Nehemiah THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA 210

and battles ; but the classical historians give no high idea of the administrative capacity of Artaxerxes II. Further, there appears to be some contradiction between the statements that he went to Jerusalem on a visit for a strictly limited ti!I}e (ii. 6), and that he went to Judea as "pel;lah" and held office for twelve years (v. 14 and xiii. 6); but this may also be due to the fragmentary nature of his memoirs.

From Nehemiah's own account of his conduct it may be gathered that he was an adroit politician, a wary leader and soldier, and a skilful organizer, though not free from pedantry and fanaticism; and

' it is probable that Ben Sira, in naming him after Zerubbabel as one of those to whom the Jews owed their restoration and reconstitution as a nation, only does him'. justice. For without walls Jerusalem could not, according to ancient ideas, have ranked as a place of importance, and the measure, of which there is an obscure mention (xi. 1), of obtaining a resident population fitted for its size, by drawing lots, would also do much toward restoring its former grandeur. His name was, however, not popular with the tradition which has come down in the Tal-muds; but in that which is preserved in the Second Book of Maccabees many services are attributed to him of which the Bible knows nothing. Among these are the miraculous production of fire, cele-brated by a feast called "N aphthar" (II Mace. i. 36); the compilation of a sacred library (ib. ii. 13); and even the building of the Temple and the altar (ib. verse 18). These statements are not worthy of credit; and it is evident that Nehemiah's personality was overshadowed by that of Ezra, whose services, though less brilliant, were more lasting.

E. G. H. D. s. JH. --In Rabbinical Literature: Nehemiah is identified in one haggadah with Zerubbabel, the lat-ter name being considered an epithet of Nehemiah and as indicating that he was born at Babylon (" Zera'+Babel"; Sanh. 38a). With Ezra, he marks the spring-time in the national history of Judaism (Cant. R. ii. 12). A certain mishnah is declared by the Rabbis to have originated in the school of Nehemiah (Shab. 123b). Still, Nehemiah is blamed by the Rabbis for his seemingly boastful expression, "Think upon me, my God, for good" (Neh. v. 19, xiii. 31), and for his disparagement of his prede-cessors (ib. v. 15), among whom was Daniel. The Rabbis thfok that these two faults were the reason that .this book is not mentioned under its own name, but forms part of the Book of Ezra (Sanh. 93b). According to B. B. 15a Nehemiah completed the Book of ChronlCies, which was written by Ezra.

w. B. JH. SEL. NEHEMIAH, BOOK OF : A work ascribed to

Nehemiah, but bearing ih some canons the title Esdras II. or Esdras III., having been attributed to Ezra on the ground that Nehemiah's self-assertion deserved some punishment (Sanh. 93b), or because, having ordinarily been written on the same scroll with the Book of Ezra, it came to be regarded as an appendix to it. The book consists ostensibly (i. 1) of the memoirs of Nehemiah, compiled, or at any rate completed, toward the close of his life, since he al-ludes to a second visit to Jerusalem "at the end of days" (xiii. 6, A. V. margin), which must mean a

long time after the first. In xiii. 28 he speaks pf a grandson (comp. xii. 10, 11) of the high priest Elia-shib as being of II}ature?ears; whence it appear! that.the latest event mentioned in the book, the high-priesthood of Jaddua, contemporary of Alexande1 the Great (xii. 11, 22), may have fallen within Ne-hemiah's time. The redaction of his memoirs cc-curred probably later than 360 n.c., but how much later can not easily be determined. The first person is employed in ch. i.-vii. 5, xii. 31-42, xiii. 6 et seq. Sometimes, however, Nehemiah prefers to speak in the name of the community (ii. 19, iii. 33-38, x.), and in some places he himself is spoken of in the third person, either with the title "tirshatha" (viii. 9, x. 2) or "pel;lah" (xii. 26, claimed by him in v. 14; A. V. "governor"), or without tit.le (xii. 47). The style of these last passages implies some-what that Nehemiah is not the writer, especially that of the third and fourth: "in the days of Nehe-miah the governor, and of Ezra"; "in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah." The portions of the book in which the first person is used are marked by repeated praye~s for recognition of the author's services, and imprecations on his ene-mies (iii. 36, 67; v. 19; vi. 13; xiii. 14, 22, 29, 31), which may be taken as chaiacteristic of an individ-ual's style; and indeed the identity of the traits of character which are manifested by the writer of the opening and closing chapters can not escape notice. Moreover, the author's enemies, Sanballat and Tobiah, figure in both parts.

