Deeper Commentary
Nehemiah 9:1 Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth on them-
We ponder how Ezra 3:4 describes the returned exiles keeping the same feast of tabernacles by making the required sacrifices on the new altar "day by day". In Neh. 8:18 we read that Ezra read the law to them every day, but there is no mention of the sacrifices being offered. Perhaps because Nehemiah realizes that the sacrifice of true confession is what God wants, and not animals on a temple altar. We notice in Neh. 9:1 that the people gather together but the place of gathering is unspecified. Possibly we see here a marked omission of the temple. After all the work rebuilding it, and walling it in... it actually wasn't much used. The peoples' confession of sin in Neh. 9 was surely pleasing to God, but it was done without any help from having a temple. The account of their history makes no mention of the temple. Nehemiah concludes his memoirs with the comment that he had to cleanse the temple chambers of the supposed uncleanness of Eliashib the High Priest, and Tobiah (Neh. 13:4-9). It's as if he sees the temple as having been defiled anyway, and all his work to fence it in to keep it holy by a wall had simply not worked. Possibly Nehemiah is looking back and realizing the truth of Is. 66:1-3, that God actually isn't interested in physical temples but dwells in hearts humble to His word. We too need to be honest and realistic enough to realize that our life's path and work may have taken us down a rabbit hole, or at least, have been a following of misplaced ideals. Possibly every life has elements of that, and throws us back on the fact salvation is not of works but of grace.
This is behaviour associated with the day of atonement. But it is done a few weeks after the event. And there is no record of the day of atonement being kept by them at this time. This is very strange. So this fasting and confession of sin (:2) is appropriate to the day of atonement, but this would have been on the wrong date. I noted on Neh. 8:14 the lamentable lack of knowledge of the law of Moses. Perhaps they were unaware of the date of the day of atonement; or perhaps given their genuine spirit, they were permitted to keep it on a different date. They were being taught thereby that the letter of the law was not so crucially important.
It has been well argued that the prayers of Dan. 9 and Neh. 9
alludes heavily to Zechariah and Haggai's calls for repentance in order
that the Kingdom be reestablished. "In both we see the key role of the
prophets in warning the earlier generation (Zech. 1:4, 5, 6; 7:7, 12; cf.
Neh 9:26, 30; Ezra 9:10–11; Dan. 9:6, 10) and the use of the construction
of ביד to speak of the agency of these prophets (Zech. 7:12; cf. Neh 9:30;
Ezra 9:11; Dan 9:10). In both we see the function of the law as the
standard rejected by the earlier generation (Zech. 7:12; cf. Neh 9:16, 29,
34; Ezra 9:10, 14; Neh 1:7; Dan 9:5, 10–11) and the near identity of the
words of the prophets and the law (Zech. 7:12; 1:6a; cf. Neh 9:29, 34; Dan.
9:10–11). In both the earlier generation is identified as אבות (Zech. 1:2,
4, 5, 6; 8:14; cf. Neh 9:2, 9, 34, 36; Ezra 9:7; Neh 1:6; Dan 9:16; Ps
106:6, 7) and the sin of that generation is linked with the present
generation (Zech. 1:6b, 8:14; cf. Neh. 9:32–37; Ezra 9:6–7; Neh 1:6–7; Dan
9; Ps 106:6). Finally, in both there is an admission of the justice of God
(Zech. 1:6b; cf. Neh 9:33; Ezra 9:15; Dan 9:6,14)".
Nehemiah 9:2 The seed of Israel- A similar phrase, "the holy seed",
is used in Ezra 9:2, also in the context of marriage with Gentiles.
Malachi wrote at this time, and pointed out that the purpose of marriage
is to "seek a Godly seed" (Mal. 2:15). Marriage to unbelievers is not
easily going to achieve this. But I argued on Ezra 9:2 that the
idea of a "holy seed" suggested Ezra, and now Nehemiah, thought that
intermarriage was wrong per se. Their argument assumed the Jews who
returned from exile were the pure seed. But they were not. He describes
those men of Judah and Benjamin as "the seed of Israel", redefining
"Israel" as the golah Jews. Yet they are addressed by God through Malachi
as they were, "Judah". And they are reminded that they themselves had
divorced the wives of their youth, thereby stopping God's intention in
marriage- to create a Godly seed. As it was, their ethnic purity didn't
make them the true seed. "Aren’t you children of disobedience, a seed of
falsehood" (Is. 56:7). The true "seed" of Yahweh were those who trembled
at His word, and not the temple builders (Is. 65:23 "they are the seed of
the blessed of Yahweh, and their offspring with them"; Is. 66:22 "For as
the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before
Me, says Yahweh, so your seed and your name shall remain"). Jer. 2:21 says
that they were no longer the true seed: "I had planted you a noble vine,
wholly a right seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches
of a foreign vine to Me?". "Behold, I will rebuke your seed" (Mal. 2:3).
