NEHEMIAH, BOOK OF (nehe-mrah bo—ok Civ), the sixteenth in the order of books in the Old Testament.
(1) Name. It bears the title Nchcmiah's Words, and was anciently connected with Ezra, as if it formed part of the same work (Eichhorn, Einleitung, 627). This connection is still cated by its first words, 'And it came to pass.' It arose, doubtless, from the fact that Nehemiah is a sort of continuation of Ezra. (See EzRA.) (2) Contents. The work can scarcely he called a history of Nehemiah and his times. It is rather a collection of notices of some important transactions that happened during the first year of his .government, with a few scraps from his later history. The contents appear to be arranged in chronological order, with the exception per haps of ch. xii :27-43, where thc account of the dedication of the wall seems out of its proper place ; we might expect it rather after ch. vii :1-4, where the completion of the wall is mentioned.
-The book is concerned with Nehemiah's great work of rebuilding Jerusalem and the reclama tion of the customs and laws of Moses, which had fallen into desuetude. It gives the whole history of this movement in the circumstances which led to it, the elements of opposition which threatened to defeat it, and the complete success which crowned it. Incidentally we are admitted to a glance at the condition, moral and political, of the Jews, at the growing bitterness between them and the Samaritans, and at some scenes in Assyrian life. The account of the walls and gates in ch. iii is among the most valuable documents for the settlement of the topography of ancient Jerusalem. The registers and lists of names are also of value.
(3) Date. As to the date of the book, it is not likely that it came from Nehemiah's hand till near the close of his life. Certainly it could not have been all written before the expulsion of the priest, recorded in ch. xiii:23-29, which took place about the year B. C. 413.
(4) Authorship. While the book, as a whole, is considered to have come from Nehemiah, it consists in part of compilation. He doubtless wrote the greater part himself, but some portions he evidently took from other works. It is allowed by all that he is, in the strictest sense, the author of the narrative from ch. i to ch. vii :5 (Haver
nick, Einleitung, 3o4). The account in ch. vii: 6-73 is avowedly compiled, for he says in ver. 5, 'I found a register,' etc. This register we actually find also in Ezra ii :1-7o; hence it might be thought that our author borrowed this part from Ezra; but it is more likely that they both copied from public documents, such as 'the book of the chron icles,' mentioned in Nell. xii :23.
Chapters viii-x were probably not written by Nehemiah, since the narrative respecting him is in the third person (ch. viii :9 ; x :r), and not in the first as usual (ch. ii:9-2o). Havernick, indeed. (Einleitung, :3o5-308) makes it appear, from the contents and style, that Ezra was the writer of this portion. The remaining chapters (xi-xiii) also exhibit some marks of compilation (ch. xii: 26, 47) ; but there are, on the contrary, clear proofs of Nehemiali's own authorship in ch. xii: 27-43, and in ch. xiii :6-31; and hence Havernick thinks he wrote the whole except ch. xii:r-26, which he took front `the book of the chronicles,' mentioned in verse 23.
The mention of Jaddua as a high-priest, in ch. xii :it, 22, has occasioned much perplexity. This Jaddua appears to have been in office in B. C. 332, when Alexander the Great came to Jerusalem ( Joseph. Antiq. xi :8) ; how then could he be named by Nehemiah ? The common, and perhaps the readiest, escape from this difficulty is to regard the naming of Jaddua as an addition by a later hand. Yet it is just credible that Nehemiah wrote it, if we bear in mind that Ile lived to be an old man, so as possibly to see the year B. C. 37o; and if we further suppose that Jaddua had at that time en tered on his office. so that he filled it for about forty years, i. c. till B. C. 332. In support of this conjecture, see especially Havernick's Einleitung, ii :32o-324. B. D.
L. W. Batten, in Hastings' Bib. Diet., says: "There can be little doubt that the final editor of Ezra-Nehemiah was the author of the Book of Chronicles. He gathered material and prepared a history written according to his own point of view from Adam to Nehemiah. His work was one long piece, Ezra-Nehemiah being a part of Chronicles. But the latter had a considerable struggle to get into the canon."