Here are my notes on the historical and biblical background for approaching Nehemiah, most of which I shared in my message this past Sunday, “Encountering a Broken World,” as a set up to where we are going in our new series, “Rebuild and Repair: Engaging the World with Nehemiah.” There is some debate about the actual timing of Nehemiah, the authorship of the book, and how it relates to the return from exile, but what I share here represents a pretty basic, biblical view of the book.
The place of Nehemiah in biblical history:
- Nehemiah occurs during the time of exile, when large portions of the Jewish people were taken from their homeland to be resettled in Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The siege of Jerusalem resulted in the destruction of the Temple as well as tearing down of huge portions of the wall around the city.
- Nehemiah is likely the leader of the third of three exile groups returning to Jerusalem from Babylon. The first was led Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel beginning roughly in 538 BC, who reestablished the Jewish community and eventually rebuild the Temple. The second was led by Ezra the priest in and around 458 BC. Ezra emphasized the importance of Scripture for the community. The third was led by Nehemiah roughly in 445 BC.
- Thus, Nehemiah spans a part of biblical history we often don’t know or think a lot about, the centuries from the exile in Babylon at the tail end of the prophetic writings leading up to what is known as the Second Temple Period, which spans from the mid 500s BC through the life of Jesus up to AD 70, when this second temple is destroyed by the Romans.
An overview of the book:
- The Hebrew Bible is arranged according to three sections:
- Torah (Pentateuch - 5 books of Moses)
- Nevi’im (Prophets)
- Ketuvim (Writings) - this is where Nehemiah falls
- However, the Old Testament in our English Christian Bibles is arranged slightly different according to 4 major groups:
- Torah (Pentateuch - 5 books of Moses)
- Historical books, from Judges through Esther
- Poetry/wisdom literature, like the Psalms & Proverbs
- Prophetic writings, like Isaiah and Amos
- Nehemiah is right near the end of the historical books in our English Christian Bibles, just before Esther and right after Ezra
- The book of Nehemiah is often considered a companion of the book of Ezra, which comes right before it in our Bibles. Sometimes, in fact, Ezra and Nehemiah are grouped as 1 book, even called by one title (2 Esdras) in the Eastern Orthodox Bible.
As we engage with Nehemiah in this series, on the one hand we want to recognize that there is something entirely unique God is doing through Nehemiah back then. God is restoring the exiles to the land of promise as a unique chapter in salvation history. The land is important, and the story is important.
On the other hand, while the story of Nehemiah is unique to a specific work of God in historical Israel at a certain time, the story of Nehemiah can tell us something about what God wants to do in and through His people now on this side of the revelation of Jesus Christ and the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
The gospel of the kingdom revealed in Jesus is a story of forgiveness and healing, of deliverance and redemption through God’s Messiah on the Cross and in the resurrection. The new community God creates, the church, is a set-apart people joining in with God’s kingdom work here and now.
Part of what Nehemiah shows us is that God’s kingdom work takes shape at least in part through engaging the everyday world around us around two words that will become repeated throughout this series:
- Rebuild - this is what we see Nehemiah doing in catalyzing his people to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem
- Repair - this is what we see Nehemiah doing in stepping toward the ruins of his people and his city and being part of the solution