NEHEMIAH 



NELSON 



431 



worship and the support of the priests and Levites. 

 In this connection, and as bearing on the criticism 

 of the Pentateuch, Nell. x. 32 [33] ought to lie 

 compared with Ex. xxx. 13, Neh. x. 33 [34] with 

 Ex. xxix. 38, 39, and Num. xxviii. 3, 4 ; also Neh. 

 x. 37 [38] with Lev. xxvii. 32, and Neh. x. 36 [37] 

 with Num. iii. 12, 13. How long Nehemiah's 

 second visit to Jerusalem lasted we are not told, 

 nor does authentic history record the time or place 

 of his death. In the late apocryphal book of 

 2 Maccabees a spurious letter, purporting to date 

 from the year 124 B.C., is preserved, where wonder- 

 ful things are told as to Nehemiah ' rekindling of 

 the sacred altar-tire by means of ' naphthar,' and it 

 is also said (2 Mace. ii. 13) that lie founded a 

 library in which he ' gathered together the acts of 

 the kings, and the prophets, and of David, and the 

 epistles of the kings concerning the holy gifts.' 

 This last statement can only be used with great 

 caution as bearing on the history of the canon. 



The canonical Book of Nehemiah originally 

 formed the closing chapters of the undivided work, 

 Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah (see CHRONICLES), for 

 which two of the most important original sources 

 were the highly characteristic memoirs of E/ra and 

 Nehemiah. T"hese have been preserved, however, 

 only in so fragmentary and dislocated form that it 

 is exceedingly difficult now to gather from them 

 the true order of the events to which they relate. 

 The book in its present shape begins ( Neh. i 1- 

 vii 5) with Nehemiah's account of the building of 

 the wall and the difficulties he had to encounter. 

 The depleted state of the city had suggested to him 

 a census of Juda'a, and in this connection is given 

 the list of those who had come up with Zerubbaliel 

 nearly a century before (vii. 6-73 a ); this list, 

 apart" from very numerous and considerable textual 

 variations, is identical with that in Ezra it The 

 reader might now expect to find a corresponding 

 census for Nehemiah s own time, but instead of 

 this the next three chapters give an account of the 

 reading of the law by Ezra, the celebration of the 

 feast of taliernacles, the fast and repentance of the 

 people, and the solemn sealing of the covenant to 

 oliserve the law. These chapters are continuous 

 with Ezra x. In Neh. XL the interrupted narrative 

 i- resumed, or rather the place of narrative is 

 taken by a series of name lists (inhabitants of 

 Jerusalem, heads of houses in Judali and Ben- 

 jamin, priests, and Levites). Chanter xii. 27-43 

 then gives Nehemiah's description of the dedication 

 of the walls, and the rest of the book (xii. 44- 

 xiii. 31 ) consists of the account of the reforms 

 he effected in the spirit of the covenant as con- 

 tained in x. 30-39. It would seem as if the editor 

 of Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah had before him two 

 distinct document** relating t<> Ezra and Nehemiah 

 respectively, but that into the Brst of these be- 

 tween Ezra x. 44 and Neh. vii. 73 b (originally 

 continuous) he judged it expedient to introduce 

 from the second a section of Nehemiah's memoirs 

 (Neh. i. 1-vii. 5) in order to prepare the way for 

 the mention of Nehemiah in Neh. viii. 9 and x. 1 

 [2J. The work mentions Jaddna, who wan high- 

 pnest in the days of Alexander the Great, and also 

 I)arius, the last of the Persian kin^s (xii. 22). It 

 cannot, therefore, have been compiled earlier than 

 333 B.C., and probably it ought to lie dated at least 

 half a century later. In the gradual compilation 

 of the Jewish oamm, the Ezra-Nehemiah section of 

 the larger Ixiok was first added to the list of authori- 

 tative writings, some account of the times sulwe- 

 i|iient to the captivity Iming plainly required. The 

 need for a second history, parallel with that con- 

 tained in the ' former prophets,' was not so obvious ; 

 Chronicles, therefore, the remaining portion of the 

 work, was the very last to take a place among the 

 Old Testament Scriptures. 



