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Nehemiah

Nehemiah

A Summary of the Book of Nehemiah

By H. A. (Buster) Dobbs
  1. Introduction
    1. A personal account written and compiled by Nehemiah
      1. It a continuation of the book of Ezra
      2. It describes the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem
    2. A simple account of a brief period of Jewish history
      1. Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in the thirteenth year of Ezra
      2. Artaxerxes Longimanus was ruler of the Persian empire
      3. The Jews were in a depressed condition
      4. Nehemiah was of the tribe of Judah
      5. He was the royal cup-bearer in the Persian court
      6. He served as governor of Jerusalem for about fourteen years
  2. Restoration of the wall (1:1 to 12:47)
    1. Nehemiah learned of the misery of Jerusalem (1:1-11)
      1. Sad plight of Jerusalem described by Hanani (1:1-4)
      2. Tears of Nehemiah (1:5)
      3. Fasting and prayer of confession (1:6-11)
      4. Ask for favor with Artaxerxes, for Nehemiah was his cupbearer (1:11)
    2. Nehemiah allowed to go to Jerusalem (2:1-20)
      1. Artaxerexes inquires the reason for Nehemiah’s sorrow (2:1-2)
      2. Nehemiah explains conditions in Jerusalem (2:3)
      3. Artaxerexes permits Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem (2:4-6)
      4. Artaxerexes supplies letters of authority to Nehemiah (2:7-8)
      5. Governor of Samaria unhappy with Nehemiah’s arrival (2:9-10)
      6. Nehemiah arrived at Jerusalem and was there three days (2:11)
      7. Arose in the night and secretly surveyed the wall of Jerusalem (2:12-16)
      8. Exhorted the Jews to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem (2:17-20)
        1. Samaritans laughed them to scorn (2:19)
        2. With a dependence on God, Nehemiah perseveres (2:20)
    3. The rebuilding of the wall (3:1-32)
      1. Each man built over against his own house
      2. The great families participated in the work
      3. Each family had a portion of the wall assigned to it and they built without regard to the work of the other families
    4. Opposition to the work and defense of the Jews (4:1-23)
      1. Sanballat mocked the Jews but they were undeterred and had a mind to work (4:1-6)
      2. Sanballat declared war on the Jews to stop the building (4:7-12)
      3. The Jews arm themselves and continue the work (4:13-18)
      4. The Jews rallied to each other’s support and defense (4:19-23)
    5. The people grow weary and complain (5:1-19)
      1. They had mortgaged their homes and sold their children into slavery to pay tribute to the Persian king (5:1-5)
      2. Nehemiah rebuked the elders for exacting usury and demanded a kinder and gentler treatment of their fellow Jews (5:6-13)
      3. Nehemiah’s gracious government (5:14-19)
    6. Sanballat’s last desperate attempt to stop the work (6:1
      1. Craft and rumor (6:1)
      2. Attempt at compromise (6:2-4
      3. Attempt to terrify Nehemiah and the Jews (6:5-9)
      4. Collusion with the enemy (5:10-14)
      5. The wall was finished in 52 days (6:15-16)
      6. Enemies without and false friends within (6:17-19)
      7. Rulers appointed and conditions given (7:1-4)
    7. List of those who returned (7:5-73)
  3. Restoration of the people (8:1 to 13:31)
    1. Renewal of the covenant (8:1 to 10:39)
      1. Reading, hearing, and understanding the law (8:1-8)
        1. Read from morning to midday (v. 8:3)
        2. The people were attentive (v. 8:3)
        3. The people stood when the book was opened (v.8:5)
        4. Read distinctly and gave the sense (v. 8)
      2. Reaction of the people to hearing the law (vv. 8:9-12)
      3. The feast of tabernacles observed with joy (8:13-17)
      4. The book of the law continuously read (8:18)
    2. Affirming the covenant (9:1 to 10:39)
      1. Fasting, confessing, repenting, and worshipping (9:1-3)
      2. History recounted (9:4-37)
      3. Written agreement to keep the law of God (9:38)
    3. Obedience to the covenant (11:1 to 13:31)
      1. Signers of the written covenant (10:1-27)
      2. A solemn pledge of allegiance to the law (10:28-39)
        1. Would not intermarry with heathen (10:30)
        2. Would keep the sabbath and all holy days (10:31)
        3. Would pay temple tax (10:32-33)
        4. Would supply the temple with its needs (10:34-35)
        5. Would bring first-fruits to Jehovah (10:36-39)
      3. Resettlement of the people (11:1-36)
        1. Dwellers at Jerusalem (11:1-29)
        2. Dwellers in other locations (11:30-36)
      4. List of priests and Levites (12:1-26)
    4. Dedication of the wall (12:27-47)
      1. Two great companies ascend the walls (12:27-42)
      2. Offered sacrifices and rejoiced (12:43)
      3. Keepers of the treasury and singers appointed (12:44-47)
    5. Restoration of the people (13:1-31)
      1. Nehemiah went to Persian court and returned to Jerusalem (13:1-6)
        1. Law of read again to the people (13:1-3)
        2. Eliashib made concession to Tobiah (13:4-5)
      2. Nehemiah expels Tobiah from the temple (11:6-9)
      3. Priests and Levites restored to Jerusalem and the temple (11:10-14)
      4. Weekly sabbath reestablished (11:15-22)
      5. Marriage violations corrected (11:23-31)
Nehemiah

