Who wrote the book of Nehemiah? Who was the author of Nehemiah?

"The words of Nehemiah (the Lord is comfort) the son of Hachaliah." It is therefore the personal narrative of his experience which is before us in the first six chapters of this book, in which he describes his soul exercise, and how the Lord made it possible for him to return to Jerusalem, and how the wall was rebuilt. Nehemiah was a young man, born in captivity holding a position of nearness to the great Persian king and living in the beautiful palace of Shushan. He lived in luxuries, and was an honored servant of the king. It was in the month of Chisleu, in the twentieth year (445 B.C.) when Hanani his brother (7:2) visited him with certain men out of Judah. The question he asked them at once shows the deep interest he had in God's people. "I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem." Though he had never seen Jerusalem, the city of his fathers, he loved Jerusalem and felt like all pious captives, so beautifully expressed in one of the Psalms--"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy" (Ps. 137:5-6). Though he lived in prosperity his heart was with his people. It was bad news which they brought him. The remnant was in great affliction and reproach, the wall of Jerusalem in a broken-down condition, and the gates burned with fire.

In the Hebrew Bible the book of Nehemiah (= comfort of Jah) forms a unity with the preceding book of Ezra (see the notes on Ezra). Although the books bear different names, in the Hebrew Bible these two books follow each other without paragraph and the numeration of the Masorah is listed at the end of Nehemiah for both books.

It is however questionable whether it has always been one single book. Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 contain a nearly identical list of the returning Jewish genealogies, which would be a repetition difficult to understand if contained in a single work. But if the two books were individual books to start with the reason for the importance of the genealogies after the exile in each book would be a very good explanation. Later the books were differentiated and separated again as we know it in modern Bible editions.

The first verse of Nehemiah reads: "The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah". The author writes mostly in the first person "I" throughout the book (Neh. 1:1-7:5; 12:31-13:31). The chapters 7 and 10-12 contain lists of names on which the author Nehemiah could rely.

According to his own statement Nehemiah travelled twice from Shushan to Jerusalem. The first journey took place in the 20th year of Artaxerxes I., king of Persia, and lasted until the king's 32nd year (Neh. 2:1; 5:14; 13:6). After this Nehemiah undertook a second journey to Jerusalem (Neh. 13:6-7). King Artaxerxes reigned from 464 to 424 BC. So Nehemiah's first stay lasted from 445 to 433 BC and the second stay probably followed soon after. The book of Nehemiah can therefore have been composed up to around 400 BC.

Ezra (help) covers a period of about eighty years, and records the doings, the work and the worship of the Judah remnants who returned to Jerusalem from the Chaldean exile. The distinguished ecclesiastical historian and ready scribe whose name is attached to this book has ever been highly venerated amongst the Jews, and is generally regarded as the inspired editor and compiler of the Old Testament. When, where, and by whom this book was written are questions easily answered — after the return from the Babylon captivity, in Palestine, and by Ezra. The change from the first to the third person, as in chaps. 7, 10, in nowise affects the authorship; John the Apostle habitually does so in his Gospel. Similar instances might be adduced from Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, and elsewhere. Yet Professor Smith (in his Lectures on the Old Testament in the Jewish Church, page 321) says, "One asks for proof that any Hebrew ever wrote of himself in the third person." Is human learning to be trusted in the things of God? What is man in presence of these Divine and imperishable records? The books of Ezra and Nehemiah anciently formed but one work; they are still spoken of by Roman Catholic writers as the 1st and 2nd books of Esdras. There are two portions of this book written in the Syriac or Aramean language — that spoken in Babylon and Assyria — viz., Ezra 4:8 to 6:18; and Ezra 7:12-26.

Nehemiah (whom the Lord comforts). The administration of Nehemiah, "the Tirshatha" (Persian title, meaning governor) over Judea lasted about thirty-six years. The rebuilding of the city and generally the civil condition of the returned Jewish remnants are the main subjects of this the last historical book of the Old Testament, written about 420 B.C. The Temple and the ecclesiastical state of things are characteristic of Ezra. The one book is thus the counterpart of the other. Work and worship are marked features of Ezra, while work and conflict are as distinctly characteristic of Nehemiah.

