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Difference between revisions of "Nehemiah"
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== Smith's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_74184" /> == | == Smith's Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_74184" /> == | ||
<p> '''Nehemi'ah.''' ''(consolation of the Lord).'' </p> <p> 1. Son of Hachaliah, and apparently of the tribe of Judah. All that we know certainly concerning him is contained in the book which bears his name. We first find him at Shushan, the winter residence of the kings of Persia, in high office as the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes Longimanus. </p> <p> In the twentieth year, of the king's reign, that is, [[B.C.]] 445, certain Jews arrived from Judea, and gave 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 to his mission. Having received his appointment as governor of Judea, he started upon his journey, being under promise to return to Persia within a given time. Nehemiah's great work was rebuilding, for the first time since their destruction by Nebuzar-adan, the walls of Jerusalem, and restoring that city to its former state and dignity as a fortified town. </p> <p> To this great object, therefore, Nehemiah directed his whole energies without an hour's unnecessary delay. In a wonderfully short time, the walls seemed to emerge from the heaps of burnt rubbish, end to encircle the city as in the days of old. It soon became apparent how wisely Nehemiah had acted in hastening on the work. On his very first arrival, as governor, Sanballat and Tobiah had given unequivocal proof of their mortification at his appointment; but when the restoration was seen to be rapidly progressing, their indignation knew no bounds. They made a great conspiracy to fall upon the builders, with an armed force and put a stop to the undertaking. The project was defeated by the vigilance and prudence of Nehemiah. </p> <p> Various stratagems were then resorted to get Nehemiah away from Jerusalem, and if possible to take his life; but that which most nearly succeeded was the attempt to bring him into suspicion with the king of Persia, as if he intended to set himself up as an independent king as soon as the walls were completed. The artful letter of Sanballat so-far wrought upon Artaxerxes, that he issued a decree stopping the work till further orders. If is probable that at the same time, he recalled Nehemiah, or perhaps his leave of absence had previously expired. </p> <p> But after a delay, perhaps of several years, he was permitted to return to Jerusalem land to crown his work, by repairing the Temple and dedicating the walls. During his government, Nehemiah firmly repressed the exactions of the nobles, and the usury of the rich, and rescued the poor Jews from spoliation and slavery. He refused to receive his lawful allowance as governor from the people, in consideration of their poverty, during the whole twelve years, that he was in office, but kept at his own charge a table for 150 Jews, at which any who returned from captivity were welcome. </p> <p> He made most careful provision for the maintenance of the ministering priests and Levites, and for the due and constant celebration of divine worship. He insisted upon the sanctity of the precincts of the Temple being preserved inviolable, and peremptorily, ejected the powerful Tobiah from one of the chambers, which Eliashib had assigned to him. </p> <p> With no less firmness and impartiality, he expelled from all sacred functions, those of the high priest's family, who had contracted heathen marriages, and rebuked and punished those of the common people, who had likewise intermarried with foreigners; and lastly, he provided for keeping holy, the | <p> '''Nehemi'ah.''' ''(consolation of the Lord).'' </p> <p> 1. Son of Hachaliah, and apparently of the tribe of Judah. All that we know certainly concerning him is contained in the book which bears his name. We first find him at Shushan, the winter residence of the kings of Persia, in high office as the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes Longimanus. </p> <p> In the twentieth year, of the king's reign, that is, [[B.C.]] 445, certain Jews arrived from Judea, and gave 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 to his mission. Having received his appointment as governor of Judea, he started upon his journey, being under promise to return to Persia within a given time. Nehemiah's great work was rebuilding, for the first time since their destruction by Nebuzar-adan, the walls of Jerusalem, and restoring that city to its former state and dignity as a fortified town. </p> <p> To this great object, therefore, Nehemiah directed his whole energies without an hour's unnecessary delay. In a wonderfully short time, the walls seemed to emerge from the heaps of burnt rubbish, end to encircle the city as in the days of old. It soon became apparent how wisely Nehemiah had acted in hastening on the work. On his very first arrival, as governor, Sanballat and Tobiah had given unequivocal proof of their mortification at his appointment; but when the restoration was seen to be rapidly progressing, their