50 Fun Facts About Book of Nehemiah

Tobiah mocked Nehemiah's builders by claiming which animal could break down their stone wall just by climbing it?

A fox was Tobiah's insult, yet the wall he laughed at was soon joined together to half its height.

How long did Nehemiah's builders take to finish Jerusalem's wall, a speed that left their enemies afraid?

52 days was all it took, and the neighbouring nations lost their confidence, seeing that the rebuilding had been done with the help of God.

What job did Nehemiah hold at the Persian royal court before he left to rebuild Jerusalem?

Cupbearer to the king meant handing the ruler his wine, and it gave Nehemiah the chance to ask the king for leave directly.

What did the labourers carrying loads on Nehemiah's wall hold in one hand while working with the other?

A weapon stayed in one hand of every load-carrier, and each builder kept a sword strapped to his side as he worked.

Complete the line spoken in Nehemiah 8 as the people were sent to feast: 'The joy of the LORD is your' what?

Strength is the word, and the people were told to eat the fat, drink the sweet and send portions to anyone who had nothing prepared.

Besides cursing and beating them, what did a furious Nehemiah do to some men who had married foreign wives?

Pulled out their hair is what Nehemiah himself reports, before making the men swear not to arrange such marriages for their children.

What did the Persian king notice about Nehemiah that made him ask what was troubling his servant?

A sad face was new for him at court, and Nehemiah admits he was very much afraid when the king remarked on it.

Which king of Israel did Nehemiah cite as proof that even a ruler loved by God was led astray by foreign wives?

Solomon had no equal among the kings of many nations, Nehemiah argued, and still his foreign wives caused him to sin.

Nehemiah had Jerusalem's gates shut at dusk and guarded to stop merchants from selling their goods on which day?

The Sabbath was being treated as a market day, and traders who camped outside the wall left only when Nehemiah threatened to lay hands on them.

Which priest and scribe read the Law of Moses aloud to the people of Jerusalem from early morning until midday?

Ezra read while Levites explained the text to the people, so that everyone understood what was being read.

In which Persian royal city was Nehemiah serving when travellers from Judah brought news of Jerusalem's ruin?

Susa is where the book opens, and the report that Jerusalem's wall lay broken left Nehemiah mourning and fasting for days.

Which king gave his servant Nehemiah leave to travel to Judah and rebuild Jerusalem?

Artaxerxes granted every request, which Nehemiah put down to the good hand of his God being upon him.

Pleading with the Persian king, Nehemiah called ruined Jerusalem the city of his ancestors' what?

Tombs of his fathers was the phrase, and Nehemiah used it twice without once naming Jerusalem to the king.

Who does Nehemiah mention was sitting beside the Persian king when he asked permission to rebuild Jerusalem?

The queen was seated next to the king as he asked how long the journey would take and when Nehemiah would be back.

What did Nehemiah do in the moment after the Persian king asked him to name his request?

Prayed to God is all he had time for, and his next words asked the king to send him to Judah to rebuild.

What did the Persian king send with Nehemiah on the road to Judah, besides letters for the regional officials?

Officers and horsemen rode with him, and word of his arrival deeply displeased Tobiah, who resented anyone coming to help Israel.

Three days after reaching Jerusalem, when did Nehemiah ride out with a few men to inspect the ruined walls?

At night he rode out through the Valley Gate, telling no one what he planned, on the only animal in the party.

According to the report that left Nehemiah mourning for days, what had happened to the gates of Jerusalem?

Burned with fire, the travellers told him, and the survivors in the province were living in great trouble and disgrace.

Which Horonite led the opposition to Nehemiah, mocking 'these feeble Jews' before the army of Samaria?

Sanballat jeered that the builders hoped to finish in a day and to bring stones back to life from heaps of rubble.

According to Nehemiah, the wall quickly rose to half its height because the people had what?

A mind to work is the phrase, and the progress so angered neighbouring peoples that they plotted to attack Jerusalem.

Which entrance to Jerusalem did the high priest and his fellow priests rebuild first in Nehemiah 3?

The Sheep Gate went up first, and the priests consecrated their stretch as far as the tower of Hammeah and the tower of Hananel.

Nobles from which town are singled out in Nehemiah 3 for refusing to join the repairs their townsmen carried out?

Tekoa's ordinary townsmen made up for their nobles by repairing two separate sections of the wall.

Shallum, ruler of half of Jerusalem's district, repaired part of Nehemiah's wall alongside which relatives?

His daughters are the only women mentioned in the chapter's long roll of repair teams.

Besides priests and district rulers, which tradesmen does Nehemiah 3 name among those repairing Jerusalem's wall?

Goldsmiths and perfumers are listed side by side, and merchants helped repair the final stretch back to the starting point.

With his builders spread far apart along the wall, what signal did Nehemiah arrange to rally them to one spot?

A trumpet blast meant danger, and the man who sounded it stayed at Nehemiah's side throughout the building.

