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Summary Of Nehemiah In The Oxford Bible

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In relation to the historical background of Nehemiah, in Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee. By J. Vernon McGee, it states that Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem “‘in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king.’” The socio, on the other hand from The Oxford Bible Commentary, with editors John Barton and John Muddiman, the exiles were under military power.
The literary structure of Nehemiah is a chiastic structure, as it has according to Mark A. Thorntveit’s Ezra-Nehemiah Interpretation a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching book, shows the story following an ABXBA structure with the climax of “opposition” meaning the people who live around the ruined Jerusalem did not like that the exiles came back and were building the wall again. The big idea of this story according to Thorntveit is “the narrative is carefully structured in five sections whose main theme is to record four reports of the destruction of Jerusalem as a reproach against God and the various responses made to those reports.” As the quote says the focus of the story of Nehemiah is the “destruction of Jerusalem” (Thorntveit, 62). The need to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem was more of a symbolic building, according to Editor Marco Conti in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture Old Testament V, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, the wall was rebuilt because “the devil has free entry into the church, as through the walls of a ruined city.” In the Oxford Commentary, the wall was a sign of “social and political symbolism.” The rebuilding of the wall was significant because the Jews felt like they had to rebuild Jerusalem and to do that they would also need to rebuild the wall that was destroyed when Jerusalem was invaded, and the Jewish people were taken into their exile, for safety. According to David Brisben, author of the book Introduction to Old Testament, the Jews rebuilt the wall for safety. Everyone wants to feel safe in the city they live in, today we have police officers and laws. Back then all they had was an army (the strength of the army depended on the strength of the leader of the kingdom), and walls, so walls were very important to the people of the Biblical times. In relation to the challenges that attempted

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