Ezra and Nehemiah were contemporaries, and they both wrote about the rebuilding of Jerusalem, which occurred seventy years after the city was first attacked by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar. Ezra wrote about the rebuilding of the temple under Zerubbabel, while Nehemiah wrote concerning the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls. From ancient times, the cities located in the Middle East were surrounded by stone walls with gates that were guarded for the protection of the citizens.