Ezra - help. (1.) A priest among those that returned to Jerusalem under Zerubabel (Neh. 12:1).

(2.) The "scribe" who led the second body of exiles that returned from Babylon to Jerusalem B.C. 459, and author of the book of Scripture which bears his name. He was the son, or perhaps grandson, of Seraiah (2 Kings 25:18-21), and a lineal descendant of Phinehas, the son of Aaron (Ezra 7:1-5). All we know of his personal history is contained in the last four chapters of his book, and in Neh. 8 and 12:26.

In the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus (see DARIUS ¯T0000975), he obtained leave to go up to Jerusalem and to take with him a company of Israelites (Ezra 8). Artaxerxes manifested great interest in Ezra's undertaking, granting him "all his request," and loading him with gifts for the house of God. Ezra assembled the band of exiles, probably about 5,000 in all, who were prepared to go up with him to Jerusalem, on the banks of the Ahava, where they rested for three days, and were put into order for their march across the desert, which was completed in four months. His proceedings at Jerusalem on his arrival there are recorded in his book.

He was "a ready scribe in the law of Moses," who "had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." "He is," says Professor Binnie, "the first well-defined example of an order of men who have never since ceased in the church; men of sacred erudition, who devote their lives to the study of the Holy Scriptures, in order that they may be in a condition to interpret them for the instruction and edification of the church. It is significant that the earliest mention of the pulpit occurs in the history of Ezra's ministry (Neh. 8:4). He was much more of a teacher than a priest. We learn from the account of his labours in the book of Nehemiah that he was careful to have the whole people instructed in the law of Moses; and there is no reason to reject the constant tradition of the Jews which connects his name with the collecting and editing of the Old Testament canon. The final completion of the canon may have been, and probably was, the work of a later generation; but Ezra seems to have put it much into the shape in which it is still found in the Hebrew Bible. When it is added that the complete organization of the synagogue dates from this period, it will be seen that the age was emphatically one of Biblical study" (The Psalms: their History, etc.).

For about fourteen years, i.e., till B.C. 445, we have no record of what went on in Jerusalem after Ezra had set in order the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the nation. In that year another distinguished personage, Nehemiah, appears on the scene. After the ruined wall of the city had been built by Nehemiah, there was a great gathering of the people at Jerusalem preparatory to the dedication of the wall. On the appointed day the whole population assembled, and the law was read aloud to them by Ezra and his assistants (Neh. 8:3). The remarkable scene is described in detail. There was a great religious awakening. For successive days they held solemn assemblies, confessing their sins and offering up solemn sacrifices. They kept also the feast of Tabernacles with great solemnity and joyous enthusiasm, and then renewed their national covenant to be the Lord's. Abuses were rectified, and arrangements for the temple service completed, and now nothing remained but the dedication of the walls of the city (Neh. 12).

Nehemiah, book of the Old Testament. It is attributed to Nehemiah, a 5th-century BC Jewish leader. While serving in a position of honor at the court of Persian king Artaxerxes I, Nehemiah learned of the distressing conditions in Jerusalem following the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews (586-538 BC). He convinced Artaxerxes to appoint him to the governorship of Judea in 444 BC. The rebuilding of Jerusalem and the reforms made during his administration are recounted in the book that bears his name. The Book of Nehemiah belongs to the third part of the Hebrew canon, called the Writings. Since the 4th century AD it has appeared in Christian versions of the Old Testament. Originally it was part of a larger work that included 1 and 2 Chronicles and Ezra, and gave an account of Jewish history up to the 5th century BC. Modern scholars regard all four books as the work of one author or author-editor who probably composed or compiled the text about 300 BC. It is widely supposed that the author incorporated a considerable portion of Nehemiah's own memoirs into the book.