Nehemiah

Nehemiah presents itself as a firsthand account by the titular character of his calling and work to rebuild Jerusalem. Some think some or all of Nehemiah may have been written by Ezra, who is attributed authorship of I Chronicles, II Chronicles and Ezra. Though divided into four books in Christian editions of the Old Testament, Jewish traditions present these as one or two books.

Nehemiah was cupbearer to Persian king Artaxerxes. This must have been a high and trusted position. He was deemed trustworthy enough to serve the king food and set in on the intimate dealings of the king’s court. He was also considered competent to be governor of a province of the vast Persian Empire.

Around the middle of Artaxerxes’ reign, Nehemiah was moved by news of the conditions of Jerusalem and his Jewish brethren there. Though Jewish people were being permitted to return to their ancestral homeland, the fortifications of Jerusalem had not been rebuilt and they were subject to the harassment of surrounding nations. Artaxerxes responded favorably to Nehemiah’s request to do something about the problem, and appointed him governor.

Nehemiah was a shrewd governor. He had to lead Jewish people who were disorganized and disheartened after decades of captivity in foreign lands. He had to manage the clash in cultures between the descendants of those who had been left in the land and those who were returning after being raised in alien cultures. He oversaw a renaissance of Jewish culture and religion with the aid of the priest Ezra and the rediscovery of scriptures in the remains of Solomon’s temple. He fended off jealous neighbors, some of them Persian governors who must have had some clout in Artaxerxes’ court. He also retained the favor of his king, who repeatedly reasserted his desire to rebuild Jerusalem, and his command that the governors of the region provide material support for that purpose.

The book suggests that Nehemiah’s success as a political leader was due to his moral leadership. He desired to set an example for the people. He also expected other leaders to do the same. This led to a moral renewal of the populace. This fits the model in I & II Chronicles, in which the uprightness or degeneracy of the king lead to the same in the people.

This also suggests another point: God is behind it all. God stirred Nehemiah’s heart, and Artaxerxes’, to help a people chastened by the exile to turn their hearts back to the God who called them to be His people.

Books of the Bible that are closely related to Nehemiah are

I Chronicles

II Chronicles

Ezra

Nehemiah. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Esther

Esther is one of the most famous people from the Old Testament. The story of her life, as told in the Biblical book bearing her name, has been adapted to the stage and film. Joan Collins played her in Esther and the King (1960); Tiffany Dupont played her in One Night with the King (2006) based on the novel by Tommy Tenney. In 2013, Jen Lilley played the role in The Book of Esther.

It is easy to see why the book has captured the interest of storytellers in several media. It has court intrigues, romance, poetic justice, a beauty pageant, culture clashes, political and religious oppression, just to name a few elements a storyteller or reader of almost any persuasion might latch onto. You can bring many viewpoints to this book and carry many interpretations from it, though the book also provides its own interpretation.

Esther takes place during the reign of the Persian King Ahasuerus (generally identified as Xerxes I). He puts aside his wife, Queen Vashti, and his princes arrange an elaborate campaign to find a replacement. Esther is forcibly recruited into the competition. Esther is a Jewish woman, a ward of her relative Mordecai, who serves in Ahasuerus’ court. He secretly advises her, her humility and kindness win her favor in with the head caretaker of the harem, and her beauty wins the king. Meanwhile, Haman, a high official who has come to hate Mordecai, hatches a plan to destroy the Jewish people through the empire. Esther risks her life to appeal to the king and thwart Haman’s plan. This summary hardly does justice to the story, though even in the Bible the style is plain.

These events are the genesis of the Jewish festival of Purim. This is where the internal interpretation of the book comes in. Esther is celebrated for her courage to act. In addition to that, the hand of God, who is barely mentioned in the book, is seen throughout the events. He puts someone in place to rescue the Jewish captives from their enemies. He elevates Esther and Mordecai to give them protection while they are under the rule of foreigners. Though the people were threatened with genocide, God used the situation to preserve them and possibly even set up their eventual return to their homeland.

The historical books of the Bible are generally written in a plain, narrative style, though it occasionally records songs or other literary forms. Esther stands out in that it is almost novelistic. The conflict escalates to a climax followed by a brief denouement. This makes it a very engaging book.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Deal with It! by Paula White

Second Kings

Esther. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Daniel

Daniel was a prophet during the Babylonian captivity. He was carried to Babylon as a youth and eventually rose to high office in the courts of Nebachudnezzar and other rulers.

When the Babylonians occupied Israel and Judah, they carried forcibly resettled the aristocratic, wealthy and others they deemed valuable. Daniel was among these. He was brought to Babylon and trained to serve in the court of the king.

Daniel rose to prominence early on. He had a passion to serve God. He showed this by asking to be fed a diet of vegetables rather that the food from the kings table. This was probably food from sacrifices to Babylonian gods (though it may have just not been kosher). He must have been persuasive, for he prevailed. Because he and his friends were very healthy on this diet, he gained a reputation for wisdom.

His reputation grew when God began to show him interpretations of Nebachudnezzar’s dreams. In one of these dreams, Daniel saw the rise and fall of empires from the Babylonians to the time of Christ (the Roman Empire with the Persian and Greek empires in between). Much of his prophecies deal with the kingdoms to come from his own time to the first coming of Christ and the fate of Israel in that time.

The most famous story of Daniel is his survival of a night in the lion’s den. He was cast into it as a form of capital punishment for his devotion to God. This book also contains the story of Daniel’s friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego who were cast into the fire of a hot furnace for refusing to worship and idol, a statue in the image of Nebachunezzar. God brought them through unharmed.

Daniel is also mentioned in the book of Ezekiel.

Daniel. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982.