Nehemiah teaches us how a Jew is supposed to defend him/herself. Pray to God, give credit to God, then develop a strategy, take up your weapons and fight! We learn how Nehemiah developed his strategy, how he gathered intelligence, and how he never stopped building Jerusalem despite the threats.

Despite the taunts and cynicism and threats of Sanvalat and his cohorts, Nehemiah restores the people's morale. Everyone, including the leaders, government officials and even the women get together and rebuild the city.

Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem, and he conducts a midnight survey of the city of Jerusalem. Finding the city in a state of awful disrepair, he encourages the people to find the courage and strength to rebuild. The opposition doesn't take it so well, however, and they begin to challenge Nehemiah and his project.

The echoes of Queen Esther and her confrontation with Artexerxes father can be heard in this petition of Nehemiah before the King. While plying the King with drink party, Nehemiah beseeches him and asks for permission to go to Judea and rebuild the city of his fathers.

We learn of a new important figure, Nehemiah, a Jew who is highly placed in the court of King Artaxerxes. His brother comes to the capital Shushan with bad news from Jerusalem. The city is in ruins, and the people are depressed and downtrodden. Nehemiah takes action, he prays to God, and prepares himself to convince the King to support a renewal of building.

We learn the details Shechaniah's solution to the problem, which Ezra implements. A system of courts is set up in every town to review every case of intermarriage one by one. Women that were willing to join God's covenant are then welcomed into their families. Those who would rather remain idolaters and continue their abominable customs, had to be divorced and sent back to their families. Fortunately, only a small minority of families had to be broken up, though many were from very prominent families.

Shechaniah approaches Ezra and tells him that there is hope! Stop the crying and praying, get yourself together and lead us! We can do this, and we begin to learn of Shechaniah's plan to fix this problem.

The newcomers to the land find that they have been more faithful to God than the residents of the Holy Land. The people have already started to falter in their faithfulness to God, and have begun to adopt the ways of pagan cults that surrounded them. This led to intermarriage, and Ezra is stunned by the constant and never ending backsliding of God's people.

Having gotten the necessary support of the King, Ezra now gathers the people who will join him on his journey to Jerusalem. The people gather, pray, and with God's help they have a safe and successful journey.

Ezra sets out for the land of Israel with a new group of returnees. King ArtaXerxes gives him the full support of the Persian Empire. The Jewish religion takes a new and important turn, as interpreting the word of God is no longer the realm of the prophets. Now it is the scholars of Torah who study the word of God, practice it, and teach it to the people.