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Nehemiah

January 01, 1970

For other uses, see Nehemiah (disambiguation).

Nehemiah (/ˌniːəˈmaɪə/; Hebrew: נְחֶמְיָה‎ Nəḥemyā, "Yah comforts")[2] is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. He was governor of Persian Judea under Artaxerxes I of Persia (465–424 BC).[2][3]

Nehemiah
Greek icon
Saint, Leader of the Israelites, Prophet
Honored inCatholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church
FeastJuly 13 (Catholic)
December 17 (Orthodox)[1]
Nehemiah rebuilding Jerusalem, illustration by Adolf Hult, 1919

Most scholars believe Nehemiah was a real historical figure and that the Nehemiah Memoir, a name given by scholars to certain portions of the book written in the first person, is historically reliable.[4][5][6] Nehemiah is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, where his feast day is July 13, the same as his contemporary, Ezra. He is also considered a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, where his feast day is December 17.

Book of Nehemiah narrative edit

 
The Rebuilding of Jerusalem

In the 20th year of Artaxerxes I (445 or 444 BC),[7] Nehemiah was cup-bearer to the king.[8] Learning that the remnant of Jews in Judah were in distress and that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, he asked the king for permission to return and rebuild the city,[9] around 20 years after Ezra's arrival in Jerusalem in 468 BC.[10] Artaxerxes sent him to Judah as governor of the province with a mission to rebuild, letters explaining his support for the venture, and provision for timber from the king's forest.[11] Once there, Nehemiah defied the opposition of Judah's enemies on all sides—Samaritans, Ammonites, Arabs and Philistines—and rebuilt the walls within 52 days, from the Sheep Gate in the North, the Hananeel Tower at the North West corner, the Fish Gate in the West, the Furnaces Tower at the Temple Mount's South West corner, the Dung Gate in the South, the East Gate and the gate beneath the Golden Gate in the East.

Appearing in the Queen's presence[12] may indicate that he was a eunuch,[13] and in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, he is described as such: eunochos (eunuch), rather than oinochoos (wine-cup-bearer). If so, the attempt by his enemy Shemaiah to trick him into entering the Temple is aimed at making him break Jewish law, rather than simply hide from assassins.[14]

He then took measures to repopulate the city and purify the Jewish community, enforcing the cancellation of debt, assisting Ezra in publicizing the law of Moses, and enforcing the divorce of Jewish men from their non-Jewish wives.

 
Gustave Doré, Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls, 1866

After 12 years as governor, during which he ruled with justice and righteousness, he returned to the king in Susa. After some time in Susa he returned to Jerusalem, only to find that the people had fallen back into their evil ways. Non-Jews were permitted to conduct business inside Jerusalem on the Sabbath and to keep rooms in the Temple. Greatly angered, he purified the Temple and the priests and Levites and enforced the observance of the law of Moses.

Book of Maccabees edit

The Second Book of Maccabees says Nehemiah is the one who brought the holy fire for the altar back from the diaspora to Jerusalem and founded a library of the Holy Scriptures just as Judas Maccabeus did. Here, Nehemiah's political role sets an example for the Hasmonean dynasty and becomes a role model for pious, national leadership in general. The scene of reading and explaining the Torah in Neh 8 became the model of synagogue worship.[15] See 2 Maccabees 2:13.

Book of Sirach edit

Ben Sira's hymn in praise of the fathers mentions only Nehemiah (not Ezra) after Zerubbabel and Joshua and praises him for his building activities (Sir 49:15).

In rabbinic literature edit

One rabbinic text, or aggadah, identifies Nehemiah as Zerubbabel, with the latter being considered an epithet and indicating that he was born in Babylon. Another oral tradition, or mishnah, records that Nehemiah was blamed for seeming to boast (Neh. v. 19 & xiii. 31), and disparage his predecessors (Neh. v. 15). This tradition asserts that his book was appended to the Book of Ezra, as a consequence, rather than being a separate book in its own right, as it is in the Christian Old Testament. Another Talmudic text, or Baba Bathra, records that Nehemiah completed the Book of Chronicles, which was said to have been written by Ezra.[16]

Veneration edit

Nehemias is venerated in Catholic Church and Orthodox Church:

