Page 8 - Principles of Leadership - Nehemiah

10. Discovering more about God (9:1-37)
11. But in your great mercy (9:1-37)
12. Making a binding agreement (9:38-10:29)
13. Being Specific (10:30-39)
14. Vocal archives (11:1-12:26)
15. Our chief end (12:27-47)
16. There it was found written (13:1-3)
17. Temple, marketplace, and home (13:4-31)
18. Patterns of leadership (13:4-31)."
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Sin Divides

Because of King Solomon’s sins, the kingdom of Israel split into two parts. Jeroboam initially ruled the northern
tribes, and Rehoboam ruled the southern tribes (Judah and Benjamin). An easy way to remember who ruled
where is by using this analogy. Rehoboam remained, and Jeroboam jumped. “Both kingdoms continued to be
characterized by idolatry and immorality. And as God had forewarned, He judged all Israel. The northern tribes,
composed of ten tribes, took the name of Israel and were taken into captivity by the Assyrians around 722 BC.
Around 605 BC, those in the southern kingdom known as Judah were deported by the Babylonians. World
empire leadership changed hands from the Babylonians to the Persians during the Jewish captivity. (2
Chronicles 36:19-20)

The children of Israel who made up the northern kingdom were absorbed into the various cultures and
communities of the region. However, the people of the southern kingdom remained intact. When the Medes
and Persians captured Babylon, many of the children of Israel began to return to the land of Canaan. This took
place with a decree issued by Cyrus. (2 chronicles 36:22-23, Ezra 1) This happened approximately 70 years after
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their deportation.” (See Jeremiah 25:11, 29:10-13)

The Divided Kingdom

Ten Northern Tribes Assyrian Captivity
of Israel

United Kingdom
Babylonian
Two Southern Captivity
Tribes of Judah
/ Return

Rebuilding the Temple and the Walls of Jerusalem

“Ezra and Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible are one book, not two.” This seems to be an undisputable fact, and
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“the antiquity of this unit is witnessed by a variety of factors, including especially Josephus’s counting of Ezra
and Nehemiah as one book and the lack of divisions between the two in either the earliest Hebrew and Greek
manuscripts”. “Both the Septuagint (LXX) -a Greek translation of the Old Testament – and the Latin Vulgate
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named this book, Second Ezra.” “Egyptian documents dated to the late fifth century BC support the account
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of Nehemiah by mentioning Sanballat being governor of Samaria and Nehemiah being replaced as governor of
Jerusalem by Bigvai. Nehemiah and Malachi represent the last of the Old Testament canonical writings, both in
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terms of when the events occurred and when they were recorded.” After these books were written, Israel
experienced 400 silent years until the coming of Christ.

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