For Xehemiah's place in the Old Testament dispensa- 

 tion, see the histories of Israel by Ewald, Stanley, Hitzig, 

 Kuenen, Wellbausen, and others. Compare Reuss, 

 Oeschichte der heiligen Kchriften Alien Testaments (2d 

 ed. 1890) ; and Sayce, Introduction to Ezra, flehemiah, 

 and Either (3d ed. 1889). The best commentary on the 

 Book of Nehemiah is that of Bertheau-Kyssel ( 1887 ). See 

 also Keil ( Eng. trans. 1873 ), and Rawlinson in Speaker's 

 Commentary. All three works contain references to 

 earlier authorities. 



Bieilglierry Hills (properly Nilgiri; Sansk. 

 rtila, 'blue,' and giri, 'mountain'), a mountainous 

 district in the south of India, rising abruptly from 

 the plains to the height of 6000 feet, though 

 individual peaks shoot up to 8760 feet. The 

 mass is entirely isolated, with the exception that 

 a precipitous granite ridge leaves its western face 

 and connects it with the Western Ghats. The 

 surface consists of grassy uplands with large groves 

 of forest trees ; but the lower slopes are heavily 

 timbered. The Neilgherry Hills are inhabited by 

 five distinct tribes, of whom the Todas are the 

 most interesting. They speak a Dravidian dialect 

 and practice polyandry ; in 1881 there were 675, in 

 1891, 800. The men are tall and athletic, with Unman 

 noses, black bushy lieards and eyebrows, but they 

 are dirty in their habits. Their sole occupation is 

 tending cattle. Owing to their great elevation, the 

 Neilgherry Hills have a delightfully cool climate, 

 and are much resorted to on this account by 

 invalided Europeans, the principal station being 

 Ootacamund (q.v.). See H. B. Grigg's Manual of 

 the Nilgiri District (1880). 



Xeisse, a town of Prussian Silesia, and an im- 

 portant fortress of the second rank, is situated in 

 a broad valley on the Neisse, an affluent of the 

 Oder, 50 miles SE. of Breslau. It manufactures 

 arms, linen, and chemicals, and has great wool- 

 markets. Pop. 22,444. Neisse was formerly the 

 chief town of a principality, and residence of a 

 prince-bishop. 



Nejd. See ARABIA, WAHABIS. 



Nekrasoff, NIKOLAI ALEXIEVITCH, a Russian 

 lyrical poet, was born in Podolia in 1821, entered 

 the army, but soon devoted himself to literature, 

 editing a newspaper and a monthly magazine. He 

 died 7th January 1878. Belonging to the realistic 

 school, he gave powerful expression to the popular 

 aspirations and social tendencies of his race in a 

 series of poems that have been often re-edited. 



\< ; l!llon, AUOUSTE, surgeon, was liorn at 

 Paris, 18th June 1807, studied there, and, after 

 serving as surgeon in various hospitals and lectur- 

 ing at the faculty of medicine, became in 1851 

 professor of Clinical Surgery, and in 1866 surgeon to 

 the emperor. He became a member of the senate 

 in 1868, and died 21st September 1873. Besides 

 his great Elements de Pathologic Chirurgicale ( 5 vols. 

 1844-60), he wrote on tumours of the breast, and 

 the operation for cataract. 



Xellore, a town of Madras Presidency, capital 

 of a district of the same name, situated on the 

 right bank of the Pennar, 107 miles N. of Madras. 

 It was formerly an important fortress. In 1787 a 

 pot filled with Roman gold coins and medals 

 chiefly of Trajan, Hadrian, and Faustina was 

 found* under the ruins of a small Hindu temple 

 here. Pop. (1891 ) 29,336. 



Nelson, the capital of a provincial district in 

 New Zealand, is situated at the north end of South 

 Island, at the mouth of the Maitai, a small river 

 at the head of Blind Bay. The- situation is very 

 beautiful, on a flat, hemmed in by rugged hills and 

 amidst almost tropical luxuriance. The harbour is 

 sheltered and accessible to shipsdrawing 18 feet ; and 

 there is regular steam communication with Sydney 

 and Melbourne. The city was founded in 1841 ; its 