The enigmatic Jer. 31:27 seems to be saying that the seed of Judah and
also the ten tribes, "Israel", would be sown by Him together in the land,
so that men and animals sprung up together very quickly: "Behold, the days
come, says Yahweh, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of
Judah with the seed of man". This would be the time of Ez. 36:11, when
Yahweh would multiply both man and animal upon His land. So the attempts
to keep the "seed" of Judah "pure" were plain wrong; nor were the golah
Jews exclusively "the seed of Israel" as they liked to think.
Separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers-
"From all strangers" is literally ‘children of the foreigner'. This could be a call to separate from the children of mixed marriages, thus repeating the error of Ezra which haunted him at the end of his memoirs- that he had broken up many marriages, and children were involved.
The account of Judah’s separation from the surrounding peoples reads similar to that of the purges from idolatry during the reign of the kings. They separated / purged, and then, within a few years, we read of them doing so again. Initially, the exiles separated from the peoples of the land (Ezra 6:21); by Ezra 9:1 they are in need of separating again; and by Ezra 10:11 likewise; then they separate (Ezra 10:16), only to need another call to separation by the time of Neh. 9:2; 13:3. They obviously found it extremely difficult to be separated from the surrounding world unto God’s law (Neh. 10:28). There was a powerful logic- either separate from the world around, or be separated from the people of God (Ezra 10:8). It’s a separation- one way or the other.
The confession of the sins of their fathers was not because the son suffers for the sins of the father. Rather was this a reversal of the attitude which Ezekiel encountered amongst the exiles- that their fathers had not sinned according to the great punishment given them. Instead of minimizing the sins of their fathers, in accordance with the oriental way of glorifying ancestors as perfect and wonderful- they accepted that their fathers had indeed sinned.
This confession of sin appears to be like that of Ezra 10:11:
"make confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers and do his will.
Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign
wives”. Remember that the prayer of Neh. 9 that now follows is by the
Levites in the name of the people, or by Ezra (so the LXX). It is what
Ezra and Nehemiah think they ought to be saying. They are saying that the
people confessed their sins in that they separated from the original
Jewish people of the land. Nehemiah has learnt nothing from Ezra’s
mistake. Indeed the prayer is so similar to that of Ezra 9, confessing the
supposed sin of intermarriage. His concern for the poor Jews of the land
in Neh. 1 is evaporating. He has bought into the politics of the time and
situation. The abuses which had broken Nehemiah’s heart in Neh. 1 had been
caused by the golah Jews and Ezra’s policies. As the book of Nehemiah
progresses, Nehemiah is no longer outraged but instead goes along with
those attitudes and policies. We too can slip back, imperceptibly but
slowly and surely, until we have lost our early idealism and moral spine.
Our heart no longer bleeds for others because we have become caught up in
narratives which falsely blame them for their sufferings. And even when
some suffering is indeed self inflicted, we fail to see that we too are in
the same position. We too act foolishly and are saved from eternal death,
the ultimate consequence, by God's grace alone. Nehemiah too had been
excluded from the community because he was a eunuch, and this had made him
have a heart of compassion for these people. But as time went by, he
longer felt his own frailty nor pain, and so his compassion for others in
their rejection and exclusion dissipated. This so easily can be the path
we too slip down.
This separation from Gentiles is reversed in Is. 56:3, where the same word
is used in comfort to the Gentiles at the time of the restoration who had
been "separated from" God's people by an unspiritual leadership: "Neither
let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak,
saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let
the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree". Nehemiah as a eunuch himself
really ought to have had more of a heart for these Gentile or mixed race
believers who were being separated from.
Nehemiah 9:3 They stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law
of Yahweh their God a fourth part of the day; and a fourth part they
confessed, and worshipped Yahweh their God- Confession of sin is
directly connected here to hearing God's word. This is one intended
outcome of all Bible reading- conviction of sin and repentance. There is a
play on the word 'confess' meaning both to confess sins (:2) and to
worship (:3). True worship is upon the basis of confession of sin.
In Neh. 8:18, Ezra had read the law to them. Now they read it themselves.
This could be another of Ezra's strange absences. Or we could look at it
as an encouraging example of how a Bible teacher inspires others to read
the Bible for themselves.
We must follow the pronouns carefully. In :2, "they" confessed their sins and then in :3 "they" read from the law. But the "they" who are reading are the Levites. It seems the Levites acted on behalf of the people in this confession. "In their place" might mean that indeed the Levites stood in the place of the people.
