{"id":4214,"date":"2012-01-25T01:00:21","date_gmt":"2012-01-25T09:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/?p=4214"},"modified":"2012-02-13T19:44:39","modified_gmt":"2012-02-14T03:44:39","slug":"bob-nehemiah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2012\/01\/25\/bob-nehemiah\/","title":{"rendered":"BOB &#8211; Nehemiah"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/files\/2012\/02\/BOB_header.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4550\" title=\"BOB_header\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/files\/2012\/02\/BOB_header-300x193.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/files\/2012\/02\/BOB_header-300x193.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/files\/2012\/02\/BOB_header.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>by Stephen Rodgers<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>NEHEMIAH IN\u00a010\u00a0WORDS\u00a0OR\u00a0LESS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Returning Jewish Exiles rebuild the broken walls of Jerusalem.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>TITLE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the ear\u00adli\u00adest Hebrew man\u00adu\u00adscripts, Ezra and Nehemiah were con\u00adsid\u00adered a\u00a0sin\u00adgle book. They were later divided into two scrolls (by Origin), known to the Jews as 1\u00a0Ezra and 2\u00a0Ezra, which became known as Ezra and Nehemiah in English Bibles (it is inter\u00adest\u00ading to note that this diverges from the typ\u00adi\u00adcal pat\u00adtern, as they are 1\u00a0and 2\u00a0Ezra in both the Greek Septuigent (LXX) and the Latin Vulgate (Vg.)).<\/p>\n<p>The book takes its name from the main character Nehemiah (\u201cJehovah comforts\u201d), a\u00a0Jewish leader who served as the cupbearer to King Ataxerxes of Persia. (See\u00a0AUTHOR\u00a0&amp;AUDIENCE)<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><strong>AUTHOR\u00a0&amp;\u00a0AUDIENCE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jewish and Christian tra\u00addi\u00adtion both ascribe author\u00adship of Ezra-Nehemiah to Ezra. This tra\u00addi\u00adtion is largely inde\u00adpen\u00addent of whether Ezra was also the author (\u201cthe Chronicler\u201d) of 1\u00a0and 2\u00a0Chronicles. Although the author of Ezra never states his author\u00adship, inter\u00adnal argu\u00adments (the use of both Aramaic and Hebrew, access to tem\u00adple and Persian records, the shift from 1<sup>st<\/sup>\u00a0per\u00adson to 3<sup>rd<\/sup>\u00a0per\u00adson) favor him strongly.<\/p>\n<p>We know the fol\u00adlow\u00ading about\u00a0Ezra:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He was a\u00a0capa\u00adble and respected leader, as he led the sec\u00adond wave of exiles in their return to Israel from captivity<\/li>\n<li>He was a\u00a0godly man, and func\u00adtioned as a\u00a0scribe of the law (Ezra\u00a07:10)<\/li>\n<li>He had access to the royal archives of the Persian Empire (Ezra 1:2\u20134;\u00a04:9\u201322;\u00a05:7\u201317;\u00a06:3\u201312)<\/li>\n<li>He was a\u00a0con\u00adtem\u00adpo\u00adrary of Nehemiah (Neh 8:1\u20139;\u00a012:36)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>According to Jewish tra\u00addi\u00adtion, he was also the founder of the Great Synagogue (aka \u201cGreat Assembly\u201d), where the\u00a0OT\u00a0canon was first for\u00admally recognized.<\/p>\n<p>The intended audi\u00adence of Nehemiah was the gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions of Israelites who returned from exile in Babylon. The author clearly wanted his read\u00aders to rec\u00adog\u00adnize the power and love of God toward his cho\u00adsen peo\u00adple and their covenant respon\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adties toward Him.<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><strong>DATE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since we know that Nehemiah 1 begins in 446 BC, with Nehemiah returning to Jerusalem in 445 BC, the book could not have been written prior to that. \u00a0Furthermore, the book documents both his first (445 BC to 433 BC) and second (approximately 424 BC) terms as governor of Jerusalem (as recorded in Nehemiah 1-12 and 13, respectively). It is likely that Nehemiah was written by Ezra sometime after or during his second term, but prior to 400 BC.<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><strong>BACKGROUND\u00a0&amp;\u00a0SETTING<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong>Hundreds of years prior to the time of Ezra, God had used the prophet Jeremiah to warn His peo\u00adple that if they broke their covenant with Him, He would allow another nations to take them into slav\u00adery (Jer 2:14\u201325). Israel failed to heed that warn\u00ading, and God brought the Assyrians and Babylonians down upon them as pun\u00adish\u00adment. Eventually the Babylonians them\u00adselves were\u00a0con\u00adquered\u00a0by the Persians, and the king (Cyrus) decreed that the Jews could return to Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<p>We know from the previous article that decree is where the book of Ezra begins; Nehemiah begins some 92 years after that (in 446 BC).<\/p>\n<p><strong>HISTORICAL\u00a0&amp;\u00a0THEOLOGICAL\u00a0THEMES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are three themes that are prevalent\u00a0in the book of Nehemiah:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Renewal. <\/strong>It helps to understand that there are two rebuildings occurring in Nehemiah: there is the obvious rebuilding of the wall, but also the less-obvious rebuilding of the Jewish nation and religious obedience. And just as the beginning of the book is filled with suspense and overwhelming odds regarding the wall, the book ends in a suspenseful manner regarding the people forgetting their obedience to the LORD until Nehemiah returns to personally oversee it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prayer. <\/strong>Nehemiah is characterized often by his work (in my line of work, he is occasionally referred to as the &#8220;patron saint of project managers&#8221;), but he should also be recognized for how he brought his work before the LORD in prayer (Neh 1:4; 2:4; 4:4; 5:19; 6:9,14; 13:14,22,29,31).