The Book of Nehemiah, Chapter by Chapter

We want to take you through the book of Nehemiah chapter by chapter. If you have not read our study on Ezra we suggest you start there. Because Nehemiah picks up where Ezra leaves off. Ezra ended with the temple rebuilt and the people confessing their sin. But the walls of Jerusalem were still broken down. And the gates were still burned. Nehemiah tells us how they were rebuilt in 52 days. We will tell you what each chapter is about and how it fits into the message of the book. And how it points us to the one God that is revealed in Jesus Christ.

Nehemiah was not a priest or a prophet. He was the cupbearer to the king of Persia. A man with a good job in a palace. But when he heard that Jerusalem was in ruins he wept. Then he prayed. Then he went. He was a man of prayer and a man of action. He prayed short prayers in the middle of hard moments. He organized the people. He stood up to enemies outside and greed inside. And when the wall was done he stood next to Ezra while the word of God was read to the people.

There are three things we want you to take away from this study. Nehemiah is about prayer and work together. “Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch” (4:9). Nehemiah is about the word of God bringing revival. When the law was read the people wept and then rejoiced. “The joy of the LORD is your strength” (8:10). And Nehemiah is about the one God. “Thou, even thou, art LORD alone” (9:6). All of it points us to Jesus Christ. We will explain these points as we go through the book. But we want you to keep them in mind as we begin.

We told you in our Ezra study that Ezra and Nehemiah were one book in the Hebrew Bible. Nehemiah starts “The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah” (1:1). Most of the book is written by Nehemiah himself in the first person.¹ It reads like his own journal. And every so often he stops and prays right in the middle of the story. “Think upon me, my God, for good” (5:19).

The book has two halves. Rebuilding the walls (1–7). And rebuilding the people (8–13). We will break it down a little further than that. Nehemiah’s prayer and request (1–2). Building the wall (3–4). Trouble inside and out (5–6). The people who came back (7). The word read and revival (8–10). Jerusalem filled and the wall dedicated (11–12). And Nehemiah’s last reforms (13).

Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in the 20th year of Artaxerxes (2:1). That is about 13 years after Ezra came. He stayed 12 years as governor (5:14). Then he went back to Persia and later returned (13:6). The prophet Malachi probably preached in this same time. Just like in our other studies we will be using the KJV for our scripture quotations. And we will let you know where you can find the work of the scholars we reference.

Nehemiah 1: He Wept and Prayed

Nehemiah was in Shushan the palace. His brother Hanani came from Judah. Nehemiah asked about the Jews who escaped and about Jerusalem. Hanani said “The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire” (v.3). Nehemiah could have said that was too bad and gone back to work. Instead “I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven” (v.4).

Notice how he prayed. First he praised God for who he is. Great and terrible. Keeping covenant and mercy. Then he confessed. “Both I and my father’s house have sinned.” Just like Ezra he said we. Then he reminded God of his own word. “Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: But if ye turn unto me … yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there” (vv.8–9). That is Deuteronomy 30. Nehemiah prayed the promises of God back to him. The place where God chose to set his name was lying in ruins. Then he asked for one thing. “Grant him mercy in the sight of this man” (v.11). Then he tells us who this man was. “For I was the king’s cupbearer.”

Nehemiah 2: So I Prayed to the God of Heaven

Nehemiah heard the news in the month Chisleu (1:1). Now it was the month Nisan (v.1). About 4 months later. He had been praying all that time. One day he brought the king his wine and he was sad. You did not look sad in front of the king. The king asked why. Nehemiah was very afraid. But he told him. The city where his fathers were buried was in ruins. Then the king asked “For what dost thou make request?” (v.4). And Nehemiah said “So I prayed to the God of heaven.” He did not have time to fast or kneel. He prayed in his heart in a moment. Then he answered the king. Send me to Judah to build it.

The king said yes. Nehemiah asked for letters to the governors so he could pass through. And a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest for timber (vv.7–8). “And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me” (v.8). The same words Ezra used. The good hand of God.

Notice the year. The 20th year of Artaxerxes. Daniel prophesied that “from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times” (Daniel 9:25). Many believe this decree to Nehemiah was the starting point of Daniel’s 69 weeks of years that lead to the coming of Jesus Christ.² We will not go into the math here. But the wall was built in troublous times. Just like Daniel said.

When Nehemiah got there Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite “were grieved exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel” (v.10).³ Nehemiah went out at night and looked at the walls without telling anyone (vv.12–15). Then he called the leaders. “Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall” (v.17). He told them about the hand of God and what the king said. “And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work” (v.18). The enemies laughed. Nehemiah said “The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem” (v.20).

