© David Staume 2007

Nehemiah is set principally in Jerusalem. Much of it is written in the first person. The author is probably Nehemiah.

1-4. Nehemiah, an exiled Jew and cupbearer to King Artaxerxes (he brings the king's wine), prays to God and asks for forgiveness for his people's sins. When serving Artaxerxes, the king asks him why he looks sad. Nehemiah replies that he is sad because Jerusalem lies in ruins. Nehemiah asks to be sent to Jerusalem to help rebuild. Artaxerxes agrees and gives a time frame for him to return. Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem and organises the rebuilding of the city's walls and gates.

5-8. Nehemiah admonishes those that have given money and food to other Jews and charged interest. Opposition to the rebuilding strengthens from surrounding tribes who fear the Jews are plotting to revolt. At this time there are about fifty thousand people in Jerusalem, and the city is controlled by Persia. The Book of the Law is taken from the temple and read to the people by Ezra the priest.

9. This chapter is a series of prayers and praise by Nehemiah to God, and a quick retelling of the history of God and the Jews from the time of Moses to their current plight without a leader of their own. Actually it's a bizarre rewriting of the bible so far. It rewrites God as forgiving, merciful, compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love – all of which is completely untrue, and verifiable by reading the text. God has displayed abominable cruelty, deceit, murderous rage, jealousy, racial prejudice, and is the instigator of the slaughter of millions of innocent men, women, children, and babies. This seems to be God remade in the (nicer) image of Nehemiah, and therefore further evidence of 'his' purely fictional existence. Nehemiah makes some very strange remarks about God not abandoning the Jews even when they made idols to other Gods. It depends on what he means by 'abandoning', because God brought their enemies to murder them for worshipping idols, or had them murdered by their own people. Nehemiah says that God sustained them in the wilderness for forty years. This is not true. The Israelites complained that they were treated better in Egypt, and it would have been better if they had died. Then he says that God did abandon them when they sinned, then he says that God did not abandon them, because he is gracious and merciful. Nehemiah says that in all that has happened to the Jews, God has remained righteous and acted faithfully. I'm sure he wishes that were true, but it is a perversion of the text.

10-13. The people of Jerusalem reaffirm their commitment to God and his laws, including forbidding intermarriage, observing the Sabbath, banning all foreigners from the city, and making contributions of food and money to the priests. Choirs and musicians celebrate the occasion. When Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem after a time in Artaxerxes service, he discovers people who are intermarrying, and trading on the Sabbath. He beats them, pulls out their hair, and curses them for their sin.

Nehemiah either isn't aware of the previous chapters of the bible and its portrayal of the Judeo-Christian God, or deliberately rewrites it. His legacy is the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls and gates, and the re-establishment of its priestly class with its tithes and privileges.

Back to Ezra. Forward to Esther.