During a famine, which practice did an angry Nehemiah order Judah's nobles to stop using on fellow Jews?

Charging interest was squeezing families who had already pledged fields, vineyards and homes to buy grain, and the nobles swore before the priests to give everything back.

Unlike earlier rulers of Judah, what did Nehemiah refuse to take from the people during his twelve years in charge?

His food allowance went unclaimed because the burden on the people was already heavy, even though 150 Jews and officials ate at his table.

Which office did Nehemiah hold in the land of Judah for twelve years by appointment of the Persian king?

Governor of Judah from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of the king's reign, he then went back to the Persian court for a time.

Where did Nehemiah's enemies ask to meet when he answered that he was 'doing a great work' and could not come?

The plain of Ono invitation came four times and got the same refusal each time, since Nehemiah was sure they meant to harm him.

An unsealed letter to Nehemiah warned of rumours that he was fortifying Jerusalem in order to do what?

Make himself king is what the letter said he planned, adding that prophets were already proclaiming him; Nehemiah replied that it was all invented.

What did Nehemiah conclude about Shemaiah, who urged him to hide behind closed doors from men coming to kill him?

He had been hired by Tobiah and others, who hoped a frightened Nehemiah would discredit himself by hiding in the temple.

Which prophetess does Nehemiah name among those who tried to frighten him while Jerusalem's wall was being rebuilt?

Noadiah is named in a single verse, alongside Tobiah, as someone Nehemiah asked God to hold to account.

Which brother of Nehemiah brought the first news of Jerusalem's ruin and was later put in charge of the city?

Hanani shared the command of Jerusalem with Hananiah, the fortress commander, described as more faithful and God-fearing than most.

In Nehemiah 7, priests lacking family records were barred from holy offerings until a priest could consult what?

Urim and Thummim were needed to settle the matter, and meanwhile the families who could not find their genealogies were removed from the priesthood.

Nehemiah 12 lists the priests and Levites who had come back from exile with which leader, the son of Shealtiel?

Zerubbabel led that earlier return, and the same chapter traces a priestly family line from his day down to Jaddua.

In front of which Jerusalem entrance did the people gather in Nehemiah 8 to hear the Law read aloud?

The Water Gate square held men, women and everyone old enough to understand, all of them listening attentively to the book.

What had been specially built for the reader of the Law to stand on, above the crowd, in Nehemiah 8?

A wooden platform raised him above the people, with six companions standing at his right hand and seven at his left.

How did the whole crowd respond at the moment the scroll of the Law was opened in Nehemiah 8?

They stood up as one, and the reading was done from a raised spot so that everybody could see the book being opened.

In Nehemiah 8, what did the people answer, lifting up their hands, when the reader of the Law blessed God?

Amen, Amen was the reply, after which the people bowed low to the ground in worship.

In Nehemiah 8, how did the people first react to hearing the Law read, before being told the day was holy?

They wept as the words sank in, until the Levites calmed them and sent everyone home to celebrate instead.

Nehemiah 8 says Israel had not marked a feast by living in leafy shelters since the time of which leader?

Joshua son of Nun is the name given, and the people gathered olive, myrtle and palm branches to build shelters on their roofs and in their courtyards.

What did the Israelites put on, together with dirt, for the day of fasting and confession in Nehemiah 9?

Sackcloth marked the mood, and the day was split between a quarter spent reading the Law and a quarter spent confessing and worshipping.

The long confession in Nehemiah 9 begins Israel's story with God choosing which man from Ur of the Chaldees?

Abraham is praised for a faithful heart, and the retelling then runs on through Egypt, the Red Sea, Sinai and the wilderness.

How were one in ten of the people chosen to move into thinly populated Jerusalem in Nehemiah 11?

By casting lots, the people chose one in ten to live in the holy city, and everyone blessed those who volunteered to move there.

What did Nehemiah send in opposite directions along the top of the rebuilt wall at its dedication?

Two thanksgiving choirs walked with priests and singers until they met at the temple, and the rejoicing in Jerusalem was heard far away.

What did Nehemiah do with Tobiah's household goods on finding him lodged in a storeroom of the temple?

Threw them out, he says, then had the rooms purified and the vessels, grain offerings and frankincense put back where they belonged.

What alarmed Nehemiah about the children of Jewish men who had married women from Ashdod and other nations?

Their foreign speech meant half of them could not speak the language of Judah, only that of Ashdod or another people.

What is the literal meaning of the Hebrew name Nehemiah, borne by the rebuilder of Jerusalem's wall?

Yahweh comforts is the literal sense, and Nehemiah is honoured as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The Book of Nehemiah ends with its hero making which brief request, one repeated several times in the book?

That God remember him for good is the closing line, echoing the same plea made after his reforms of the tithes and the city gates.

According to the confession in Nehemiah 9, what never wore out during Israel's forty years in the wilderness?

Their clothes did not grow old and their feet did not swell, proof in the retelling that the people had lacked nothing.