The Background to Nehemiah’s Mission: The two missions in Ezra 1–6 and 7–10 were launched by the decree of a Persian king, behind which lay the sovereign will of the God of Israel, disclosed in Scripture and providence. The third and last mission, spread over 1:1–2:8 and summarized in 2:18a, also follows this pattern. The focus on Nehemiah in 1:1–10 corresponds to the description of Ezra’s qualifications by birth and training in Ezra 7:1–7. The narrative here reveals Nehemiah’s strong convictions, which laid a spiritual foundation for his mission.

1:1a The editor supplied a brief heading that takes its cue from Nehemiah’s memoirs, which supply the substantial framework of Nehemiah 1–13. This heading implies that these chapters form a single structural block. The heading rescues from anonymi…