indignation knew no bounds. They made a great conspiracy to fall upon the builders, with an armed force and put a stop to the undertaking. The project was defeated by the vigilance and prudence of Nehemiah. </p> <p> Various stratagems were then resorted to get Nehemiah away from Jerusalem, and if possible to take his life; but that which most nearly succeeded was the attempt to bring him into suspicion with the king of Persia, as if he intended to set himself up as an independent king as soon as the walls were completed. The artful letter of Sanballat so-far wrought upon Artaxerxes, that he issued a decree stopping the work till further orders. If is probable that at the same time, he recalled Nehemiah, or perhaps his leave of absence had previously expired. </p> <p> But after a delay, perhaps of several years, he was permitted to return to Jerusalem land to crown his work, by repairing the Temple and dedicating the walls. During his government, Nehemiah firmly repressed the exactions of the nobles, and the usury of the rich, and rescued the poor Jews from spoliation and slavery. He refused to receive his lawful allowance as governor from the people, in consideration of their poverty, during the whole twelve years, that he was in office, but kept at his own charge a table for 150 Jews, at which any who returned from captivity were welcome. </p> <p> He made most careful provision for the maintenance of the ministering priests and Levites, and for the due and constant celebration of divine worship. He insisted upon the sanctity of the precincts of the Temple being preserved inviolable, and peremptorily, ejected the powerful Tobiah from one of the chambers, which Eliashib had assigned to him. </p> <p> With no less firmness and impartiality, he expelled from all sacred functions, those of the high priest's family, who had contracted heathen marriages, and rebuked and punished those of the common people, who had likewise intermarried with foreigners; and lastly, he provided for keeping holy, the [[Sabbath]] day, which was shamefully profaned, by many both Jews and foreign merchants, and by his resolute conduct, succeeded in repressing the lawless traffic on the day of rest. Beyond the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, to which Nehemiah's own narrative leads us, we have no account of him whatever. </p> <p> 2. One of the leaders, of the first expedition from Babylon to Jerusalem, under Zerabbabel. Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 7:7. </p> <p> 3. Son of Azbuk, and ruler of the half part of Beth-zur, who helped to repair the wall of Jerusalem. Nehemiah 3:18. </p> | ||
== People's Dictionary of the Bible <ref name="term_70561" /> == | == People's Dictionary of the Bible <ref name="term_70561" /> == | ||
<p> | <p> [[Nehemiah]] (''nç'he-mî'ah'' ), ''comforted of Jehovah.'' 1. [[A]] Jew of piety and zeal, born during the exile; but his family and tribe are not known. [[Raised]] to the office of cup-bearer to the Persian monarch, Nehemiah did not forget his desolated country, and was commissioned, at his own request, to visit Jerusalem and rebuild the city; which he accomplished under the most perplexing difficulties. The twentieth year of Artaxerxes, when Nehemiah went to Jerusalem, is usually fixed in b.c. 444; others, with some degree of probability, fix it to b.c. 451 Nehemiah 1:1; Nehemiah 7:2. Nehemiah was made ''tirshatha'' = "governor" of Judea, under Artaxerxes Longimanus. Nehemiah 8:9; Nehemiah 10:1; Nehemiah 12:26. He is also called the ''pechah,'' whence the modern ''pasha,'' a governor of a province. Nehemiah 12:26. Nehemiah was governor of Jerusalem twelve years, Nehemiah 5:14-19; and then returned to the Persian court, where he remained "certain days." Nehemiah 13:6. After nine or ten months he returned to Jerusalem, as governor, the second time; and corrected the abuses which had crept in during his absence. Nehemiah 13:7-31; Malachi 2:9-17; Malachi 3:6-12. He remained in power till the restoration of affairs in Jerusalem, probably about ten years; and died at an advanced age, probably in that city. </p> <p> Nehemiah, Book of, is the 16th in the order of the books of the Old Testament. It supplements the book of Ezra. It relates Nehemiah's great work of rebuilding Jerusalem and the reclamation of the customs and laws of Moses, which had fallen into disuse. The account of the walls and gates in chap. 3 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. Nehemiah is the author of the first seven chapters, and part of the twelfth and thirteenth. The change from the use of the first person to that of the third in the remaining chapters, and the fact that some names in the lists were not extant till after Nehemiah's death, point to some other hand as their author, 2. One who returned in the first expedition from Babylon under Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:2; Nehemiah 7:7. 3. The son of Azbuk, who helped to repair the gates of Jerusalem. Nehemiah 3:16. </p> | ||
== American Tract Society Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_16764" /> == | == American Tract Society Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_16764" /> == | ||
