ESV Illuminated Scripture Journal: Nehemiah

Bible #16

by Anonymous

ESV Illuminated Scripture Journals  pair the entirety of individual books of the Bible with a lightly dotted blank page opposite each page of Bible text, providing space to creatively engage with and reflect on the Word of God. Hand-lettered, gold-ink illustrations by renowned artist Dana Tanamachi are interspersed throughout the blank pages, inviting readers to add their own artwork or reflections to each page. These thin, portable notebooks have unique covers stamped with gold-foil and are great for art journaling, personal Bible reading and prayer, small-group Bible study, or taking notes through a sermon series.

Genres: Christian, Religion, Nonfiction, History, Classics, Christianity, Old Testament

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 251

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like Ezra, some good stories...but the lists of names were hard to get through.

[Andrea Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a deep well of mercy is found in this book. I love the hope, faith, determination to do God's will, and training of God's people that Nehemiah exhibited in this account. For me, one of the outstanding things is how they worked on reconstructing the wall around Jerusalem while staying armed and alert for enemies who wanted to destroy them. This is such a prime example of how we Christians must arm ourselves with God's Word of Truth while going about our daily work, because there is an Enemy out to destroy us. What great, fabulous encouragement this book is!

I was not compensated for my honest review.

[Isabella Leake]

I'm not sure I'd ever read this book in its entirety before, and I was sort of surprised to find it so much up my alley. How did I not know it was full of renovations and restorations and reclamations? I love that sort of thing!

The first part of the book chronicles the rebuilding of the city walls of Jerusalem (an external rehabilitation), and second part portrays the inhabitants recommitting themselves to reading and following the law of Moses (an internal rehabilitation). The whole book is all about remembering and reclaiming and renewing a legacy, and it's terribly poignant.

I particularly appreciate the way the story unfolds bit by bit, as the Jews read, learn, and uncover further. They don't have everything in place, either outside the city or within their own hearts and devotional practices, immediately. This recovery of heritage is a slow and evolving process that they persevere in, almost like a research project that they continue to reexamine and refine. In humility they return to the texts, they are willing to admit they might have forgotten or misinterpreted something before, and they allow God to speak to them through his word.

In a book full of poignant elements, this is what strikes me most: the attitude of humility, the openness to being surprised by God, the admission that a body of learning isn't a closed book but subject to further discovery and refinement. I began to wonder if this is precisely the attitude that the Pharisees lacked -- they knew exactly how Scripture should be interpreted, and they admitted no revision or refocusing of their knowledge -- when they failed to see Christ as the Messiah.

[Pablo (Cicatricesdelibros) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es un buen libro que trae un nuevo inicio de "temporada". La anterior, que dió único en los Jueces, da un preludio de todo el desastre que llevo al pueblo de Israel al exilio que termina en 2 de Crónicas.
Se ven etapas bien marcadas: la primera de Génesis a Josué con Dios teniendo relación de forma individual con escogidos o patriarcas que resultó exitoso. La segunda crece y su relación ya va con el pueblo donde aparecen problemas que terminan en desastre. La tercera comienza como un programado renacimiento con nuevas esperanzas pero con tintes agridulces.

El pagar el castigo de los errores podría significar que aprendimos y volvemos nuevos para ser mejores que antes, pero no necesariamente. Lo que nos dice este libro (junto con el anterior) es que el afán de corregir los errores va a crear nuevos. El camino que tomamos para evitar lo malo, se vuelve nuestro mal.

Acá se ven buenos líderes que llevan a reconstruir literal y espiritualmente a un pueblo. Sin embargo existe un "vacío" relacionado con la forma de hacerlo, ya que, a diferencia con la primera constitución de la nación, Dios no interviene en cada detalle, dejando a los líderes decidiendo los métodos y el proceder.

Esto genera una mezcla de buenas y malas decisiones que logra un sentir agridulce y anti climático, dando un mensaje que falta algo o alguien entre Dios y su nación.

[Jason Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been enjoying the fourth dimension of existence for the past several days, and I'm going to ride that out for as long as it lasts. (Being plugged in to this level with the Great Other comes and goes.) Actually, I'm not sure if I'm totally in the fourth. Maybe I'm just at 3.5 because I feel the connection, but the answers and signs aren't crystal clear like they sometimes are. But I did get a couple signs yesterday that maybe I ought to read Nehemiah, so I took care of that this morning just in case. Yes, I know I'm crazy, but that's not important for the purposes of this review, so just let it go.

