Book Introduction - Nehemiah

Writer: Ezra

Fourteen years after the return of Ezra to Jerusalem, Nehemiah led up a company (B.C. 444) and restored the walls and the civil authority. Of those events this book is the record. It is in eight divisions:

1. The journey to Jerusalem, 1:1-2:20
2. The building of the wall, 3:1-6:19.
3. The census, 7:1-73.
4. The revival, 8:1-11:36.
5. The census of the priests and Levites, 12:1-26.
6. Dedication of the wall, 12:27-43.
7. Restoration of the temple worship, 12:44-47.
8. The legal order restored, 13:1-31.

The moral state of the time is disclosed by the prophet Malachi. This book affords many instances of individual faith acting on the written word (e.g. Nehemiah 1:8,9; 13:1). It is the principle of 2 Timothy 2.

The events recorded in Nehemiah cover a period of 11 years