has prophets proclaiming him king. He replies that they invent it, and prays, "Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands." Shemaiah, a hired prophet, urges him to hide in the temple at night. "Should such a man as I flee? and who is there… would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in." Even a prophetess, Noadiah, tries to frighten him.

The wall finished (6:15–19). The wall is completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. The surrounding nations are "much cast down… for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God." Yet Tobiah, related by marriage to Judah's nobles, keeps up letters of intimidation.

Guarding and registering the city (7). Nehemiah appoints gatekeepers, singers and Levites, puts his brother Hanani and Hananiah, "a faithful man, and feared God above many", over Jerusalem, and orders the gates kept shut until the sun is hot. "Now the city was large and great: but the people were few therein, and the houses were not builded." God puts it in his heart to register the people, and he finds the list of the first returnees, which is repeated (compare Ezra 2).

Part 2 — The Law and the Covenant (chapters 8–10)

Ezra reads the law (8:1–12). On the first day of the seventh month, all the people gather "as one man" in the square before the Water Gate and ask Ezra to bring the Book of the Law of Moses. He stands on a wooden pulpit and reads "from the morning until midday" to men, women and all who could understand. When he opens the book, the people stand; when he blesses the LORD, they answer "Amen, Amen", lifting their hands, and bow with their faces to the ground. The Levites move among them, "and they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." The people weep as they hear it. Nehemiah, Ezra and the Levites say, "This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep… neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength." They feast and send portions to those with nothing, "because they had understood the words."

Tabernacles (8:13–18). Studying on the second day, the leaders find the command to live in booths during the seventh-month feast. The people gather olive, pine, myrtle and palm branches and build booths on rooftops, in courtyards, in the temple courts and in the city squares. Not since the days of Joshua son of Nun had Israel kept it so, "and there was very great gladness." Ezra reads from the law each day of the feast.

Confession (9). On the twenty-fourth of the month the people assemble with fasting, sackcloth and dust, separate themselves from foreigners, and confess. For a quarter of the day they read the law, and for another quarter they confess and worship. The Levites lead a long prayer recounting Israel's story: creation ("thou, even thou, art LORD alone"), the call of Abraham, the Exodus and the Red Sea, the pillar of cloud and fire, Sinai, manna and water from the rock, the golden calf, the wilderness years, the conquest, the judges, and the prophets ignored. Through it all, "thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not." The prayer ends in the present: "Behold, we are servants this day" in the land given to their fathers; its produce goes to foreign kings, "and we are in great distress."

The sealed covenant (10). "We make a sure covenant, and write it." Nehemiah the governor heads a list of priests, Levites and leaders who seal it; the rest of the people join "with a curse, and with an oath, to walk in God's law". They pledge not to give their children in marriage to the surrounding peoples; not to buy goods from traders on the sabbath or holy days; to let the land rest and cancel debts every seventh year; to pay a yearly temple tax of a third of a shekel; to supply wood for the altar; and to bring firstfruits, firstborn and tithes to the storehouses. "We will not forsake the house of our God."

Part 3 — The City Filled and Dedicated (chapters 11–12)

Living in Jerusalem (11). The leaders settle in Jerusalem, and the rest cast lots to bring one in ten to live "in Jerusalem the holy city"; the people bless those who volunteer. Lists name the families of Judah and Benjamin, priests, Levites and gatekeepers in Jerusalem, and the villages where others live.

Priests and Levites (12:1–26). The priestly and Levitical families are traced from the time of Zerubbabel and Jeshua through later high priests, together with the singers who stood "to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, ward over against ward."

The dedication of the wall (12:27–47). Levites are brought in from the villages "to keep the dedication with gladness". Priests and Levites purify themselves, the people, the gates and the wall. Nehemiah sets two great thanksgiving choirs on the wall; one, with Ezra at its head, goes to the right, and the other, with Nehemiah, to the left, meeting at the house of God with trumpets and David's instruments. They offer great sacrifices and rejoice, "for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off." Officers are appointed over the storerooms, and Judah gladly supports the priests and Levites.

Part 4 — Nehemiah's Second Term (chapter 13)

Separation (13:1–3). On reading that no Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly, because they had hired Balaam to curse Israel, "howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing", the people separate from those of foreign descent.

Tobiah evicted (13:4–9). In the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes Nehemiah had returned to the king. Coming back later, he finds that Eliashib the priest has given Tobiah a large chamber in the temple courts, once a storeroom for offerings. "It grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber." He has the rooms cleansed and the vessels and offerings returned.

The Levites' portions (13:10–14). The Levites and singers have not received their portions and have gone back to their fields. "Why is the house of God forsaken?" Nehemiah gathers them back; all Judah brings tithes of grain, new wine and oil, and he appoints faithful treasurers. "Remember me, O my God… and wipe not out my good deeds."

The sabbath (13:15–22). He sees people treading winepresses, loading donkeys and bringing produce into Jerusalem on the sabbath, and men of Tyre selling fish. He rebukes the nobles: was this not why God brought evil on the city? He orders the gates shut as darkness falls before the sabbath and stations servants there. When merchants camp outside the wall, he threatens to arrest them, and they stop coming. He commands the Levites to guard the gates to keep the sabbath holy.

Mixed marriages (13:23–31). He finds Jews who have married women of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab; half their children speak the language of Ashdod "and could not speak in the Jews' language." Nehemiah contends with them, curses, strikes some and pulls out their hair, and makes them swear not to give their children in such marriages, recalling that even Solomon, beloved of God, was led into sin. A grandson of the high priest has married Sanballat's daughter, and Nehemiah drives him away. He purifies the priests and Levites and arranges the wood offering and firstfruits. The book closes: "Remember me, O my God, for good."

Key themes, and the bridge to Esther

• Prayer and action together. Nehemiah prays, then plans, works and organises; "we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch."
• The good hand of God. God works through a pagan king's favour, through ordinary builders and through perseverance under threat.
• Opposition from without and within. Mockery, threats, plots and false prophets are matched by injustice, compromise and neglect inside the community.
• Community and justice. Rebuilding includes protecting the poor, cancelling exploitation, and sharing the work family by family.
• The word of God renews a people. The reading and explaining of the law brings weeping, joy, confession and covenant: "the joy of the LORD is your strength."
• Fragile faithfulness. Chapter 13 shows the covenant's promises (sabbath, tithes, marriage, the temple) broken within a few years. Reform must be renewed again and again.

Nehemiah ends not with triumph but with an honest prayer: the walls stand, worship is restored, yet the people's hearts keep drifting, and the governor can only ask God to remember him for good. The story of Israel after the exile then turns east again: Esther is set back in Susa, among the Jews who stayed in Persia, where God's people face a deadly threat and God's hand is at work unseen.