I don't know why the author is listed as "Anonymous" on Goodreads. This is a first-person book of the bible written by Nehemiah himself, at least that's what most scholars believe. There's a chance Ezra wrote some of it. I guess it's "anonymous" since they aren't 100% sure.

This was great, and it's much better written than many other books in the Bible, not that you're supposed to care about the quality of the prose when reading it. At least that's what I hear, but better writing is a bonus and makes it easier to read. It's also short; just 13 chapters, and that's another bonus! There are several chapters dedicated to lists of people who were doing certain tasks, a rehashing of the history of the Jews, and some procedural guidelines reiterating how they're supposed to worship God, and I just skimmed over those. Archeologists, historians, and genealogists love this book due to that information.

The main story is found in chapters 1 & 2, 4-6, and 13. Here's the gist (and sorry for not putting a spoiler alert; I don't feel like it):

Jerusalem wasn't doing too well, and its wall had been in ruin for a while because the Jews had fucked up AGAIN! God had a general standing order for the Jews: "Mingle not with the Shittites," but they were mingling anyway, and the problem was exacerbated as there was no wall to keep the unclean out of Jerusalem. This made Nehemiah sad, so he asked the Persian emperor, whom he served as a cup-bearer, to let him go there and fix things. Artaxerxes did him one better by providing building material and safe passage to Israel, and he even made Nehemiah governor of Jerusalem for 12 years. By and by Neh showed up, gathered all the Jews he could, and announced "We're going to build a wall..."


"...and we're going to make the Shittites pay for it!"

Of course there were problems, but it wasn't anything someone working with God couldn't handle, and Nehemiah got 'r done. The wall was rebuilt, Jews were gathered in, baddies were kept out, a dedication was done, history was recited, the law was read, sins going back several generations were confessed, promises to obey the will of God were made, songs were sung, and all seemed hunky-dory. This would be a perfect place to stop the story, but it would leave this as a three star book due to all the extra slow stuff. However, we then get chapter 13 which bumps it up an extra star.

Nehemiah went back to serve the Persian Emperor again per their agreement then went back to Jerusalem to visit several years later. He was aghast at what he found there. The Jews weren't obeying the will of God, were mingling with the Shittites, selling things and working on the Sabbath, and basically committing all kinds of physical, mental, and spiritual debaucheries. This caused Neh to nearly lose his temper, and he spake unto them "God dammit! What in the hell, pray tell, is the matter with y'all? Have we not scores of examples over the past several centuries to show that every time we pull this shit Yahweh sends our enemies down out of the hills to ream our asses out? Every! Single! Time! When are you going to get a clue? Thank God I got here in time."



Then he got a broom, and a mop, and a bouncer, and a headsman, and a douche, and he purified the city.

And now to get back to something else... Could Donald Trump be channeling the spirit of Nehemiah? I can't help but notice a couple parallels between America today and Jerusalem 445 BC. Trump certainly isn't Nehemiah reborn, but perhaps he was created in the same way as Serpentor?


"Explain it. THIS, I COMMAND!"

See? They even share mannerisms, a sure sign that both were biologically engineered through an unnatural process. Anyway, we all know that Golobulus planted the idea for Serpentor in Dr. Mindbender's rather pedestrian brain via a psychic motivator, and he was built using DNA from Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Attila the Hun, Phillip II of Macedon, Alexander the Great, Ivan the Terrible, Vlad the Impaler, Hannibal, Genghis Khan, Grigori Rasputin, Montezuma, Geronimo, Eric the Red, Sanuth Amon-Toth, Ulrik the Batterer, Takshaka, and maybe a few others. He was also supposed to have Sun Tzu's DNA, but Sgt. Slaughter broke that vial, and so Serpentor lacked Sun's cool composure.

It's obvious that Nehemiah exists to some extent in Trump, but who else does he have in there? More importantly, who created him? I can't answer the first question, but I'm happy to report that extensive research has given me the goods on the second.

Josef Mengele dabbled in this kind of experimentation. When he fled Auschwitz in January 1945, he absconded with a pregnancy serum he called "der midikchloriancht siebzehn" ("midi-chlorian seventeen" in English; I think George Lucas found these documents as well.) In it was the DNA of some of history's heavy hitters, including some Jews even though Mengele hated them. He wasn't going for anything specific; just seeing what he could do with them because he was a madman looking to strew chaos. All the other serums were destroyed in his haste to leave, so he had just the one, alhamdulillah.

