The books Ezra and Nehemiah are closely related and often lumped together, “Ezra-Nehemiah.”
Author and Date
This is the last of the books originally written in Hebrew – written somewhere between 400-200BC. It was written after the return from the Babylonian exile. The people returned from exile with a renewed longing to know their story once again. This time to collect stories long passed through oral form into written form. In the earliest Hebrew compilations of texts, 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Neh were all one book – all one story.
When the Babylonians conquered a nation, their practice was to remove all the original inhabitants and repopulate the country with its own citizens. Around 539BC – about 60 years after the destruction of the Temple – the Babylonian empire was conquered by the Persians, led by King Cyrus. The Persians had a different approach when they conquered kingdoms: they left most of the population in place, and just replaced the rulers with either Persian rulers or rulers who were sympathetic to Persia. Rome was influenced by Persia in this approach; this was how Rome did things.
When King Cyrus conquered Babylon, he inherited not only Babylon but all the nations that Babylon had conquered and exiled. King Cyrus was remarkably tolerant and he let not only the Jews but all the nations that Babylon had exiled return to their homeland if they wished. 2 Chronicles 36 recounts a little of this story. Isaiah 45 tells us that Cyrus was so revered by the Jews they gave him the title of anointed one – literally Messiah. The book of Nehemiah and its companion book of Ezra recounts the story of this beginning return to the homeland and starting to rebuild the Temple.
Dating the story narrated in the book of Nehemiah is generally done along with Ezra, which references “the seventh year of King Artaxerxes” in Ezra 7:7 as the time when Ezra and others came home to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. They were latecomers, most others having returned home years before. There is much scholarly debate around which King Artaxerxes is being referred to in this verse. The most common dates given are 458 BC, 438 BC, and 398 BC. So, around 400 years before Christ, give or take a few decades.
Nehemiah himself was a cupbearer to the Persian king (1:11). He uses his position to request aid from the king in rebuilding Jerusalem. King Darius, who originally released the exiles to return home, had equipped them with money and supplies for rebuilding. But decades have passed and this is a new king, with new potential.
Nehemiah was dispatched by the Persians as governor of Judea, and to oversee the rebuilding of the Temple. Ezra was a priest also authorized by the Persians along with him and Ezra was the religious leader of the people.
Nehemiah “returns” to Jerusalem with new money and supplies. Remember that every exile “returning” at this point has never been to the homeland. They were born and raised in captivity. Returning means leaving the known for what only the heart knows. Once in Jerusalem, Nehemiah assumes a position of prominent leadership, which his Babylonian position likely groomed him for.
Not everyone took kindly to the rebuilding project, and Nehemiah experienced opposition throughout the rebuilding effort. But, he perseveres, and even equips all the workers with weapons that they always carry, even if they stop for a drink of water. Once the walls are completed in chp 7, they are put under heavy guard.
In addition to rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah institutes social justice reform and help for the poor of the land.
Chp 8 shows Ezra, a “teacher of the law,” bringing out what is presumably the Torah to read it to the assembly. After the reading, there is a huge party with food and dancing. This is followed in chp 9 with a recounting of Jewish history and a commitment by the people to once again follow the laws of God and live as God’s people.