Book Of Nehemiah

Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls (Neh. 2:1-20) taken from Doré's English Bible

The Book of Nehemiah, once considered to be one book with Ezra, is a historical book of the Bible. It was written by Nehemiah, a Jew and high official in the court of Artaxerxes, king of Persia. About 14 years after Ezra received his decree from the king, Nehemiah received a decree from the same king to rebuild Jerusalem and its wall. This launched the countdown for Daniel's Seventy Weeks. Jesus Christ rode on a donkey into Jerusalem 483 (69 "weeks") later. Under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, Israel experienced a religious revival, though the nation would not regain complete independence^[1] until the reign of the Hasmoneans.

Because the major account of the book involves a building project, and opposition to it, it has become a popular book from which to preach whenever a church is planning a campaign to raise funds for building projects.

The account in Chapter 4, where the workers built the wall holding a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other, would be used as the name of The Sword & The Trowel, the monthly magazine written by Charles Spurgeon.

See Maccabee.

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