The book of Nehemiah

Nehemiah seems to have been born during the exile period.  He hears reports from those returning to Jerusalem that the city walls of Jerusalem are destroyed and the gates were destroyed by fire.  This greatly moves him and he discusses it king Artaxerxes of Persia.  The king sends him to Jerusalem and Nehemiah becomes governor of Judah.

The book is largely written from first person perspective of Nehemiah.  The book is filled with a lot of details about building the wall and the families that returned from exile.  It overlaps with the book of Ezra in the sense that it mentions that Ezra read from the law of Moses after the wall was complete.

According to Nehemiah, there were many setbacks during the reconstruction of the city wall.  In particular, local warlords tried to intimidate them.  So, they had to divert half the people from rebuilding to guard duty to watch over the portions of the wall that were being built.  Finally, the reconstruction was complete within 52 days.  This alone intimidated the local warlords because they knew that God was on their side to accomplish this task so fast.

Like Ezra, Nehemiah encounters a situation in which men of Judah had married foreign women.  However, he does not send the women and their children away, but says that the men are unclean for priestly duty.  That said, he does ensure that the men of Judah cannot marry foreign women, regardless if they are priests or not.

Another reform by Nehemiah is the refocus on the Sabbath day.  He implements various rules to ensure that the Sabbath day is kept holy, including shutting the city gates on the Sabbath.  I know of no corollary for Jerusalem prior to this.  Likewise, there is no mention of what rules for the Sabbath he did for those living outside the city.  At the very least, this sets the Sabbath apart - no going in and out of the city.

He encounters a problem in which various Jewish people were charging usury rates for loans made to other Jewish people.  He is angered by this.  Coincidentally or not, he requires that dave forgiveness be made every seven years.  Although this was required for seven-year slavery under Mosaic law, it seems to be a step up Jubilee debt forgiveness from every 50 years.

Nehemiah as governor implements changes to reintroduce the Mosaic law back to the people.  He seems to have done sweeping reforms which were never actually required under the Mosaic law, but were culturally necessary in the post-exile period.  

Similarly to the experience of Ezra, we can see where this might be heading.  The foundation is being laid for an for over-regulation of laws to maintain their Jewish identity.  This is somewhat understandable given that they are coming to terms with a national disgrace.