Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
Chapter 3 begins by listing the people who repaired the specific sections of Jerusalem’s walls. Meanwhile, the local nations belittle the project, but Nehemiah prays for their downfall.

II. Photo
The building process was a communal effort: “Next to them, Shallum son of Hallohesh, chief of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired — he and his daughters.” (v. 12)

III. Important Verses
v. 1: Then Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests set to and rebuilt the Sheep Gate; they consecrated it and set up its doors, consecrating it as far as the Hundred’s Tower, as far as the Tower of Hananel.
v. 12: Next to them, Shallum son of Hallohesh, chief of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired — he and his daughters.
vv. 33-35: When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, it angered him, and he was extremely vexed. He mocked the Jews, saying in the presence of his brothers and the Samarian force, “What are the miserable Jews doing? Will they restore, offer sacrifice, and finish one day? Can they revive those stones out of the dust heaps, burned as they are?” Tobiah the Ammonite, alongside him, said, “That stone wall they are building — if a fox climbed it he would breach it!”

IV. Outline
1-32. The builders of the wall are listed with their specific areas of construction
33-35. The opposition’s point of view
37-38. Imprecation
39. Summary

V. Comment
Chapter 3 begins by listing the people who worked on the specific sections of Jerusalem’s walls (vv. 1-32). While there is no mention of the significance of this list, its utter prolixity (32 verses) evinces the project’s importance. Williamson writes: “This undoubtedly testifies to a remarkable feat of organization and leadership, though nothing is said directly about that in the text. It is emphasized, nevertheless, by the evidence presented above, which suggests that there may have been considerable strains between those of different political and religious outlook among the people who worked on the wall. The very length and detail of the list demonstrates the evident willingness unselfishly to cooperate which each individual and group displayed. Without a determination to submit personal pride and ambition to the larger task, the work could never have been accomplished so swiftly and successfully. As will be seen in a moment, this is not by any means to overlook the many points which differentiate one group from another. It is simply to observe that without a common commitment to the specific task in hand, the result would have been a self-defeating chaos…” (211)

The historical nature of the list reveals much about the dedication of the builders. Williamson writes: “The list speaks eloquently of the diversity of interest of those engaged in the work. We may note, for instance, that some participated on the basis of family association, others as individuals, some in district associations, some on the basis of their standing or position within the community, and yet others because of professional association. Moreover, it seems that Nehemiah allowed each group to be responsible, so far as possible, for the section of wall in which they had the greatest vested interest—because it protected their home, place of business, or the like.” (212)

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Williamson, H.G.M. Ezra, Nehemiah Word Biblical Commentary vol. 16 (Waco, Texas : Word Books, 1985).
Photo taken from http://www.state.gov/cms_images/pg5_girl_bricks.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
King Artaxerxes grants Nehemiah the right to travel to Jerusalem and rebuild its walls. Nehemiah arrives, assays the city’s walls, and convinces his brethren to shore up the breaches in those walls.

II. Photo
Nehemiah embarks on a covert operation: “I went out by the Valley Gate, at night, toward the Jackals’ Spring and the Dung Gate; and I surveyed the walls of Jerusalem that were breached… The prefects knew nothing of where I had gone or what I had done…” (vv. 13, 16)

III. Important Verses
vv. 2-5: The king said to me, “How is it that you look bad, though you are not ill? It must be bad thoughts.” I was very frightened, but I answered the king, “May the king live forever! How should I not look bad when the city of the graveyard of my ancestors lies in ruins, and its gates have been consumed by fire?” The king said to me, “What is your request?” With a prayer to the God of Heaven, I answered the king, “If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ graves, to rebuild it.”
vv. 19-20: When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard, they mocked us and held us in contempt and said, “What is this that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” I said to them in reply, “The God of Heaven will grant us success, and we, His servants, will start building. But you have no share or claim or stake in Jerusalem!”