Nehemiah 9:4 Then Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah,
Bani, and Chenani of the Levites stood up on the stairs, and cried with a
loud voice to Yahweh their God- See on :5. We note the continued
emphasis upon the fact that Yahweh was still Israel's God (:3,5 and
often). Despite their woeful lack of awareness of His word (see on Neh.
8:14) and deep apostasy. Still He kept His side of the covenant with
Abraham, to be the God of his seed for ever (:5 "from everlasting to
everlasting"). Hence the reference to Abraham in :7.
Nehemiah 9:5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah,
Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah said, Stand up and bless Yahweh
your God from everlasting to everlasting!- See on :4. Again we note
that it is the Levites and not the priests who are prominent. The
priesthood had disgraced themselves by not teaching even the basic
knowledge of God's law (see on Neh. 8:14). The Levites, who focused more
upon menial practical service, were the ones who are given prominence
instead of the corrupt priesthood.
Blessed be Your glorious name- Nehemiah here encouraged the singing of praise on the walls of Zion (Neh. 9:5; 12:46), possibly in a conscious effort to fulfil the words of Is. 60:18- that Zion’s gates in Messiah’s Kingdom would be praise.
Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!- Only ‘Yahweh’ was exalted above every other name (Neh. 9:5; Ps. 148:13). But ‘Jesus’ in the NT becomes the Name above every Name (Phil. 2:9,10; Eph. 1:21); Heb. 12:8: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to day, and for ever” suggests that the three tenses of the Yahweh Name were supremely manifest in the Lord Jesus.
The idea is that God's Name is beyond ["above"] our praising. We could put it: "I feel I just can't thank and praise you enough for who You are and how You have been with me".
We note that this prayer is spoken by the Levites, and yet on behalf of the people. Surely a penitential prayer should come from the repentant individual. We have here the development of mere religion- religious leaders praying for others. LXX says that Ezra prayed this prayer. Which would make sense, seeing he had forced out of the community of [his version of] "Israel" any who had married the local Jewish people of the land. He now leads a prayer of repentance which specifically mentions this supposed sin. And yet the prayer clearly has spiritual insight, and a genuine perception of Israel's sin and Yahweh's loving grace to them. Which is why on balance I would never consider Ezra as a totally bad guy. Although he was a legalist, who broke up 112 families, was haunted by that sin at the end of his memoir... and yet without doubt had some level of integrity and spirituality before God.
Nehemiah 9:6 You are Yahweh, even You alone. You have made heaven, the
heaven of heavens, with all their army, the earth and all things that are
on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all. The
army of heaven worships You- "The heavenly host bows down before
you"- a reference to the court of Heaven (1 Kings 22:19). Nehemiah was
aware of Angelic involvement in bringing about the restoration; this was
one aspect of the promised work of the Spirit at that time. He notes
that the areas around the eretz or land of Israel, the "seas" of
the Gentiles, are no less given life by God; even the Samaritan
opposition.
Nehemiah 9:7 You are Yahweh, the God who chose Abram and brought him out
of Ur of the Chaldees-
Ezra and Nehemiah thought that the Jews were "the holy seed" by
some kind of intrinsic ethnic purity. But the idea of God having chosen
Abram is an allusion to Dt. 4:37, which should have taught them otherwise.
They were the chosen seed not because of intrinsic ethnic purity (which as
a mongrel race they never had anyway), but "because He loved your fathers,
therefore He chose their seed after them". They were quoting and alluding
to Bible verses with no attention to their real implications, just as
happens today.
The taking of Abram out of Ur was by grace; for Abram didn't of himself leave neither his family nor his land. "God removed him from there into this land" (Acts 7:4). Just as the taking of Judah out of Babylon was done not because they fulfilled the required conditions for it, but exactly because they didn't. It was pure grace. See on :4. The idea of God bringing Abraham out from Ur speaks of His grace. Gen. 20:13 made the same point: "God caused me to wander from my father’s house". We see the emphasis upon God bringing him out to separation from his relatives, rather than his obedience to the call to do so. By saying this, he would be growing closer to appreciating grace; that God caused him to be obedient when he of himself was not. This is the same work of the Spirit which continues in our days. The Gentile believers are in this sense 'made obedient' by the Spirit's work (Rom. 15:18; 1 Pet. 1:2). Truly our salvation is not of works of obedience, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:9). "Terah took Abram his son... and Sarai his daughter in law" (Gen. 11:31). Abram had been called to leave Ur and go into Canaan. But instead he followed his father to Haran, and lived there (for some years, it seems) until his father died, and then he responded to his earlier call to journey towards Canaan. The Genesis record certainly reads as if Abram was dominated by his father and family, and this militated against an immediate response to the call he received to leave Ur and journey to Canaan. At best his father's decision enabled him to obey the command to leave Ur without having to break with his family. And yet, according to Heb. 11:8, Abram immediately responded, as an act of faith. Thus Abram had faith in God's promise, yet may have balked at the command to leave his country and family. Providentially arranged circumstances then resulted in his aging father taking him, implying some degree of compulsion, and leading him out of his native country. Whilst not fully understanding how he could leave his father's household whilst they looked set to be accompanying him on this journey to a strange land, he went ahead in faith. It is emphasized that God "brought out" (s.w. to lead, pluck or pull out) Abram from Ur (Neh. 9:7; Gen. 15:6,7). The calling came through Abram's hearing of the word of promise, and providentially arranged circumstances encouraging his faithful response to it.
