Digital Logos Edition
The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today's context.
God led Jerusalem through a period of restoration and revival by calling on Ezra and Nehemiah to overcome opposition and rebuild the city physically and spiritually. Ezra and Nehemiah each displayed selflessness and devotion by following their calling and trusting God’s plan. In this commentary, Donna and Thomas Petter lead us through these stories and help us discover how to apply them to our lives today.
To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today’s context, each passage is treated in three sections:
This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today’s preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God’s Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.
“The subtext of the chapter is ‘trust no-one and be intimidated by no-one.’” (Page 340)
“Perhaps the omission was Nehemiah’s way to underscore that without the people the project could not have been completed?” (Page 306)
“Without a revival of the word of God, without a tethering to torah, attempts at restoration remain impossible.” (Page 178)
“Renewed worship cannot be reestablished without a rebuilt temple and reestablishment of God’s law.” (Page 28)
“Viewed in this light, the cause of Nehemiah’s deep despair stems principally from the fact that the restoration had not been completed. This in turn highlights the profound significance of Nehemiah’s prayer. He is pleading with the God of ‘heaven’ (e.g., Ezra 7:23) not only to complete the restoration of Zion (begun 539–515) but also to reverse the action of ‘this man’ (Neh 1:11) that stopped the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in more recent times. Without divine intervention, Yahweh’s program of redemption remains on life support, as it were.” (Page 256)
Donna Petter is Associate Professor of Old Testament, Director of the Hebrew Language Program at Gordon Conwell
Thomas Petter is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Gordon Conwell