Lives of Scripture

Nehemiah served as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes of Persia, a position of considerable trust and access within the royal court (Nehemiah 1:11). When his brother Hanani brought word from Jerusalem that the city's walls remained broken down and its gates burned since the Babylonian destruction generations earlier, Nehemiah wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed for days (1:3-4), confessing both his own sin and the sins of Israel and pleading God's covenant promises. When Artaxerxes noticed his sadness, Nehemiah -- after a moment of prayer -- boldly requested permission to go rebuild Jerusalem, and the king granted it along with letters of safe passage and timber (2:1-8). Once in Jerusalem, Nehemiah inspected the walls by night, then rallied the people with the appeal, 'Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach' (2:17), organizing families and officials to repair specific sections. The project faced sustained opposition -- mockery and conspiracy from Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, and threats of armed attack -- which Nehemiah met by posting armed guards while workers built with a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other (4:1-18), and by refusing repeated attempts to lure him away from the work (6:1-14). The wall was completed in fifty-two days (6:15). Nehemiah also confronted economic exploitation among his own people, rebuking nobles who were charging interest and seizing the property of poorer Jews during a famine, and setting an example of generosity by refusing the governor's customary allowance himself (5:1-19). As governor, he stood alongside Ezra in leading a great public reading and exposition of the Law that moved the people to weeping and renewed covenant commitment (8:1-12; 9:38-10:39), and later took further reforming action against Sabbath violations and intermarriage with surrounding peoples that threatened Judah's covenant distinctiveness (13:1-31).