Then he declared to the astonished congregation that this prophecy was being fulfilled in their hearing. The book of Nehemiah purports to be the history of a very significant period in Israel's history, but it cannot meet the criteria for the writing of history by modern standards. Along with the books of Chronicles and Ezra, it is an artistically composed faith-history. Until the time of Origen in the 3rd century C.E., the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were regarded as a unity. In its present form, the text has many problems, of which the section in which this reading appears is but one.
Many scholars believe that chs.
8-10 is a memoir by Ezra and may not have originally belonged to the book, but to its companion, the book of Ezra between Ezra 8 and 9. The theology of Nehemiah, however, included his deep sense of the close relationship of Israel with Yahweh, his conviction that Yahweh is lord of history and hence required his involvement in politics, his high regard for the Torah, and his belief in direct approach to Yahweh in prayer. The passage tells how Ezra the scribe read the law to the assembled populace after the walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt. Whoever is asked to read this passage during worship will have a serious problem with all the Hebrew names in vss. 4 and 7.