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Prophet Nehemiah".
  2. ^ a b Gesenius, Friedrich Wilhelm (1846). Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon. Baker Book House; 7th edition, 1979. p. 544. ISBN 0801037360. from the original on 1 December 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  3. ^ James D. G. Dunn; John William Rogerson (19 November 2003). Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 321. ISBN 978-0-8028-3711-0. from the original on 14 October 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  4. ^ For confirmation that many scholars share this view, see Anne Fitzpatrick (2009). Zuleika Rodgers; Margaret Daly-Denton; Anne Fitzpatrick Mckinley (eds.). "What did Nehemiah do for Judaism," in A Wandering Galilean: Essays in Honour of Seán Freyne. BRILL. pp. 93–. ISBN 978-90-04-17355-2.
  5. ^ For confirmation that most scholars share this view, see Jack Pastor (2010). Menahem Mor; Friedrick V. Reiterer (eds.). "The Contribution of the Samaria Papyri from Wadi Daliyeh to the Study of Economics in the Persian Period," in Samaritans: Past and Present: Current Studies. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 52–. ISBN 978-3-11-019497-5.
  6. ^ For an author who disagrees with the scholarly majority position on the historicity of Nehemiah and Ezra, but acknowledges the existence of that majority, see Philip R. Davies (3 September 2014). Rethinking Biblical Scholarship: Changing Perspectives 4. Taylor & Francis. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-317-54443-2. from the original on 15 February 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2017. The essential historicity of the events described [in Ezra and Nehemiah] has rarely been questioned.
  7. ^ On the date, see Ezra-Nehemiah: A Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press. 1 January 1988. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-664-22186-7.
  8. ^ Nehemiah 1:11
  9. ^ Nehemiah 1:1-2:5
  10. ^ Davies, G. I., Introduction to the Pentateuch in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary 22 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine, p. 19
  11. ^ Nehemiah 2:6-9
  12. ^ Nehemiah 2:6
  13. ^ R. J. Coggins. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), 73; also F. Charles Fensham, The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1982), 140
  14. ^ John Barton, The Oxford Bible commentary, Oxford University Press, 2001
  15. ^ Bergren, Theodore A. "Nehemiah in 2 Maccabees 1:10-2:18". Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period, vol. 28, no. 3, 1997, pp. 249–270. JSTOR 24668403. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  16. ^ Nehemiah by Emil G. Hirsch, David Samuel Margoliouth, Wilhelm Bacher & M. Seligsohn, in "The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day", Funk & Wagnalls, New York 1901-6.
  17. ^ Zeno. "Lexikoneintrag zu »Neemias (1)«. Vollständiges Heiligen-Lexikon, Band 4. Augsburg ..." www.zeno.org (in German). Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  18. ^ "Святой Нееми́я, вождь иудейский". Православный Церковный календарь (in Russian). Retrieved 3 February 2023.

Further reading edit

  • Barr, James. "History of Israel" in History and Ideology in the Old Testament (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 87
  • Holman Bible Dictionary, "Persia"
  • Cataldo, Jeremiah. "Memory Trauma in Ezra-Nehemiah" in David Chalcraft, ed., Methods, Theories and Imagination: Social Scientific Approaches in Biblical Studies, Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2014, pp. 147–57.
  • Lester Grabbe. Ezra, in Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible (ed. James D. G. Dunn, John William Rogerson, Eerdmans, 2003) pp. 320–1
  • Pakkala, Juha. "Ezra the scribe: the development of Ezra 7–10 and Nehemiah 8" (Walter de Gruyter, 2004). pp. 225–7
  • Schulte, Lucas L. My Shepherd, Though You Do Not Know Me: The Persian Royal Propaganda Model in the Nehemiah Memoir (Leuven: Peeters, 2016), 197–204.
  • Williamson, H. G. M. Ezra and Nehemiah (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1987), 17
  • Wright, Jacob. "Rebuilding identity: the Nehemiah-memoir and its earliest readers" (Walter de Gruyter, 2004). p. 340.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nehemiah.
  • "Nehemiah" in The Jewish Encyclopedia
  • , Biblical Archaeology Review
  • Israel Finkelstein. "Jerusalem in the Persian (and Early Hellenistic) Period and the Wall of Nehemiah"
  • Israel Finkelstein. "Archaeology and the List of Returnees in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah"

