The book of Ezra is dedicated to the building of God’s House (chapters 1-6) and then the renewing of God’s Law under Ezra (chapters 7-10). The book of Nehemiah is dedicated to the building of the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah and Ezra are one book in the Jewish Bible, and while Nehemiah is clearly the author of Nehemiah, it is assumed that Ezra helped with writing and editing Nehemiah’s writings.

Background to Nehemiah’s Work

It would seem Ezra made an unauthorized attempt at rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem but was stopped (Ezra 4:7-23). For 13 years, nothing was heard of Ezra, and then Nehemiah appeared. This would mean a 12-year lapse would have occurred between the final events of Ezra and the opening events of Nehemiah.

Author

Nehemiah was the cupbearer of Artaxerxes, meaning Nehemiah not only protected the king’s cup from poison but was one of the king’s most influential and trusted advisers, present at many of the king’s inner-circle meetings. 

One day, the king noticed Nehemiah was despondent and ended up commissioning Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem as his governor, authorizing him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Where Ezra’s efforts to rebuild the wall had been stopped, under Nehemiah they were renewed. Nehemiah would have been able to convince Artaxerxes that rebuilding the walls and making Jerusalem into a fortified city would be an advantage to the Persian Empire. This demonstrates the great advisory power of Nehemiah to the king.

Nehemiah can be divided into two sections:

• The Rebuilding of the Wall: The Restoration of the City (1-7)

• The Rebuilding of the People: Reviving the People (8-13)

Most of the events in the book of Nehemiah took place within 15 years, 445 B.C. to 430 B.C., including the rebuilding of the city walls and the restoration of God’s Word to the nation. Also, the book of Nehemiah holds historical records of the return of the third group of exiles from Babylon.

 The Key Themes of Nehemiah

• The first key theme of Nehemiah is to demonstrate the commitment of Yahweh to protect His people and the essential persistence required by the people to complete God’s work of rebuilding the wall.

• The second theme of Nehemiah demonstrates that the protection of God’s people was not merely the rebuilding of a physical wall but also the reviving of their hearts to God’s will. Thus, the restoration of God’s Word in their hearts would rebuild a spiritual wall to guard their hearts for Yahweh as the center of their lives.