unity with the Word of God at the heart of spiritual and moral life (see Brown pg. 31).
             Nehemiah was the son of Hacaliah, brother of Hanani and probably from the tribe of Judah. The Hebrew for Nehemiah is Nehemyah, "Comfort of Yahweh" (see Open Bible, New Living Translation, introductory notes on Nehemiah). It was most likely that he was born into captivity and that his father was taken into captivity when Jerusalem was captured by the Babylonians (see Barber pg.14). Although raised under the corrupting influence of the ancient Near East, Nehemiah was a devout Jew. The story of Nehemiah begins when he was in Shushan (the Greeks called it Susa). He resided in the Persian royal palace and was the King Artaxerxes' cupbearer (see Campbell pg. 7). It is a possibility that Esther has a major part in the appointment of Nehemiah as cupbearer because she was King Artaxerxes stepmother. Nevertheless, the palace was where the king resided for the winter months and carried out his duties as king.
             Nehemiah's position as a cupbearer shows a high degree of character on Nehemiah's behalf. His position holds a lot of responsibility because the King needed to have someone who was trustworthy and confident to be his cupbearer. His job was to prevent the king from being poisoned by tasting any wine in the king's palace. This shows that the king admired Nehemiah and thought high of him. This position as cupbearer placed Nehemiah as one of the king's advisors, a respectful position (see Open Bible, NLT, introductory notes on Nehemiah).
             Nehemiah was appointed and called by God to be the leader that would lead the third return of the Jewish people back to Jerusalem in 445 BC. Nehemiah was prompted to take action after inquiring from his brother, Hanani, of the condition of the city of Jerusalem and the people within the city. After hearing that things were
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