Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 87:1 (Spring 2025)
Article: Let Those Who Have Ears Hear: “Hearing” As A Literary Motif In The Nehemiah Memoir
Author: Timothy Yap

WTJ 87:1 (Spring 2025) p. 19

Let Those Who Have Ears Hear: “Hearing” As A Literary Motif In The Nehemiah Memoir

Timothy Yap

Timothy Yap is an independent scholar who resides in Sydney, Australia.

Why is the word “hear” (שׁמע) repeated ten times in Nehemiah’s memoir? This article argues that the literary motif of “hearing” (שׁמע) serves important structural and thematic roles within the narratives of Neh 1–7. First, the motif governs the development of the narratives regarding the rebuilding of the Jerusalem wall. Second, “hearing” also marks the various attempts to retard the progress of the rebuilding. Third, this literary trope plays a role in manifesting Nehemiah’s darker side, which is most evident in chs. 5 and 13. Finally, this literary trope also signals the intensification of opposition to Nehemiah’s work by external enemies. Attention is also paid to how Nehemiah’s “hearing” differs from that of his adversaries and what the leitmotif reveals about Nehemiah and his antagonists.

I. Introduction

Scholars have often demarcated Neh 1:1–7:5 and portions of chs. 12 and 13 as the Nehemiah memoir.1 In this section of Ezra-Nehemiah, Nehemiah is referred to in the first person, and the narrative also recounts Nehemiah’s twelve years of ministry as the governor of Judah (5:14).2

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Much of the narrative’s coverage is paid to the fifty-two days of wall building in Jerusalem, where the construction process’s oppositions and progressions are documented. Within the context of this memoir, the word “hear” (שָׁמַע) appears ten times (Neh 1:4; 2:10, 19; 3:33; 4:1, 7, 15 [Heb. 3:33, 4:1, 9]; 5:6; 6:1, 16).