the most important points. There in the province—which province is meant here? There are different approaches to this question. Some postulate that Judah was at this time still part of the Persian province of Samaria, and the Samaritans were not about to repair the defenses of Jerusalem.12 Further evidence for this explanation is that nowhere in the negotiations between Artaxerxes and Nehemiah is it mentioned that the latter was appointed governor (peḥa). Only later on, after Nehemiah’s work had