NEHEMIAH CHAPTER 9.

A Day of Prayer and Penitence.

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. 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.

THE LEVITES CONFESS THE PEOPLE’S WICKEDNESS. — V.4. Then stood up upon the stairs, the platforms from which the people were usually addressed, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bani, Sherebiah, Eani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the Lord, their God, acting as spokesmen for the entire congregation. V. 5. Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, following an order of worship which had been arranged beforehand, Stand up and bless the Lord, your God, forever and ever; and blessed be Thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. As Luther says: God’s name is indeed holy and glorious in itself, and all our praising will not make it one bit more glorious; yet our blessing and our thanksgiving should arise to Him at every occasion. The confession, as pronounced by the Levites, had undoubtedly been prepared in the form of a written document, and the language shows that it was largely taken from the earlier holy books of the Jews. V.6. Thou, even Thou, art Lord alone, beside whom there is no other god; Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, the unseen as well as the visible heaven, with all their host, of angel inhabitants, 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 worshipeth Thee. Note the clear and unmistakable statement concerning the creation and preservation of the universe by the almighty power of God alone. V. 7. Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, Gen. 12, 1, and gavest him the name of Abraham, Gen. 17, 5; v. 8. and foundest his heart faithful before Thee, Gen. 15, 6, 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, just in keeping His promises, v. 9. and didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, Ex. 2, 25, and heardest their cry by the Red Sea, Ex. 14, 10, v. 10. and showedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh and on all his servants and on all the people of his land in the ten great plagues that were sent upon Egypt; for Thou knewest that they, Pharaoh and his people, dealt proudly against them, the children of Israel. So didst Thou get Thee a name, as it is this day, EL 9, 16. V. 11. And Thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, Ex. 14, 21-28; and their persecutors Thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters, rushing and violent billows which overwhelmed them, Ex. 15, 5. V. 12. Moreover, Thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar, EL 13, 21, and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go, thus completing the deliverance begun in Egypt. V. 13. Thou camst down also upon Mount Sinai and spakest with them from heaven, Ex. 19, 20, and gavest them right judgments, enabling them to discriminate between right and wrong, and true laws, a code of laws which embodies the truth of God’s essence, good statutes, precepts and decrees concerning their covenant relation to God, and commandments, orders pertaining to their entire life in all its relations to their fellow-men; v. 14. and madest known unto them Thy holy Sabbath, Ex. 20, 8. 11, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, both those concerning them as God’s covenant people and those governing their relation to all men, by the hand of Moses, Thy servant, v. 15. and gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, Ex. 16, 14, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, EL 17, 6, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which Thou hadst sworn to give them, Deut. 1,8. After this enumeration of God’s blessings upon Israel the ingratitude of the people is shown. V. 16. But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, Deut. 31, 27, and hearkened not to Thy commandments, v. 17. and refused to obey, neither were they mindful of the wonders that Thou didst among them, Ps. 78, 11, but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage, Num. 14,4. But Thou art a God ready to pardon, literally, “of pardons,” one who makes pardoning His business, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not, Ex. 34, 6. V. 18. 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 provocation., by provoking the Lord to anger; v. 19. 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 of the Persian empire, and for the land that Thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it; v. 37. and it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom Thou hast set over us because of our sins, for the Persian kings derived a rich revenue from the provinces of Canaan; also they have dominion over our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure, drafting both the Jews and their work-cattle into service at any time, and we are in great distress. V. 38. And because of all this we make a sure covenant and write it, subscribing and signing the written document, in order to make it more impressive before all the people; and our princes, Levites, and priests seal unto it, all this having a tendency to keep them from breaking the covenant. Even as the small congregation of Jews turned to the Lord in true repentance and was accepted by Him, so it pleases our heavenly Father to have His Christian Church turn to Him for deliverance from all evil.