Nehemiah - Later Judaism and Christian Literature

Later Judaism and Christian Literature

In non-Hebrew literature, namely the Septuagint and the Vulgate, Nehemiah was regarded as a eunuch. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, describes him as a eunochos (eunuch), rather than an oinochoos (wine-cup-bearer). However, other Biblical scholars have argued that the existing manuscripts of the Septuagint mistranslated the Hebrew word for "cupbearer". According to the Torah, no eunuch shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord. Thus, those individuals who speculate that Nehemiah was a eunuch, have attempted to bolster their claims by noting that Nehemiah could not enter certain areas of the temple. His enemy Shemaiah attempted to trick him into doing so.

Another explanation is simply that Nehemiah was not a priest and was not authorized to go into those portions of the Temple reserved for the priests. Without children to remember him for his work, Nehemiah prayed repeatedly: Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people. Later tradition relaxed the Deuteronomic prohibition and pledged posterity for eunuchs in the divine memory. Nehemiah's service to his people and nation - despite prejudice and social and religious disadvantage – may have made a difference to the accommodation, if not yet the affirmation, of a denigrated sexual minority.