Mengele hid on a boat which was supposed to take him to Africa, but instead landed him in New York. He was an excellent master of disguise, but with tensions high in the US and the allies on the lookout for itinerant Huns and Japs, he bided his time until he could make a safe escape to South America. He attempted it in September of that year, but he was nearly caught. Instead of letting der midikchloriancht siebzehn fall into allied hands, he injected it into a passing woman who was none other than Mary Anne Trump. Josef got away and eluded capture for the rest of his life. Mary Anne simply thought she'd gotten stung by something, and in June of 1946 she gave birth to Donald.

Draw your own conclusions, but I believe there's no way the nine month period between the injection and the birth is a coincidence; Fred Trump is not Donald's father. I just wonder who else was in the serum. We could issue conjecture until the cows come home, but whoever they are they're people who want to make things great again just like Nehemiah.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short book (only thirteen chapters!), but I haven't been reading much lately so it took me quite some time to get through it. That's especially unusual because of how much I enjoy the book of Nehemiah, mainly because Nehemiah, the man, was very interesting. First, he had amazing focus. Over and over his enemies tried to distract him from the work of rebuilding the wall, but he never allowed them to get in his way! God gave him a vision; from that vision sprang his ability to focus on the task at hand. And Nehemiah was a burdened person. In one of the first chapters, even the king noticed that something was troubling him. Nehemiah had received this burden from God. Since he related to it properly, it produced a godly vision and valuable focus. What am I doing with the burden God gave me?

[Thomas Everest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great narrative of what it looks like to strive for the enactment of justice, and the inevitable failure to do so on our own human power.

[Jules · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of my READ THE BIBLE WITHIN A YEAR challenge.

This is the fourth book of the Bible I’ve read today. I’ve definitely reached my limit, so back to reading a novel later this evening.

This book is written by Nehemiah in first-person, and covers the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one I just read on my own this time. I chose it after hearing someone sermonize from it during my first in-person assembly of the saints after the pandemic shut down. The Bible is just full of inspiring accounts of events and people of character for times of trial. Maybe it takes a time of trial for us to really recognize the value of what we've been given. Nehemiah was zealous for the Lord at an extremely difficult time. He was a man of prayer, a man who saw a need for repentance and doing right before God. God gave him tremendous opportunities when it could have seemed there were none, and he did a lot of good work that glorified the Lord.
(I usually read NKJV, not ESV, and the Bible's author is God, not Anonymous.)

[Loraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book of Nehemiah recounts the activity of the Persian Governor by the same name. Nehemiah was a worshiper of the Lord who responded to God's call to attend to the suffering and chaos in Jerusalem. He understands his mandate to restore Jerusalem's wall, increase its population, end economic exploitation, organize the temple bureaucracy, and expel foreigners. What finally emerges is a portrait of Nehemiah's faithfulness to God and his struggles with the community in Jerusalem.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars!

[Rachel Lu]

Can’t say things end up well for Nehemiah. Poor Nehemiah. He only wanted to #buildthewall. Familiar sounding?

[francee]

another one down ✔️

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

About the man that rebuilt Jerusalem during the Second Temple period.

[Andy Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nehemiah overlaps some with Ezra. Where Ezra leads the Jewish captives back to the promised land and rebuilds the Temple, Nehemiah comes years later on a burning mission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Cleverly, he scouts the city at night and plans his rebuild, knowing the Jews' enemies would oppose him. He divides the city's citizens into multiple teams, each with a section of the wall to rebuild.

Once they begin, their enemies mock them at first, then raise false accusations to the Persian Emperor (who happens to like Nehemiah). Then they plan violence against the Jews, but at Nehemiah's direction, they split into shifts, one on guard duty and the other building the wall.

Finally, they finish, in only fifty-three days. They celebrate the Feast of Trumpets with great joy. This is where the phrase, 'the joy of the Lord will be your strength' comes from.

The book ends with genealogies and some divorces of Gentile women, as the Jews rededicate themselves to God.

[Abi · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Jews carry on their persecution complex while hating all foreigners. Nehemiah ends by self-aggrandising and basically showing off like a three-year-old begging for God's approval. Of course this is all a good thing. The Jews continue to be rubbish at following God's rules but in the end it doesn't matter because they are the chosen people and inherently better than everyone. So many lovely lessons to be learned... I'm far enough into this now to have no good will left for the "culture of the time", it's simply awful stuff for millions of people to be basing their modern existences on.