And gave him the name of Abraham- By grace inserting the central syllable of the Yahweh Name into the midst of Abram's name, to make 'Abraham'. The way ‘Abram’ was changed to ‘AbraHAm’ and ‘Sarah’ to ‘SarAH’ shows how God wishes to mix syllables of His Name with that of men. Jacob was changed to Isra-el, mixing God’s name with that of his father. This is indeed mutuality between God and man- and it demands so much. No longer was Abram all about exalting his own father; he was himself to be a father. We too as Abraham's children pass through this sense of redefinition; we are new creations, no longer just defined by our place in a line of genetics or ancestors, but making a radically new start, producing spiritual children who in that sense shall continue the line which we begin by the sowing of the Gospel seed.
It has been pointed out that Abram or Abiram was one of the most common names in the near East- it was common in Babylon as Abirami, and in Egypt as Abu-reheni or Abram (J.B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Oxford: O.U.P., 1950) p. 242, p. 329 note 9). Into this very common name- as normal and common as the names we bear in our societies- was added the Name of Yahweh. Abram became Abraham. The central letter of Yahweh's Name became the central letter of Abraham's. But Abram means 'my father is exalted', or more strictly as W.F. Albright suggests 'I am exalted with regard to / because of my father'. To jettison this name was to trash all Abraham and his culture held so dear- definition in terms of their father, where they came from. The call of the Lord Jesus in our age is in essence no different- to reject father and mother and instead follow Him, to be His. Not in the sense of hating them, but in being new persons, carved out as a totally new family. The 'h' in the middle of Yahweh's Name was now inserted into the middle of Abraham's name; Abram became Abraham, father of a multitude, a new family. Some miserable philological critics have claimed that 'h' was an unknown sound in the near East of Abraham's time (Angel Gonzales, Abraham: Father of Believers (New York: Herder and Herder, 1967) p. 26). And maybe they're right, in which case 'h' would've been a new sound. It would be rather like importing the single Russian letter pronounced 'shch' into the English alphabet. The answer to the question 'What's your name?' would've been arresting and challenging to Abraham's contemporaries: 'Abraham' would've sounded strange and new to them. There will be something equally challenging and arresting to the world surrounding Abraham's seed as people come to know our name, to perceive who we really are.
Nehemiah 9:8 and found his heart faithful before You- Because
God found Abraham's heart faithful, He made the covenant. Possibly in view
is Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac, which preceded the covenant. In
this case, God's focus was upon the state of heart/mind, rather than the
act of taking Isaac to sacrifice. And yet on the other hand, God's first
promise to Abraham was in Ur, at a time when Abram's heart wasn't very
full of faith, and God had to force his obedience.
Just as God "found" David to have a heart like His, so He searches hearts and minds to this day. But the emphasis is upon the state of the heart and not upon legalistic obedience. This was relevant to the exiles who had returned, having not kept the law of Moses for a long time, and were still not keeping every letter of it. "Faithful" is the word for 'belief' in Gen. 15:6. Genesis 15 is clearly in view as it lists the same nations of which we now read. By grace and in accordance with the Abrahamic covenant, his seed were to rise above the Samaritan opposition and the dominance of the Persian empire, and possess the land for themselves. But Judah refused to accept the new covenant offered to them, which was in turn based upon those Abrahamic promises.
And made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his seed; and have performed Your words- The covenant to inherit the land was given outside of the old covenant, and to an Abram who was very weak in faith (see on :7). Again we see the relevance to the spiritually weak exiles who had returned to inherit the land of promise, and who were being invited through the words of Jeremiah and Ezekiel to accept a new covenant relationship with their God.
