Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them.
Parallel Translations
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Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them.
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Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
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Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth upon them.
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Nehemiah 9:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Joshua 7:6 Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before Yahweh’s ark until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.
- Ezra 8:23 So we fasted and begged our God for this: and he granted our request.
- Nehemiah 8:2 Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.
- Acts 13:2-3 As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.” Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
- 1 Samuel 4:12 A man of Benjamin ran out of the army and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head.
- Leviticus 23:34 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of booths for seven days to Yahweh.
- Leviticus 23:39 “ ‘So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall keep the feast of Yahweh seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.
- Judges 20:26 Then all the children of Israel and all the people went up, and came to Bethel, and wept, and sat there before Yahweh, and fasted that day until evening; then they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Yahweh.
- 2 Samuel 1:2 on the third day, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul, with his clothes torn, and earth on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the earth, and showed respect.
- 2 Chronicles 7:10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.
- 2 Chronicles 20:3 Jehoshaphat was alarmed, and set himself to seek to Yahweh. He proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
- Esther 4:3 In every province, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
- Esther 4:16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Susa, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
- Job 2:12 When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.
- Isaiah 22:12 In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, to mourning, to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth;
- Joel 1:13-14 Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God’s house. Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders, and all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of Yahweh, your God, and cry to Yahweh.
- Joel 2:15-17 Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts. Let the bridegroom go out of his room, and the bride out of her room. Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare your people, Yahweh, and don’t give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ”
- Jonah 3:5-8 The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least. The news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water; but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, the seventh.
Meaning, the seventh.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Neh 9:1 Now in the twenty and fourth day…
Neh 9:1 Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
Ver. 1. Now in the twenty and fourth day] A day after the feast of tabernacles, they keep a solemn fast:
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Usque adeo nihil est, ex omni parte, beatum.
There is in this present life an interchange of all things, a succession of feasting and fasting. Of the best, while here it may be said, as Pliny doth of Metellus, Infelix dici non debet, felix non potest; unhappy you cannot call him, happy you may not (lib. vii. cap. 47). One compareth him to the Ark, which was ever transported, till settled in Solomon’s Temple; another to quicksilver, which hath in itself a principle of motion, but not of rest.
The children of Israel were assembled with fasting] As Epaminondas walked heavily the day after his triumph. Deadness of spirit is apt to follow our liveliest joys; but that must be looked to, and security prevented, which is wont to seize upon men after holy duties; like as worms and wasps eat the sweetest fruits. These fasters had wept at the hearing of the law, and were stilled by the Levites, Neh 8:11, because it was unseasonable. Now the feast being over, and their hearts yet full of grief for their great sin in taking strange wives (not yet put away, though they had vowed to do it, Ezr 10:3, &c.), they first put away those wives on the twenty-third day, and then humble themselves by fasting and prayer on this twenty-fourth day; being wrought thereunto by the reading of the law, as is implied in the next verse.
And with sackcloth] As acknowledging themselves unworthy of the coarsest clothing; and that, but for shame, they would have stripped themselves naked.
And earth upon them] As those that had forfeited all, and deserved to be as far underground as now they were above.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain In the twenty and fourth day of this month;…
In the twenty and fourth day of this month; the next day but one after the feast of tabernacles, which begun on the 14th day, and ended on the 22nd day, Le 23; for their consciences having then been fully awakened by the law read to them, and their hearts being full of grief for their great sins, which they were not allowed to express in that time of public joy and triumph; now when that was past, they resume their former thoughts and passions, and recalling their sins to mind, set apart a day for solemn fasting and humiliation.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain We have here a general account of a public…
We have here a general account of a public fast which the children of Israel kept, probably by order from Nehemiah, by and with the advice and consent of the chief of the fathers. It was a fast that men appointed, but such a fast as God had chosen; for, 1. It was a day to afflict the soul, Isa 58:5. Probably they assembled in the courts of the temple, and they there appeared in sackcloth and in the posture of mourners, with earth on their heads, Neh 9:1. By these outward expressions of sorrow and humiliation they gave glory to God, took shame to themselves, and stirred up one another to repentance. They were restrained from weeping, Neh 8:9, but now they were directed to weep. The joy of our holy feasts must give way to the sorrow of our solemn fasts when they come. Every thing is beautiful in its season. 2. It was a day to loose the bands of wickedness, and that is the fast that God has chosen, Isa 58:6. Without this, spreading sackcloth and ashes under us is but a jest. The seed of Israel, because they were a holy seed, appropriated to God and more excellent than their neighbours, separated themselves from all strangers with whom they had mingled and joined in affinity, Neh 9:2. Ezra had separated them from their strange wives some years before, but they had relapsed into the same sin, and had either made marriages or at least made friendships with them, and contracted such an intimacy as was a snare to them. But now they separated themselves from the strange children as well as from the strange wives. Those that intend by prayers and covenants to join themselves to God must separate themselves from sin and sinners; for what communion hath light with darkness? 3. It was a day of communion with God. They fasted to him, even to him (Zac 7:5); for, (1.) They spoke to him in prayer, offered their pious and devout affections to him in the confession of sin and the adoration of him as the Lord and their God. Fasting without prayer is a body without a soul, a worthless carcase. (2.) They heard him speaking to them by his word; for they read in the book of the law, which is very proper on fasting days, that, in the glass of the law, we may see our deformities and defilements, and know what to acknowledge and what to amend. The word will direct and quicken prayer, for by it the Spirit helps our praying infirmities. Observe how the time was equally divided between these two. Three hours (for that is the fourth part of a day) they spent in reading, expounding, and applying the scriptures, and three hours in confessing sin and praying; so that they staid together six hours, and spent all the time in the solemn acts of religion, without saying, Behold, what a weariness is it! The varying of the exercises made it the less tedious, and, as the word they read would furnish them with matter for prayer, so prayer would make the word the more profitable. Bishop Patrick thinks that they spent the whole twelve hours of the day in devotion, that from six o'clock in the morning till nine they read, and then from nine to twelve they prayed, from twelve to three they read again, and from three till six at night they prayed again. The word of a fast day is good work, and therefore we should endeavour to make a day's work, a good day's work, of it.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Now in the twenty fourth day of this month,....…
Now in the twenty fourth day of this month,.... The seventh month, the month Tisri or September, two days after the feast of tabernacles was ended:
the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them; which were all outward tokens of mourning and humiliation, see Joe 1:8 which they could not show during the festival; but that being over, they return to it, see Neh 8:9.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The people keep a solemn fast, ver. 1-3. The…
The people keep a solemn fast, ver. 1-3. The Levites bless God for his goodness to them and their fathers, ver. 4-8. In Egypt and in their journey out of it, ver. 9-12. On Mount Sinai, ver. 13, 14. And their journey toward Canaan, ver. 15-18. In the wilderness, ver. 19-21. In driving out the Canaanites, ver. 22-26. In hearing their prayer when in trouble, ver. 27-31. They confess their sin, ver. 32-37. And seal a covenant with God, ver. 38.
Now - The next day, but one after the feast of tabernacles, which begun on the fourteenth day, and ended on the twenty second, for their consciences having been fully awakened and their hearts filled with grief for their sins, which they were not allowed to express in that time of publick joy; now they resume their former thoughts, and recalling their sins to mind, set apart a day for solemn fasting and humiliation.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On the twenty-fourth day of the seventh month, the…
CHAPTER IX
On the twenty-fourth day of the seventh month, the people hold
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a solemn fast unto the Lord, and confess their sins, 1-3.
The Levites give a general account of God's kindness and
forbearance to them and to their fathers; and acknowledge God's
mercies and judgments, 4-37.
They make a covenant with the Lord, 38.
NOTES ON CHAP. IX
Verse 1. Now in the twenty and fourth day] The feast of trumpets was on the first day of this month; on the fourteenth began the feast of tabernacles, which, lasting seven days, finished on the twenty-second; on the twenty-third they separated themselves from their illegitimate wives and children; and, on the twenty-fourth, they held a solemn day of fasting and confession of sin, and reading the law, which they closed by renewing their covenants.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Neh 9:1. Now in the twenty and fourth day…
Neh 9:1. Now in the twenty and fourth day — The feast of tabernacles began on the fourteenth day, and ended on the twenty-second, all which time mourning had been forbidden, as contrary to the nature of the feast, which was to be kept with joy. But now, on the twenty-fourth, the next day but one after the feast, their consciences having been fully awakened, and their hearts filled with grief for their sins, which they were not allowed to express in that time of public joy, they resume their former thoughts, and, recalling their sins to mind, set apart a day for solemn fasting and humiliation.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The festival lasted from the 15th day of the…
The festival lasted from the 15th day of the 7th month to the first. The 22nd day was a day of solemn observance Neh 8:18. One day seems to have been allowed the people for rest; and then the work of repentance, for which they had shown themselves ready Neh 8:9, was taken in hand, and a general fast was proclaimed.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Month; Tizri, the day after they had sent away…
Month; Tizri, the day after they had sent away those women, (Calmet) whose company now covered them with confusion. (Haydock) --- They were moved to compunction, by the hearing of the law, read by Esdras. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain 1Now [And] in the twenty and fourth day of…
Neh_9:1-38
1Now [And] in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them [i.e., upon their heads]. 2And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers [sons of strangeness], and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. 3And they stood up in their place and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped 4the Lord their God. Then [And] stood up upon the stairs of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and 5cried with a loud voice unto the Lord their God. Then [And] the Levites Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever [from eternity to eternity], and blessed be [they blessed] thy glorious name [the name of thy 6glory], which [and it] is exalted above all blessing and praise. Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas and all that is therein, and thou 7preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; 8and foundest his heart faithful before thee and madest a [the] covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous: 9and didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red Sea [Sea of weeds]. 10And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou [and thou didst] get thee a name, as it is this day. 11And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that [and] they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the 12deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters. Moreover [and] thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go. 13Thou camest down also [And thou camest down] upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments and true laws [laws of truth], good statutes and commandments: 14and madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, 15[and] statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant: and gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land 16which thou hadst sworn [lifted up thy hand] to give them. But [And] they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, 17and refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but [and] hardened their necks and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage [in place of “in their rebellion,“ in Egypt]; but thou art a God ready to pardon [a God of pardons] gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not. 18Yea, when they had made [Yea, they even made] them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought [and wrought] great provocations; 19yet [and] thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of [the] fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go. 20Thou gavest also [And thou gavest] thy good Spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them 21water for their thirst. Yea forty years [And forty years] didst thou sustain, them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and 22their feet swelled not. Moreover [And] thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners [or districts]: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon [perhaps, the land of Sihon, the king of Heshbon], and the land of Og, king of Bashan. 23Their children also multipliedst thou [And their children thou didst multiply] as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that 24they should go in to possess it. [So [And] the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land; the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would. 25And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged [cisterns hewn], vineyards and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so [and] they did eat, and were filled, 26and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. Nevertheless [And] they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, 27and they wrought great provocations. Therefore [And] thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble when they cried [their oppressors who oppressed them: and in the time of their oppression they cried] unto thee, [and] thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies [oppressors]. 28But after they had rest, they did evil again [they returned to do evil] before thee: therefore leftest thou [and thou leftest] them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them yet when [and] they returned, and cried unto thee, [and] thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies; 29and testifiedst against [to] them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet [and] they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but [and] sinned against thy judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them [which a man shall do and live in them], and withdrew the shoulder [gave a resisting shoulder], and 30hardened their neck, and would not hear [did not hear]. Yet [And] many years didst thou forbear them [i.e., act forbearingly towards them], and testifiedst against [to] them by thy Spirit in thy prophets [by the hand of thy prophets]; yet would they not give ear [and they did not give ear] therefore gavest thou [and thou 31gavest] them into the hand of the people of the lands. Nevertheless [And] for thy great mercies’ sake [in thy great mercies] thou didst not utterly consume them, 32nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God. Now therefore [and now], our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy [the covenant and the mercy], let not all the trouble [distress] seem little before thee, that hath come upon us [found us], on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, 33since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day. Howbeit [And] thou art just in all that is brought [comes] upon us; for thou hast done right, but [and] we have done wickedly: 34neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers kept [done] thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against [to] them. 35For they have not served thee in their kingdom and in thy great goodness [blessings of prosperity] that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned 36they from their wicked works. Behold, we are servants this day, and [as] for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it: 37and it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also [and] they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress. 38And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests seal unto it [are on the sealed covenant].
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TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
1 Neh_9:8. כָרוֹת inf. abs. for כָרַתָּ.
2 Neh_9:22. וַעֲמָמִים. This Aramæan form is found in Jdg_5:14, where it is poetical.
3 Neh_9:26. גַוּם, In this phrase (see 1Ki_14:9; Eze_23:35, and here) the Tsere becomes Pattahh, as if from גַּו not גִּו.
4 Neh_9:28. רַבּוֹת עִתִּים for עִתִּים רַבּוֹת.
5 Neh_9:38. אֲמָנָה. That this is not an adjective with בְרִית understood is evident from its use in chapter Neh_11:23.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The Confession
The confession recorded in this chapter uses largely the language of the older Scriptures. For Neh_9:6 see Psa_86:10; Exo_20:11, and Deu_10:14. For Neh_9:9, see Exo_3:7. For Neh_9:10, see Jer_32:20. For Neh_9:11, see Exo_15:5; Exo_15:10. For Neh_9:12, see Exo_13:21. For Neh_9:13, see Exo_19:20. For Neh_9:15, see Psa_105:40-41. For Neh_9:16, see 2Ki_17:14. For Neh_9:17, see Psa_78:11; Exo_34:6. For Neh_9:25, see Deu_6:10-11. For Neh_9:27, see Jdg_2:14; Jdg_2:18. For Neh_9:29, see Lev_18:5. For Neh_9:33, see Psa_106:6. For Neh_9:35 and Neh_9:36, see Deu_28:47-48.
Neh_9:1. The twenty and fourth day of this month.—The ’Atzereth was the 22d day of Tisri. Two days after is this special day of fasting and confession. It must not be confounded with the Yom-hak-kippurim or Day of Atonement, which was the 10th of Tisri.
Earth upon them,i.e., on their heads (see 1Sa_4:12). Both earth and ashes were used on the head as a sign of sorrow. Comp. 2Sa_13:19. Our Eng. version has written here sackclothes, but everywhere else has used sackcloth for the Heb. plural.
This fasting, mourning and confession was not a swing of the pendulum to the other extreme from the joy and gladness of the Tabernacle’s feast, but the action of the same religious spirit which recognized God’s great favors, but which at the same time recognized the great errors of the people.
Neh_9:2. The Bene-nechar or strangers were foreigners who had become mixed with the Jews by commercial interest or by marriage. Comp. Neh_13:3; Neh_13:27.
