Nehemiah 9:1-32
“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. And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. And 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 the LORD their God.” ” (Nehemiah 9:1)
The feast of tabernacles started on the fourteenth day of the seventh month and ran to the twenty first day. They were celebrating it because in reading the law, they had discovered that they supposed to. Every day during the feast they had spent time reading and explaining the meaning of the law. In the process they learned that there were a lot of other things they hadn’t even known about and decided to start doing them.
When the feast ended they remained, confessing their sin, and the deliberate disobedience of their forefathers, spending several hours each day in Bible study. This led to several more hours in confessing sin and worshipping God and seprating themselves from the practices of people who didn’t worship God. With a clean conscience, they were ready to praise and worship God freely.
“Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God.
Then 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: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.” (Nehemiah 9:4-5)
The Levites then led the people in praising and worshiping God in a prayerful song like review of what God had done for them.
“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 preservest 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; 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: And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea; And showedst 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 get thee a name, as it is this day.
And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters. Moreover 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 right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, 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 which thou hadst sworn to give them.” (Nehemiah 9:6-15)
They started by acknowledging God as creator of the universe. They then recounted how he had chosen Abraham, declaring him righteous because of his faith, and promised to give his descendants the land of Canaan. They reviewed how he had delivered them from Egypt, Leading them with the cloud and fire and miraculously separating the Red Sea and providing manna and water. They also recognized that he had given them specific instructions as to what eh expected from them in exchange for his blessings.
“But they and our 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; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.
Yea, 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 in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go.” (Nehemiah 9:16-19)
Just a couple of months after being delivered from Egypt and only a few days after God had given them the basic outline of the Law, while Moses was still on the mountain getting the final version written, the people of Israel rebelled against God making the golden calf and deciding to go back to Egypt, claiming it was the calf that enabled the escape Egypt.
God did not turn his back on them, but continued to guide them with the pillar of cloud by day and or fire by night, even though they had completely rejected all he had done for them.
“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, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.
Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it. So 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. And 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.” (Nehemiah 9:20-25)
During the forty years in the wilderness, God had continued to provide food and water, giving them land of their own on the east side of Jordan even before they went into Canaan. They thrived even during that time while God was trying to teach them to trust him.
“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.
Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and 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, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies; And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.” (Nehemiah 9:26-29)
Time after time, the Israelites rejected God’s law, often even killing his prophets for telling them they were wrong. As a result God had allowed them to be subjugated by various groups, thirteen times in the book of Judges alone. When they would acknowledge God, each time he sent them a leader to set them free again. Each time after a brief respite, they repeated their rejection of God, refusing to listen.
“Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.” (Nehemiah 9:30-32)
In spite of the their repeated rebellion, and the punishment they so richly deserved, God had continued to love them and refused to give up on them simply because he is a loving and merciful God. According to Hebrews 13:15 praise is thanking God for what he has done, and to this point, that is exactly what this has been about, thanking God for what he had done for Israel.
“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. And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. And 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 the LORD their God.” ” (Nehemiah 9:1)
The feast of tabernacles started on the fourteenth day of the seventh month and ran to the twenty first day. They were celebrating it because in reading the law, they had discovered that they supposed to. Every day during the feast they had spent time reading and explaining the meaning of the law. In the process they learned that there were a lot of other things they hadn’t even known about and decided to start doing them.
When the feast ended they remained, confessing their sin, and the deliberate disobedience of their forefathers, spending several hours each day in Bible study. This led to several more hours in confessing sin and worshipping God and seprating themselves from the practices of people who didn’t worship God. With a clean conscience, they were ready to praise and worship God freely.
“Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God.
Then 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: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.” (Nehemiah 9:4-5)
The Levites then led the people in praising and worshiping God in a prayerful song like review of what God had done for them.
“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 preservest 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; 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: And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea; And showedst 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 get thee a name, as it is this day.
And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters. Moreover 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 right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, 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 which thou hadst sworn to give them.” (Nehemiah 9:6-15)
They started by acknowledging God as creator of the universe. They then recounted how he had chosen Abraham, declaring him righteous because of his faith, and promised to give his descendants the land of Canaan. They reviewed how he had delivered them from Egypt, Leading them with the cloud and fire and miraculously separating the Red Sea and providing manna and water. They also recognized that he had given them specific instructions as to what eh expected from them in exchange for his blessings.
“But they and our 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; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.
Yea, 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 in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go.” (Nehemiah 9:16-19)
Just a couple of months after being delivered from Egypt and only a few days after God had given them the basic outline of the Law, while Moses was still on the mountain getting the final version written, the people of Israel rebelled against God making the golden calf and deciding to go back to Egypt, claiming it was the calf that enabled the escape Egypt.
God did not turn his back on them, but continued to guide them with the pillar of cloud by day and or fire by night, even though they had completely rejected all he had done for them.
“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, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.
Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it. So 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. And 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.” (Nehemiah 9:20-25)
During the forty years in the wilderness, God had continued to provide food and water, giving them land of their own on the east side of Jordan even before they went into Canaan. They thrived even during that time while God was trying to teach them to trust him.
“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.
Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and 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, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies; And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.” (Nehemiah 9:26-29)
Time after time, the Israelites rejected God’s law, often even killing his prophets for telling them they were wrong. As a result God had allowed them to be subjugated by various groups, thirteen times in the book of Judges alone. When they would acknowledge God, each time he sent them a leader to set them free again. Each time after a brief respite, they repeated their rejection of God, refusing to listen.
“Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.” (Nehemiah 9:30-32)
In spite of the their repeated rebellion, and the punishment they so richly deserved, God had continued to love them and refused to give up on them simply because he is a loving and merciful God. According to Hebrews 13:15 praise is thanking God for what he has done, and to this point, that is exactly what this has been about, thanking God for what he had done for Israel.
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