A community project revitalizes the holy city.
The Book of Ezra began the story of the Jews’ return to their homeland. After their long exile in Babylon, an initial wave of nearly fifty thousand former captives marched home and eventually completed a temple to replace the house of worship razed by the Babylonians.
The Book of Nehemiah continues that drama. It opens with Nehemiah receiving news from Jerusalem that survivors in the city are “in great distress and reproach.” Moreover, “the wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire” (Neh. 1:3). Nehemiah weeps and mourns for days, pleading with God for mercy and confessing the nation’s sins. Afterward, the Lord leads him on a journey back to Jerusalem to rebuild His city’s protective wall and restore His broken people.
Nehemiah’s position as the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes I enabled him to use the full authority of the Persian government to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall. His contacts and connections with the king’s inner circle worked to his advantage throughout his life, and his model of working from within the system continues to inform Christians on how to accomplish institutional change for the Lord (see “God’s People in Government” at Ezra 7:1).
The Book of Nehemiah paints a picture of God’s power by describing the many obstacles Nehemiah overcame as he undertook the wall’s construction. First he gathered city residents and managed to persuade them to “rise up and build” (Neh. 2:18). The moment they began, however, opponents ridiculed their work and accused Nehemiah of sedition (2:19). Nonetheless, the wall quickly rose to half its height, “for the people had a mind to work” (4:6). Meanwhile, a conspiracy against rebuilding drove Nehemiah to station defenders along the wall even as others labored (4:15–23). Finally, when the wall was finished within fifty-two days, Nehemiah’s opposers were shattered. Nearby enemies and distant peoples all perceived that “this work was done by our God” (6:16).
Nehemiah was a remarkable leader and person of faith. His leadership strategies are shown at a level of detail unmatched elsewhere in the Old Testament, and his principles for motivating others and accomplishing a seemingly impossible task still work today (see “Leadership Principles from Nehemiah” at Neh. 1:1). Nehemiah also exemplified a life of prayer and untiring devotion to God’s purposes (see “Nehemiah’s Prayer” at Neh. 1:4–11).
Nehemiah’s return occurred in 444 B.C. He served twice as governor of Judah. His first term lasted twelve years (5:14), until his return to the king (13:6). Then, “after certain days,” he returned to Jerusalem. If the king who allowed him to return was still Artaxerxes I, then Nehemiah’s second term as governor would have begun prior to 424 B.C., the year the king died.
The frequent first-person references to Nehemiah, the eleven prayers of Nehemiah, and the carefully composed lists strongly suggest that Nehemiah the cupbearer is the book’s author. The account begins in Persia and ends in Jerusalem (see the map “The Journey Back to Jerusalem” at Ezra 2:1).
Key People in Nehemiah
• Nehemiah, a man God strategically positioned in the Persian royal court to accomplish great things (Neh. 1:1).
• Artaxerxes I, the powerful king of Persia who authorized Nehemiah to use government funds to strengthen Jerusalem’s defenses (Neh. 2:1; see also his profile at Ezra 4:7).
• Sanballat, governor of Samaria during or shortly after Nehemiah’s work and a bitter opponent of the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall (Neh. 4:1).
• Tobiah, an adversary who may have been a Persian appointee or Sanballat’s deputy (Neh. 4:3).