It was all very well going on about having Abraham as their father. But we know what our Lord had to say about that attitude. God's perspective is that the seed of Abraham are believers, regardless of ethnicity: "they which be of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham" (Gal. 3:9). "They are not all Israel that are of Israel".
They were too quickly assuming that the fulfilment of the
Abrahamic land promise was to his seed there and then at the time of
Nehemiah. It wasn't, because they were not given eternal inheritance of
the land at that point, neither was Abraham then resurrected to receive
his inheritance of it. And they assume that the seed of Abraham was solely
the golah Jews. God's view of Abraham's seed is very different. The
promises to Abraham are part of the new covenant, which they didn't want a
part in because they were obsessed with trying to keep the old covenant.
For You are righteous- It was that same justice / righteousness which saved His people which was related to God's judgment of His people (:33). The judgment and salvation by grace were all part of the same character of God.
Nehemiah 9:9 You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard
their cry by the Red Sea- Just as God had seen their affliction in
Babylon. But that affliction wasn't physical, for the book of Esther
concludes with the Jews popular and wealthy. The similarities were only in
spiritual terms; and "their cry" was hardly heard, for we don't get the
impression that any Jews were praying for the restoration to happen and
for deliverance from Persia. The "cry" of Moses was heard as their
cry ["And the Lord said unto Moses, Why do you cry unto Me?", Ex. 14:10],
and so Ezra and Daniel hoped that their prayers would likewise be heard as
that of all God's people. The point is that God brought them out of Egypt
just as He brought Abram out of Ur- not because they had fulfilled the
preconditions, but because of His love and grace. And it was this likewise
why and how He had brought Judah back from Babylon. He had repeatedly said
that they would be returned when they returned to Him. They didn't return
/repent to Him- and yet He still made them return.
Nehemiah 9:10 You showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, and against
all his servants, and against all the people of his land; for You knew
that they dealt arrogantly against them- Egypt were brought down for
their pride (Ex. 18:11), and the pride of Persia and the Samaritan
opposition was likewise to be brought down. But Israel were just as proud
against God (:16).
And made a name for Yourself, as it is this day- The idea was that God through the restoration was still making Himself a Name. We learn here that His Name is not simply the lexical item "Yahweh", but His Name is associated with His salvation history and personality, which climaxes in His saving by grace. In this sense God's Name is made or created in an ever ongoing sense as history progresses (Is. 63:12).
"As it is this day" quotes the words of Ezra 9:7 "as it is this day". The prayers are so similar. Ezra (according to the LXX) is now praying the same prayer 12 years later, or the Levites and Nehemiah are using his text. They have learnt nothing, still thinking that the true seed of Abraham are solely golah Jews and that the sin that needs confession is that of marrying second class Jews of the land. Likewise we find Ezra’s prayer phraseology repeated verbatim in :36. This prayer is supposed to be the prayer of confession and penitence from the people of the time. But it is in fact largely the words of Ezra's prayer of 12 years previously. Reading a pro forma text, and in the name of others, is hardly heartfelt confession of sin by the individuals.
GNB "You worked amazing miracles against the king, against his officials and the people of his land, because you knew how they oppressed your people". And yet Nehemiah was an official of the oppressing power of Persia! Yet the prayer seems to hope that as the king and officials of Egypt were overthrown, so would be those of Persia. But Nehemiah was the King's senior servant and chief official over Judah. Definitely Nehemiah should not have been in this position, and was intended to lead Judah to radical independence and actually, to dominance over Persia and all the Gentiles. Verse 15 will lament that God's people hadn't taken control of the land as they were intended to; but that was exactly the mistake being made by Nehemiah and the Jews; God "told them to take control of the land which you had promised to give them" (:15). But they didn't. And neither did Nehemiah and the golah Jews of that time. "You gave your people the power to do as they pleased with the people and kings of Canaan" (:24). But they didn't use that power. And neither did Nehemiah. But he doesn't get the personal relevance to himself. All he sees is the issue of intermarriage.
Nehemiah 9:11 You divided the sea before them, so that they went through
the midst of the sea on the dry land- The sea was divided at creation
and also at the flood (s.w. Gen. 7:11), and the "dry land" likewise
appeared at creation and at the flood. There was likewise the possibility
of a new creation of Zion and the restored Kingdom at the time of the
restoration, as the prophets had made clear. And all opposition to that,
like the Egyptians, would be cast into the sea, just as the opposition to
Noah had been. And yet Judah preferred to intermarry with the Samaritan
opposition and, at least initially, worship their gods.
