Book of Nehemiah

In the Book of Nehemiah, as in the Book of Ezra, the writing is clearly and certainly not all by the same hand. By far the most important portion is the work of Nehemiah, but other portions are either extracts from various chronicles and registers or supplementary narrative and reflections, some apparently by Ezra, others, perhaps, the worked of the same person who inserted the later genealogical extracts from the public chronicles.

The main history contained in the Book of Nehemiah covers about twelve years, from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes. The whole narrative gives us a graphic and interesting account of the state of Jerusalem and the returned captives in the writer's times, and incidentally, of the nature of the Persian government and the condition of its remote provinces.

Nehemiah, the book's central figure, was the son of Hachaliah, and apparently of the tribe of Judah. We first find him at Shushan, in high office as the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes Longimanus. In the twentieth year of the king's reign, certain Jews arrived from Judea, bringing Nehemiah a deplorable account of the state of Jerusalem. He immediately conceived the idea of going to Jerusalem to endeavor to better their state and obtained the king's consent for this mission.

Nehemiah's great work was rebuilding, for the first time since their destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, the walls of Jerusalem, and restoring that city to its former state and dignity as a fortified town. Suspicions of the king and sabotage by others halted the work for several years, but eventually the walls and temple at Jerusalem were repaired and rededicated, and the observation for keeping the holy Sabbath was reintroduced and enforced.

These pictures from the Book of Nehemiah were taken from several old Bible books. You're welcomed to use these Book of Nehemiah illustrations in your art projects. Click on the Book of Nehemiah drawings below to see more details about saving a free image or about purchasing the images at a higher resolution.