January 01, 1970
nehemiah, other, uses, disambiguation, hebrew, nəḥemyā, comforts, central, figure, book, which, describes, work, rebuilding, jerusalem, during, second, temple, period, governor, persian, judea, under, artaxerxes, persia, greek, iconsaint, leader, israelites, p. For other uses see Nehemiah disambiguation Nehemiah ˌ n iː e ˈ m aɪ e Hebrew נ ח מ י ה Neḥemya Yah comforts 2 is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period He was governor of Persian Judea under Artaxerxes I of Persia 465 424 BC 2 3 NehemiahGreek iconSaint Leader of the Israelites ProphetHonored inCatholic Church Eastern Orthodox ChurchFeastJuly 13 Catholic December 17 Orthodox 1 Nehemiah rebuilding Jerusalem illustration by Adolf Hult 1919 Most scholars believe Nehemiah was a real historical figure and that the Nehemiah Memoir a name given by scholars to certain portions of the book written in the first person is historically reliable 4 5 6 Nehemiah is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church where his feast day is July 13 the same as his contemporary Ezra He is also considered a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church where his feast day is December 17 Contents 1 Book of Nehemiah narrative 2 Book of Maccabees 3 Book of Sirach 4 In rabbinic literature 5 Veneration 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External linksBook of Nehemiah narrative edit nbsp The Rebuilding of Jerusalem In the 20th year of Artaxerxes I 445 or 444 BC 7 Nehemiah was cup bearer to the king 8 Learning that the remnant of Jews in Judah were in distress and that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down he asked the king for permission to return and rebuild the city 9 around 20 years after Ezra s arrival in Jerusalem in 468 BC 10 Artaxerxes sent him to Judah as governor of the province with a mission to rebuild letters explaining his support for the venture and provision for timber from the king s forest 11 Once there Nehemiah defied the opposition of Judah s enemies on all sides Samaritans Ammonites Arabs and Philistines and rebuilt the walls within 52 days from the Sheep Gate in the North the Hananeel Tower at the North West corner the Fish Gate in the West the Furnaces Tower at the Temple Mount s South West corner the Dung Gate in the South the East Gate and the gate beneath the Golden Gate in the East Appearing in the Queen s presence 12 may indicate that he was a eunuch 13 and in the Septuagint the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible he is described as such eunochos eunuch rather than oinochoos wine cup bearer If so the attempt by his enemy Shemaiah to trick him into entering the Temple is aimed at making him break Jewish law rather than simply hide from assassins 14 He then took measures to repopulate the city and purify the Jewish community enforcing the cancellation of debt assisting Ezra in publicizing the law of Moses and enforcing the divorce of Jewish men from their non Jewish wives nbsp Gustave Dore Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem s Walls 1866 After 12 years as governor during which he ruled with justice and righteousness he returned to the king in Susa After some time in Susa he returned to Jerusalem only to find that the people had fallen back into their evil ways Non Jews were permitted to conduct business inside Jerusalem on the Sabbath and to keep rooms in the Temple Greatly angered he purified the Temple and the priests and Levites and enforced the observance of the law of Moses Book of Maccabees editThe Second Book of Maccabees says Nehemiah is the one who brought the holy fire for the altar back from the diaspora to Jerusalem and founded a library of the Holy Scriptures just as Judas Maccabeus did Here Nehemiah s political role sets an example for the Hasmonean dynasty and becomes a role model for pious national leadership in general The scene of reading and explaining the Torah in Neh 8 became the model of synagogue worship 15 See 2 Maccabees 2 13 Book of Sirach editBen Sira s hymn in praise of the fathers mentions only Nehemiah not Ezra after Zerubbabel and Joshua and praises him for his building activities Sir 49 15 In rabbinic literature editOne rabbinic text or aggadah identifies Nehemiah as Zerubbabel with the latter being considered an epithet and indicating that he was born in Babylon Another oral tradition or mishnah records that Nehemiah was blamed for seeming to boast Neh v 19 amp xiii 31 and disparage his predecessors Neh v 15 This tradition asserts that his book was appended to the Book of Ezra as a consequence rather than being a separate book in its own right as it is in the Christian Old Testament Another Talmudic text or Baba Bathra records that Nehemiah completed the Book of Chronicles