And You cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters- The Egyptians themselves charged in there, but this was used by God, so that He as it were threw them into the waters. Here again we see God's work with human minds, confirming them in the path they choose to go. This image of a stone thrown into the waters is that used for the fall of Babylon (Jer. 51:63). The idea was that God intended Babylon / Persia to fall, and Judah to become His Kingdom in their land, no longer a mere province of another empire. This didn't happen as Divinely intended and empowered, because Judah at that time preferred the culture and ways of the old empire and didn't want to fulfil the restoration prophecies. Their sins could have been cast into the sea, as it were, at the restoration (s.w. Mic. 7:19); but although at this moment they confessed their sins, and perhaps believed God had dealt with them, yet they didn't accept that reality in any abiding sense.
Nehemiah 9:12 Moreover, You led them by day in a pillar of cloud; and in a
pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they
should go- This leading of Israel to the land had been seen in the
miraculous protection of the groups of exiles led by Ezra and Nehemiah
back to the land. Clearly the same Angels in the pillars of fire and cloud
were equally active. The 'leading' then had been a sign of God's grace
("in Your mercy You led them", Ex. 15:13), a people still carrying the
idols of Egypt and the tabernacle of Remphan; and His grace had been no
less to the mixed up, Biblically ignorant exiles whom Yahweh had likewise
led back.
The gift of light is mentioned here and in :19 perhaps to connect with how the word is used of the gift of light to the exiles in Ezra 9:8 "Our God may lighten our eyes".
Nehemiah 9:13 You came down also on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from
heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and
commandments- Nehemiah continues to forget, or be ignorant, of the
fact that the restoration prophets including Zechariah, who was roughly
contemporary with him, had explained that the old covenant given at Sinai
had been broken by Israel, and the only hope was acceptance of the new
covenant offered in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. This appeal to history and the
implied need to keep that covenant- was therefore somewhat misplaced. The
pole of traditional nationalism had become stronger than that of God's
word and spirituality.
Nehemiah 9:14 You made known to them Your holy Sabbath, and commanded them
commandments, and statutes, and a law, by Moses Your servant-
The Sabbath was specifically
"a sign between them (Israel) and Me (God), that they might know that I am
the Lord who sanctifies them" (Ez. 20:12). As such, it has never been
intended to be binding on Gentiles (non-Jews). “... the Lord has given
you [not all mankind] the Sabbath (Ex. 16:29); “... You [God] made
known to them [
Nehemiah 9:15 You gave them bread from the sky for their hunger, and
brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and
commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which You had
sworn to give them- They would "go in to possess the land" if they
were obedient (Dt. 6:18; 11:8; 30:16 s.w.). They weren't; but still God
brought them into the land and gave them possession of it, not because
they had been obedient as required, but by grace (Dt. 9:5 s.w.). This was
precisely the situation with the returned exiles. The same grace was being
shown to them.
Nehemiah 9:16 But they and our fathers dealt proudly- Exactly the
phrase used about the pride of the Egyptians which led to their
destruction (s.w. Ex. 18:11). We noted on :10 that it was exactly because
of this pride that Egypt was destroyed at the Red Sea, but Israel were in
fact no better (:16,29)- they acted as the Egyptians, and were hardened
just as Pharaoh and his leadership were hardened. Israel's salvation out
of Babylon / Egypt was therefore by pure grace and not because they at all
deserved it.
And hardened their neck, didn’t listen to Your commandments- We would likely have focused upon their idolatry and desire to return to the Egypt life. But the essential problem, as always, was human pride. The hardening of the neck was in order to refuse the yoke of Yahweh's covenant which was placed upon them; they refused to cooperate and work with Him. It was for this reason that they were taken into captivity (s.w. Jer. 7:26; 17:23; 19:15).
Nehemiah 9:17 and refused to obey, neither were they mindful of Your
wonders that You did among them- The daily miracles of the pillar of
fire and cloud, the manna, quails and water from the rock, the visible
presence of the glory of Yahweh in the tabernacle- were all
psychologically ignored by them. This is proof enough that miracles and
visible signs from God are not the basis for faith.
But hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage- Nehemiah may possibly be drawing a parallel with some who wished to return to Persia and abandon the entire restoration project.
But You are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in grace, and didn’t forsake them- The punishment for a hardened neck was to be sudden destruction without remedy (Prov. 29:1 s.w.). But that deserved destruction without further amelioration wasn't practiced by God because of His abundant grace; the people were not forsaken in captivity just as they were not forsaken in the wilderness, even when they rebelled and attempted to return to Egypt.
Nehemiah 9:18 Yes, they had made them a molten calf and said, ‘This is
your God who brought you up out of Egypt’ and had committed awful
blasphemies- The blasphemies of the Gentiles were punished (s.w. Is.