Neh_9:3. And read.—Probably as before, Ezra reading from the high platform to the great multitude, and the Levites explaining in different parts of the crowd. One-fourth part of the day.—Probably half way to noon. Another fourth part.—Probably the rest of the time till noon. Comp. Neh_8:3.
Neh_9:4 : Stairs.—See on Neh_8:4. Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Sherebiah appear again in Neh_9:5, but Bunni, Bani (2) and Chenani are replaced there by Hashabniah, Hodijah, and Pethahiah. So there appears to have been two movements. The Levites mentioned in the fourth verse opened the service with a loud cry, perhaps a doxology, and then the Levites mentioned in the fifth verse began the confession. Bunni is perhaps Binnui of Neh_10:9. Bani (2) is perhaps Benina of Neh_10:13. Chenani is probably Hanan of Neh_10:10.
Neh_9:5. Hashabniah.—In Neh_10:11 Hashabiah.Hodijah.—See Neh_10:10. Pethahiah.—Perhaps Pelaiah of Neh_10:10. The only Levites mentioned as sealing in chap. 10, who are not mentioned here are, then, Kelita, Micha, Rehob, Zaccur, Shebaniah (2), Hodijah (2).
Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever.—This the eight Levites cry out to the people (some having perhaps seated themselves), and then they make the confession to God, doubtless from a written document prepared for the occasion, so that all the eight speak together, and so make a strong voice to be heard by all. The Hebrew of this confession is quite pure and largely borrowed from the older books.
And blessed be thy glorious name.—Here the Fut. Piel is, with wav conversive, an assertion made by Nehemiah himself in an ejaculatory form to God, thus: “The Levites said, Stand up and bless the Lord, etc., and they [i.e., the people] blessed thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.” The words of the people then begin with Neh_9:6.
Neh_9:6. Heaven of heavens.—Intensive, for the unseen as well as seen heaven. Host of heaven—i.e., the angels.
Neh_9:7. Ur of the Chaldees cannot be Mugheir by the Persian gulf, as is the present prevailing theory. The Chaldees or Casdim in Abraham’s day (or in Moses’ day) were not so far south. Ur was more likely in northern Mesopotamia, though scarcely so near to Haran as Oorfa. The Semitic stock to which Abraham belonged seem to belong to northern Mesopotamia.
Neh_9:8. The Hivites are left out of this enumeration, perhaps to please their descendants, the Nethinim. (See Jos_9:7.)
Neh_9:11. Mighty—in the sense of violent. Comp. Exo_15:5 for the figure.
Neh_9:13-14. Judgments, laws, statutes, commandments, precepts.—In Hebrew the words are (in the singular) mishpah, torah, hok, mitzwah. The last word is translated in E. V. by “commandments” and “precepts.” The mishpah has the idea of discrimination and decision in it. The torah is a code. The hok is a separate decree. The mitzwah is a simple order. The adjectives “right,” “true,” and “good,” are exactly appropriate.
Neh_9:17. Appointed a captain.—In Num_14:4 it is only stated that they proposed to appoint one. The proposition had been really carried out. In their rebellion.—LXX: ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, reading מצרים for מרים. The LXX. is probably right. Comp. Num_14:4. The words in Heb. come after “to their bondage.”
Neh_9:18. This is thy God.—Here “this thy Elohim,” and in Exo_32:4 “these thy Elohim.” In each case only one God is referred to. The plural style of the sentence in Exodus, both as to the demonstrative and the verb, is simply a conformity to the plural form of Elohim. The molten calf may have been a copy of Apis or Mnevis, or it may have been a cherub. Indeed Apis and Mnevis may have been Egyptian forms of the primeval cherubim.
Neh_9:19. To show them light and the way wherein they should go.—Better: to shed light on them and the way, etc.
Neh_9:20. Thou gavest also thy good Spirit.—Referring to the event described in Numbers 11. Comp. Isa_63:11.
Neh_9:22. And didst divide them into corners.—Rather: And didst distribute them into districts. The words “and the land of the,” weth eretz, before “king of Heshbon,” seem to be an error of transcription. “The land of Sihon, king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan” is probably the right reading (comp. Deu_2:26; Deu_2:30; Deu_2:36), or the old formula may have been corrupted, “the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon,” Deu_3:2, etc.
Neh_9:24. With their kings.—Rather, both their kings.
Neh_9:25. Became fat.—This is Hiphil as in Isa_6:10, and must be strictly rendered “made fat,” i.e., themselves.
Neh_9:26. Slew thy prophets.—See 1Ki_18:4; 2Ch_24:21.
Neh_9:27. Their enemies who vexed them, and in the time of their trouble.—Better: their oppressors, who oppressed them, and in the time of their oppression.
Neh_9:29. Testifiedst against.—Rather, testifiedst to.—So in Neh_9:30 and Neh_9:34.
Neh_9:32. Since the time of the kings of Assyria,i.e., the days of Pul and Tiglath-pileser (2Ki_15:19; 2Ki_15:29). This time was more than three centuries before Nehemiah’s day.
Neh_9:35. In thy great goodness that thou gavest them.—That is, in the great prosperity (from thee) which thou gavest them. So in Neh_9:25. “Thy goodness” is not God’s moral attribute, but the prosperity He gave them.
Neh_9:38. This verse is the first of the tenth ch. in Heb. Although the word “covenant” is inserted, it is warranted by the use of the verb “carath,” the full expression being “carath berith.”
HISTORICAL AND ETHICAL
1. If we marvel at the readiness of Israel to fall away into alliances with the heathen, we must also marvel at their readiness to return to their separation before the testimony of their law. There is no greater wonder displayed to us in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah than the speediness of the work of these reformers in drawing away the people of Israel from alliances, where pecuniary interest and personal affection had formed a double and most potent bond. There must have been a prodigious vitality in the old Mosaic commonwealth. No mere philosophic reformers would have dared to venture on so radical a movement against the deep-seated tendencies of the people, and no people but those who had a truly divine side to their life would have hearkened to such a proposition. With all their errors, how much there is to admire in Israel!
2. Every covenant with God must, on man’s side, be founded on penitential confession of sin. For God’s grace, which is the content of His part of the covenant, cannot enter a soul that harbors its wickedness. When David acknowledged his sin unto God, God’s forgiveness poured in upon his soul. (Psa_32:5.) After this chapter of confession comes the chapter of the covenant, with its natural issues of reform.
3. This confession is a prayer, although it has no petition in it. It is the laying of the soul before God in the attitude of awaiting. Often the best part of a prayer is its rehearsal of God’s goodness and our own short-comings. This increases the receptivity of the soul. It removes worldliness, increases faith, makes the spiritual eyesight clearer, and brings it en rapport with heaven.
4. The distress of Israel under its political burdens is recognised as part of the discipline which God had exercised over the nation through its entire history. The covenant is not considered as broken by God in all this. He had been faithful. In this way Israel sees God’s grace in the midst of the afflictions. An infidel heart would have regarded God as abandoning His people, and have seen in their vicissitudes only the ordinary fate of nations. Events are to be judged not by their outward appearance, but by the subjective truth, on which they really depend. A godly soul understands this secret, and draws from it great peace and strength.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Neh_9:1-3. The penitential and fast-days of the Lord’s congregation. 1) Their time and cause. They must alternate with facts and festivals; even God’s favors must prompt us to observe them. 2) Their aim—to confess sins, our own as well as those of our ancestors, and to praise God’s mercy as contrasted with them (Neh_9:2). 3) The manner of their celebration. Occupation with God’s holy law forms the foundation which helps us to a right understanding of sin, and a right appreciation of the grace. The aim is penitence, as also faith, which worships the Lord (Neh_9:3).—Bede: Manifestius ostenditur, quanta gratia devotionis omnes eorum personæ novum post festa skenopægia conventum fecerint, ut videlicet se tota intentions a scelerum contagiis expurgatos divino fœderi conjungerent, ipsamque sancti fœderis conditionem et sermons confirmarent et scripto, acsi ab impiorum consortio separati securiores implerent opus, quod jam dudum cœperant; id est, congruos factæ urbis cives de numero piorum instituerent.—Starke: Confession of our sins before God is an effect of true contrition for the same. Such confession is necessary 1). As regards God who demands it (Jer_3:12-13), who also wishes to be recognised by men as holy, just, and true, and will not forgive any sin without confession. (Psa_32:5.) As regards the Mediator; for as He confessed our sins and the sins of the whole world before God, with words and deed through suffering punishment for His people, so must we, much more, confess our own sins, if indeed we wish to be partakers of the merit of Christ. (1Jn_1:7-8.) 3) As regards the Holy Spirit’s office of correction, whose work it is to convince the sinner. 4) As regards ourselves, for if we will not confess we remain under God’s wrath. (1Jn_1:8). 5) As regards our neighbor: for if we have provoked him, such provocation must be done away, and thereby the honor be given to God. God wishes that public assemblies should be held in the church. Heb_10:15. When we keep penitential and fast-days, or go to the holy communion, we should fast, lay aside all adornment, and appear in plain dress, with honest, humble hearts.
Neh_9:4-15. God’s faithfulness to the covenant. 1) Its preparative activity. It lets itself far down, and gives the prospect of great and glorious things (Neh_9:4-8). Its saving activity (Neh_9:9-11). It takes pity upon misery, overcomes the oppressor, and removes hinderances and perplexities even in nature. 3) Its preserving and perfecting activities. It shows the way, and provides, for God’s flock, in body and soul, and incites it to appropriate the promises (Neh_9:8.) The goal of the Old and New Testament covenant life is, the earthly and heavenly inheritance. 1) The promise of the same. At the calling of Abraham; then in the gospel. 2) The way to it. Through the wilderness of Arabia; then through the wilderness of life. 3) The power which proceeds from it, particularly for Israel after it had obtained the same for us already, while we yet hope for it.—Starke: Our good, heavenly Father gives earthly goods in possession to His children, in order that they may have good hope of the heavenly inheritance.
Neh_9:16-25. God’s pardoning grace. 1) He does not refuse it in spite of our disobedience (Neh_9:16), in spite of faithlessness (Neh_9:17), in spite of open backsliding (Neh_9:18). Much more, He shows His gracious presence to lead us to the high prize of the calling (Neh_9:19), gives His good and Holy Spirit for instruction; gives also the bread and water of life for hunger and thirst (Neh_9:20). 2) He punishes indeed, but affords, even in the time of punishment experiences, proofs, and advances of grace (Neh_9:21-23). 3) He brings us richly blessed to the prize of the calling (Neh_9:24-25).
Neh_9:20-21. God’s gracious care. 1) He provides both for bodily and spiritual necessities. 2) He provides it by great and small, startling and insignificant miracles. 3) He provides it during the march through the wilderness, that He may bring His people into Canaan.
Neh_9:21. The wisdom of the divine care. 1) Its manner: God often helps, not in a startling, but in an insignificant way, quietly, yes, secretly blessing. 2) Its reason. The faith of His people is best tried, exercised, and strengthened in this way. 3) Its aim. That the godly may accustom themselves in all things, even in the insignificant, to perceive God’s helping father hand, and shall learn the art to let all and everything, even the daily common-place, be a cause of thanks and of joy.—Starke: God punishes the persecutors of His people energetically. Our pillar of cloud, which shows us the way to our everlasting father-land, is the ministry of the gospel, in which God is truly present and powerful. Although God does not immediately place all the godly in fruitful and pleasant places, nor give them bread from heaven, nor water from the rock, still He gives them, notwithstanding, necessary nourishment and clothing wherewith they should be satisfied. Mat_6:31-32; 1Ti_6:8. The wickedness of mankind is so great when left to itself, that they are not bettered by the divine benefits, but indeed become worse, and in the highest ingratitude towards our God, return evil for good. Although with us is a multitude of sins, with God is plenteous redemption. Psa_130:7. Let no one therefore say with Cain, My sins are greater than it is possible to forgive. Gen_4:13.
Neh_9:26-31. God’s educating Wisdom 1) God indeed chastises, but He again has mercy (Neh_9:26-27). 2) God has mercy many times, but He also admonishes to follow His precepts, in the observance of which man has his life (Neh_9:28-29). 3) He admonishes a long while, and punishes and increases His punishment to the utmost if He is cot listened to, but nevertheless He never gives him entirely up whom it is possible to help (Neh_9:30-31).
Neh_9:26-37. The grounds for the petition for forgiveness and mercy. 1) God’s unwearied mercy in the past (Neh_9:26-31). 2) God’s justice and our guilt in the present, particularly as they are to be recognised in connection with our troubles (Neh_9:32-35). 3) The greatness of our need and trouble (Neh_9:36-37).
Neh_9:32-37. The debasement of the congregation at the present time. 1) Wherein it consists. 2) What is its cause. 3) What its aim.—Starke: It is very consoling to think of the mercy of God which He has shown to our ancestors, for the same God lives yet. We must hold ourselves in true faith to the promises of God, for they will never fail. When the godly are involved in the greatest danger God cares for them the most, and knows how to rescue them. We are chastised by God that we may not be condemned with the world. When God wishes to deliver His people, He does not look at what they have deserved, but at what His immeasurable mercy demands. Those who have provoked God to auger by their sins have little happiness to expect as long as they go on without penitence. True confession—confession of the name of God and believing prayer, are the right means by which the enemy are again to be driven away. Lord, when trouble is present, they seek thee, etc. Isa_26:16. Although a false religion may have a great appearance of sanctity and piety before people, yet is it in the sight of God a great abomination. What beautiful surnames has God. Oh soul! mark them well, that thou mayest remember them when conscience accuses, and when thou art in trouble, that thou mayest not despond.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain THE DAY OF PENITENCE AND PRAYER, Neh_9:1-37.
THE DAY OF PENITENCE AND PRAYER, Neh_9:1-37.
1. The twenty and fourth day — Two days after the close of the feast of tabernacles.
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With fasting — Or, in fasting; in this way they observed the day. After the seven days’ feast came one day’s fast. They had left off weeping to observe the joyful feasts, (chap. Neh_8:9,) now they return again to sorrow.
With sackcloth — Black garments made usually of goats’ hair, (Rev_6:12,) and used as a penitential garb by mourners when in great distress.
Earth… them — Another sign of bitter humiliation and grief. Comp. Jos_7:5 : 1Sa_4:12; 2Sa_1:2; Job_2:12. In the history of Israel each period, however short, of prosperity and joy seems to have had its dark background of adversity and sadness.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. in the twenty and fourth day of this…
1. in the twenty and fourth day of this month] i. e. on the second day after the 8th day of the Feast of Tabernacles.
fasting] Cf. Ezr_8:21; Ezr_10:6.