Nehemiah 3: Everyone Built

Chapter 3 is a list of who built what part of the wall.⁴ It starts with Eliashib the high priest and the priests building the sheep gate (v.1). The leaders went first. Then it goes all the way around the city gate by gate. The fish gate. The old gate. The valley gate. The dung gate. The gate of the fountain. The water gate. The horse gate. The east gate. And it ends back at the sheep gate (v.32). Goldsmiths built. Apothecaries built (v.8). Rulers built. Shallum built with his daughters (v.12). Many built “over against his house” (vv.10, 23, 28–30). Each one fixed the part of the wall closest to home.

Only one group is named for not working. “But their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord” (v.5). Everyone else had a part. Paul says the church is one body with many members. And each one has a part to do (1 Corinthians 12:12–27). Notice also that the wall starts and ends at the sheep gate. That is where the sheep were brought in for the sacrifices. Jesus healed a man at the pool “by the sheep market” (John 5:2). And Jesus said “I am the door of the sheep” (John 10:7).

Nehemiah 4: Pray and Watch

Sanballat was angry and mocked them. “What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? … will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?” (v.2). Tobiah said if a fox walked on their wall it would fall down (v.3). Nehemiah did not argue with them. He prayed. “Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head” (v.4). And they kept building. “So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work” (v.6).

When the enemies heard the walls were going up they planned to attack. “Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night” (v.9). Notice both. They prayed. And they set a watch. Prayer is not an excuse to do nothing. Jesus said “Watch and pray” (Matthew 26:41). Then the people of Judah got tired. “The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall” (v.10). Discouragement came from inside too.

Nehemiah stood up and told them “Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses” (v.14). Half the men worked and half held spears (v.16). “They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon” (v.17). A trowel in one hand and a sword in the other. Paul tells us to take “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). We build and we fight. A man stood by Nehemiah with a trumpet. Wherever they heard it they would gather. “Our God shall fight for us” (v.20). They did not even take off their clothes to sleep (v.23).

Nehemiah 5: Greed Among Brothers

Then the problem came from inside. The poor cried out. They had mortgaged their fields and vineyards to buy food in a famine. They borrowed money to pay the king’s tax. And now they had to sell their sons and daughters as slaves to their own Jewish brothers (vv.1–5). Nehemiah was very angry. He thought it over. Then he rebuked the nobles and rulers. “Ye exact usury, every one of his brother” (v.7). The law said not to charge interest to a poor brother (Exodus 22:25). “Ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?” (v.9). The enemies outside were watching how God’s people treated each other.

They agreed to give back the land and the money. Nehemiah made the priests make them swear. He shook out his lap and said may God shake out every man who does not keep this promise (v.13). “And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD.” Then Nehemiah tells us how he lived. For 12 years as governor he did not take the governor’s food allowance. The governors before him were a burden on the people. “But so did not I, because of the fear of God” (v.15). He fed 150 men at his table at his own cost (v.17). “Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people” (v.19). A leader who served instead of taking. Jesus said “whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:27).

Nehemiah 6: I Am Doing a Great Work

The wall was almost done. Only the doors were left. Sanballat and Geshem sent to Nehemiah. “Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono” (v.2). They wanted to hurt him. Nehemiah sent back this answer.

They asked 4 times. He gave the same answer 4 times (v.4). Then Sanballat sent an open letter. It said Nehemiah wanted to be king and was planning a rebellion (vv.6–7). Nehemiah said “There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart” (v.8). They were trying to make him afraid. “Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands” (v.9).

Then a man named Shemaiah said men were coming to kill Nehemiah that night. He told him to hide inside the temple and shut the doors (v.10). Nehemiah said “Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in” (v.11). Nehemiah was not a priest. If he went into the temple he would be breaking God’s law. Just like Uzziah did. Then he understood. “God had not sent him … for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him” (v.12). A false prophet. Even the prophetess Noadiah was trying to scare him (v.14).

“So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days” (v.15).⁵ 52 days. The wall had been broken down for over 140 years. And it was built in less than 2 months. “And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof … they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God” (v.16). Even the enemies knew it was God. But Tobiah still had friends among the nobles of Judah. They kept sending letters back and forth (vv.17–19).