37:3; Ez. 35:12); but Israel's blasphemies were met with yet more grace
and the continued presence of Yahweh amongst them. Ex. 32:4,8 is
specific that they said "These are your gods" (plural). It seems they said
to the effect "These are your gods, this is your God". The idea of many
gods within one God is paganic, the kind of thing that came to full
fruition in the heresy of the Trinity.
Nehemiah 9:19 yet You in Your many mercies didn’t forsake them in the
wilderness. The pillar of cloud didn’t depart from over them by day, to
lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them
light, and the way in which they should go- There was an Angel within
those pillars.
Haggai 2:5 had likewise encouraged the returned exiles to recall Israel's
history at this time: "This
is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and My
Spirit dwelt among you. ‘Don’t be afraid’".
"My Spirit (Angel- Ps. 104:4) remaineth among you" (AV), just as the same
Angel was with them “when you came out of Egypt”. And with us too. God
encourages those rebuilding Jerusalem to have faith because the Angel is
still among them: "Yet now be strong... and work: for I (the Angel) am
with you, saith the Lord of Hosts (Angels): according to the word that I
covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt (the Angel made that
covenant) so My Spirit (Angel) remaineth among you; fear ye not". And so
Nehemiah recounts the past activities of God's Angel here in Neh.
9:19-24 as a stimulus to faith in God bringing them through immediate
problems.
Nehemiah 9:20 You gave also Your good Spirit to instruct them, and didn’t
withhold Your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their
thirst- see on 1 Sam. 10:9. The
Spirit (Angel- Ps. 104:4) was "also" with the exiles bringing them from
Babylon to Judah as it had been with the Israelites coming from Egypt to
the same land. He gave a "good" Spirit / Angel, when it was in His power
to send an Angel / Spirit of evil (not a sinful Angel but an Angel
bringing evil / disaster, as was brought upon Saul (1 Sam. 16:14) and the
Egyptians (Ps. 78:49). Although Israel had acted as the Egyptians,
hardening their hearts and 'dealing proudly' (see on :16), yet by grace,
God dealt with them by sending "good" upon them and not "evil", as He sent
upon the Egyptians. The Spirit was given to "instruct" them, but the same
word is used in lament over how Israel refused to "understand" or be
instructed (Dt. 32:29). The Corinthians likewise were given the Spirit,
but were not "spiritual" (1 Cor. 3:1). And with many Christians today
likewise. "Instruct" is the word just used in Neh. 8:13 of Nehemiah's
instruction of the people at this time. This instruction was a sign of
grace, as it was in the wilderness; for the people deserved destruction.
The gift of the Spirit was in order to teach and instruct them. This would
not be even mentioned if God's intention was solely that man reads His
word, applies his mind, and takes away Divine instruction. There is the
role of the Spirit as teacher and instructor, which comes to full term in
the Comforter.
Nehemiah 9:21 Yes, forty years You sustained them in the wilderness-
In contrast to the priesthood of Nehemiah's time who did not feed /
sustain the people (s.w. Zech. 11:16). Yet Psalm 95 says that
throughout those same 40 years, God was grieved and His soul cut down
because of their behaviour. Yet still He lovingly, sensitively cared for
them at the same time. Just like a true parent.
They lacked nothing- The promise that they would "lack nothing" on the wilderness journey was repeated in the promise that once in the land, they would "lack nothing" (Dt. 2:7; 8:9 s.w.). The returned exiles were in lack but this was because they refused to be obedient to God's plan for them; Is. 51:14 uses the same phrase, although masked in many translations, to say that "the captive exile" would "lack nothing" on leaving captivity. But they had precluded the restoration prophecies from coming about.
Their clothes didn’t grow old, and their feet didn’t swell- Just as all materially necessary was provided, so through the various decrees of the Persian kings, all had been given to enable the exiles' journey to the promised land. But they had likewise abused such grace. This is a quotation from Dt. 29:5, which makes this statement in the context of lamenting that "Yet Yahweh has not given you a heart to perceive nor eyes to see nor ears to hear" (Dt. 29:4). They refused to perceive His great and daily grace to them as witnessed in His daily provision of food and clothing, just as we can fail to perceive it today. Regular prayers of thanksgiving before food are a good way of guarding against this human tendency to not perceive such grace. The returned exiles likewise had been miraculously provided for by the decrees of the Persian kings, but refused to perceive the grace of all that provision (Neh. 9:21). The other source of this saying about their clothes not growing old is Dt. 3:4, which again is in the context of telling Israel that this had happened so that they would be humbled before God and would consider in their humbled hearts that God intended them to inherit the land be obedient within it (Dt. 8:3-5). This again is relevant to the returned exiles and the grace they too had received on their journey to it.