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Opposition. <\/strong>Nehemiah did not have an easy job, and he was opposed in almost every imaginable way (Neh 2:19-20; 4:1-15; 5:1-19; 6:1-14). However, with God&#8217;s help he was able to overcome the opposition he faced.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>INTERPRETIVE\u00a0CHALLENGES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are a couple of minor issues that should be understood when reading Nehemiah in order to avoid errors:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Since much of Jerusalem is explained in regards to the gates, you should familiarize yourself with a good <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bible-architecture.info\/Reconstruction_of_Nehemiah_5thcenturyBC.jpg\">map of the city.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Also, the reader should understand that the events in Nehemiah 1-12 took place over the span of approximately one year, that there is a 20-year gap between chapters 12 and 13, and that Nehemiah actually served two governorships in Jerusalem (see DATE).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><\/strong><strong>LITERARY\u00a0FEATURES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The pri\u00admary form of Nehemiah is\u00a0<em>his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal nar\u00adra\u00adtive<\/em>, specif\u00adi\u00adcally\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Nehemiah is a sequel to Ezra. Two main actions occur: the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem and the recommitment of the returned exiles to fulfill their covenant obligations. There is something for virtually everyone\u2014a general&#8217;s diary, a governor&#8217;s report, a civil record, a management handbook, and a memoir\u2014all in one short book.<\/em> (ESV Study Bible)<\/p>\n<p><strong>OBJECTIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are two objections that are sometimes raised against Nehemiah, a <em>chronological<\/em> objection (which was previously addressed in the article on Ezra), and a <em>literary<\/em> objection.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Some scholars claim that Nehemiah was not intended to be read as history, but rather is some sort of allegorical fiction, much like Aesop&#8217;s fables. \u00a0However, to come to this conclusion, you have to deliberately overlook a number of literary conventions that would seem to ground it solidly in history: 1) the dating of events (Neh 1:1), 2) references to historical settings confirmed by archaelogists (such as Susa), and 3) the naming of historical personages (King Ataxerxes, Sanballat, etc.).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><\/strong><strong>NOTABLE\u00a0QUOTABLES<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nehemiah 1:11<\/li>\n<li>Nehemiah 5:19<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>DID\u00a0YOU\u00a0KNOW?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The\u00a0NT\u00a0does not directly quote the book of Nehemiah.<\/li>\n<li>Nehemiah is never mentioned outside of the book of Nehemiah.<\/li>\n<li>The cupbearer&#8217;s duty was to choose and taste the king&#8217;s wine to ensure it was not poisoned. The need for these precautions is obvious when you consider the intrigues that plagued the Persian court: Xerxes (the father of Ataxerxes I), was killed in his own bedchamber by a courtier.<\/li>\n<li>The Sheep Gate (Neh 3:1) was still known in NT times as being near the Pool of Bethesda.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><\/strong><strong>Other Works Referenced<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Apologetics Study\u00a0Bible, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=p3dT6ZPr_mkC&amp;lpg=PA695&amp;ots=Bf3KADr4-8&amp;dq=apologetics%20study%20bible%20nehemiah&amp;pg=PA695#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" class=\"broken_link\">&#8220;Nehemiah Introduction&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><em>Archaeological Study\u00a0Bible, <\/em>&#8220;Introduction to Nehemiah&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em>ESV\u00a0Study Bible<\/em>,\u00a0\u201cIntroduction to\u00a0Nehemiah\u201d<\/li>\n<li><em>MacArthur Study\u00a0Bible<\/em><em>, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gty.org\/resources\/bible-introductions\/MSB16\/nehemiah\" class=\"broken_link\">&#8220;Nehemiah&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><em>NET Bible<\/em>, <a href=\"http:\/\/net.bible.org\/#!bible\/Nehemiah+1\" class=\"broken_link\">Nehemiah<\/a><\/li>\n<li><em>NIV\u00a0Study\u00a0Bible, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblica.com\/niv\/study-bible\/nehemiah\/\" class=\"broken_link\">&#8220;<\/a><\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblica.com\/niv\/study-bible\/nehemiah\/\" class=\"broken_link\">Nehemiah&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><em>Reformation Study\u00a0Bible, <\/em>&#8220;The Book of Nehemiah&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em><\/em><em>The Baker Illustrated Bible Handbook, <\/em>&#8220;Nehemiah&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><em>Know Your\u00a0Bible<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Driscoll,\u00a0<em>A\u00a0Book You\u2019ll Actually Read On the Old Testament<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Knight,\u00a0<em>The Layman\u2019s Bible Handbook<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Stephen Rodgers NEHEMIAH IN\u00a010\u00a0WORDS\u00a0OR\u00a0LESS &#8220;Returning Jewish Exiles rebuild the broken walls of Jerusalem.&#8221; TITLE In the ear\u00adli\u00adest Hebrew man\u00adu\u00adscripts, Ezra and Nehemiah were con\u00adsid\u00adered a\u00a0sin\u00adgle book. They were later divided into two scrolls (by Origin), known to the Jews as 1\u00a0Ezra and 2\u00a0Ezra, which became known as Ezra and Nehemiah in English Bibles (it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-of-the-bible"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4214"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4349,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4214\/revisions\/4349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}