The historical critical method and the new archeology: a biblical-archaeological analysis of the historical context of the Nehemiah book

This paper presents an analysis of the historical context of Nehemiah Book in light of the historical critical method and recent discoveries and conclusions of the new archeology. The literary analysis reveals an incongruity regarding to the chronology of the historical facts narrated in the books of Nehemiah and Ezra, which makes it difficult to specify the date of their composition. Concomitantly, archeology reveals that there is a great void regarding archaeological evidence of the Persian period. The results of the excavations in and around Jerusalem pose a major question about the size of the Jehud Province, the size of the city, the importance of the temple as a center for tax collection, the existence of the Persian wall, the existence of the places mentioned in that period etc. The absence of archaeological evidence still seems to point to a great decline of writing in Judah during the Persian reign. This whole situation should alert the academic community, since modem research tends to place much of biblical production in the Persian period.