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sackclothes] R.V. sackcloth. The symbol of sorrow, often of the sorrow of penitence, as in Dan_9:3; Jon_3:5; Jon_3:8; 1Ch_21:16.
earth upon them] For the sign of mourning, earth or dust upon the head, cf. 1Sa_4:12; 2Sa_1:2; 2Sa_15:32; Job_2:12.
1–5a. The Day of National Humiliation, and its religious services
It must be admitted that, if the Great Day of Atonement were observed at this time, it is strange that its occurrence in this month was not made use of for the solemn service of confession. Perhaps this was one of the commands of ‘the law,’ of which the stricter observance as of the Feast of Tabernacles (Neh_8:17), was now first publicly made known to the people.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) In the twenty and fourth day.—After one day…
(1) In the twenty and fourth day.—After one day of rest, the people assembled with all the tokens of sorrow, even to dust on the head (1Sa_4:12): the external signs and the internal spirit were one.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain SOLEMN FAST KEPT, WITH CONFESSION OF SINS; AND VOLUNTARY…
SOLEMN FAST KEPT, WITH CONFESSION OF SINS; AND VOLUNTARY COVENANT WITH GOD ENTERED INTO BY THE PEOPLE, AND SEALED TO BY THE PRINCES, PRIESTS, AND LEVITES. (Ne 9) When the law was first read to them on the opening day of the seventh month, the people had shown strong feelings of compunction, an earnest desire to return to God by the thorny way of repentance. In checking this feeling on that particular day, Ezra and Nehemiah had conformed to prevalent ideas on the subject of festival observance, but had not intended to thwart the popular desire for some distinct penitential action, some marked public proceedings, which should at once furnish a vent to pent-up feeling, and serve as a starting-point from which individuals, or even the nation, might enter upon a new career. It is a very curious circumstance, and one not easy of explanation, that they did not fix on the 10th of the month the "great day of atonement as the most appropriate day of national humiliation and of general self-abasement. The proximity of that occasion would naturally and almost necessarily suggest it to them, and nothing could well exceed its intrinsic fitness. On that day, and that day only in the whole of the year, every soul was to afflict itself, and whatsoever soul did not do so was to be cut off and destroyed from among the people. (Lev_23:27-29) It can scarcely be that the observance of the day had ceased. Perhaps the time for preparation which the selection of this "feast of sorrow" would have allowed seemed too short. Perhaps it was thought undesirable to select for an extraordinary national act of self-humiliation a day which already possessed its own routine, and possibly its own ritual, of repentance. In any case, the fact was that the civil and ecclesiastical authorities came to the determination not to make any special use of the regular annual fast day, but to leave the observance of that occasion to the people"s natural bent, and appoint a different day one which had no traditional customs attached to it for the solemn act of penitence on which the heart of the nation was set. As the feast of tabernacles lasted from the 15th of Tisri to the 22nd, it was necessary either to select a day before that holy week or after it. A day between the 10th and the 15th would have followed too close upon the day of atonement; a day, therefore, was appointed after the festival was over. Not, however, the very next day the transition from joy to sorrow would in that case have been too abrupt but the next day but one the 24th. (Neh_9:1) Then, the multitude that had come up for the feast being still present, a great fast was kept sackcloth was worn, dust was sprinkled on the head; for half the day the vast assembly remained in the great court of the temple, listening to the words of the law for three hours, and for three hours confessing their sins (ver. 3); after this the Levites took the word, and, in the name of the whole people, blessed God, acknowledged his gracious providence and special goodness towards Israel throughout the entire course of their history (vers. 5-25), confessed their sins and the sins of their fathers (vers. 26-35), admitted the justice of their present low estate (vers. 36, 37), and finally brought forward a written bond or covenant, whereto they invited those present to set their seals (ver. 38), pledging them to "walk in God"s law, and observe and do all his commandments," and to make a perpetual provision for the priests and for the temple service. (Neh_10:29-39) The words of the formula were, no doubt, carefully prepared beforehand, and show traces of the influence of Ezra, to whose prayer (Ezr_9:6-15) they bear a great resemblance. We may perhaps assume that they were his composition, and that, though he is not mentioned, he was present, directing all the proceedings, instructing and animating the Levites, and exercising an influence for good over all grades of the people. (The present chapter is closely united with that which follows, and must be studied in connection with it.)
With sackclothes, and earth upon them. On the use of sackcloth in mourning see Gen_37:34 2Sa_3:31 2Sa_21:10 1Ki_21:27, etc. Putting earth or dust on the head was less common; but mention of it is made in 1Sa_4:12 2Sa_1:2; and Job_2:12.
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Vers. 1-3. A special Fast day how spent.
This chapter and the next contain an account of the proceedings of a day set apart for special fasting and humiliation These three verses give a general description of the proceedings.
I The DATE. The 24th day of the month Tisri; only one clear day having passed since the rejoicings of the feast of tabernacles. So joy and sorrow succeed each other in life; in the religious life also. No inconsistency in the indulgence of each in turn. The people had shown a preparedness for special humiliation at the beginning of the month, at the feast of trumpets, when, the law being read to them, they wept. But they were bid to restrain their grief at that time because they were keeping a festival. Since then, on the tenth of the month, the day of atonement, the only fast day prescribed by the law, had doubtless been observed. But services of a more special kind were felt to be desirable, in which, by the united expressions of repentance and renewed covenant with God, the foundation should be laid for a life more in harmony with the law.
II The SEPARATION from aliens effected. The meeting and its exercises were to be strictly for "the seed of Israel." Others could not really have fellowship with them in their recital of God"s dealings with their fathers and their nation, nor share their sorrow or new resolutions. The Jews therefore "separated themselves from all strangers" for the time, and held a meeting of Jews only. Such seems to be the meaning of the words. Observe that community of faith and feeling is essential to united worship, and the deeper and fuller it is, so much the more real and profitable will the united worship be. The mixed congregation has its advantages, but earnest Christians will desire a closer fellowship than it affords, and which can be found only in meetings of those like-minded, apart for a time from the formal and halfhearted.
III The EXTERNAL SIGNS Of humiliation adopted. Fasting, abstinence from food, more or less rigid. A practice sanctioned by our Lord, and employed not only as an expression of humiliation, but as an aid to intense devotion. (see Mat_4:2 Mat_17:21 Act_13:2, Act_13:3) Whether its very general disuse amongst Western Protestant Christians is to be attributed to a decreased devoutness, or an increased spirituality to which such methods and instruments of piety are alien, or to the experience that in Western climates fasting does not aid devotion, is worthy of consideration. What is certain is, that it is of no worth as a religious observance except as it promotes or expresses spiritual religion. In addition to fasting, these Jews wore sackclothes, and put earth on their heads usages not uncommon with them in similar circumstances. Such signs of humiliation as these are, however, distinctly forbidden by our Lord, at ]east.in the case of private devotion, (Mat_6:16) as savouring of ostentation; and, doubtless, the more the spirit of the gospel prevails, such external signs become distasteful. And at any period they were valuable only as expressing and promoting real feelings of penitence. We can easily imagine how, where they were recognised signs of mourning, a whole assembly appearing in them would excite each other to deeper grief, as in fact among ourselves is done when hundreds or thousands meet, on some occasion of general sorrow, all clothed in black.
IV The RELIGIOUS EXERCISES of the day.
1. The worship of God. Including
(1) Praise. Declarations of the Divine glory, and recitals of his wondrous works, in creation and in their national history.
(2) Confession of sins. Their own sins and those of their fathers. The substance of the confession made is given in vers. 7-35. Confession of one"s own sins is not only appropriate, but is a condition of forgiveness. (Pro_28:13 1Jn_1:9) But why confess the sins of their fathers? It is to be remembered that this was a national gathering for national humiliation, introductory to a better national life. In such an assembly a review of the nation"s sins would be very appropriate and profitable. It recalled the great cause of past national suffering, and of present degradation and subjection. It brought into light what must be avoided if better times were to arise. It produced the personal conviction of participation in the sins of those gone before, and the necessity of abandoning them. It enhanced the feeling of the great forbearance and mercy of God towards their nation, which at once deepened repentance and encouraged hope.
(3) Prayer (ver. 32).
2. Reading of the law. This had held a prominent place in the celebration of the feasts both of trumpets and of tabernacles (see previous chapter), and had been the chief means of awakening that general sorrow for sin which had prepared the people for this special fast day. It would seem that they had been heretofore unfamiliar with "the book of the law," and that what they had recently heard had excited a hunger not easily satiated. On this occasion half the time was spent in reading and hearing portions of the book. Its precepts and histories would increase their penitence; the declarations which, amidst its legal enactments, it contained of the pardoning mercy of God, and the instances of its exercise which it recorded, would assure them that their repentance would not be in vain; and the whole would guide and stimulate their praises and confessions, supplications and good resolutions.
V The TIME OCCUPIED (ver. 3). It was a "protracted meeting." For six hours the congregation kept together. Half the time was employed in the reading of the law, doubtless with explanations similar to those recorded in Neh_8:7, Neh_8:8, and half in worship. Perhaps the two alternated with each other throughout the service. In times of general religious feeling very long services may be held without weariness; ordinarily they are undesirable; but the demand for very short ones is usually a sign of the decay of spiritual life. In conclusion
1. The foundation of a new or improved religious life must be laid in genuine repentance.
2. Knowledge of God"s word is essential to an intelligent, acceptable, and lasting piety. The reading and exposition of Holy Scripture should therefore be prominent in public worship.
3. The reality and worth of our religious knowledge is to be estimated by its influence on our heart and life. Does it work in us repentance and a more godly and righteous life?
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON. Vers. 1-5, 16-18, 26, 28-30, 33-35. Confession.
The feast of tabernacles, held in such wise as Israel had not known since the days of Joshua (ch. 8:17), concluded, "according unto the manner" of that festival, with a solemn assembly" on the eighth day (ch. 8:18) last day, that great day of the feast". (Joh_7:37) After one day"s interval, when nothing unusual was done, "on the twenty-fourth day of the month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting" (ver. l), and a very great day was held of confession, adoration, and prayer. This was entirely an optional act on their part; it was not done to conform to any injunction" it was felt to be a suitable and desirable thing. Under the law there was some under the gospel is more room for spontaneous service. Not only the ordinances and services that are prescribed, but such and so many as the cultivation of our spiritual life requires, are what the wise and the good will practise. These should not be
(1) So many as to keep us from taking a fair share in the duties of daily life and of citizenship, or as to lead insensibly to formality and ceremonialism; nor should they be
(2) so few as to starve the soul or withhold from it the full nourishment it needs. Ezra and Nehemiah may have felt that the intense and prolonged exaltation of heart in which they had been luxuriating was not without its dangers, and would be wisely followed by a calmer service. In the cultivation of our religious character, one kind of service should alternate with another the contemplative with the social, the spiritual with the practical, and the joyous and congratulatory with the penitential. Confession of sin was the key-note of this entire service. It found utterance in two ways.
I OUTWARD SIGNS OF HUMILIATION (ver. 1). "The children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth and earth upon them" (ver. 1). They took those measures to indicate humility which in their age and land were natural to them:
(1) fasting,
(2) wearing sackcloth,
(3) putting earth or "sprinkling dust" (Job_2:12) on their head.
Whenever outward manifestations of this kind down the head as a bulrush, or spreading sackcloth and ashes", (Isa_58:5) or fasting become purely formal or simply ostentatious, (Mat_6:16) they become unacceptable or even positively repugnant to him who demands sincerity and spirituality. (Psa 51:2Jo Psa 4:24) But the bent head, the downcast eye, the uncontrollable tear, the unconscious sigh these are often the inarticulate but eloquent utterances of contrition which the eye of the all-seeing, the ear of the all-hearing Father fails not to see and hear.
II WORDS OF PENITENCE. One "fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the Lord their God" (ver. 3). "With a loud voice" (ver. 4) the eight Levites led their devotions, calling on them to "stand up and bless the Lord their God for ever and ever" (ver. 5), and then the people followed them in their confession; thus: fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, and refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them" (vers. 16, 17); they "wrought great provocations" (ver. 18); "they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs" (ver. 26); "they did evil again before thee" (ver. 28); "they dealt proudly, and sinned against thy judgments,... they withdrew the shoulder" (ver. 29). "We have done wickedly: neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, or our fathers kept thy law; ... they have not served thee.., in thy great goodness." Here is ample and unreserved confession of their own and their fathers" guilt:
1. Manifold shortcoming not hearkening to commandments, being unmindful of wonders, not serving God in his great goodness.
2. Positive and aggravated transgression dealing proudly, working great provocations, rebelling against God, casting law behind them, etc.
3. Backsliding the shoulder" that had been given to the yoke. We are summoned to "take with us words and turn to the Lord". (Hos_14:2) "With the mouth confession is made unto salvation". (Rom_10:10) Our confession should be
(1) ample and unconstrained, including
(a) shortcoming,
(b) transgression, and, if called for,
(c) backsliding; it must be
(2) sincere not a mere repetition of becoming words which other penitents have employed, but the utterance of what our own heart feels. C.
HOMILIES BY J.S EXELL Vers. 1-29. A prayerful review of Divine goodness as manifested in the facts of human life.
I This is a prayerful review of the Divine NAME. "And blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise" (ver. 5).
1. It views God as the Creator of all things (ver. 6).
2. It views God as electing his people (ver. 7).
3. It views God as covenanting with the faithful (ver. 8).
4. It views God as delivering his people in the time of sore affliction (vers. 9, 10).
II This is a prayerful review of the Divine ACTION. "And thou didst divide the sea before them" (ver. 11).
1. The act of deliverance (ver. 11).
2. The act of guidance. "Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar" (ver. 12).
3. The act of instruction (vers. 13, 14).
4. The act of provision. "And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger" (ver. 15).
5. The act of forbearance (ver. 17).
6. The act of conquest (ver. 24).
7. The act of retribution (ver. 27). E.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD Vers. 1-38. The solemn fast of assembled Israel. Notice three features in the people"s religious life.
1. Their confession of sin.
2. Their external reformation.
3. Their solemn adoption of the written word of God as the law of their life. Take these as representative, universal.
I HUMILIATION AND CONFESSION.
1. Public and united as well as private and solitary. Great impressiveness in numbers. The heart needs the stimulus of contact with great waves of feeling. There is much in the expression of religious emotion to feed and sustain it.
2. The sense of sin should not be merely the acknowledgment of individual transgressions, but of moral helplessness. "They confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers." They recounted the history of Divine grace and the backslidings of his people. It kept alive in their hearts the sense of their utter dependence on the free, unmerited mercy of Jehovah.