Nehemiah 7: The City Was Large

Now that the wall was built Nehemiah set porters and singers and Levites in place. He put his brother Hanani and Hananiah the ruler of the palace over Jerusalem. “For he was a faithful man, and feared God above many” (v.2). The gates were not to be opened until the sun was hot (v.3). “Now the city was large and great: but the people were few therein, and the houses were not builded” (v.4). They had a wall. But they did not have enough people.

“And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy” (v.5). Nehemiah found the record of the people who came back first with Zerubbabel. The rest of the chapter is that list. It is almost the same as Ezra 2. The total was 42,360 (v.66). We covered this in our Ezra study. We will not go into it again but the same principles apply. God knows his people by name.

Nehemiah 8: The Joy of the LORD

“And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses” (v.1). Notice who asked. The people asked for the word. It was the first day of the 7th month. The feast of trumpets. Ezra brought the law before men and women and all who could understand. He read it from morning until midday. “And the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law” (v.3).

Ezra stood on a pulpit of wood. When he opened the book all the people stood up (v.5). “And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground” (v.6). Lifting up hands. Bowing. Faces to the ground. They worshipped when they heard the word. Paul said “I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands” (1 Timothy 2:8).

The Levites went through the crowd and explained what was read.⁶ They read it clearly. They gave the meaning. And they made sure the people understood. That is what preaching is supposed to do. Philip asked the Ethiopian “Understandest thou what thou readest?” and he said “How can I, except some man should guide me?” (Acts 8:30–31).

When the people understood they wept. They saw how far they were from what God said. But Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites told them “This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep” (v.9). “Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (v.10). The word showed them their sin. But the word also showed them God’s grace. And “all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them” (v.12).

The next day they found in the law that Israel was to dwell in booths during the feast of tabernacles. So they went out and got branches and made booths on their roofs and in the courts and in the streets (vv.15–16). “For since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so” (v.17). Not like this. “And there was very great gladness.” Ezra read the law every day of the feast (v.18). On the last day of this same feast Jesus stood and cried “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (John 7:37).

Nehemiah 9: Thou Art LORD Alone

On the 24th day of the month the people gathered with fasting and sackcloth and dirt on their heads. They separated themselves from strangers and stood and confessed their sins (vv.1–2). They read the law for a fourth part of the day. And they confessed and worshipped another fourth part (v.3). Then the Levites said “Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise” (v.5). Then they prayed. It is one of the longest prayers in the Bible.

“Thou, even thou, art LORD alone.” Not one of three. Not the first of many. Alone. And he alone made heaven and earth.⁷ Isaiah 44:24 says the same. “I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.” And the host of heaven worships him. The angels do not worship anyone else. Hebrews 1:6 tells us that when God brought his firstbegotten into the world he said “let all the angels of God worship him.” They worship Jesus because he is the LORD alone come in the flesh.

Then the prayer goes through the whole history of Israel.⁸ God chose Abram and changed his name (v.7). He saw their affliction in Egypt and divided the sea (vv.9–11). He came down on mount Sinai and gave them right judgments (v.13). Notice how they told the golden calf story. “They had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt” (v.18). We talked about this verse in our Exodus study. Nehemiah writes it in the singular. “Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness” (v.19). “Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them” (v.20). His spirit. Not someone else’s. God himself teaching them.

The prayer goes on. They took the land. They rebelled and killed the prophets (v.26). God gave them to their enemies. They cried and God sent saviours. Over and over. “Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets” (v.30). “Nevertheless for thy great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God” (v.31). The prayer ends with the truth. “Behold, we are servants this day” (v.36). They were back in the land. But they were still under a foreign king. “And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it” (v.38).

Nehemiah 10: We Will Not Forsake the House of Our God

The leaders and Levites and priests sealed the covenant. Nehemiah’s name is first (v.1). The rest of the people “entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law” (v.29). They promised specific things. They would not give their daughters to the people of the land or take their daughters for their sons (v.30). They would not buy and sell on the sabbath (v.31). They would let the land rest every 7th year and cancel debts (v.31). They would give a third of a shekel every year for the house of God (v.32). They would bring wood for the altar and the firstfruits and the firstborn and the tithes (vv.34–37). And they ended “we will not forsake the house of our God” (v.39). We will see in chapter 13 how well they kept it.

Nehemiah 11: Willing to Dwell in Jerusalem

Jerusalem needed people. The leaders lived there. Then the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every 10 to live in Jerusalem (v.1). “And the people blessed all the men, that willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem” (v.2). It was not easy to live in Jerusalem. It was the place the enemies would attack first. But some were willing. The rest of the chapter lists them and the towns where the others lived.

