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Nehemiah, with the help of Ezra, fully reconstituted the returned captives of the nation of Israel (8:1—13:31). Consequently, Israel became a particular nation, a nation that was sanctified and separated unto God and that expressed God. They were transfused with the thought of God, with the considerations of God, and with all that God is, making them God’s reproduction. As a result, they became a divine nation on earth expressing the divine character. They were reconstituted personally and corporately to be God’s testimony.
The central and crucial point of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah is the matter of proper, adequate leadership. Whereas the record of the leadership in Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles is, for the most part, dark, the record in Ezra and Nehemiah is altogether bright. In the books of Ezra and Nehemiah three leaders are mentioned: Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. They were all excellent leaders, but the best and the highest was Nehemiah. Only under the leadership of persons like Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah could Israel be reconstituted to be the testimony, the expression, of God on earth, a people absolutely different from the Gentile nations. Such a testimony of God is a type of what God wants the church to be today.