3. The penitential spirit will clothe itself in an appropriate dress. The people fasted and put on sackcloth and earth, as signs of mourning and self-humiliation. We are not enjoined to adopt their religious customs, but there is a natural expression of penitence which is not formality or self-righteousness. Self-denial, simplicity of life and manners, practical remembrance of the nothingness of earthly things. "Moderation known unto all men.
II THE REFORMATION OF THE OUTWARD LIFE. There are external conditions under which alone the true service of God can be fulfilled. Such are
1. Complete separation from alliance with ungodly strangers. The uncompromising purity of our conversation is our only safeguard. The truly consecrated heart will renounce all for God. Often a sacrifice will be involved, but to give up the old life is to save the new.
2. Attention to the public observance of religious ordinances. The most humble and sanctified natures appreciate such opportunities the most. Neglect of the house of God is a sure sign of decay of the spiritual life. Nothing can be substituted for it. Solitary religion may be sincere, but it cannot be entirely healthy, and is generally apt to grow morbid. The consecrated gifts of God"s people are placed at our disposal by the mingling together of hearts and voices, and the use of a prepared expression of religious feeling.
3. The service of God in the daily life. "In the land which thou gavest unto our fathers;" "behold, we are servants in it." Religion must be made a reality, not only in the public assembly, but in the household, in the place of business, in the relations we sustain to fellow-men, in national life, in all the land.
III THE SOLEMN COVENANT SEALED BY GOD"S PEOPLE, ADOPTION OF HIS WORD AS THE ONE ONLY LAW TO BE OBSERVED. "We make a sure covenant, and write it.
1. The covenant rests upon a covenant. We stand upon the ground which God himself has prepared for us the history of his faithfulness and love in the past. We dare not undertake to live by the law of God except we have the assurance of his grace. The Old Testament is the precious support of our faith as we pledge ourselves to Christ in the new covenant of the gospel. We are able to surround ourselves with the cloud of witnesses.
2. The fellowship of faith our help. Those who have set their seals to the same writing hold up each other"s strength in the fulfilment of the vow. Princes, Levites, priests, with the people. God is no respecter of persons; but when all ranks and offices are united in his service, the confidence of all is maintained, and the spirit of brotherhood feeds the spirit of self-sacrifice.
3. Public consecration and profession of obedience should be the result of a deep, inward work of Gods Spirit, in the renewal of the heart and life. All rash vows are wrong; how much more those made in the name of religion! Because we repent and return to the Lord, we may safely make a covenant of faithfulness; but a mere sealing of the outward man, without a spiritual renovation, is a mockery and a snare.
4. Enlightenment should accompany all public religious acts. The people heard the word and understood it before they solemnly pledged themselves to keep the law. There can be no healthy revival of religion which is not founded on enlightenment. The great assemblies are easily moved to common action; but the preparation for it should be the clear, full, simple announcement of the gospel. We can never take too much account of the fact that the human heart deceives itself, that ignorance blinds, that selfishness and slothfulness hide the wonders of the past and the dangers of the future. The whole word of God should be the foundation on which religious life is built up. R.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Nehemiah 9
THE RELIGION OF HISTORY
Nehemiah 9
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AFTER the carnival-Lent. This Catholic procedure was anticipated by the Jews in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. The merry feast of Tabernacles was scarcely over, when, permitting an interval of but a single day, the citizens of Jerusalem plunged into a demonstration of mourning-fasting, sitting in sackcloth, casting dust on their heads, abjuring foreign connections, confessing their own and their fathers sins. Although the singular revulsion of feeling may have been quite spontaneous on the part of the people, the violent reaction to which it gave rise was sanctioned by the authorities. In an open-air meeting which lasted for six hours-three of Bible-reading and three of confession and worship-the Levites took the lead, as they had done at the publication of The Law a few weeks earlier. But these very men had rebuked the former outburst of lamentation. Must we suppose that their only objection on that occasion was that the mourning was then untimely, because it was indulged in at a festival, whereas it ought to have been postponed to a fast day? If that were all, we should have to contemplate a miserably artificial condition of affairs. Real emotions refuse to come and go at the bidding of officials pedantically set on regulating their alternate recurrence in accordance with a calendar of the church year. A theatrical representation of feeling may be drilled into some such orderly procession. But true feeling itself is of all things in the universe the most restive under direct orders.
We must look a little deeper. The Levites had given a great spiritual reason for the restraint of grief in their wonderful utterance, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." This noble thought is not an elixir to be administered or withheld according to the recurrence of ecclesiastical dates. If it is true at all, it is eternally true. Although the application of it is not always a fact of experience, the reason for the fluctuations in our personal relations to it is not to be looked for in the almanac; it will be found in those dark passages of human life which, of their own accord, shut out the sunlight of Divine gladness. There is then no absolute inconsistency in the action of the Levites. And yet perhaps they may have perceived that they had been hasty in their repression of the first outburst of grief, or at all events that they did not then see the whole truth of the matter. There was some ground for lamentation after all, and though the expression of sorrow at a festival seemed to them untimely, they were bound to admit its fitness a little later. It is to be observed that another subject was now brought under the notice of the people. The contemplation of the revelation of Gods will should not produce grief. But the consideration of mans conduct cannot but lead to that result. At the reading of the Divine law the Jews lamentation was rebuked; at the recital of their own history it was encouraged. Yet even here it was not to be abject and hopeless. The Levites exhorted the people to shake off the lethargy of sorrow, to stand up and bless the Lord their God. Even in the very act of confessing sin we have a special reason for praising God, because the consciousness of our guilt in His sight must heighten our appreciation of His marvellous forbearance.
The Jews confession of sin led up to a prayer which the Septuagint ascribes to Ezra. It does so, however, in a phrase that manifestly breaks the context, and thus betrays its origin in an interpolation. {Ezr_9:6-15} Nevertheless the tone of the prayer, and even its very language, remind us forcibly of the Great Scribes outpouring of soul over the mixed marriages of his people recorded in Ezra 9. No one was more fitted to lead the Jews in the later act of devotion, and it is only reasonable to conclude that the work was undertaken by the one man to whose lot it would naturally fall.
The prayer is very like some of the historical psalms. By pointing to the variegated picture of the History of Israel, it shows how God reveals Himself through events. This suggests the probability that the three hours reading of the fast day had been taken from the historical parts of the Pentateuch. The religious teachers of Israel knew what riches of instruction were buried in the history of their nation, and they had the wisdom to unearth those treasures for the benefit of their own age. It is strange that we English have made so little use of a national history that is not a whit less providential, although it does not glitter with visible miracles. God has spoken to England as truly through the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the Puritan Wars, and the Revolution, as ever He spoke to Israel by means of the Exodus, the Captivity, and the Return.
The arrangement and method of the prayer lend themselves to a singularly forcible presentation of its main topics, with heightening effect as it proceeds in a recapitulation of great historical landmarks. It opens with an outburst of praise to God. In saying that Jehovah is God alone, it makes more than a cold pronouncement of Jewish monotheism; it confesses the practical supremacy of God over His universe, and therefore over His people and their enemies. God is adored as the Creator of heaven, and, perhaps with an allusion to the prevalent Gentile title "God of heaven," as even the Maker of the heaven of heavens, of that higher heaven of which the starry firmament is but the gold-sprinkled floor. There, in those far-off, unseen heights, He is adored. But earth and sea, with all that inhabit them, are also Gods works. From the highest to the lowest, over great and small, He reigns supreme. This glowing expression of adoration constitutes a suitable exordium. It is right and fitting that we should approach God in the attitude of pure worship, for the moment entirely losing ourselves in the contemplation of Him. This is the loftiest act of prayer, far above the selfish shriek for help in dire distress to which unspiritual men confine their utterance before God. It is also the most enlightening preparation for those lower forms of devotion that cannot be neglected so long as we are engaged on earth with our personal needs and sins, because it is necessary for us first of all to know what God is, and to be able to contemplate the thought of His being and nature, if we would understand the course of His action among men, or see our sins in the only true light-the light of His countenance. We can best trace the course of low-lying valleys from a mountain height. The primary act of adoration illumines and directs the thanksgiving, confession, and petition that follow. He who has once seen God knows how to look at the world and his own heart, without being misled by earthly glamour or personal prejudice.
In tracking the course of revelation through history, the author of the prayer follows two threads. First one and then the other is uppermost, but it is the interweaving of them that gives the definite pattern of the whole picture. These are Gods grace and mans sin. The method of the prayer is to bring them into view alternately, as they are illustrated in the History of Israel. The result is like a drama of several acts, and three scenes in each act. Although we see progress and a continuous heightening of effect, there is a startling resemblance between the successive acts, and the relative characters of the scenes remain the same throughout. In the first scene we always behold the free and generous favour of God offered to the people He condescends to bless, altogether apart from any merits or claims on their part. In the second we are forced to look at the ugly picture of Israels ingratitude and rebellion. But this is invariably followed by a third scene, which depicts the wonderful patience and long-suffering of God, and His active aid in delivering His guilty people from the troubles they have brought on their own heads by their sins, whenever they turn to Him in penitence.
The recital opens where the Jews delighted to trace their origin, in Ur of the Chaldees. These returned exiles from Babylon are reminded that at the very dawn of their ancestral history the same district was the starting-point. The guiding hand of God was seen in bringing up the Father of the Nation in that far-off tribal migration from Chaldaea to Canaan. At first the Divine action did not need to exhibit all the traits of grace and power that were seen later, because Abraham was not a captive. Then, too, there was no rebellion, for Abraham was faithful. Thus the first scene opens with the mild radiance of early morning. As yet there is nothing tragic on either side. The chief characteristic of this scene is its promise, and the author of the prayer anticipates some of the later scenes by interjecting a grateful recognition of the faithfulness of God in keeping His word. "For Thou art righteous," he says. {Neh_9:8} This truth is the keynote to the prayer. The thought of it is always present as an undertone, and it emerges clearly again towards the conclusion, where, however, it wears a very different garb. There we see how in view of mans sin Gods righteousness inflicts chastisement. But the intention of the author is to show that throughout all the vicissitudes of history God holds on to His straight line of righteousness, unwavering. It is just because He does not change that His action must be modified in order to adjust itself to the shifting behaviour of men and women. It is the very immutability of God that requires Him to show Himself froward with the froward, although He is merciful with the merciful.
The chief events of the Exodus are next briefly recapitulated, in order to enlarge the picture of Gods early goodness to Israel. Here we may discern more than promise; the fulfilment now begins. Here, too, God is seen in that specific activity of deliverance which comes more and more to the front as the history proceeds. While the calamities of the people grow worse and worse, God reveals Himself with ever-increasing force as the Redeemer of Israel. The plagues of Egypt, the passage of the Red Sea, the drowning of the Egyptians, the cloud-pillar by day and the pillar of fire by night, the descent on Sinai for the giving of The Law-in which connection the one law of the Sabbath is singled out, a point to be noted in view of the great prominence given to it later on-the manna, and the water from the rock, are all signs and proofs of Gods exceeding kindness towards His people.
But now we are directed to a very different scene. In spite of all this never-ceasing, this ever-accumulating goodness of God, the infatuated people rebel, appoint a captain to take them back to Egypt, and relapse into idolatry. This is the human side of the history, shown up in its deep blackness against the luminous splendour of the heavenly background.
Then comes the marvellous third scene, the scene that should melt the hardest heart. God does not cast off His people. The privileges enumerated before are carefully repeated, to show that God has not withdrawn them. Still the cloud-pillar guides by day and the fire-pillar by night. Still the manna and the water are supplied. But this is not all. Between these two pairs of favours a new one is now inserted. God gives His "good Spirit" to instruct the people. The author does not seem to be referring to any one specific event, as that of the Spirit falling on the elders, or the incident of the unauthorised prophet, or the bestowal of the Spirit on the artists of the tabernacle. We should rather conclude from the generality of his terms that he is thinking of the gift of the Spirit in each of these cases, and also in every other way in which the Divine Presence was felt in the hearts of the people. Prone to wander, they needed and they received this inward monitor. Thus God showed His great forbearance, by even extending His grace and giving more help because the need was greater.
From this picture of the wilderness life we are led on to the conquest of the Promised Land. The Israelites overthrow the kings east of the Jordan, and take possession of their territories. Growing in numbers, after a time they are strong enough to cross the Jordan, seize the land of Canaan, and subdue the aboriginal inhabitants. Then we see them settling down in their new home and inheriting the products of the labours of their more civilised predecessors. All this is a further proof of the favour of God. Yet again the dreadful scene of ingratitude is repeated, and that in an aggravated form. A wild fury of rebellion takes hold of the wicked people. They rise up against their God, fling His Torah behind their backs, murder the prophets He sends to warn them, and sink down into the greatest wickedness. The head and front of their offence is the rejection of the sacred Torah. The word Torah-law or instruction-must here be taken in its widest sense to comprehend both the utterances of the prophets and the tradition of the priests, although it is represented to the contemporaries of Ezra by its crown and completion, the Pentateuch. In this second act of heightened energy on both sides, while the characters of the actors are developing with stronger features, we have a third scene-forgiveness and deliverance from God.
Then the action moves more rapidly. It becomes almost confused. In general terms, with a few swift strokes, the author sketches a succession of similar movements-indeed he does little more than hint at them. We cannot see how often the threefold process was repeated, only we perceive that it always recurred in the same form. Yet the very monotony deepens the impression of the whole drama-so madly persistent was the backsliding habit of Israel, so grandly continuous was the patient long-suffering of God. We lose all count of the alternating scenes of light and darkness as we look at them down the long vista of the ages. And yet it is not necessary that we should assort them. The perspective may escape us; all the more must we feel the force of the process which is characterised by so powerful a unity of movement.
Coming nearer to his own time, the author of the prayer expands into detail again. While the kingdom lasted God did not cease to plead with His people. They disregarded His voice, but His Spirit was in the prophets, and the long line of heavenly messengers was a living testimony to the Divine forbearance. Heedless of this greatest and best means of bringing them back to their forsaken allegiance, the Jews were at length given over to the heathen. Yet that tremendous calamity was not without its mitigations. They were not utterly consumed. Even now God did not forsake them. He followed them into their captivity. This was apparent in the continuous advent of prophets-such as the Second Isaiah and Ezekiel-who appeared and delivered their oracles in the land of exile; it was most gloriously manifest in the return under Cyrus. Such long-continued goodness, beyond the utmost excess of the nations sin, surpassed all that could have been hoped for. It went beyond the promises of God; it could not be wholly comprehended in His faithfulness. Therefore another Divine attribute is now revealed. At first the prayer made mention of Gods righteousness, which was seen in the gift of Canaan as a fulfilment of the promise to Abraham, so that the author remarked, in regard to the performance of the Divine word, "for Thou art righteous." But now he reflects on the greater kindness, the uncovenanted kindness of the Exile and the Return: "for Thou art a gracious and merciful God." {Neh_9:31} We can only account for such extended goodness by ascribing it to the infinite love of God.
