This is the last of the history books in the Old Testament. We saw in Ezra that while Cyrus had issued a decree permitting peoples to return to their homelands (539 BC), only some 50,000 Jews had actually done so. Most had stayed behind and many were prospering in Persia. Nehemiah's family was one of these.
Nehemiah had an influential position, but when he heard of the state of things in Jerusalem his heart was touched and he wanted to return to Jerusalem to help change things.
When he arrived in Jerusalem he was faced with the problems. The state of the people themselves, and the opposition from outside. Ie similar to the problems every church leader encounters!
Nehemiah took practical and spiritual action in order to change the situation and the book is a record of how he went about this.
The book was written by Nehemiah himself.
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