which was said to have been written by Ezra 16 Veneration editNehemias is venerated in Catholic Church and Orthodox Church July 13 commemoration Catholic Church 17 Sunday of the Forefathers movable holiday on Sunday that falls between December 11 17 18 See also editGovernors of Yehud Medinata Sanballat the Horonite Tobiah Ammonite References edit Prophet Nehemiah a b Gesenius Friedrich Wilhelm 1846 Gesenius Hebrew Chaldee Lexicon Baker Book House 7th edition 1979 p 544 ISBN 0801037360 Archived from the original on 1 December 2018 Retrieved 16 April 2015 James D G Dunn John William Rogerson 19 November 2003 Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible Wm B Eerdmans Publishing p 321 ISBN 978 0 8028 3711 0 Archived from the original on 14 October 2020 Retrieved 10 August 2019 For confirmation that many scholars share this view see Anne Fitzpatrick 2009 Zuleika Rodgers Margaret Daly Denton Anne Fitzpatrick Mckinley eds What did Nehemiah do for Judaism inA Wandering Galilean Essays in Honour of Sean Freyne BRILL pp 93 ISBN 978 90 04 17355 2 For confirmation that most scholars share this view see Jack Pastor 2010 Menahem Mor Friedrick V Reiterer eds The Contribution of the Samaria Papyri from Wadi Daliyeh to the Study of Economics in the Persian Period inSamaritans Past and Present Current Studies Walter de Gruyter pp 52 ISBN 978 3 11 019497 5 For an author who disagrees with the scholarly majority position on the historicity of Nehemiah and Ezra but acknowledges the existence of that majority see Philip R Davies 3 September 2014 Rethinking Biblical Scholarship Changing Perspectives 4 Taylor amp Francis p 108 ISBN 978 1 317 54443 2 Archived from the original on 15 February 2017 Retrieved 8 September 2017 The essential historicity of the events described in Ezra and Nehemiah has rarely been questioned On the date see Ezra Nehemiah A Commentary Westminster John Knox Press 1 January 1988 p 140 ISBN 978 0 664 22186 7 Nehemiah 1 11 Nehemiah 1 1 2 5 Davies G I Introduction to the Pentateuch in Barton J and Muddiman J 2001 The Oxford Bible Commentary Archived 22 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine p 19 Nehemiah 2 6 9 Nehemiah 2 6 R J Coggins The books of Ezra and Nehemiah Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1976 73 also F Charles Fensham The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah Grand Rapids MI Eerdmans 1982 140 John Barton The Oxford Bible commentary Oxford University Press 2001 Bergren Theodore A Nehemiah in 2 Maccabees 1 10 2 18 Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian Hellenistic and Roman Period vol 28 no 3 1997 pp 249 270 JSTOR 24668403 Retrieved 2 May 2020 Nehemiah by Emil G Hirsch David Samuel Margoliouth Wilhelm Bacher amp M Seligsohn in The Jewish Encyclopedia A Descriptive Record of the History Religion Literature and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day Funk amp Wagnalls New York 1901 6 Zeno Lexikoneintrag zu Neemias 1 Vollstandiges Heiligen Lexikon Band 4 Augsburg www zeno org in German Retrieved 3 February 2023 Svyatoj Neemi ya vozhd iudejskij Pravoslavnyj Cerkovnyj kalendar in Russian Retrieved 3 February 2023 nbsp This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain Easton Matthew George 1897 Nehemiah Easton s Bible Dictionary New and revised ed T Nelson and Sons Further reading editBarr James History of Israel in History and Ideology in the Old Testament Oxford Oxford University Press 2000 87 Holman Bible Dictionary Persia Cataldo Jeremiah Memory Trauma in Ezra Nehemiah in David Chalcraft ed Methods Theories and Imagination Social Scientific Approaches in Biblical Studies Sheffield Sheffield Phoenix Press 2014 pp 147 57 Lester Grabbe Ezra in Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible ed James D G Dunn John William Rogerson Eerdmans 2003 pp 320 1 Pakkala Juha Ezra the scribe the development of Ezra 7 10 and Nehemiah 8 Walter de Gruyter 2004 pp 225 7 Schulte Lucas L My Shepherd Though You Do Not Know Me The Persian Royal Propaganda Model in the Nehemiah Memoir Leuven Peeters 2016 197 204 Williamson H G M Ezra and Nehemiah Sheffield Sheffield Academic Press 1987 17 Wright Jacob Rebuilding identity the Nehemiah memoir and its earliest readers Walter de Gruyter 2004 p 340 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nehemiah Nehemiah in The Jewish Encyclopedia The Wall that Nehemiah Built Biblical Archaeology Review Israel Finkelstein Jerusalem in the Persian and Early Hellenistic Period and the Wall of Nehemiah Israel Finkelstein Archaeology and the List of Returnees in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Nehemiah amp oldid 1219253873, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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