Having thus brought his review down to his own day, in the concluding passage of the prayer the author appeals to God with reference to the present troubles of His people. In doing so he first returns to his contemplation of the nature of God. Three Divine characteristics rise up before him, -first, majesty ("the great, the mighty, the terrible God"), second, fidelity (keeping "covenant"), third, compassion (keeping "mercy"). {Neh_9:32} On this threefold plea he beseeches God that all the national trouble which has been endured since the first Assyrian invasion may not "seem little" to Him. The greatness of God might appear to induce disregard of the troubles of His poor human children, and yet it would really lead to the opposite result. It is only the limited faculty that cannot stoop to small things because its attention is confined to large affairs. Infinity reaches to the infinitely little as readily as to the infinitely great. With the appeal for compassion goes a confession of sin, which is national rather than personal. All sections of the community on which the calamities have fallen-with the significant exception of the prophets who had possessed Gods Spirit, and who had been so grievously persecuted by their fellow countrymen-all are united in a common guilt. The solidarity of the Jewish race is here apparent. We saw in the earlier case of the sin-offering that the religion of Israel was national rather than personal. The punishment of the captivity was a national discipline; now the confession is for national sin. And yet the sin is confessed distributively, with regard to the several sections of society. We cannot feel our national sin in the bulk. It must be brought home to us in our several walks of life.
After this confession the prayer deplores the present state of the Jews. No reference is now made to the temporary annoyance occasioned by the attacks of the Samaritans. The building of the walls has put an end to that nuisance. But the permanent evil is more deeply rooted. The Jews are mournfully conscious of their subject state beneath the Persian yoke. They have returned to their city, but they are no more free men than they were in Babylon. Like the fellaheen of Syria today, they have to pay heavy tribute, which takes the best of the produce of their labour. They are subject to the conscription, having to serve in the armies of the Great King-Herodotus tells us that there were "Syrians of Palestine" in the army of Xerxes. Their cattle are seized by the officers of the government, arbitrarily, "at their pleasure." Did Nehemiah know of this complaint? If so, might there not be some ground for the suspicion of the informers after all? Was that suspicion one reason for his recall to Susa? We cannot answer these questions. As to the prayer, this leaves the whole case with God. It would have been dangerous to have said more in the hearing of the spies who haunted the streets of Jerusalem. And it was needless. It is not the business of prayer to try to move the hand of God. It is enough that we lay bare our state before Him, trusting His wisdom as well as His grace-not dictating to God, but confiding in Him.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain EXPLANATORY NOTES.] “The confession recorded in this chapter uses…
EXPLANATORY NOTES.] “The confession recorded in this chapter uses largely the language of the older Scriptures. For Neh_9:6 see Psa_86:10; Exo_20:11, and Deu_10:14. For Neh_9:9 see Exo_3:7. For Neh_9:10 see Jer_32:20. For Neh_9:11 see Exo_15:5; Exo_15:10. For Neh_9:12 see Exo_13:21. For Neh_9:13 see Exo_19:20. For Neh_9:15 see Psa_105:40-41. For Neh_9:16 see 2Ki_17:14. For Neh_9:17 see Psa_78:11; Exo_34:6. For Neh_9:25 see Deu_6:10-11. For Neh_9:27 see Jdg_2:14; Jdg_2:18. For Neh_9:29 see Lev_18:5. For Neh_9:33 see Psa_106:6. For Neh_9:36 and Neh_9:36 see Deu_28:47-48.”—Crosby.
Neh_9:1. The twenty and fourth day of this month] Two days after the close of the Feast of Tabernacles. With fasting and with sackclothes and with earth upon them] External marks of internal grief. Sackclothes] Elsewhere in Eng. version sackcloth for Heb. plural.—Crosby.
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Neh_9:2. Separated themselves] Foreigners, “a mixed multitude,” had become united with the chosen people by trade and marriage.
3. Stood and confessed and worshipped] More fully shown in penitential prayer that follows after verse
Neh_9:5.They read in the book of the law] Their extraordinary zeal led them to continue this as before. One fourth part of the day] For three hours, twelve hours being the acknowledged length of the Jewish day (Joh_11:9), so that this solemn diet of worship, which probably commenced at the morning sacrifice, was continued for six hours, i. e. till the time of the evening sacrifice.—Jamieson. “The general form and phraseology of this prayer place it among the liturgical Psalms of the Old Testament, and show it specially suitable to be used by the whole congregation.
Neh_9:6. All their host] (Comp. Gen_2:1). The host of heaven who worshipped God are the angels (Psa_103:21; Psa_148:2).
Neh_9:7. Abram.… Abraham] (Gen_17:5). Ur of the Chaldees] Topography uncertain. Mugheir near the Persian Gulf probable.
Neh_9:8. Canaanites.… Girgashites] “The Hivites are left out of this enumeration, perhaps to please their descendants, the Nethinim” (see Jos_9:7).—Crosby.
Neh_9:15. Thou hadst sworn] Margin—Lift up thine hand. Allusion to the ceremony of raising the hand in taking an oath.
Neh_9:17. Appointed a captain] In Num_14:4 it is only said that they proposed to appoint; probably they actually carried out their intention, so far as to nominate a leader.
Neh_9:22. Divide them into corners] “Thou didst divide them (the kingdoms and nations, i. e. the land of these nations) according to sides or boundaries, i. e. according to certain definite limits.”—Bertheau. The land of Sihon and the land of the king of Heshbon] Sihon is the king of Heshbon. “Heshbon being the capital city, the passage should run thus:—the land of Sihon, or the land of the king of Heshbon.”—Jamieson.
Neh_9:29. Withdrew the shoulder] Like the refractory ox that rebels against the yoke (Zec_7:11; Hos_4:16).
Neh_9:32. Let not all the trouble seem little before thee] “What seems little is easily disregarded. The sense is, Let our affliction be regarded by thee as great and heavy.”—Keil.
Neh_9:38. A sure covenant] Such solemn signing and sealing bespeaks their earnestness. This verse is the first of the tenth chapter in Hebrew.
HOMILETICAL CONTENTS OF CHAPTER 9
Neh_9:1-38. Hebraic Conceptions of God.
Neh_9:1-38. The Story of God’s Providence Retold.
Neh_9:1-38. A Nation’s Prayer.
Neh_9:6. The World preserved by Divine Providence.
Neh_9:17. The Mercy of God.
Neh_9:18-21. Promises Kept.
Neh_9:21. The History of a Generation.
Neh_9:25-26. Secular Prosperity inimical to Spiritual Life.
Neh_9:38. Responsibility of Honour.
HEBRAIC CONCEPTIONS OF GOD
THE Bible does not define God. The nearest approach to definitions are in those two remarkable sentences in St. John’s Epistle—“God is light;” “God is love.” Modern philosophy speaks of God as the Unknowable. One of the oldest books in the world—the Book of Job—teaches that philosophy with a difference. “Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?” God may be known: cannot be comprehended. The secret of God is as high as heaven, deeper than hell, longer than the earth, broader than the sea. St. Paul, the mental philosopher among the twelve apostles, speaks of “that which may be known of God.” Bible tells us what God does; not what God is. Nor does it attempt to prove his existence. “He that cometh to God must believe that he is.” Sacred writers assume this. With a “Thus saith the Lord” many of the books open. Every page is instinct with the presence of God. There is no relation to human life in which Eastern poets and prophets did not conceive God. He was in the generation of the righteous; a present help in time of trouble. He was a King to those who believed; a judge of those who rebelled; the helper of those who trusted. They saw God—
I. In the movements of history. “Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt. He rebuked the Red Sea. He did great things in Egypt, and wondrous works in the land of Ham. Our fathers angered God—not Moses, though him they angered—they angered God at the waters of strife. He gave them into the hand of the heathen, and they that hated them ruled over them. Many times did he deliver them. He made them to be pitied of all those that carried them captive. All nations are before him. Pharaoh’s heart he hardens, and Cyrus’ sword he employs. He takes hold of the ships of Tarshish. The world’s merchandise and hire shall be holiness unto the Lord.” These passages are quoted at random. It was hardly necessary to quote at all. The pages of Moses, the songs of David, the prophecies of Isaiah, teem—literally teem—with references to the presence of God in the movements of history. God in history! the seers and songsters of the Scriptures of Truth hardly condescend to say that. God in history? History is God. Men read, “Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; and foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous” (Neh_9:7-8); and they say, We can see the hand of God in this. Verily there was a God. Then they turn over the pages of English History and read how we emerged out of barbarism; how a fusion of race-stocks has made us what we are—the hardiest, most truth-loving, uprightest nation under the blue sky; and they say, It is history; but they do not say, We see God. Now and then some popular orator turns to the pages of the old Chroniclers and sees how, in the reign of James I., a poor people became enlightened by the word of God, and finding no such phrase in the dictionary as “religious toleration,” sped to America; and he adds, I see a Divine hand in this emigration movement. Why not boldly say, “Thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea; and their persecutors thou overthrewest” (Neh_9:11)? That is the Bible language for the passage of the Red Sea. Surely we, casting our glances towards the West, and noting the magnificent proportions of the American Republic, can see that the language is applicable to the passage of the Atlantic; to the colonization of the New World. Says Bancroft, the American historian, “The pilgrims were Englishmen; exiles for religion; men disciplined by misfortune; cultivated by opportunities of extensive observations; equal in rank as in rights; and bound by no code upon earth but that of religion or the public will.” What cast Pharaoh and his hosts into the sea? Nothing—God. Who destroyed the Spanish Armada? Nobody—the storm. Did not, then, the same God direct both storms? What says the prophet, “Seeing many things, but thou observest not.” “Seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive; hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand,” said Jesus the Revealer of truth.
If God had no hand in the Reformation, Martin Luther, the Mansfeld miner’s son, the Augustinian monk, the darling of Wittenberg University, was simply an obstinate revolter against authority; whereas he was accustomed to console himself with the thought that the cause was not his, but God’s—that God “who stays the waves upon the sea-beach, and stays them with sand.” “He that has not God, let him have what else he will, is miserable,” was his deliberate opinion. “God will be found there where he has engaged to be,” he believed. He loved the second Psalm. The Psalm that tells how God laughs when great men rage he loved with all his heart, “because it strikes and flashes valiantly.” The Levites in the olden time sang, “Our fathers were disobedient, therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies. Nevertheless, in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee thou heardest them from heaven, and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours.” And shall not we thank God for the “saviours” whom he has raised up to deliver this nation, to burst the shackles of the slave, to flood the dark places of the earth with light? Is it nothing that good Queen Bess and brave, God-fearing Oliver Cromwell once governed these realms? Were not the Puritans ever the friends of popular liberty? Can Scottish Covenanters be forgotten, or the Clapham sect become despised? So long as Nonconformity acts upon its motto, “In things essential, unity; in things doubtful, liberty; in all things charity,” it will be the instrument of God for good. When Methodism loses her cunning in spreading Scriptural holiness throughout the land, then—not till then—she will become a by-word and a proverb of reproach among the religious communities of Christendom. On the bead-roll of English worthies men and women in the generations following will look for parson Wycliffe, tinker Bunyan, gentleman Wilberforce, sturdy Howard, and sweet-souled Elizabeth Fry. These were the angels in whose presence the doors flew open, and the iron gate that shut in imprisoned men opened to them of his own accord. Every ray of light that falls upon the darker places of the earth; each blow that is struck for freedom; every the painfulest endeavour of weak men and timid women to reach truth and exhibit the beauty of holiness, is an intimation of a higher presence—a voice from the innermost sanctuary, crying, “Surely the Lord is in this place.” In the movements of history the Hebrews saw God; and they heard God. And
II. In the voices of Nature. The sun was a globe of light, and more—the visible symbol of the invisible God. The sun brought light and life, and growth and joy, and hope and courage. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear?” “The Lord God is a sun; He will give grace and glory.” The sun rode in the heavens like a thing of might; no sign of weariness appeared in him. Let them that love thee, O Lord, be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.” The rock had more than a geological message. It told of strata, growth, history of long-since-buried men; it told too of the strength, patience, endurance of God—“THE ROCK OF AGES.” “He is the rock; his way is perfect.” “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Clouds did not merely collect the waters to pour down upon the earth: they were the treasure-houses of God. As the sun shone through them they became luminous as with the shining of the glory of the Lord. They hid the face of the scorching sun from the tired and thirsty traveller. “He spread a cloud for a covering.” “His favour is as a cloud of the latter rain.” God was the keeper of the vineyard of the house of Israel. They saw God—
III. In the lives of men. God writes his will in falling dynasties; in commercial and political changes; in solitary experiences. God speaks to us, works in us, expresses his will through us. Reliant weakness, weariness and worn-outness, trusting in God, have around them an omnipotent arm; they rest on the immoveable rock on which the world reposes. God often means to men terror, fear, law, hatred, hell; too seldom grace, salvation, light, hope, joy, strength, inspiration, courage, help, heaven. “The knowledge of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ.” He taught “our Father,” and revealed something like “the motherhood of God.” A great God we knew before. Tenderness, patience, forbearance, forgivingness, motherliness, he showed us; restated, illustrated what lay in Old Testament less distinctly. Not by his lip only, but in his life. Whom did he seek but the sick and sad? Who sought him but the oppressed and outcast? Whom did he ever send away empty of hope? God is in Nature; God is in history; but the whole of God is in Jesus Christ. Son of man was Son of God.
Application.
1. My God—not everybody’s God. God here—not God everywhere.
2. When do we think of God? After wrong-doing? First thing in the morning, last thing at night, there should come to us a word of joy, providence, help—this is what God should be. Let us approach God, who is “a great King,” with manly reverence; let us approach God, who is “our Father,” with a child’s unfaltering trust. “Let us draw near with full assurance,” for “our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” And as the fellowship grows and deepens there will be revealed to us what is revealable of the infinite secret men call God.
THE STORY OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE RETOLD
“The invitation to praise God insensibly passes into the action of praising. ‘Stand up and bless the Lord your God.’ The assembled congregation blessed God. They did so by silently and heartily praying to and praising God with the Levites, who were reciting aloud the confession of sin.”—Keil. Not as to an unknown God did they cry and make confession. He had been forgotten, but he was still familiar. “Our God,” the keynote of Hebrew prayer and psalmody.
