governor. In spite of very determined opposition he was enabled to
repair the wall of the city and dedicate it with great ceremony (Neh.
chs. 6 and 12). Nehemiah is counted as one of the greatest reformers.
He corrected many abuses such as those of usury and restored the
national life of the Jews based upon the written law. Together with
Ezra he restored the priests to their positions and renewed the temple
worship. He went back to the Persian court where he remained several
years and then returned to Jerusalem and continued his reforms. This
ends the Old Testament history.

The Prophecy of Hagai and Zechariah. The task of these prophets was
the same and was by no means an easy one. The work of rebuilding the
temple, which had been begun when Jerubbabel and his colony came to
Jerusalem, had been stopped by the opposition which they met. Along
with this laxity of effort to build the temple the Jews were busy
building houses for themselves (1:4) and had become very negligent of
all duty. They had begun to despair of seeing their people and the
beloved city and temple restored to the glory pictured by the prophets
and were rapidly becoming reconciled to the situation. These two
prophets succeeded in arousing interest and confidence in the people
and through their appeals secured the finishing of the temple.

The Prophecy of Malachi. This prophecy condemns the same sins as those
mentioned in the last chapters of Ezra and Nehemiah. He denounced
their impure marriages, their lack of personal godliness, their
failure to pay tithes and their skepticism. The special occasion for
the discourses was the discontent which arose because their
expectation of the glorious Messianic Kingdom had not been realized.
They had also had unfavorable harvests. It is thought by many that the
time of the prophecy is between the first and second visit of Nehemiah