Nehemiah: Susa to Jerusalem

Like Ezra, Nehemiah must have been born in exile. His love for Torah, Judaism and Jerusalem had been handed to him by an older generation. He courageously asked the Persian king for permission to journey to Jerusalem. God blessed the request more than Nehemiah could have dreamed, and he soon was making an 800-mile (1,300 km) journey to Judea. He led a rebuilding effort in Jerusalem and became the civic leader of the city. After 12 years, he returned to Persia, reported what had been done, and asked permission to once again go to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 13:6-7). Each journey would have taken a few months to travel between Susa and Jerusalem.