I. A choice and a covenant. “Thou art Lord alone.” “Thou art the God who didst choose Abram.” “Thou madest a covenant with him” (Neh_9:6-8). Around these central themes are grouped illustrations. The independency of God is marked in the making and preserving of all things, in confirmation whereof the host of Heaven worship him. He doeth what he will. When he chose Abram he gave him a new name. “I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” He who claimed service rendered reward. “Thou foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land to his seed.” “Abram believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen_15:6). A man of faith will be a faithful man. God’s covenants are conditioned. “The meek shall inherit the earth.” “With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward.” “With God word and deed correspond with each other.” “Thou hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous.”
II. The word fulfilled. “Thou sawest the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red Sea” (Neh_9:9-11). The extremes of deliverance. God saw them under the taskmaster’s lash; he heard when they fled. The Ever-present coming down, the Omniscient looking—this is the Biblical anthropomorphism. Admit if you will that this is not God; still it is our necessary conception of him. He is always nigh; but we do not always realize His presence. When I weep assure me that God pities; when I pray tell me that God listens; when I die whisper in my ear that God is nigh. If it be not exact phraseology it is full of comfort, and withal of truth. “He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see?” Those who are held in the bondage of evil habits, those who are striving to burst the bonds, may take the strength and courage implied in this. The Psalm-book specially exults in the all-seeing eye and ever-listening ear. The romance of reality in the histories of apostles and martyrs, in the stories of saints and sufferers, is derived from the realized nearness of God.
But deliverance is not salvation. The first step of the journey is indispensable, but insufficient. A first implies a second. Possibility is a pledge of performance. Freedom is faculty. The Red Sea opens into the desert, not into the Promised Land.
“Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,”
is the poetry of the common-place experience of life. “Thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go. Thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them laws” (Neh_9:12-14). Providence without, conscience within. God was in the cloud; duty in the law. “And gavest them bread from heaven, and broughtest forth water out of the rock, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land” (Neh_9:15). A guiding cloud, a directing law, an unfailing supply, an assured promise. “Thou leddest Thy people like a flock.”
III. Divine forbearance. “Even the fathers to whom God had shown such favour, repeatedly departed from and rebelled against him; but God of his great mercy did not forsake them, but brought them into possession of the Promised Land” (Neh_9:16-25). “Words are accumulated to describe the stiffnecked resistance of the people. They hardened their necks; they hardened their hearts. They said one to another, Let us make a captain, and return to Egypt. In spite, however, of their stiffneckedness God—a God of pardons—did not forsake them. He did not withdraw his gracious presence, but continued to lead them by the pillar of cloud and fire. The words (Neh_9:20), ‘Thou gavest Thy good Spirit,’ &c., refer to the occurrence (Num_11:17; Num_11:25) where God endowed the seventy elders with the spirit of prophecy for the confirmation of Moses’ authority. The definition ‘good spirit’ recalls Psa_143:10. The Lord also fulfilled His promise of giving the land of Canaan to the Israelites, notwithstanding their rebelliousness.”—Keil. They were a community of slaves in process of formation into a nation. God dealt with them as with children. He did not call wrong by any other name, but he compassionated ignorance and pitied weakness. “The mercy of the Lord our God” was celebrated in later times by prophet and priest, seer and scribe. “About the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.”
IV. Disobedience chastised. “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.” In the wilderness they were not without punishments; but there mercy rejoiced against judgment. In the Promised Land, after long experience of the goodness and graciousness of God, their rebellions were less pardonable. So God gave them into the hands of their enemies. Still for his great mercies’ sake he did not utterly consume them, nor forsake them (Neh_9:26-31). They rejected God’s law; they slew God’s prophets. Yet when they cried he heard; in their distress he sent them saviours. The majesty and mercy of God! “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” “Let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for very great are his mercies; but let me not fall into the hands of man.” “The hand of God was very heavy.” “The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him.” “Our God is a consuming fire.” “God is love.”
V. The past the prophet of the present. “Now, therefore, our God, let not all the trouble seem little before thee” (Neh_9:32-37). History had repeated itself. The disobedient, God had rejected. Weakened by oppression, they had returned to their own land. In their present distresses they pray to the God of past deliverances—the God who had said of himself that he was unchangeable.
Application. The story of Israel has been always regarded as a parable of life. “The Lord knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness.”
ILLUSTRATION
Egyptian influence on Hebrew character. “Before God gave the Commandments to the Jewish people he wrought a magnificent series of miracles to effect their emancipation from miserable slavery, and to punish their oppressors. He first made them free, and then gave them the law. It might not have been absolutely impossible for the Jews to have kept these commandments even in Egypt, but the difficulties would have been almost invincible. The people were in no condition to receive a Divine revelation. Oppression had broken their spirit, and crushed all the nobler elements of their nature. In the atmosphere which they breathed purity and virtue could hardly live. They had been degraded by the heathenism and by the vices, as well as by the severity of their masters. It was impossible for such a race as the Jews seem to have been at this period of their history to have any vigorous faith in the greatness of the God who had revealed himself to their fathers. The wealth, the greatness, the power of the world belonged to the Egyptians; contempt and wretchedness to the descendants of Abraham and the heirs of the promises. The God of their fathers was either not strong enough to defend them from intolerable evils, or else was indifferent to their distresses. God did not begin by commanding them to acknowledge his greatness and authority, and to show fidelity to himself, and to break at once with the vices to which their external condition almost bound them as with fetters of iron. He began by manifesting his greatness in acts which must have appealed most powerfully to their imagination, and made even their passions—which seem to have been almost the only elements of energy left in them—take the side of faith in himself.—R. W. Dale, M.A.
A NATION’S PRAYER
The three annual feasts instituted by the Mosaic Law were memorials of God’s goodness to Israel. His works shall be kept in everlasting remembrance. At the Feast of the Passover the Jews celebrated their deliverance from Egypt; at Pentecost the giving of the Law from Mount Sinai; and at the Feast of Tabernacles the mercies of God during their wilderness journey and the ingathering of the harvest. Never, since the days of Joshua, had the Feast of Tabernacles been celebrated with such solemnity as under the teaching of Ezra and the government of Nehemiah. The services of New Year’s Day, or the Feast of Trumpets, had yielded the precious fruits of godly sorrow for sin, and of holy, charitable joy (chap. 8). One sermon may bring forth great results. The Scripture narrative of the festival closes by informing us “that day by day, from the first day unto the last day, they read in the Book of the Law of God; and they kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly according unto the manner.” God’s word was the “joy and rejoicing of their hearts;” God’s book, the first of books and the best of books. Here we have consolation in sorrow, directions in duty, and armour in the day of battle; a guide-book for every road, and a chart for every sea. In our Lord’s time the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God (‘Paul’s Missionary Journeys.’ ‘Vaudois Christians.’ ‘Wycliffites.’ ‘Translation and Diffusion in Modern Times’).
The continued and protracted services of the Feast of Tabernacles, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Trumpets, produced an extraordinary impression on the public mind. The revival of religion was not merely metropolitan, but national. The deed of Jerusalem was the deed of the whole people; the voice of Jerusalem was the voice of the many thousands of Israel. Immediately upon the close of the services at the Feast of Tabernacles, we read that “the children of Israel were assembled with fasting,” &c. (Neh_9:1-3).
The service of national dedication probably commenced at nine o’clock in the morning with the usual sacrifices. The reading and the exposition for three hours prepared the way for the solemn supplications of the people. These occupied three hours more, and were closed by the offering of the evening sacrifice, and by the public signing of the national covenant. The heads of this form of supplication and dedication were probably drawn up by Nehemiah, who was the first to append his signature. Copies were probably distributed among the Levites, who led the people in prayer. The national dedication opens with solemn worship of God. His great and Infinite Majesty is adored. “Blessed be thy glorious name.” Then follows a retrospect of God’s mercies to Israel. With this review of mercies was interwoven penitential confession of sin. First they acknowledged the sins of their fathers (Neh_9:16); then they pass on to the transgressions of their fathers under their kings (Neh_9:26). They acknowledged the righteous dealings of God, and their own disobedience to his Word. Thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly; and they bring before God the one petition in this pathetic appeal: “Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people.” They implore mercy, they deprecate judgment, and with one accord resolve to bind themselves unto the service of God, in a perpetual covenant never to be forgotten. This was the conclusion of the whole matter. As the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, they make a solemn promise to God; and that it might be sure the covenant is written, and as we read in the thirty-eighth verse, “Our princes, Levites, and priests seal unto it.” We are told in the opening of the tenth chapter, that at the top of the eighty-two representative signatures is inscribed NEHEMIAH THE TIRSHATHA, THE SON OF HACHALIAH. He had set a noble example to his people, and now, at a time of intense religious feeling, he puts himself in the fore-front to lead them to God. “Happy are the people that are in such a case, yea, blessed are the people who have the Lord for their God.”
Have we, as Englishmen, no retrospect to make? Have not we a history to review with thankfulness, and a duty to God and to one another? A nation is made of individuals. A national dedication implies personal dedication.—Rev. J. M. Randall; abridged.
THE WORLD PRESERVED BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE
Neh_9:6. Thou preservest them all
The providence of God may be regarded as exercised either in the preservation of the world or in the government of it, to which two main heads all the acts of Divine Providence are reducible.
God’s preservation of the world. In that admirable address that is made to God in the name of the Jewish Church, after celebrating him as the great Creator of the universe, are those noble expressions—“Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein;” it is added, “and thou preservest them all.” The preserving this vast frame of nature, and all things that are therein, is owing to the same omnipotent being that created them. We must not imagine that things, when once put into being, continue to exist independently of him that first created them. It is easily conceivable that the self-existent Jehovah, who existed necessarily from everlasting, must certainly exist to everlasting by the intrinsic excellency of his own most perfect nature. But the case is otherwise as to contingent beings, who have the source and basis of their existence without them. The works of men’s hands may subsist at a distance from the hands which fashioned them; but the creatures can never exist in an absolute separation from God, who is always most intimately and essentially present with his own works. Consider this preservation of all things, which is an eminent act of Divine providence, as extending to the whole inanimate creation, and of all things that have life in their different degrees.
1. God, by his constant powerful influence, upholdeth the inanimate creation, this huge material system, in all its parts. As at the first formation of it he put things into a certain order, so it is by his power and wisdom that this order and constitution of things is maintained according to the first establishment. All things in the material world proceed according to a settled rule or method. Sun, moon, and stars; fertile earth, minerals, vegetables. As God said at the first creation, “Let the earth bring forth,” &c. (Gen_1:11); so by his providential concourse, and according to his appointment, the plants, the herbs, the trees, the flowers in all their tribes, and the various kinds of grain, spring up from their several kinds, and gradually grow up into maturity. The species of them are still continued and kept distinct, and they uniformly preserve their several virtues, their distinct forms and appearances, and bring forth their several productions in the appointed seasons.
2. God preserveth the beings that have life and sense, with their several capacities and instincts. “Thou preservest them all” might be rendered, “Thou quickenest them all,” or “maintainest them all in life.”
God preserveth and upholdeth the inferior brute animals in their several species, which by a wonderful provision are successively propagated according to established laws, and continue to be furnished in all ages with the same organs, powers, and appetites, and the same admirable instincts.
It is God that preserveth the angels in their several degrees. None of them have an independent existence.
In him we exist, or have our being. As he gave us our existence at first, and made us of such a particular order of beings, so by him we are continued in existence, and in that kind of existence which belongeth to us as creatures of such a species. In God we not only exist, or have our being, but in him we live. As it was he that first established the wonderful vital union between soul and body in man, so it is by his care and influence that it subsisteth. To this it is owing that our food nourisheth and strengtheneth us, that the vital functions are carried on, and that we are enabled to exercise our several sensations. “The God of my life.” And as it is in God that we exist and live, so it is in or by him that we move. He originally gave us the power of motion, and organs admirably fitted for carrying it on, and it is through him that we are continued in the use and exercise of those organs; so that it may be justly said that we cannot move a foot, or lift up a hand, without him. And this holdeth equally with regard to the operations of our souls as the motions of our bodies. As he hath endued our souls with the admirable faculties of understanding, with memory, free agency, and hath implanted in us affections of various kinds; so by his providential concourse and support of our faculties we apprehend, judge, reason, remember, and freely determine our own actions. It is he that upholdeth the powers which he gave us, and enableth us to exert those powers. And this he doeth not only when we do good, but when we employ our powers in acting wickedly; and yet this doth not derive the least stain of guilt upon God, or make him the author of our sins. The natural active power and the use of it, which is in itself good, is from God; the abuse of it to sinful purposes is wholly owing to ourselves, and to the corruption of our wills. For if he should withdraw his sustaining influence from men, the moment they attempt to abuse their natural powers, this would be absolutely to hinder them to exercise their liberty; nor could they in that case be accounted free agents at all. As the God of nature he ordinarily upholdeth or sustaineth them in being and in the use of their natural powers, in what manner soever they act; and then afterwards, as the moral governor, he will call them to an account for their actions, and will reward or punish them accordingly.
Practical Reflections.
1. What admiring thoughts should we entertain of God, and what diminishing thoughts of ourselves and all created beings!
2. What a just propriety and dominion God hath on and over us!
3. He is perfectly acquainted with all our thoughts, words, and actions, and all the events which befall us.
4. How strange and inexcusable will our conduct be if we allow ourselves in an habitual neglect and forgetfulnes of the Deity!
5. Since God continually preserveth us he hath an undoubted right to govern us.—John Leland, D.D., 1766, abridged.
THE MERCY OF GOD
Neh_9:17. A God ready to pardon
The mercy of God the most delightful subject. It is so in its own nature, and relatively to us who have so great need of it, who have so much depending upon it, who must perish for ever without it. The thought that the greatest Being in the universe is the most compassionate is itself elevating. Mournful that this subject is so little regarded, awakens so little emotion; that all subjects but those immediately relating to duty, affect us. Yet how delightful is it to the Christian when he is brought to apprehend the truth and rest upon it! That God is ready to pardon, that he waits to be gracious, is a joyful topic to those who know themselves, who have been taught to estimate the value of Divine friendship.
I. A doctrine to be established. There is a strange tendency to doubt it. We speak of news too good to be true; and under humiliating sense of our own worthlessness are at least ready to make an exception in our own case—“If the Lord would make windows in heaven might this thing be!” The power of unbelief is great, the resistance offered by conscience is great, the prevalence of fear induced by guilt is great. Exo_34:6 contains the doctrine and gives mercy pre-eminence.
1. The direct statements of Scripture. The object of all revelation is to establish and explain the doctrine of God’s mercy. Direct assertions, gracious promises, inspired prophecy. Twenty-nine times in one Psalm “his mercy endureth!” “Who is a God like unto Thee?” “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious.” “As the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.” “Your Father in heaven is merciful.” These repetitions show the resistance against it really, the difficulty of believing it, the necessity of being grounded in it. No worship without it, no hope, no love, no joy, no obedience.