The unity of the book is marred by the insertion of a variety of documents, chiefly lists of names. These are the following~ (1) Ch. iii. 1-32, a list of persons who helped to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. This document agrees with ch. xii. in exhibiting re-

markable acquaintance with the to-Documents pography of Jerusalem; and it also Inserted. gives some curious details about ~he

persons who took part in the work, some of whose names figure in other contexts. It is, however, observable that Eliashib is said to have been high priest at the time of Nehemiah's first visit; and the same is suggested by xiii. 7, whereas in Ezra x. 6 it is suggested that Eliashib's grandson (Neh. xii. 11, 12) was in office thirteen years before Nehemiah came. If the list of high priests in ch. xii. be correct, it is clear that Eliashib could not have been in office in Nehemiah's time; and this fact discredits the historical character of the document, at any rate to a certain->extent; for the possibility of Nehemiah, at a great distance from the scene of the events, having mistaken some of the details, can not be quite excluded. The account of the building given in this chapter represents it as more elabo-rate and national than would be imagined from iii. 33-38.

(2) Oh. vii. 6-73, a list of the exiles who returned with Zerubbabel. This is a document which Nehe-miah says he discovered (vii. 5); and it is embod-ied iu the narrative of Ezra also (Ezra ii.). The difference between the copies is such as can be at-tributed to the not overstrict ideas of accuracy cur-rent in antiquity.. Some difficulty is occasioned by the fact that the narrative which deals with the days of Zerubbabel is continued without break into a

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211 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA Nehemiah

scene which ostensibly took place in Nehemiah's own time; in other words, though the document is introduced as extraneous, it is not clear at what point it ends. Indeed, the purpose for which Nehe-miah says he gathered the people, namely, to dis-covei: their genealogies (vii. 5), does not appear to have been realized, but instead the reader is taken into a scene at which the Law is publicly read by Ezra. Ilere again resort may be had to the hy-pothesis of carelessness on the author's part, or to that of compilation by an unscientific collector.

(3) If the Septuagint be believed, ch. ix. contains a discourse deli \'ercd by Ezra.

(4) Ch. x., containing a solemn league and cove-nant, bearing eighty-four signatures of persons who undertook to observe the Law of Moses aml dis-charge certain duties. The number of signatories is evidently a multiple of the sacred numbers 7 and 12, and the list is headed by :N"ehemiah himself. Of

the signatories some are persons about Solemn whom something definite is learnt

League and in either Ezra or :N"ehemiah (e.g., She-Covenant. rebiah, Ezra viii. 18; Hanan, Neh. xiii.

13; Kclita, Ezra x. 23), but those called "the heads of the people" appear all to be families, their names occurring to a great extent in the same order as that in which they occur in the list of ch. vii. This mixture of family names with names of individuals excites suspicion; but the unhistorical character of this document, if proved, would greatly mar the credit of the whole book. The framing of such a document at a time of religious revival and excitement has no a priori improbability.

(5) Ch. xi. contains a list of persons who drew lots to reside at Jerusalem, with notices of the assign-ment of offices and of the residences of officials. This document agrees very closely in places with one embodied in I Chron. ix.; indeed, both would ap-pear to be adaptations of a register originally found in a "boo.k of the kings of Israel an