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The book of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah does not immediately follow the book of Ezra. It begins in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes (Longimanus), that is to say thirteen years after the arrival of Ezra at Jerusalem (cf. Ezra 7:7): an arrival which resulted in the events related in Ezra 7 to 10. During these thirteen years, the "Jews that had escaped" had fallen into reproach and great misery. It is true that the temple had been rebuilt, but, in a city with no defense, these poor Jews who had escaped were in constant danger of falling under the attacks of their enemies, and the house of God, which was the great object of their concern, was in danger of being plundered anew. The account of Nehemiah embraces a period of about twelve years. It treats another subject and consequently it has another bearing than the book of Ezra. In the book of Ezra we see the altar re-established in its place, the foundations of the temple laid, the house itself built, and all this work followed by the purification of the people from their profane alliances. Thus, the object of this book is the service of worship of the people of God and the moral state which must accompany it. On the other hand, the book of Nehemiah speaks of the restoration of the walls, the gates and the dwelling places of Jerusalem. Thus, while Ezra presents the restoration of Judah and Benjamin from the religious point of view, Nehemiah speaks from the civil point of view and in the course of these meditation we will consider the bearing of this restoration for ourselves.
This series of messages were delivered by the author in December 1973, before a group of Christians who gathered together for worship in Richmond, VA. The texts of these messages were recorded and later transcribed. Some portions of the recordings were missing and have been filled in by using the author’s preparatory notes. These notes also included several gold nuggets that never found their way into the messages but have now been included in this volume.
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah represent a significant turning point in biblical history. They tell the story not only of the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem but also of the resurrection of God’s people from the death of exile. Hannah Harrington thus begins her commentary with an evocative description of these books as “the story of a new Israel forged out of the old” and “the text of a people clinging to their genealogical past and attempting to preserve their heritage while walking forward into uncharted territory.” Throughout this commentary, Harrington combines analytical research on the language and culture behind the books of Ezra and Nehemiah with challenging thoughts for the Christian church today, bringing to bear a unique perspective on these books not as the end of Old Testament history but as early documents of the Second Temple period. Accordingly, Harrington incorporates a wealth of information from other Jewish literature of the time to freshly illuminate many of the topics and issues at hand while focusing on the interpretation and use of these books for Christian life today.