The Songs of Ascents and Nehemiah

Abstract

The Songs of Ascents are a unity, coming from the hand of a single author (brevity, Jerusalem, courageous optimism, homely similies, Aramaisms). They celebrate the achievements of Nehemiah, with whom these features fit; ma'alah means a going up from Exile. The Songs follow the sequence of the first-person narrative in Nehemiah: his lament, journey, arrival at Jerusalem to seek the people's good, the contempt of the proud, the deliverance as the walls were built, the restitution of the usury, the triumph as the walls were finished with international acclaim, the guarding of the gates, the repopulation; then (taking 13.4-31 'before this') the confounding of Eliashib and Tobiah, repentance out of the deep for the sabbath-breaking, humility over Gentile marriages, and the celebration march to the Temple to finish. The Songs are best seen as responses to Nehemiah's testimonies, evening and morning, at the Feast of Tabernacles, 445.