Nehemiah was the “cupbearer” (Nehemiah 1:1, 11) to the Persian king Artaxerxes I (r. 465-425 B.C.) Nehemiah 2:1 (RSV) In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was ...

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Editor’s Note: Laura Bernardini is director of coverage in CNN’s Washington Bureau. The views expressed in this column belong to Bernardini. But, I didn’t anticipate this: All of a sudden, every ...

Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 Nehemiah, the Jewish cupbearer to the king of Persia, is heartbroken to learn that Jerusalem is in shambles. He's so sad that he can't even bear a cup without getting weepy.

Trivia question: Who wrote the first political autobiography? He flourished more than 300 years before Caesar, may have been a eunuch, and lived a very eventful life. The man who wrote it was a high ...