[Eadbh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nehemiah sure did love to list things

[Tristany Corgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Nehemiah’s humility and passion for the Lord. If you need some Scripture to incorporate in your prayer time, read this book!

[Alexis Hewitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even trying our best isn't enough to save us, we'll always fall back to sin. Thank you, Jesus, for being the perfect fulfillment of the Law!

[Henrique Bagatim Júnior]

Neemias, antigo copeiro do rei, lamenta em saber através de viajantes que os judeus vivem na miseria em Jerusalém (Ne 1).
Neemias pede ao rei autorização para reconstruir os muros de Jerusalém, que lhe consentido(Ne 2).
É descrito os responsaveis pela reconstrução de cada parte do muro que contorna Jerusalem, e como alguns debocharam essa empreitada, mas sem efeito, pois “ o povo [judeu] trabalhava com coração bem disposto”. (Ne 3)
Com o avanço da reconstrução do muro de Jerusalém, os vizinhos começavam a organizar para impedir a finalização da obra.
Os construtores trabalham com uma mão na enxada e outra na espada. (Ne 4)
O povo se reuni para protestar contra os juros abusivos dos nobres, e Neemias se compadece do povo, e consegue o perdão da divida da população. E como governado viveu abaixo do seu direito para nao se utilizar do imposto sobre a população (Neemias 5)
Com o quase termino dos muros, os adversários ao redor fazem convites com o intuito de emboscada, na qual Neemias negasse de ir (Neemias 6).
Com o termino das muralhas com as colocaçao das portas, se organiza o sistema de entrada. Neemias propõem um recenseamento (de fazer censo), e descobre o livro do registro daqueles que tinham voltado do exílio, tudo descreve a genealogia dos mesmos(Neemias 7).
Esdras leu o livro da Lei para o povo e o explicou. Depois os sacerdotes e levitas se encontraram com ele pra estudar a lei.(Neemias 8).
O povo jejua e confessa seus pecados e os levitas narram a trajetória do inicio do povo judeu ate a narração ate aquele ponto da historia.(Nee 9)
A liderança afirma oralmente è assina um contrato por escrito em seguir a Lei de Deus.
Em ““que não dariam as suas filhas em casamento aos povos da terra, nem escolheriam as filhas deles para casar com os seus filhos;”, mantendo a pureza e unidade do povo, e obedecer o Sabath e os sacrifícios e cuidados com o Templo.
(Nee 10).
Os chefes moram em Jerusalem, e faz sorteio para 10% do povo se mudar pra a cidade santa, louvando que voluntariamente se muda pra la. Depois è apresentado a lista quem morava na cicada. Provavel que depois do muro feito, mudar o povo para ter força militar.
(Nee 11).
Terminado a construção do muro, os levitas abençoaram o muro e o povo, e os chefes subiram na muralha e formaram coro (Nee 12)
O autor narra o descumprimento do mandamento do sacerdote de deixar o estrangeiro na templo de Deus, o nao pagamento do dizimo aos levitas, a desobediência do sabath e o casamento com outros povos, e ele constantemente pedi a Deus que lembrei que ele tentou manter as ordens do Senhor. (Nee 13)

[Overlady · Rating 1 out of 5]

Basically the 2nd part of book 15. They used to be one book but got divided. Very short, 13 chapters.

It's about rebuilding walls. (Nehemiah - Israel official serving in the Persian government)
Should Jerusalem be without walls where everyone can come and join OR be divided by walls, because people outside of Jerusalem have no part in it.
The state of Jerusalem- 01:03. 02:17
rebuilding and fixing - chapter 3.
people not liking that - chapter 4
01:08-01:11 - jews not following words of moses, convinced its their punishment. being spread instead of together.
05:02-05:03 - This is sad. Risking your daughters, home and everything you own for food.
05:08 - Burnnn. savage.
07:63-64 - ooof. back then priesthood was based on family lineage. no lineage proof? out.
Generally chapter 7 is full of naming and counting.
09:02 - seperating from foreigners.
09:06-37 - began talking about things that god achieved
09:08 promised lands (note them)
chapter 10 long list of names of priests and other kinds of ppl. making a promise 10:30 (obeying laws) 10:31-40.. Hmmm. God laws.
ch 11 - more names and describing where who lives, eh.
ch 12 - even more names.
ch13 - hmmm. Sounds like very personal notes. reread. breaking laws 13:23-24,13:18...He was angry 13:25-28.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read Robert Alter's brilliant translation, but....

