Nehemiah

{{Short description|Central figure of the biblical Book of Nehemiah}}

{{Infobox saint|name=Nehemiah|image=Prophet nehemiah.jpg|caption=American Orthodox icon|titles=Prophet and Leader of the Israelites|feast_day=13 July (Catholic)
Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (Orthodox){{cite web | url=https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2006/12/17/609-prophet-nehemiah | title=Prophet Nehemiah }}|honored_in=Eastern Orthodox Church}}

File:Bible primer, Old Testament, for use in the primary department of Sunday schools (1919) (14779759334).jpg

Nehemiah ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|n|iː|ə|ˈ|m|aɪ|ə}}; {{langx|he|{{Script/Hebrew|נְחֶמְיָה}}}} Nəḥemyā, "Yah comforts"){{cite book|last1=Gesenius|first1=Friedrich Wilhelm|title=Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon|date=1846|publisher=Baker Book House; 7th edition, 1979|isbn=0801037360|page=[http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H5166&t=KJV 544]|url=http://www.tyndalearchive.com/tabs/Gesenius/|access-date=16 April 2015|archive-date=1 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201185220/http://www.tyndalearchive.com/TABS/Gesenius/|url-status=live}} is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period as the governor of Persian Judea under Artaxerxes I of Persia (465–424 BC).{{cite book|author1=James D. G. Dunn|author2=John William Rogerson|title=Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&pg=PA321|date=19 November 2003|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-3711-0|page=321|access-date=10 August 2019|archive-date=14 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201014083759/https://books.google.com/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&pg=PA321|url-status=live}}

The historicity of Nehemiah, his mission, and the Nehemiah Memoir have recently become very controversial in academic scholarship, with maximalists viewing it as a historical account and minimalists doubting whether Nehemiah existed.{{cite book

| last = Frevel

| first = Christian

| title = History of Ancient Israel

| publisher = SBL Press

| year = 2023

| isbn = 9781628375145

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Yvy6EAAAQBAJ

| page = 262

| quote = Since there are no extrabiblical testimonies for Nehemiah’s person or work, one is initially dependent on the biblical data as a source…There is no clarity regarding the background, the concrete form, or the exact dating of Nehemiah’s mission. For a long time the history of Nehemiah was reconstructed based on the assumption that Neh *1-7; *11-13 comprised an authentic so-called Nehemiah Memoir dating from the second half of the fifth century BCE. More recently, the historicity, background, and intention of these texts have become highly controversial. The maximalist position evaluates the details of the conflicts, Nehemiah’s mission, and the actions initiated by him to be, as far as possible, historical, which then is authentically witnessed by Nehemiah’s first-person report (e.g., Rainer Kessler, Titus Reinmuth, Ralf Rothenbusch). The minimalist position, on the other hand, doubts even the historicity of the person of Nehemiah. It does not see the Nehemiah Memoir as an authentic document but as a fictional account of later writers with theological intentions, who stylized Nehemiah as the model political leader. The Nehemiah Memoir is thus understood, as far as possible, to be an archetypal depiction without historical value (e.g., Joachim Becker, Erhard S. Gerstenberger).

}} He is considered a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, where he is commemorated on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers.

Book of Nehemiah narrative

File:Manuscript Leaf with Opening of The Book of Nehemias, from a Bible MET sf1998-538-1d1.jpg (French bible, {{Circa|1280–1300}})]]

File:The Rebuilding of Jerusalem.jpg

In the 20th year of Artaxerxes I (445 or 444 BC),On the date, see {{cite book|title=Ezra-Nehemiah: A Commentary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6rW7BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA140|date=1 January 1988|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0-664-22186-7|page=140}} Nehemiah was cup-bearer to the king.{{bibleverse||Nehemiah|1:11|HE}} 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,Nehemiah 1:1-2:5 around 13 years after Ezra's arrival in Jerusalem in ca. 458 BC.Davies, G. I., Introduction to the Pentateuch in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), [https://b-ok.org/dl/946961/8f5f43 The Oxford Bible Commentary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171122193211/http://b-ok.org/dl/946961/8f5f43 |date=22 November 2017 }}, p. 19 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.Nehemiah 2:6-9 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 presenceNehemiah 2:6 may indicate that he was a eunuch,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 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.John Barton, The Oxford Bible commentary, Oxford University Press, 2001

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.

File:108.Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls.jpg, 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

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.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. See [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Maccabees+2%3A13-15&version=DRA 2 Maccabees 2:13].

Book of Sirach

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

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.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.

Veneration

Nehemias is venerated in Catholic Church and Orthodox Church:

July 13 – commemoration (Catholic Church),{{Cite web |last=Zeno |title=Lexikoneintrag zu »Neemias (1)«. Vollständiges Heiligen-Lexikon, Band 4. Augsburg ... |url=http://www.zeno.org/Heiligenlexikon-1858/A/Neemias+(1) |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=www.zeno.org |language=de}}
Sunday of the Forefathers – movable holiday on Sunday that falls between December 11–17.{{Cite web |title=Святой Нееми́я, вождь иудейский |url=https://azbyka.ru/days/sv-neemija-vozhd-iudejskij |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=Православный Церковный календарь |language=ru}}

References

{{EBD|title=Nehemiah|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/easton/ebd2.html?term=Nehemiah}}

External links

[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=169&letter=N&search=Nehemiah "Nehemiah"] in The Jewish Encyclopedia
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090328163042/http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/nehemiah.asp "The Wall that Nehemiah Built"], Biblical Archaeology Review
Israel Finkelstein. [http://biblicalauthorship.blogspot.com/2011/07/jerusalem-in-persian-and-early.html "Jerusalem in the Persian (and Early Hellenistic) Period and the Wall of Nehemiah"]
Israel Finkelstein. [http://biblicalauthorship.blogspot.com/2011/08/archaeology-and-list-of-returnees-in.html "Archaeology and the List of Returnees in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah"]

Category:Ezra–Nehemiah

Category:5th-century BCE Jews

Category:Satraps of the Achaemenid Empire

Category:Cup-bearers

Category:Book of Numbers people

Category:Roman Catholic royal saints

Category:Eastern Orthodox royal saints

Category:Urban planners

Category:Israeli urban planners

Category:Prophets in the Hebrew Bible

Category:Christian saints from the Old Testament

Category:Persian saints