Nehemiah, who, next to Ezra, among all the men whose names have been handed down, had the most important share in the making of post-exilic Judaism, comes before us principally in certain fragments of autobiography imbedded in the canonical book that now bears his name. From these we learn that he was a Jew who had for some time held the post of cupbearer to Artaxerxes Longimanus ('King of Babylon,' xiii. 6), when, at the winter-palace of Shushan or Susa, towards the end of the year 445, he was surprised and saddened with unexpected tidings of the very unprosperous state of Jerusalem. How or when the events now for the first time reported to him had happened is not related, but the result had been to leave the city impoverished and defenceless. In the following spring (444), having obtained leave of absence from court for a limited time, and full powers to act as governor-extraordinary of Judæa, he set out without delay for the city of his fathers. The first necessity was to have the walls rebuilt; on his arrival no time was lost in taking the necessary steps, and the entire structure was completed, in the face of much opposition, within fifty-two days from its commencement (vi. 15). His next care was to reinforce the population of the depleted capital by drafts from the surrounding districts, and in particular, it would seem, to bring back to town the Levites who, through non-payment of dues, had been compelled to abandon service at the temple and give themselves to field labour throughout Judæa. Arrangements having been made for the regular support of the sacred offices, the feast of the dedication of the walls was now gone about with great pomp and joy. It is to be presumed that Nehemiah returned soon afterwards to his duties at the Persian court. We read (xiii. 6; cf. v. 14) of a second visit of Nehemiah to Jerusalem, twelve years afterwards, on which occasion he either initiated or renewed and completed certain reforms which henceforth were among the most characteristic features of post-exilic Judaism. One of the most marked of these was the crusade against mixed marriages and the separation of the Jews of pure descent from the 'mixed multitude' (xiii. 3). His cleansing of the temple, and expulsion of Tobiah from its precincts, ultimately led, it would seem, to the formation of the Samaritan community as a separate religious organisation. Another of Nehemiah's reforms was the stringent enforcement of a strict law of Sabbath observance. Others are to be found in the arrangements he made for the permanent maintenance of the temple worship and the support of the priests and Levites. In this connection, and as bearing on the criticism of the Pentateuch, Neh. x. 32 [33] ought to be compared with Ex. xxx. 13, Neh. x. 33 [34] with Ex. xxix. 38, 39, and Num. xxviii. 3, 4; also Neh. x. 37 [38] with Lev. xxvii. 32, and Neh. x. 36 [37] with Num. iii. 12, 13. How long Nehemiah's second visit to Jerusalem lasted we are not told, nor does authentic history record the time or place of his death. In the late apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees a spurious letter, purporting to date from the year 124 B.C., is preserved, where wonderful things are told as to Nehemiah's rekindling of the sacred altar-fire by means of 'naphthar,' and it is also said (2 Macc. ii. 13) that he founded a library in which he 'gathered together the acts of the kings, and the prophets, and of David, and the epistles of the kings concerning the holy gifts.' This last statement can only be used with great caution as bearing on the history of the canon.
The canonical Book of Nehemiah originally formed the closing chapters of the undivided work, Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah (see CHRONICLES), for which two of the most important original sources were the highly characteristic memoirs of Ezra and Nehemiah. These have been preserved, however, only in so fragmentary and dislocated form that it is exceedingly difficult now to gather from them the true order of the events to which they relate. The book in its present shape begins (Neh. i. 1-vii. 5) with Nehemiah's account of the building of the wall and the difficulties he had to encounter. The depleted state of the city had suggested to him a census of Judæa, and in this connection is given the list of those who had come up with Zerubbabel nearly a century before (vii. 6-73 a); this list, apart from very numerous and considerable textual variations, is identical with that in Ezra ii. The reader might now expect to find a corresponding census for Nehemiah's own time, but instead of this the next three chapters give an account of the reading of the law by Ezra, the celebration of the feast of tabernacles, the fast and repentance of the people, and the solemn sealing of the covenant to observe the law. These chapters are continuous with Ezra x. In Neh. xi. the interrupted narrative is resumed, or rather the place of narrative is taken by a series of name lists (inhabitants of Jerusalem, heads of houses in Judah and Benjamin, priests, and Levites). Chapter xii. 27-43 then gives Nehemiah's description of the dedication of the walls, and the rest of the book (xii. 44-xiii. 31) consists of the account of the reforms he effected in the spirit of the covenant as contained in x. 30-39. It would seem as if the editor of Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah had before him two distinct documents relating to Ezra and Nehemiah respectively, but that into the first of these between Ezra x. 44 and Neh. vii. 73 b (originally continuous) he judged it expedient to introduce from the second a section of Nehemiah's memoirs (Neh. i. 1-vii. 5) in order to prepare the way for the mention of Nehemiah in Neh. viii. 9 and x. 1 [2]. The work mentions Jaddua, who was high-priest in the days of Alexander the Great, and also Darius, the last of the Persian kings (xii. 22). It cannot, therefore, have been compiled earlier than 333 B.C., and probably it ought to be dated at least half a century later. In the gradual compilation of the Jewish canon, the Ezra-Nehemiah section of the larger book was first added to the list of authoritative writings, some account of the times subsequent to the captivity being plainly required. The need for a second history, parallel with that contained in the 'former prophets,' was not so obvious; Chronicles, therefore, the remaining portion of the work, was the very last to take a place among the Old Testament Scriptures.
For Nehemiah's place in the Old Testament dispensation, see the histories of Israel by Ewald, Stanley, Hitzig, Kuenen, Wellhausen, and others. Compare Reuss, Geschichte der heiligen Schriften Alten Testaments (2d ed. 1890); and Sayce, Introduction to Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (3d ed. 1889). The best commentary on the Book of Nehemiah is that of Bertheau-Ryssel (1887). See also Keil (Eng. trans. 1873), and Rawlinson in Speaker's Commentary. All three works contain references to earlier authorities.