Nehemiah is the sort of book you are sorry ever made it into the Bible. Racist, exclusivist, colonialist, borderline genocidal.

The only book of the Bible that is autobiographical, which is great, but what a vile human being.

In the politics of 5th Century Judea, Nehemiah is on the exclusivist wing: towards the end, he gets anyone who wants to be a Jew to reject their Moabite and Ammonite family and wives and expel them from the city. Kind of the opposite message from Ruth. While it doesn't mention Philistines/Palestines by name, this book has no respect for the people of the land, and is quite prepared to enslave or massacre them if they don't agree to second class status.


There are long sections of names, which must have been great for families who wanted to see grandad in the Bible, but kind of boring for anyone else.


And what a self-righteous prig he is: kind of like Alan Partridge: luckily, I had the last laugh, and smote them all.

[Abe Gabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book of Nehemiah is full of efforts and prayers from Israelites who really want God’s forgiveness. They started to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple of God by Nehemiah’s order from Artaxerxes. His efforts with Ezra’s wisdom helped Israelites to ask God for mercy and forgiveness. The peak incident of the book is the moment that Ezra reads Torah for Israelites who live in Jerusalem. That’s when they understand the sins of their ancestors and their own sins, but thankfully they repent for their sins and also for their ancestors sins. But they irony of the book is that Israelites came back at it again after Nehemiah left Jerusalem and went back to Artaxerxes. Then he asks Artaxerxes for coming back to Jerusalem because he knows something wrong. When he gets home he sees that even levites have made so many sins and that’s exactly we know that Israelites can’t keep it good entirely, there should be someone among them who make sins.

[John Stanifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

6/3/22: Nehemiah is easily one of the most underrated books of the Bible.

Not only is it short, it's sandwiched between a lot of other books that feature bigger names and bigger events. It's basically just a bunch of people building a wall . . .

. . . or is it?

A wall, in and of itself, means nothing. It's what that wall is protecting that matters.

Nehemiah, among other things, is about recovery. Recovery of home. Recovery of faith. Recovery of hope and purpose and national unity in the aftermath of utter destruction.

What could be more relevant in our times than a message like that?

Nehemiah, as the cupbearer for the Persian King Artaxerxes, had done well for himself. There were few positions requiring more trust.

And yet, Nehemiah realized that he couldn't be happy while Jerusalem, the capital fortress of his home country, lay in ruins, its people scattered. After praying, he requested and was granted the permission of the king to return and begin the process of rebuilding Jerusalem's walls.

This was not an easy task. Not only was there the construction itself to deal with, but there were many hostile figures watching nearby and from a distance, doing everything they could to sabotage the work, including blackmail, death threats, political backstabbing, you name it.

Nehemiah and the exiles could have given up at any number of points along the way, but they kept at it, trusting that if God wanted them to finish building the wall, there was little their enemies could do to stop it.

One of the most obvious lessons that Nehemiah the book and Nehemiah the man teach us is the lesson of perseverance. Keep going, even when it seems like the slog will never end. Even when it all begins to seem hopeless.

But there is another lesson that is just as important. WHAT we do matters, yes, but so does HOW we do it.

"From the day King Artaxerxes appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah . . . I and my associates never ate from the food allotted to the governor."
~5:14

Instead of taking advantage of his position, Nehemiah became an example to the other nobles of Judah. He didn't claim to be "of the people" while stuffing his face with delicacies. He didn't just claim equality; he lived it. And his example helped carry the work of rebuilding the wall through to completion.

Finally, Nehemiah teaches us the importance of unity, of every person digging in and fulfilling their role. Chapter 3 contains a long list of the names of those who helped rebuild the wall and designates exactly which section of the city they were responsible for.

What if "Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah" (3:13) had slacked off and refused to finish the Valley Gate? What if Baruch son of Zabbai hadn't been so diligent in repairing the wall near the high priest's house (3:20)?

At best, more work for someone else. At worst, it would have left the city vulnerable to destruction all over again.

Perseverance. Integrity. Unity.

2,500 years later, Nehemiah and the exiles still speak to us, telling us that no project can be completed without these.

