The people wept when they listened, but Nehemiah told them to rejoice and reminded them that God is their strength (8:9). When Nehemiah heard the news, he responded with prayer and action. He’s a slave for a foreign king in Persia in 444 BC. He never caved in to fear. A good wall also gave the people a sense of security and community. When the work got well under way, the opposition took on a somewhat different form. James D. G. Dunn, John William Rogerson, Eerdmans, 2003), "Ezra the scribe: the development of Ezra 7–10 and Nehemiah 8", "Rebuilding identity: the Nehemiah-memoir and its earliest readers", "Jerusalem in the Persian (and Early Hellenistic) Period and the Wall of Nehemiah", "Archaeology and the List of Returnees in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nehemiah&oldid=998809213, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Nehemiah. Thus, Bible scholars suggest that Ezra-Nehemiah was finalized around 430 B.C. He joined with the leaders, choir, and people to parade on the wall. "Zera'+ Babel"; from the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 38a. Nehemiah Bible Study E-book: If this Bible study is helpful for you, get the whole Nehemiah study in one convenient e-book . He also stopped people from working on the Sabbath, and commended the Levites to purify themselves and perform their duties (13:8-22, 30). He also fed 150 Jews and officials daily without using his allowance as governor. Answer: Ezra and Nehemiah were contemporaries, and they both wrote about the rebuilding of Jerusalem, which occurred approximately seventy years after it was destroyed by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar. God is always happy to have us turn back to him and recommit our lives. [17], Samuel Taylor Coleridge commented on the dearth of a classical painting featuring Nehemiah. Nehemiah had worked for King Artaxerxes long enough to gain wisdom about leadership. Nehemiah gives us even more details on Ezra’s role within the people of Israel. He confessed sins of the people. [15] However, Rabbi Isaiah di Trani, in his commentary to the Book of Nehemiah, writes as factual that Nehemiah was a Kohen. Bible Survey - Nehemiah Hebrew Name - Nechemiyah "Nehemiah" Greek Name - Neemias (Greek form of the Hebrew) Author - Nehemiah (Ezra and Nehemiah were treated as one book in Jewish Tradition) Date - From 455-420 BC Approximately Theme of Nehemiah - The rebuilding of Jerusalem Types and Shadows - In Nehemiah Jesus is the one who led the captives out . He faces opposition from three … Like Nehemiah, we can open our heart in prayer, observe blessings that show God’s favor on us, and listen with both our mind and heart. Learning that the remnant of Jews in Judah were in distress and that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, he asked the king for permission to return and rebuild the city, around 20 years after Ezra's arrival in Jerusalem in 468 BC. He was also prayerfully prepared when outside opposition began. Who Was Nehemiah & Why Is He Important in the Bible? This is based on the fact that the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one. This view is supported by the Syriac and Arabic versions of 10:1, which read: "Nehemiah the elder, the son of Hananiah the chief of the priests"; and by the Latin Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) of 2 Macc 1:21, where he is called "Nehemiah the priest," and possibly by 2 Macc 1:18, where it is said that Nehemiah "offered sacrifices, after that he had builded the temple and the altar." Our Nehemiah Bible study guide is designed with small group fellowships in mind, but you can also study the online lessons by yourself and use the questions to dig deeper into the text. Author: The Book of Nehemiah does not specifically name its author, but both Jewish and Christian traditions recognize Ezra as the author. This 13 part expository study of Nehemiah was preached at Flagstaff Christian Fellowship in 2002-2003. Every chapter of the Bible in 140 characters or less. Nehemiah offers hope and much more. His life teaches us many things that we should learn, and here are but a few of them: 1) The fear of God is necessary for compassion. She is an author of twenty-five books, a writing coach, international speaker, and former television host. He knew that the lack of repairing the wall showed people feared men and not God. The achievements of the two men were complementary; each helped to make it possible for Judaism to maintain its identity during the difficult days of the Restoration. Nehemiah was a man impervious to blustering gibes. According to Baba Bathra 15a Nehemiah completed the Book of Chronicles, which was written by Ezra. Throughout the book we see a man wholly focused on God. v. 19, xiii. Summary of The Book of Nehemiah. 93b). They opposed the Jews and tried to stop the work. PURPOSE Ezra-Nehemiah continues the history of God’s people as told in 1–2 Chronicles. When they completed the wall he stated that the surrounding nations recognized that God had helped them (6:15-16). in the city of Susa in Persia (modern day Iran). This brought results as the people began working and completed the work in 52 days. Appearing in the Queen's presence[11] may indicate that he was a eunuch,[12] and in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, he is described as such: eunochos (eunuch), rather than oinochoos (wine-cup-bearer). Nehemiah 4:21, 23 “So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. The twelve are reasonably regarded as either the actual heads of the twelve tribes, or at any rate as representing them. Nehemiah wept when he heard the news of the broken wall and burned gates. In our fast paced, instant delivery world, we should slow down and wait on God’s timing. Bible Study Resources - Tips, Online Bible Search, Devotions. All rights reserved. Bible Language English. He stood with the priests and scribes and people to listen to the reading of the law and then the prayer of confession of the people. He prays fervently and continually. Nehemiah’s prayer life reflected a believer who trusted God. Nehemiah’s answer was prayer and persistence in the work . At his own request Nehemiah is sent to Jerusalem as governor of Yehud, the official Persian name for Judah. Nehemiah was prepared to die for the king and yet recognized God as sovereign. Nehemiah saw through their ploys and refused the meetings. Tools. Ezra wrote about the rebuilding of the temple under Zerubbabel, while Nehemiah wrote concerning the rebuilding of … [18], Central figure of the biblical Book of Nehemiah, For confirmation that many scholars share this view, see, For confirmation that most scholars share this view, see, For an author who disagrees with the scholarly majority position on the historicity of Nehemiah and Ezra, but acknowledges the existence of that majority, see. When he discovered that some leaders had let an evil enemy have a room in the courts of the Lord, Nehemiah threw them out and restored the workers in the house of God. [7] Learning that the remnant of Jews in Judah were in distress and that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, he asked the king for permission to return and rebuild the city,[8] around 20 years after Ezra's arrival in Jerusalem in 468 BC. [1][2] The name is pronounced /ˌniːəˈmaɪə/ or /ˌniːhəˈmaɪə/ in English. He then took measures to repopulate the city and purify the Jewish community, enforcing the cancellation of debt, assisting Ezra to promulgate the law of Moses, and enforcing the divorce of Jewish men from their non-Jewish wives.