Perhaps more than any other two books in the Old Covenant text, Ezra and Nehemiah are dependent upon one another for contextual understanding of the whole. Thus, the fact that they were originally compiled as one book is very reasonable. The final chapter of the Book of Nehemiah begins in the contextual present, but almost immediately its recorder, Nehemiah, indulges in mentioning events in the contextual past. He mentions the backsliding of the Jewish rulers, after he had been recalled to Babylon by the king of Persia (Nehemiah 13:6), and once he regained permission to travel back to Jerusalem, he records what he witnessed upon his return by unveiling the sins the leaders had been committing during his absence (Nehemiah 13:4-7).
It appears that Nehemiah had come to Jerusalem for the second time, just prior to the coming of Ezra and the Jews who were released with him during the tenth month of the calendar year (cp. Esther 2:16). The text doesn’t reveal when Nehemiah gained permission to go to Jerusalem for the second time, nor do we know the time of his arrival in Jerusalem. However, as an official of the Persian court (cp. Nehemiah 1:11), he wouldn’t have needed the time to make all the arrangements Ezra had to make prior to his leaving Babylon. That is, although Ezra’s release was granted in the tenth calendar month (winter), during the seventh year of the king’s reign (Esther 2:16), Ezra didn’t leave Babylon until the first month in the Jewish calendar (spring, cp. Ezra 7:8-9). Nehemiah could have left the royal palace during the winter months and reached Jerusalem several months before Ezra’s arrival.
The building project in Jerusalem had gone on under the leadership of the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah (Ezra 5:1-2; Haggai 1:1), since the second year of King Xerxes, who is called Darius in Ezra 4:24 (see also 5:5-7; 6:1, 12-15; and Nehemiah 12:22). Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem either soon after the walls had been completed or just in time to witness their completion, for he ordered that all the gates be hung (Nehemiah 7:1).
Nevertheless, sometime after his arrival in Jerusalem for the second time, it appears that Nehemiah had become worried over the value of his labor before the Lord, and he was concerned that all his good works were in danger of the Lord’s rejection (Nehemiah 13:14). Why would this happen? What occurred that caused Nehemiah to concern himself with the value of his service to God? Both the books of Ezra and Nehemiah mention Ezra reading from the Law of Moses and convicting the Jews of their sin by mixing with the heathen (Ezra 9:1-3; 10:1-5; cp. Nehemiah 8:9; cp. 9:1-2). Nehemiah records that this event occurred in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, during the Jew’s annual fall festivals (Nehemiah 8:1-2). Although the Book of Ezra doesn’t date the reading it mentions, it does record that Ezra’s arrival in Jerusalem occurred in the fifth month (Ezra 7:8-9). A few months later, in the nineth month through the twelfth month, measures were taken to correct the Jews’ sin of mixing with the heathen, because all the reforms were complete by the first day of the first month in the Jewish calendar (Ezra 10:17). So, the Jews were set upon a different path only one year after Ezra left Babylon for Jerusalem (Ezra 7:8-9).
Additionally, after they had lived in Babylon for a little more than one generation, most Jews didn’t speak Hebrew. They spoke Aramaic, the universal or business language of the East. Therefore, they had to be given the sense of what Ezra read out of the books of the Law, because Ezra read the words of the Law of Moses in the Hebrew language (cp. Nehemiah 8:1-3, 8-9). Thus, everyone became convicted by what they heard. Although many high-ranking Jews had some knowledge of the Law, the text never claims they were experts in the Law of Moses, as was Ezra (cp. Ezra 7:6). Ezra’s knowledge of the Law was key to convicting the Jews of all ranks of their sin. Apparently, even Nehemiah’s knowledge of the Law didn’t match his zeal to obey the Lord. Therefore, his conscience seemed to condemn himself, at least in part, when he heard Ezra read from the Law of Moses. Moreover, since he was privy to the sins of Eliashib in giving the heathen a place in the Temple of God in Nehemiah’s absence (Nehemiah 13:6-8), he must have wondered about the value of what he had done during his first tenure in Jerusalem, if such things could take place immediately after he left. As the cupbearer of the king, Nehemiah was among the elite Jews, who were well educated before they were permitted to serve the king. Nevertheless, his expertise was not in the Law of Moses, hence his concern over the value of his labor before the Lord (cp. Nehemiah 13:14).
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