Hey, you're listening to A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace.

We just finished up the book of Ezra.

We're jumping into the book of Nehemiah.

CJ, can you set up the book of Nehemiah for us?

Yeah, so again, Ezra 1 through 6 was mostly about temple.

Ezra 7 through 10 was mostly about the law and reforming the people and Ezra coming to teach them.

Nehemiah 1 through 7 now is going to be focused on the city and the walls of Jerusalem.

And then Nehemi 8 through 12 are also going to be about the law and covenant renewal.

And then again, Nehemiah 13 ends in tragedy.

So again, this portion that we're in now beginning in Nehemiah is focused on the city of

Jerusalem and its walls. So Nehemiah, he's a cupbearer of the king, which means he tastes the

wine before the king does to make sure it's not poison, so he'll drop dead instead of the king.

So he has the king's

ear. He has a lot of influence. And this sort of relationship that he has with the Persian

king will probably remind us of some of the other characters we've met in the Bible. We think of

Joseph and Pharaoh. We think of Daniel and all the Babylonian kings. It might even think of Esther

in her place. And another thing to know is that this is

about 13 years, some commentators will say, since the time of Ezra's return. So Ezra and Nehemiah are

close, but they're not exactly the same age or the same, they don't happen at the same time.

Okay, yeah, that's great. Background information. So let's talk about today's chapters, Nehemiah 1 through 3. Great. So Nehemiah learns that the

walls of Jerusalem and Jerusalem itself is sort of a disrepair still. And he's in the, he's back in

Persia or back in Babylon, the same region. And he's sitting there, and he hears this as people return

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