Author

Nehemiah

Written

425-400 BC Covering the time period of 450 - 430 BC

Main Themes

One of the few books in the Bible written in first person. It covers the last piece of history recorded in our Old Testament.

Nehemiah gets Israel's leaders to stop charging tax to the returnees of the Great Exile.

Nehemiah gets tough with the men who had married foreign wives, especially the priests.

Key Verses

Nehemiah 1:3 They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."

Important Points

Many scholars feel this book is a sequel to Ezra.

Nehemiah was a layman, not a priest like Ezra, and he wasn't a prophet either. He served the king of Persia and then led a group of Jews to Jerusalem with the task in his heart to rebuild and fortify the city walls.

He helped Israel keep its foot out of several traps, including getting back into the habit of marrying foreigners who worshipped other Gods.

He helped them rebuild the wall in spite of great adversity. Men were working in so much rubble that it caused confusion, injuries, and exhaustion. Foreign kings and their people mocked them, saying they were feeble and couldn't finish. But they did. The wall was said to have been completed in Chapter 6.

Nehemiah continued to help until people were resettling in Jerusalem. In the last chapter, 13, he oversees the laws being reestablished and a very organized temple.