2. The positive facts exhibited in his dispensation. The gift of his Son. “Herein is love.” “He that spared not his own Son.” The gift of his Spirit: Divine revelation, ordinances, heaven at last. Discovery of his own character: harmony of attributes, long-suffering to the world in general. Why mitigations of trial? excitements of hope?—prodigality of good gifts. This world a great volume of mercy written within and without.
3. Some striking instances of his readiness to pardon. Manasseh, Mary Magdalene, thief, prodigal, Paul. “And such were some of you.” Every sinner deems himself chief of sinners, and his conversion the greatest miracle, because he knows most of himself.
II. A doctrine to be personally applied. Not a doctrine for others merely, but for ourselves. Go to God for it: “Have mercy upon me.”
1. To produce an immediate appeal to it. We need it deeply. Of no use to know the fact—the business is to build upon it, and say, “I will arise.” Approach the mercy-seat by faith in Christ. If you doubt it, test it. “It is a faithful saying.”
2. To awaken cordial admiration of the method of redemption.
3. To check our tendency to distrust and despondency. Very prevalent in all minds; specially those newly awakened. They do not doubt God’s ability, but willingness. We have all a great tendency to indulge dishonourable thoughts of God.
4. To produce affection, contrition, obedience.
III. A doctrine to be carefully guarded from abuse.
1. The loiterer in religion. To be had at any time, hence delay.
2. The self-sufficient Pharisee. Only through the cross. To the truly contrite.
3. The man who sins that grace may abound. Always in connection with sanctity.
4. Those who altogether presume upon it. God is righteous. There is a judgment of God.—Thodey.
Illustrations:—“It is harder to get sin felt by the creature than the burden when felt removed by the hand of a forgiving God. Never was tender-hearted surgeon more willing to take up the vein, and bind up the wound of his fainting patient when he hath bled enough, than God is by his pardoning mercy to ease the troubled spirit of a mourning penitent.”—Gurnall.
“God will pardon a repentant sinner more quickly than a mother would snatch her child out of the fire.”—Vianney.
SAME THEME
God absolutely incomprehensible: the mghest archangel cannot “find him out unto perfection.” Yet we are not called to worship an unknown God. All his works praise him, but his word which he hath magnified above all his name peculiarly reveals him. In the sacred volume some clouds and darkness are round about him. Subjects are occasionally intimated which lie beyond the reach of our present faculties, concerning which we may safely follow the advice of the poet: “Wait the great teacher, Death.” Scripture renders things plain and obvious in proportion as they are important and necessary. Some truths are written as with a sunbeam—such are those which regard our state as sinners, and are calculated to draw forth our faith and hope in God. For we are saved through faith; we are saved by hope. Man fell by losing his confidence in God; and he is only to be recovered by regaining it. For which purpose we read not only that there is forgiveness with him, but that he is a GOD READY TO PARDON.
I. What is necessary to render the subject interesting? Three things.
1. A conviction of guilt. “They that are whole need not the physician,” &c. “The full soul loathes the honeycomb,” &c. In vain we present alms to the affluent, or offer pardon to the innocent. Have you ever lived a day as you ought? Have you not at least been chargeable with sins of omission? The law begins with the object of all adoration, and requires that we serve God alone. Have you never transferred to the creature that supreme regard due to the Creator? If you have daily worshipped the Supreme, has it been in spirit and in truth? never taken his name in vain, “mocked him with a solemn sound upon a thoughtless tongue?” Have you not squandered many precious Sabbath hours? But you are sure you are no murderer! Is there, then, no one dead in whose removal you have rejoiced? Is there no one alive at whose continuance you have inwardly repined? Have you never been angry with your brother without a cause? You repel with indignation the charge of theft! Is it not pride rather than principle that has sometimes restrained you; or the fear of the consequences rather than a sense of the sin? Are you a stranger to all unjust gain? Always paid fair wages? never robbed the poor? Have you done unto others as you would they should do unto you?
2. An apprehension of our danger as transgressors. The present effects of trangression! These only the beginning of sorrow. Can you flee from him who is everywhere; and everywhere the sin-avenging God? There is only one way of deliverance. It is forgiveness.
3. A discovery of the privileges of a pardoned state. We talk of happiness. Oh, what a change to be delivered from the wrath to come; to know that God’s anger is turned away; that from an enemy he is become a friend—a friend giving us cordial access to all the rights of innocency, and entitling us to a felicity superior to the happiness of Adam in paradise, and even of an angel in glory! “Being justified by faith,” &c.
II. The proofs which establish the truth of the doctrine.
1. The provision he has made for the exercise of pardon. “It became him”—we use his own language—it became him to administer this pardon in a peculiar way. It was necessary that sin should be condemned in the flesh, even while it was forgiven. It was necessary that God’s law should not appear so rigid as to require relaxation, or so changeable and weak as to admit of dispensation; but be magnified and made honourable. It was necessary that God’s truth should be seen as well as his grace; and his righteousness as well as his mercy. Of his own self-moved compassion he has reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ. “He has made him to be sin for us,” &c. “Herein is love,” &c.
2. The promptitude with which he pardons on our return. “Before they call I will answer, and while they speak I will hear.” (‘Parable of Prodigal Son.’)
3. His earnestness to excite us to seek after the blessing. It would be enough to prove that a man was ready to pardon if he yielded immediately upon the offender’s submission and application; but God not only waits to be gracious, he comes forward, he beseeches, he urges; yes—by the uneasiness of conscience, by the afflictions of life, by the importunity of friends, by the addresses of ministers—it is as the Apostle says, “As though God did beseech you to be reconciled to God.” Seek evidence—
4. In the character of those who have received pardon. The chief of sinners—Manasseh, the dying thief, the murderers of Christ, the Corinthian converts. Seek evidence—
5. In the number of those who obtain forgiveness. There are thousands more than we are aware of, even when we send forth Candour to reckon them; and when they shall be all gathered together, out of every kindred, and nation, and tongue, and people, they will be found a multitude which no man can number.
III. The way in which this subject may be abused, and the manner in which it ought to be improved. The subject is abused when it leads us to deny any disposition in God to punish. God is not only to be viewed as a tender father, but a moral governor.
The subject is abused when it encourages us to hope for pardon in ways not warranted by the word of God. For instance—thus, unwarranted is our hope when we expect it without a reference to the mediation of Christ; when we expect pardon without repentance; when we expect this pardon by delaying an application for it to the close of life; when we expect to find this pardon in another world if we fail to obtain it in this. But what is the proper improvement we should make of this delightful subject? It should yield encouragement to the broken-hearted, and consolation to those who have believed. It demands not only our admiration and praise; it calls upon us to imitate as well as to admire. Is he a God ready to pardon? “Be ye followers of God, as dear children. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”—Jay, abridged.
PROMISES KEPT
Neh_9:18-21. When they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not, &c.
THE FAITHFUL PROMISER—is not this one of the “surnames” of God?
I. This is the verdict of history. Nehemiah and his Levites knew what they said and whereof they affirmed. Was it not written in the book of Moses (Exo_13:21-22; Num_14:14), that the pillar of cloud departed not from them by day, neither the pillar of fire by night? Were there not chronicles that told how for their mouth he provided manna, and for their mind instruction (Neh_9:20)? See Num_11:17; Num_11:25; Num_11:6-9; Num_20:2-8. Nothing awanting (Neh_9:21). God was in Hebrew history: not confined to Hebrew history. England’s God. America’s God. Men who planted that republic had Bible on their right hand.
II. The statements of Scripture. Psalms in especial addressed to the God of the promises. The psalmists called; he answered. This they make their plea when next they cry—“Doth his promise fail?” “He remembered his holy promise.” “Exceeding great and precious promises.” “The word of the Lord is tried.” Those whom the book canonizes have set to their seal that God is true.
III. The confirmations of experience. “God punishes the persecutors of his people energetically. Our pillar of cloud, which shows us the way to our everlasting fatherland, is the ministry of the Gospel, in which God is truly present and powerful. Although God does not immediately place all the godly in fruitful and pleasant places, nor give them bread from heaven, nor water from the rock; still he gives them, notwithstanding, necessary nourishment and clothing wherewith they should be satisfied.”—Starke. In despondency trace the footprints of God in the past. “He inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” This the strongest confirmation; most unassailable reason.
What we have felt and seen,
With confidence we tell;
And publish to the sons of men
The signs infallible.
THE HISTORY OF A GENERATION
Neh_9:21. Forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness
This is the bright side of the story of his people Israel. “The penal portion of the wanderings” (Num_14:1-39; Hebrews 3).
I. Every generation inherits the past. “Your children, which in that day” (of rebellion) “had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it” (Deu_1:39). The fathers sinned; the children suffered. Hereditary diseases. Superstitions, political combinations. “We are the heirs of all the yesterdays.”
II. The task of each generation in the present. We receive our fathers’ uncompleted tasks. Their plans indicate our power of performance; their aims an index-finger. But new times new methods; a fresh age fresh needs. To-day is not yesterday. Victorian age an advance, calling for all energies. “Forward, forward, let us range.” Patriarchal times, prophetic period, apostolic age. “Little children; young men; fathers.” Parables of growth in Gospels of Jesus. “The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.” “Grow!” Peter is here not a whit behind his beloved brother Paul.
III. The responsibility of the present generation. We inherit to transmit; we labour to secure blessings for coming generations. The Hebrews of Nehemiah’s day found consolation in the memory of God’s abounding goodness to their faithless fathers. We have inherited freedom; the future will require it at our hands. In this sense is that text applicable—“Hold that fast which thou hast.” Pass on the torch of truth to other hands; quench not the Spirit of God. Thy memory will be invaluable; thy work faithfully done a treasure. Let not the chain be snapped—past, present, future. The “continuous purpose” of him who sees the end as well as the beginning! The humblest life is not mean. The tiniest task is not insignificant. The issues of to-day are in the far-off future.
SECULAR PROSPERITY INIMICAL TO SPIRITUAL LIFE
Neh_9:25-26. They took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.
INTRODUCTION.—Let us define our spiritual are here contrased. Prosperity terms. Prosperity—life. Secular—is outside us. It is the realization of one’s hope. The prosperous man has his wishes gratified. “We must distinguish between felicity and prosperity; for prosperity leads often to ambition, and ambition to disappointment.”—Landor. “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” Secular; spiritual—a distinction and a difference. Often falsely made. All things pertaining to this present world are not secular. “It is not the work that makes the workman holy, but it is the workman’s heart that consecrates the toil.”—Cumming.
I. The value of prosperity. “They took strong cities,” and thus became a strong nation. “Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over every living thing.” The earth is the Lord’s, but he hath given it to the children of men. “Money answereth all things.” Art, science, commerce, civilization, religion, are aided by prosperity. The refinements of life are foes of the lower passions. The devil should not have the best music, nor the best pictures, nor the highest knowledge. Christians! Claim the world for God. It is his; he made it, he upholds it, he sustains it, he redeemed it, he is restoring it. And because it is his it is yours. “Ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” “All things are yours; and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.”
Illustration:—Riches are the stairs whereby men climb up into the height of dignity, the fortification that defends it, the food it lives upon, the oil that keeps the lamp of honour from going out. Honour is a bare robe if riches do not lace and flourish it, and riches a dull lump till honour give a soul to quicken it.—Adams.
II. The danger of prosperity. “They became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. They rebelled against thee.” They accepted God’s gifts; they rejected God. “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” My fruits, my barns, my goods, my soul. Self stood where God should stand. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Are the poor my poor? “Every man for himself.” This is the world’s policy; the tone, if not the language, of unconsecrated prosperity. Forget God, and you will neglect man.
Illustrations:—Prosperity is no friend to a sanctified memory, and therefore we are cautioned, when we are full, lest we forget God. Noah, who had seen the whole world drowned in water, was no sooner safe on shore, and in the enjoyment of plenty, than he forgot God, and drowned himself in wine.—Gurnall.
Where one thousand are destroyed by the world’s frowns, ten thousand are destroyed by the world’s smiles. The world, siren-like, sings us and sinks us; it kisses us and betrays us, like Judas; it kisses us and smites us under the fifth rib, like Joab.—Brooks.
It is one of the worst effects of prosperity to make a man a vortex instead of a fountain; so that, instead of throwing out, he learns only to draw in.—Beecher.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder, and that craves wary walking.—Shakespeare.
Prosperity most usually makes us proud, insolent, forgetful of God, and of all duties we owe unto him. It chokes and extinguishes, or at least cools and abates, the heat and vigour of all virtue in us. And as the ivy whilst it embraces the oak sucks the sap from the root, and in time makes it rot and perish; so worldly prosperity kills us with kindness, whilst it sucks from us the sap of God’s graces, and so makes our spiritual growth and strength to decay and languish. Neither do men ever almost suffer an eclipse of their virtues and good parts, but when they are in the full of worldly prosperity.—Downame.
Two things have I required of thee, deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest? I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.—Agur.
In all time of our tribulation; in all time of our wealth; in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment, Good Lord, deliver us.—The Litany.
III. The safeguard of prosperity. Remember thy stewardship. “What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” “The poor ye have always with you.” “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,” &c. Get to give; gather to scatter. And as the husbandman sows to reap so shalt thou. “The liberal soul shall be made fat.” “There is that scattereth and yet increaseth.” “Whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”
Illustration:—In everything to give and receive is the principle of numerous blessings: in seeds, in scholars, in arts. For if any one desire to keep his art to himself, he subverts both himself and the whole course of things. And the husbandman, if he bury and keep the seeds in his house, will bring about a grievous famine. So also the rich man, if he fails thus in regard of his wealth, will destroy himself before the poor, heaping up the fire of hell more grievous upon his own head. Therefore, as teachers, however many scholars they have, impart some of their love unto each; so let thy possession be—many to whom thou hast done good.—Chrysostom.
RESPONSIBILITY OF HONOUR
Neh_9:38. We make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it
“Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not.” These were the words of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah to a discouraged man. But because they are the words of a true prophet of God they contain a philosophy. A prophet in occasional Old Testament language is a seer—one who sees. Power is good but it exacts penalty.
I. In office and position. “Our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.” And the first name was that of NEHEMIAH THE TIRSHATHA. The strongest must carry the burdens; the tallest be exposed to the fire of the enemy. Statesmen, reformers, scientists, preachers, teachers—the best-hated men.
II. In intellectual and moral elevation. The strong must lend an arm to the weak; the wise pour out their treasures to enlighten the ignorant. Those who know the way must guide those who don’t. The sun lives for the fields and homes of men. The stars enlighten other worlds. “The Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
III. In national supremacy. “A strong nation.” “A great people.” “An increasing territory.” “The sun never sets on the Queen’s dominions,” &c. Every boast implies a duty. “Italian unity;” “German Fatherland;” “American Republic;” “England’s sway.” Be it ever remembered that with honour comes responsibility; with greatness claims. What then? Biblical fear not! “Thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee. Be not afraid of their faces; for I am with thee.” “As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.” “Fear not, thou worm Jacob.” Strength without God is weakness; weakness with God is strength. “Where he appoints I go.” And thus directed, when I am weak, then am I strong.
ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 9
SENTENCES FROM OLD WRITERS
I. From feasting to fasting (Neh_9:1-3). “There is in this present life an interchange of all things, a succession of feasting and fasting. Of the best whilst here it may be said, unhappy you cannot call him, happy you may not. One compareth him to the Ark, which was ever transportative, till settled in Solomon’s Temple; another to quicksilver, which hath in itself a principle of motion, but not of rest.” “Deadness of spirit is apt to follow our liveliest joys; but that must be looked to, and security prevented, which is wont to seize upon men after holy duties, like as worms and wasps eat the sweetest fruits.” “It was a fast that men appointed, but such a fast as God had chosen. They were restrained from weeping (chap. Neh_8:9), but now they were directed to weep. The joy of our holy feasts must give way to the sorrow of our solemn fasts when they come. Everything is beautiful in its season.” “Confession is the way to the kingdom; walk in it; only it must be joined with confusion of sin, as hero. They separated themselves from all strangers, they abandoned their darling sin, they kept themselves from their iniquity.” “They that intend by prayers and covenants to join themselves to God must separate themselves from sin and sinners.” “Fasting without prayer is a body without a soul.” “In the glass of the law we may see our deformities and defilements, and know what to acknowledge and what to amend.” “The Word will direct and quicken prayer.”
II. A story of Divine guidance (Neh_9:4-38). They cried with a loudvoice—Unto the Lord their God. “As being in covenant with them. This shows their faith, as the former their fervency. Faith is the foundation of prayer; and prayer is the fervency of faith.” Then the Levites said, Stand up. “Gird yourselves and serve the Lord. Be instant, or stand close to the work (2Ti_4:2); set sides and shoulders to it; rouse up yourselves and wrestle with God. In the primitive times the ministers prepared the people to serve God, by saying, Lift up your hearts,” Stand up. “For though they are before said to stand, yet, through shame and confusion of face, and awe of the Divine Majesty, might be fallen on their faces to the ground.” And bless the Lord your God for ever. “If we should do nothing else all our days, yea, as long as the days of heaven shall last (said that martyr), but kneel upon our knees and sing over David’s psalms to God’s praise, yet should we fall short of what we owe to the Lord, who is most worthy to be praised.” And blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. “These holy Levites, having called upon the people to bless God, break forth into the performance of this Divine duty themselves. So St. Paul often, exhorting the saints to pray, falls a-praying for them.” “When we have done our utmost herein we can never overdo.” “As oft as we breathe we are to breathe out the praises of God, and to make our breath like the perfumed smoke of the Tabernacle.” Thou art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, &c. “The first article of our Creed is fitly made the first article of our praises.” “God’s providence extends itself to the highest beings, for they need it; and to the meanest, for they are not slighted by it.” “Jehovah is God’s incommunicable name; that holy and reverend name of his, which Jews pronounce not, we too oft profane, at least by not considering the import of it, which is enough to answer all our doubts and to fill us with strong consolation, had we but skill to spell all the letters in it.” “With great skill and artifice God has made heaven three stories high” (2Co_12:2; Heb_11:10). “Of the heaven of heavens no natural knowledge can be had, nor any help by human arts; for it is neither aspectable nor movable.” “God may be read in the great book of nature, which hath three leaves—heaven, earth, and sea.” And foundest his heart faithful. “He must needs find it so who hath made it so.” And madest a covenant with him. “Wherever he finds a faithful heart he will be found a faithful God.” And heardest their cry. “Though mixed with much murmuring. So he heard that pitiful poor prayer of David, ‘I said in mine haste, I am cut off from thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications, when I cried unto thee.’ God heareth the young ravens, though they have but a hoarse and harsh note, making no melody to move pity, and cry but by implication only, and not directly unto him.” And showedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh. “That sturdy rebel whom neither ministry, nor misery, nor miracle, nor mercy could possibly mollify.” And gavest them bread from heaven, &c. “God rained down angels’ food, and set the fluid abroach; and this he did for their hunger, for their thirst, fitting his favours according to their need and request. Besides that, their bread was sacramental, whereof they communicated every day. Their drink also was sacramental, that this ancient Church might give no warrant of a dry communion: for they did all eat of the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, the same that we do at the Lord’s Supper.” Hearkened not to thy commandments. “The word of God they heard, but they did not hearken to God’s commandments; and the works of God they saw, but they were not mindful of his wonders.” A God ready to pardon. “It is our comfort that we have to do with a forgiving, sin-pardoning God, that doth it naturally (Exo_34:6), plentifully (Isa_55:7), constantly (Psa_130:4). This should be as a perpetual picture in our hearts.” They made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God. “These be thy gods (Exo_32:4). It was the serpent’s grammar that first taught men to decline God in the plural number: ye shall be as gods” (Genesis 3). They lacked nothing. “Nor more shall they that seek the Lord lack any good thing. God will not be a wilderness to them, or a land of darkness. A sufficiency they shall be sure of, if not a superfluity; yea, in the midst of straits they shall be in a sufficiency” (1Ti_6:6). So they possessed the land of Sihon. “God’s favours must not be mentioned in the lump only, and by wholesale; but particularly enumerated and celebrated.” The land concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers. “And they disposed of it by will to their posterity, as if they had been in present possession. God’s promises are good surehold: the patriarchs would be buried there, though they died in Egypt, and keep possession as they could; for they knew that all was their own.” So the children went in. “After that they had been held a long while under the Egyptian servitude. God knows how to command his favours to us; which lightly come by are lightly set by.” And delighted themselves in thy great goodness. “They lived in God’s good land, but not by God’s good laws.” They wrought great provocations. Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies. “Sin and punishment are tied together with chains of adamant.” “They that would not serve God in their own land were made to serve their enemies in a strange land.” “It is a pity good land should have bad inhabitants; but so it was with Sodom.” “Fatness and fulness often make men proud and sensual.” After they had rest they did evil again. “As standing pools breed vermin; as sedentary lives are subject to diseases. If men be not poured out from vessel to vessel, they will soon settle upon their lees. We are commonly best when worst.” And hardened their neck. “To sinews of iron they added brows of brass.” Thou art a gracious and merciful God. “And this is most seen when misery weighs down, and nothing but mercy turneth the scale.” Behold, we are servants this day. “A sad change. But see what work sin makes!” We make a sure covenant, &c. “He that bears an honest mind will not startle at assurances; nor will those that know the deceitfulness of their own hearts think them needless.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain I. The tablets on which this glory is inscribed.…
Neh 9:5
Notice:—
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I. The tablets on which this glory is inscribed. (1) God’s glory is conspicuously written on the tablet of His works: (a) in their vastness; (b) in their harmony; (c) in their perpetuity. (2) God’s glory is inscribed in the Divine ways: (a) in their equity; (b) in their inscrutableness; (c) in their beneficence. (3) God’s glory is written most legibly on the tablet of His word.
II. Notice the mirrors from which God’s glory is reflected. When we search for mirrors to reflect God’s glory, we find them here, in the testimony of devout intelligence; we find them in the past in the unbroken evidence of ages; and we find them yonder in the perfection of those spirits whom God Himself has perfected.
III. Notice the elements by which this glory is obscured. It is obscured (1) by restless, clamorous passions; (2) by the reluctant judgments of God.
IV. Notice the clemency amidst which this glory is enshrined. It is a clemency which inclines to the feeblest cry, and which inspires and accepts the feeblest song.
A. Mursell, Lights and Landmarks, p. 39.
References: Neh 9:9-11.—E. White, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 120. Neh 9:12.—S. Gregory, Ibid., vol. xxviii., p. 85. Neh 9:17.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii., No. 1272. Neh 9:20.—Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 47. Neh 9:38.—Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 115. Neh 12:27.—A. J. Griffith, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 171. Neh 12:42.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. x., p. 143. Neh 12:42, Neh 12:43.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 1027. Neh 13:2.—W. Walters, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 371; Parker, Fountain, June 6th, 1878. Neh 13:4.—S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches, p. 69. Neh 13:18.—J. Budgen, Parochial Sermons, vol. i., p. 141. Neh 13:31.—E. Monro, Practical Sermons, vol. iii., p. 179.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain The Renewal of the Covenant
The Renewal of the Covenant
4. Stairs] lit. 'ascent': probably the pulpit of wood mentioned in Neh_8:4. Bani.. Bani] One of the two names is probably an error for 'Binnui': cp. Neh_12:8.
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6. Thou, etc.] Before this LXX inserts 'And Ezra said.' The prayer that follows first recalls God's early mercies to the nation, the unworthy return made for such, the divine forbearance, the people's renewed offences, and their consequent punishment; it next acknowledges the justice of the chastisement undergone; and it concludes with a solemn promise of future amendment. But though it is a confession of national sins and ends with a national covenant, the sequence of thought it presents might well be followed in private devotions. All their host] i.e. the stars: cp. Gen_1:2; Isa_40:26. The host of heaven] i.e. the angels: cp. 1Ki_22:19.
7. Didst choose] The religious privileges enjoyed by Israel could only be ascribed to the free grace of God, and such privileges carried with them corresponding responsibilities. The same is true of the advantages, material or intellectual, possessed by other peoples.
8. Righteous] i.e. faithful to Thy promises: cp, Psa_40:10.
16. They and our fathers] better, 'they, even our fathers.'
22. Didst divide.. corners] RV 'which thou didst allot after their portions': i.e. according to their several boundaries.
26. Slew thy prophets] see, for instance, 1Ki_18:4; 1Ki_19:10; 2Ch_24:20-22; Jer_26:20-23.
29. Withdrew the shoulder] like a restive ox that refuses the yoke.
32. The kings of Assyria] The kings of Assyria that distressed Israel were Shalmaneser II (to whom Jehu paid tribute), Tiglath-pileser (2Ki_15:29), Shalmeneser III and Sargon (2Ki_17:5-6), Sennacherib (2 Kings 18, 19), and perhaps Asshurbanipal (2Ch_33:11). Unto this day] The rule over Israel exercised by Assyria had been succeeded by that of Babylon and Persia.
33. Done right] RV 'dealt truly': i.e. faithfully: cp. Neh_9:8.
38. And because of all this] RV 'and yet for all this.' We make a sure covenant] The original covenant between Israel and the Lord made at Sinai (Exodus 24) had been renewed by Hezekiah (2Ch_15:12) and Josiah (2Ch_34:30-33): cp. also Ezr_10:3. Seal unto it] lit. (and the names of) 'our princes, etc., are on the sealed writing.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 1. The public humiliation and confession (Neh 9:1-5)
CHAPTER 9
1. The public humiliation and confession (Neh 9:1-5)
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2. The great confession and prayer (Neh 9:6-38)
Neh 9:1-5. Two days after the feast of tabernacles had been concluded this humiliation and confession of sin took place. The assembled congregation fasted, with sackcloth and earth upon them. Separation was next. Evil confessed must mean evil put away. They separated themselves from all strangers, and after their confession they worshipped the Lord. Here again is the right order of a spiritual revival. Reading, hearing and believing the Word always comes first; humiliation, self-judgment, confession and true worship follow.
Neh 9:6-38. The Levites who occupied the platform (called here stairs) called upon the people to stand up and to bless the Lord and His glorious Name. Then follows the prayer. It is the longest recorded prayer in the Bible and is much like Daniel’s prayer (Dan. 9) and Ezra’s prayer (Ezra 9). These three prayers deserve a careful comparison and study.
First there is a beautiful invocation and outburst of worship. “Thou art the LORD, even thou alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.” Here is the praise of the Creator, whose power is acknowledged, as well as the Preserver of His creation. The covenant of God with Abraham and the seed of Abraham is next mentioned (Neh 9:7-8) and then follows the account of the deliverance of their fathers from Egypt. He was their Redeemer (Neh 9:9-11). The experience of the wilderness is stated in verses Neh 9:12-21. The Creator-Redeemer led them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night; He spoke with them, gave them His commandments. He supplied them with bread from heaven and water from the rock. Then follows the story of their disobedience, and with what graciousness the Lord had dealt with their fathers. “Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.” The possession of the land of Canaan is given in verses Neh 9:22-25, revealing God’s faithfulness and His power in behalf of His redeemed people. Neh 9:26-30 cover the period of the judges and the prophets. In all the mercy of God is exalted. Then comes the prayer for mercy, with the acknowledgment of their sins as a nation.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Repentance of the People
The Repentance of the People
v. 1. Now, in the twenty and fourth day of this month, two days after the close of the Feast of Tabernacles, the children of Israel were assembled with fasting and with sack-clothes, and earth upon them, all signs of the deepest mourning and sorrow, as they recognized the transgressions of the people, as they became conscious of the punishment which they had deserved by their disregard of God’s laws.
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v. 2. And the seed of Israel, the Jews of pure blood, separated themselves from all strangers, foreigners who had become mixed with the Jews by marriage, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers, principally in contracting such marriages as were expressly forbidden by God; for the reforms of Ezra had not lasted, the people having once more taken up, not only commercial intercourse, but also the dangerous custom of intermarriages with the heathen nations.
v. 3. And they, probably Ezra and his assistants, stood up in their place, on the platform erected for that purpose, and read in the Book of the Law of the Lord, their God, one-fourth part of the day, apparently from early morning till about nine o’clock; and another fourth part they confessed and worshiped the Lord, their God, they expressed the sorrowful feelings aroused by the reading of the Law and acknowledged His great mercy in forgiving their offenses in spite of all their wrong-doing and in continuing the blessings of His Word among them. That is the proper attitude of mind in approaching the Lord at all times, a deep and sincere recognition of sins together with a firm trust in God’s mercy.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 the twenty-fourth day of the same month
the twenty-fourth day of the same month
"the twenty-fourth day of the seventh month" This is near the middle of October on Western calendars. (See: Hebrew Months and Ordinal Numbers)
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the people of Israel were assembled
"the people of Israel came together"
they were wearing sackcloth, and they put dust on their heads
This was in order to show how sorry they were for the wrong things they and their ancestors had done. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
The descendants of Israel
"The Israelites"
separated themselves from all the foreigners
"no longer had anything to do with those who were not Israelites"
They stood and confessed their own sins and the evil actions of their ancestors
"They admitted the wrong things that they had done and also the wrong things their forefathers had done"
translationWords
day
people group
Israel
assembly
fast
sackcloth
descend
alien
confess
sin
evil
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.