Nehemiah #73

Nehemiah, son of Hacaliah, was a Jew serving as cupbearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes I in the citadel of Susa when he heard that the survivors in Jerusalem were in great trouble and that the city’s wall lay broken (Nehemiah 1:1-3). Traditional dating puts his return in the king’s twentieth year, about 445 BC. His memoir, which forms much of the Book of Nehemiah, describes how he led the rebuilding of the wall and the renewal of community life in Judah.

Biblical Significance

Nehemiah’s response to the news was to sit down, weep, fast, and pray for days. His prayer confesses the sins of the nation, including his own family’s, and asks God to remember his promise and to grant him favor in the presence of the king (Nehemiah 1:4-11). When the king noticed his sadness, Nehemiah prayed silently and then asked to be sent to Judah to rebuild the city, and the king agreed, giving him letters for safe passage and timber, and appointed him governor (Nehemiah 2:1-8; 5:14).

After inspecting the ruined walls by night, Nehemiah rallied the people, who responded, “Let us rise up and build” (Nehemiah 2:11-18). The work was divided among families and groups, each repairing the section near their own homes (Nehemiah 3). Opposition came from Sanballat, Tobiah, and others, who at first mocked and then threatened an attack. Nehemiah answered by prayer and by practical measures: half the men worked while half stood guard, and each worker kept a weapon at hand (Nehemiah 4:7-23). The wall was finished in fifty-two days (Nehemiah 6:15-16).

Nehemiah also confronted internal injustice, insisting that wealthy Jews stop charging interest to their poorer neighbors and return seized fields and homes (Nehemiah 5:1-13). After the wall was complete, the scribe Ezra read the law to the assembled people, who wept as they understood it, and Nehemiah told them not to grieve because the joy of the Lord was their strength (Nehemiah 8:1-12). The people renewed a covenant to obey God’s commandments (Nehemiah 9 through 10), and the wall was dedicated with two great choirs (Nehemiah 12:27-43). When he later returned to Jerusalem after a time away, he found that some of these reforms had lapsed and acted to restore them (Nehemiah 13).

Legacy

Nehemiah is commonly held up as a model of leadership, combining prayer, planning, courage, and hard work. He prays before he acts and acts as though everything depended on him. Together with Ezra, he is regarded as one of the founders of post-exilic Judaism, in which the reading and study of the law became central. His account of the reconstruction of Jerusalem also serves as a key source for the history of the Persian period in Judah, and his story is often used to encourage those who take on a large project with limited resources and strong opposition.