Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Liz,

>  > HH: Why do you think Nehemiah was building that wall? Was it because
> >  he worked for the Persian governor?
> Nehemiah didn't work for the Persian governor, he was the Persian governor.
> He worked for the satrap and the king.

HH: Sorry, I meant the Persian king.

> Harold, do you realize that you are reading this from Nehemiah's point
> of view? Nehemiah, the Persian governor, was the one who wrote this.
> Do you think you might get another point of view if someone else wrote
> it? Nehemiah came to Judah to install a Persian garrison in it, a birah.
> But you only see one side.
> Read the first chapter of First Maccabees. Then you will get the
> perspective of the local population when the foreign monarch
> installed a birah, an akra in the city. You will realize the
> true feelings of the population. The purpose of a birah is for
> the installation of Persian soldiers. These were the soldiers
> the elite cavalry commanders of the Persian army that Nehemiah
> brought with him. I suspect that Nehemiah is a rab shakah. That
> literally means "cupbearer", but the cupbearer is the title
> of a military commander. Nehemiah brought soldiers with him.
> They held spears and were armed, these were Nehemiah's "boys,"
> na'arim, his servants who were at his disposal to build the
> wall, to guard the people, to force them to build. THey also
> guarded the wall during Shabbat.
> Whether the people wanted to or not, it was forced labor.

HH: Liz, I am reading it from the Holy Spirit's perspective:

2Tim. 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, 
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard