Nehemiah

• DatesNehemiah arrives in 445 BC; written about 400 BC (debated)
• GenreHistory
• AuthorshipAnonymous; draws on Nehemiah’s own memoir
• TimelineExile & Return (including the Second Temple period)
• Key textsNehemiah 1–2; Nehemiah 4; Nehemiah 6; Nehemiah 8–9
• Read the textNehemiah in the World English Bible
• Covered in classSession 3, Session 7, Session 12

What the sources say, and how sure we are

• The text says

  Much of the book is written in the first person. Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, and the wall is finished in fifty-two days.Neh 2:1; Neh 6:15

• Outside evidence

  The Elephantine papyri, from 407 BC, name Sanballat, governor of Samaria, and his sons. Nehemiah’s opponent Sanballat the Horonite is usually identified as the founder of the same family.Elephantine Papyri; Neh 2:10

• Debated

  Ezra and Nehemiah were one book in Jewish tradition. Scholars debate the order of Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s missions and how the two books overlap.