This guide to Ezra-Nehemiah illuminates the Restoration Period of ancient Israel, highlighting the people and events that display God's providence. Also, it brings you face-to-face with Ezra and Nehemiah, spiritual heroes from whose lives powerful principles flow. Be inspired by their message and story. The Old Testament books of Ezra and Nehemiah are like two halves of a whole. Although they are presented as separate books in our English Bibles, they are better viewed as one. The ancient Jews studied them as a single story, united by subject and storyline, wi the latter half of Nehemiah serving as a climax of all that had transpired earlier.