IV. Outline
1-9. Nehemiah is sent to Jerusalem to improve the situation
10. Opposition
11-16. Nehemiah reconnoiters the city’s walls
17-18. Nehemiah convinces the Jews to rebuild the city walls
19-20. Resolve in the face of opposition

V. Comment
Collins discusses the nature of the opposition that Nehemiah faced: “Nehemiah’s great preoccupation on his first visit to Jerusalem was the rebuilding of the city walls. He did not announce publicly his intention of rebuilding. He inspected the walls by night and tried to present his adversaries with a fait accompli. The opposition was led by ‘Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab’ (2:19). Sanballat is known from the Elephantine papyri as governor of Samaria. The name Tobiah is associated with the powerful family of the Tobiads, who lived in Transjordan (modern Jordan) and who were still a powerful force in Judean politics in the second century B.C.E…. Sanballat, Tobiah, and their friends express concern that Nehemiah was rebelling against the king (2:19). Later they claimed that Nehemiah wanted to make himself king (6:6-7). Significantly, however, they are not said to complain to the Persian court. They appear to have accepted Nehemiah’s royal authorization. Instead the opponents only ridiculed the endeavor (4:1-3) and allegedly set a trap for Nehemiah, which he was smart enough to resist (6:1-9). These people were clearly involved in a power struggle with Nehemiah. His actions can be understood as an attempt to make Jerusalem independent of Samaria and Ammon, the home turf of Sanballat and Tobiah. He was not attempting to achieve independence from Persia. On the contrary, the distant Persian monarch was the source of his authority, bu which he hoped to free Judah from the influence of its immediate neighbors.” (439)

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Collins, John J. Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004).
Photo taken from http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/E60B8B88-E62D-4819-B2BB-3BD4D746F30D/0/chp_shadow.jpg

Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
Nehemiah is informed of Jerusalem’s desperate condition. He confesses the sins of the people and begs God for mercy.

II. Photo
Nehemiah hears about the state of affairs in Jerusalem: “Jerusalem’s wall is full of breaches, and its gates have been destroyed by fire.” (v. 3)

III. Important Verses
vv. 2-3: Hanani, one of my brothers, together with some men of Judah, arrived, and I asked them about the Jews, the remnant who had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. They replied, “The survivors who have survived the captivity there in the province are in dire trouble and disgrace; Jerusalem’s wall is full of breaches, and its gates have been destroyed by fire.”
vv. 8-9: [God,} Be mindful of the promise You gave to Your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples; but if you turn back to Me, faithfully keep My commandments, even if your dispersed are at the ends of the earth, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I have chosen to establish My name.’

IV. Outline
1a. Introduction
1b-3. Nehemiah is informed of Jerusalem’s dire situation
4-11a. Nehemiah’s prayer
11b. Nehemiah’s unique position

V. Comment
The book of Nehemiah begins with a prayer on behalf of Jerusalem. One might ask, Is the book of Nehemiah and individual book of the Hebrew Bible, or is it an inseparable part of the book called “Ezrah-Nehemiah.” Collins writes: “The books of Ezra and Nehemiah were originally counted as one book, under the name of Ezra, and were still regarded as a unit in Hebrew Bibles down through the Middle Ages. In the Greek tradition, they were distinguished as two books from the third century C.E., and in the Latin from the translation of Jerome’s Vulgate in the fourth century.” (428) Today the two books are still classified as one book in the Hebrew Bible, but are often given their own headings.

In regards to the date and setting of the work, Klein writes: “Because Ezra and Nehemiah recount the rebuilding of the Temple and the work of Ezra and Nehemiah after their return to Judah, it is universally granted that the books were composed in Palestine. The date for the present shape of the books must be later than the events they recount: the dedication of the Temple in 515 B.C.E., the return of Ezra in 458 B.C.E. (or 398 B.C.E.; see H.2), and the governorship of Nehemiah, 445–433 B.C.E., and his second visit to Jerusalem, no later than 424 B.C.E. How many years elapsed after these dates until the basic shape of the books evolved depends on the compositional theory presupposed. Among recent commentators, Williamson (Ezra Nehemiah WBC, xxxvi) dates the final form of the books to about 300; Clines (Ezra Nehemiah Esther NCBC, 13–14) puts it “within a few decades” of the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, or about 400 B.C.E. Japhet (1982: 89, n. 55), who notes that the last king mentioned (in 12:26) is Darius II (423–404) or Artaxerxes II (403–359), if Ezra came during his reign, and who believes that the last high priest mentioned, Jaddua, served under these Persian kings, assigns the book to the first quarter of the 4th century.” (“Ezra-Nehemiah, Books of” in Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 2, pp. 731-742)

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)
Collins, John J. Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004).

Klein, Ralph W. “Ezra-Nehemiah, Books of” in Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 2, pp. 731-742.
Photo taken from http://www.nd.edu/~daune/near_east_arch/gamla/gamla_breachedwall2.jpg