"How many are there among God's people who willingly desire to obey the divine commands but are hindered from being able to fulfill what they desire not only by lack of temporal means and by poverty but also by the examples of those who seem to be endowed with the garb of religion but who exact an immense tax and weight of worldly goods from those whom they claim to be in charge of while giving nothing for their eternal salvation . . . Would that some Nehemiah . . . might come in our own days and restrain our errors, kindle our breasts to love of the divine and strengthen our hands by turning them away from our own pleasures to establishing Christ's city!"
~Bede, "On Ezra and Nehemiah," 3.21

4/29/19: Although Nehemiah (the book) is arguably many different things, in my mind it is primarily a record of the leadership of Nehemiah (the man) over the exiles returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall after the Babylonian exile.

The challenges the exiles faced in rebuilding their city were numerous. While they were rebuilding the outer wall, they were more or less exposed to the elements (no doubt they had some sort of temporary housing, but it seems clear the city was under construction, with little or no permanent housing).

Even more so, there were human dangers from people who were willing to do just about anything to stop the city from being rebuilt. In one passage, we're told the people working on the wall held their swords in one hand and worked with the other (or at the very least, they kept a sword strapped to themselves within a moment's reach). In other passages, some worked and some stood guard. Either way you cut it, working on the reconstruction of Jerusalem would have been stressful: physically, emotionally . . . spiritually.

My favorite passage in Nehemiah is probably this one: "From the day King Artaxerxes appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah [twelve years] . . . I and my associates never ate from the food allotted to the governor." There's a bit more detail on what this meant in the following verses, but basically . . . the modern-day equivalent would be something like a member of Congress taking a voluntary pay cut, going on the same healthcare as the rest of us, and refusing to vote themselves raises.

If the written record is to be taken at face value, Nehemiah held himself to a far higher standard of leadership and integrity than we've often seen before his time or since. Most are perfectly willing to take advantage of the perks of their position, regardless of the hardship to others. Nehemiah, on the other hand, saw what the masses were going through and adjusted his own lifestyle accordingly.

If only the world saw such leadership more often.

[Sarah Kelnhofer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good News According to Nehemiah

God cared to set a special spot where His loved people dwelt.
He cared to cause His man to plot to serve Jerusalem well.
He gave this man His favor, and he traveled there to lead
the people who had stopped the work to finish their great deed.
His name provided courage for the people, and His laws
brought joy when they were understood. His mercies carried on.
Whereas He’d brought His people through the wilderness unscathed,
In this new time, He led their work until the wall was raised.
A towering height. It stood so wide that they could stand upon
The thing they’d built and praise the God whose care had made them strong.

[Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book of Nehemiah shows us the kind of significant impact one individual can have on a nation. Nehemiah served in secular offices, using his position to bring back to the Jews order, stability, and proper focus on God.

God uses all manner of people in all manner of places doing all manner of work. Do you feel you must be “in ministry” in order to serve God? Be encouraged; He is not limited by your vocation. In fact, God has placed you where you are for a purpose. Have this attitude about your work: “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father” (Colossians 3:17).

A recommended read.

[Ronald Spitzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The political side of the history of the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, God is working everything out and still the Jews want to fall away. It must have been hard on the alien women who were suddenly divorced from their husbands. I am wondering what the motive of the alien women was t0 even entice and then marry a Jew in the first place? Anyways God's plan was necessary, and the sin of the negatives was each person's responsibility when they knowingly ignored God's law. Anyways, this book is highly recommended as it is God's Word and primary history.

[Robert Munnings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of the kingdom of Judah when they returned from.captivity in Babylon. Keeping up with the many names of people is challenging as often multiple characters have the same name – it is much easier to do this when someone's father is mentioned along with their name. Still, this difficulty has the indirect benefit of encouraging cross referencing and deeper study of other ideas.

[Dmitry Verkhoturov]

Половина книги - поимённое перечисление строителей новых стен и ворот Иерусалима, вторая половина - публичное чтение законов, которое завершается тем, что народ кладёт на крыши домов ветки маслин, и считает, что согласно завету Моисея живёт «в кущах».
Оказывается, казуистика вокруг толкования слов Библии начинается в ней самой.

[Rachelle Bachiu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nehemiah was a man after God's heart. He rebuilt and organized everything so that what was destroyed was made right again. He taught the people to worship God alone and to put aside what took them away from doing that. Do not follow after other gods since it would bring harm to them. Cry out to God and repent so that your relationship can be restored. This applies today as it was in those days.