Nehemiah 12: The Joy of Jerusalem

The first part of the chapter lists the priests and Levites from the days of Zerubbabel and Jeshua down to Nehemiah’s day (vv.1–26). Then comes the dedication of the wall. They brought the Levites to Jerusalem “to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps” (v.27). The priests and Levites purified themselves and the people and the gates and the wall (v.30).

Then Nehemiah put two great companies of singers on the wall. One went one way around the wall. The other went the other way with Nehemiah behind it. Ezra led the first one (v.36). They met at the house of God (v.40). “Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced: for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off” (v.43). The same people who wept at the reading of the law now rejoiced so loud it could be heard far away. The wall that was a shame was now a stage for praise.

Nehemiah 13: Remember Me, O My God

The book should end with chapter 12. Everyone rejoicing. But it does not. Chapter 13 tells us what happened after. They read in the law that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God (v.1). We talked about this law in our Ruth study. So they separated the mixed multitude from Israel (v.3). Then Nehemiah went back to Persia in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes (v.6). He was gone for some time. When he came back things had fallen apart.

Eliashib the high priest had given Tobiah the Ammonite a room in the courts of the house of God (vv.4–5). The enemy of the work was living in the temple. “And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber” (v.8). Then he had the rooms cleansed and put the vessels of the house of God back. Jesus did the same thing. He made a whip and drove out the moneychangers from the temple. “Make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise” (John 2:16).

The Levites had not been paid. So they left the temple and went back to work their fields (v.10). Nehemiah said “Why is the house of God forsaken?” (v.11). They had promised in 10:39 that they would not forsake it. He brought them back. And Judah brought the tithes. Then he saw people treading winepresses on the sabbath and bringing in loads and selling food. Men of Tyre sold fish on the sabbath in Jerusalem (vv.15–16). Nehemiah said “What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?” (v.17). He shut the gates before the sabbath. When the merchants camped outside the wall he told them he would lay hands on them if they did it again (v.21).

Then he saw Jews who married women from Ashdod and Ammon and Moab. Half their children could not speak the language of the Jews (v.24). Nehemiah “contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair” (v.25). He reminded them of Solomon. “Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God … nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin” (v.26). Even the high priest’s grandson married Sanballat’s daughter. Nehemiah chased him away (v.28). The prophet Malachi preached against these same sins. Robbing God in tithes. Priests who were corrupt. Men who married “the daughter of a strange god” (Malachi 2:11; 3:8).⁹

Four times in this chapter Nehemiah prays “Remember me” (vv.14, 22, 29, 31). The last words of the book are “Remember me, O my God, for good” (v.31). Nehemiah did everything he could. He built the wall. He read the law. He made them sign a covenant. And as soon as he left they went right back. The law could show them their sin. A wall could keep out enemies. But neither could change a heart. They needed what Jeremiah promised. “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33).

We have gone through Nehemiah chapter by chapter. Here is what we can conclude. First Nehemiah is about prayer and work together. He prayed for 4 months before he spoke to the king. He prayed in a moment when the king asked what he wanted. He prayed when they were mocked. He prayed when they were threatened. But he also set a watch and gave every builder a sword. “Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night” (4:9). Faith does not sit still.

Second Nehemiah is about the word of God bringing revival. The people asked for the book. They stood when it was opened. The Levites gave the sense and caused them to understand. They wept. Then they rejoiced. “For the joy of the LORD is your strength” (8:10). They found the feast of tabernacles in the law and kept it like it had not been kept since Joshua. Revival came through the word.

Third Nehemiah is monotheistic. The Levites prayed “Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven … and the host of heaven worshippeth thee” (9:6). They blessed his “glorious name” (9:5). They said he gave “thy good spirit to instruct them” (9:20) and testified against them “by thy spirit in thy prophets” (9:30). One God. One name. His own Spirit.

And Nehemiah points us to Jesus Christ. Nehemiah left the king’s palace to come to a broken city. Jesus left the glory of heaven. “Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Nehemiah cleaned out the temple. So did Jesus. Many believe the decree Nehemiah received started the countdown to Messiah the Prince (Daniel 9:25). And Nehemiah’s last prayer was “Remember me.” A thief on a cross said almost the same thing to Jesus. “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (Luke 23:42). And Jesus said “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). The story of the Old Testament ends with Nehemiah. The people are back in the land. But they are still waiting. Waiting for the King. The next book goes back about 30 years. To a Jewish girl in the palace of Persia. That is where Esther begins.