The commission granted to Nehemiah anent the rebuilding of the city and reconstruction of the civil polity according to Moses, recorded in Nehemiah 2, marks the commencement of the seventy weeks or 490 years of Daniel's celebrated prophecy (Dan. 9:25). The book was written by Nehemiah (Neh. 1:1), after his return from the court of Persia (Neh. 13:6); in Greek and Latin Bibles it is called the "second book of Ezra."

The book of Nehemiah is the latest of the historical books of the Old Testament. It is the continuation of the history of the company of people which had returned under Zerubbabel and Ezra to the land. In Ezra we saw the remnant getting back and rebuilding the temple, the place of worship. In Nehemiah we have the record of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, and the restoration of the civil condition of the people, the partial and outward reestablishment of the Jews in the land. The book bears the name of Nehemiah, because he is the leading person in the recorded events, and likewise the inspired author of the main portion of this record. Two other persons by the name of Nehemiah are mentioned in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. One was the son of Azbuk (Neh. 3:15) and the other belonged to the returning remnant under Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:2 and Neh. 7:7). From these, Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah must be distinguished. His genealogy is obscure. Besides being the son of Hachaliah, the only other mention of his family is found in chapter 7:2; there he speaks of his brother Hanani. Some class him as a priest for the reason that he heads the list of priests. But his name is given there as the princely leader of the people. As to his office, he carried two titles. He is called "Tirshatha" in chapter 8:9, which means ruler or governor. In chapter 12:26 his title is also governor; the word used is "pechah," the Turkish word "pasha."

There can be no doubt that this man of God wrote chapters 1 to 7:5; it is an autobiography. Chapter 7:6-73 is a quotation of a register of names, which differs in numerous places from the register in Ezra 2:1-70. Both were probably copied from public documents, perhaps from the book of Chronicles mentioned in chapter 7:23. The discrepancies between Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 show that Nehemiah did not copy from Ezra's record. Chapters 8 to 10, it is claimed by some, were not written by the hand of Nehemiah. It has been suggested that Ezra is the author. The remaining section, chapters 11 to 13, bears the clear mark of Nehemiah's pen.

Though verse 1 makes it clear that this whole book records "the words of Nehemiah," it may be that Nehemiah spoke these words to another person, who wrote them down, -- possibly Ezra, who was a scribe. It was in the 20th year of Artaxerxes (see ch. 2:1) that Nehemiah received news of Jerusalem from Hanani, who had come to Shushan the palace, where Nehemiah was employed. "Shushan (or Susa) was originally the capital of Elam; afterwards it was incorporated into the kingdom of Babylon, and finally, on the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, it passed into the possession of Persia, of which it seems, at the time of Nehemiah, to have been the metropolis" (Nehemiah by Edward Dennett -- ch. 1, footnote). Thus Nehemiah did not go from Babylon to Jerusalem, as Ezra did, but from Shushan.

Nehemiah (his name meaning "comfort of Jehovah") writes the history of his connection with the remnant of the returned captivity. He followed Ezra by about thirteen years in going to Jerusalem, stirred through news he had received of the decayed condition of the city. God gave him favor with Artaxerxes, king of Persia, whose cupbearer he was. He obtained authority to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

This book has its own design from God, manifestly distinct from that of Kings as well as Chronicles, even if the style of the latter did not point to the same writer, "a ready scribe in the law of Moses which Jehovah, the God of Israel, had given." In fact however the book before us was joined, not with the Chronicles, but with Nehemiah, though this was by the governor's hand, long designated together "the Book of Ezra," and it would seem, only late in the fourth century after Christ separated as we now have them. Ezra was not the witness of the facts in Ezra 1-6, as he was of those in the remaining four; but there is no sufficient ground to doubt that he was inspired to give us all.

This is the latest of the historical books of the O.T. It commences with the twentieth year of Artaxerxes: this is an important date, because of 'the seventy weeks' of Dan. 9, which run from the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. This commission was given to Nehemiah; the command to build the temple was given by Cyrus. Ezra 1:1. See SEVENTY WEEKS.

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.

Nehemiah is not a man of rank or authority; as we have just said, he was invested with his functions only because of the confidence with which he inspired the king, whom he serves as his chief cup-bearer. In virtue of this confidence (but under the governing hand of God who directs all things, even human sentiments,) the king gives Nehemiah his mission and grants him the title of Tirshatha, that is to say, of governor.