Nehemiah 9:22 Moreover You gave them kingdoms and peoples which You
allotted according to their portions. So they possessed the land of Sihon,
even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan-
The intention here is to demonstrate God's extreme grace to His people
despite their spiritual weakness. He had given them the territories in
Palestine listed in :8, but He additionally gave them portions to the east
of the Jordan river, in Sihon and Bashan.
Nehemiah 9:23 You also multiplied their children as the stars of the sky,
and brought them into the land concerning which You had said to their
fathers, that they should go in to possess it- This was a fulfilment
of the promises to Abraham (Gen. 15:5; 22:17) which were the basis of the
new covenant. And the returning exiles had been told in the restoration
prophets that they had broken the old covenant, and were invited to accept
this new covenant. Israel multiplied in Egypt (Ex. 1:7,12) and yet they
were idolaters there. Again we see the idea of this potted history is to
demonstrate the Divine grace which ran throughout it.
Nehemiah 9:24 So the children went in and possessed the land, and You
subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave
them into their hands, with their kings, and the peoples of the land, that
they might do with them as they pleased-
“The
people of the land” were to have a part in the new system of things (Ez.
45:16,22; 46:3,9), and yet this very phrase is repeatedly used concerning
the Samaritan people who lived in the land at the time of the restoration
(Ezra 4:4; 10:2,11; Neh. 9:24; 10:30,31). God’s intention was that they
should eventually be converted unto Him; it was His intention that
Ezekiel’s temple be built at the time of the restoration under Ezra. And
yet Zech. 7:10; Mal. 3:5 criticize the Jews who returned and built the
temple for continuing to oppress the stranger / Gentile. Israel would not.
Instead of subduing them, they intermarried with them and accepted their
gods. Just as Adam should have brought the serpent as part of the animal
creation into subjection to him; but instead he obeyed its voice and fell
away from God.
Nehemiah 9:25 They took fortified cities, and a rich land, and possessed
houses full of all good things, cisterns dug out, vineyards, olive groves
and fruit trees in abundance- A quotation from Dt. 6:11. Perhaps
Deuteronomy was the part of the law which was read to the people.
So they ate, were filled, became fat, and delighted themselves in Your great grace- LXX "rioted in thy great goodness". The potted history of God's dealings with His people is to demonstrate this great grace. However, the Hebrew can be translated quite the opposite- alluding to Dt. 32:15 and Jer. 5:28, they became fat and kicked against God, rioting against Him. What should have been a riot of joy at God's grace became a riot against that grace. I suggest the ambiguity of the language is intentional. The abuse of Divine grace is an abiding temptation (Rom. 6:1).
We note there is no mention of the subsequent history- Samuel, David and the kings after him. This was likely because the people were labouring under the idea that the five books of Moses were the basis of covenant relationship with Yahweh, and so this is where the bulk of the history comes from. They were arguing that they, the golah Jews, were now the sole Israel of God, and their relationship with Him depended on the Torah alone. Not the other writings. At this time, Mal. 4:4 had reminded them that God gave the law to all Israel. The specific word "all" is surely to counter the idea that it was just given to the golah Jews from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
Nehemiah 9:26 Nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against You,
and cast Your law behind their back, and killed your prophets that
testified against them to turn them again to You, and they committed awful
blasphemies- The Jews murdered Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel,
according to Jewish tradition; Ahab and Jezebel slew Yahweh's prophets (1
Kings 18:4); Joah murdered Zechariah (2 Chron. 24:22). And the Lord
alludes to this in Mt. 23:37 and Lk. 11:47. The idea is that despite being
given the blessings of obedience to the covenant when they were
disobedient to that covenant, they abused that grace and rebelled against
Yahweh just as they had done in the wilderness, when they lived under the
same grace. And Nehemiah is accusing the people of his time of despising
and abiding Divine grace in just the same way.
Nehemiah 9:27 Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their
adversaries, who distressed them. In the time of their trouble, when they
cried to You, You heard from heaven; and according to Your many mercies
You gave them saviours who saved them out of the hand of their
adversaries- The Hebrew phrase for "many mercies" is perhaps about
the closest equivalent in the Hebrew Bible to the New Testament concept of
Divine grace- see the usage in 2 Sam. 24:14; Ps. 119:156; Is. 63:7; Dan.
9:18. And it is a major realization of Nehemiah, being used four times in
this chapter: Neh. 9:19,27,28,31.
The "saviours" in view are the judges. And yet often those judges were sent to save the people by grace; Samson would be an example. Israel's deliverance at the hands of the judges was related to their crying to Yahweh in faith and repentance (Neh. 9:27,28). But it seems that they did precious little of this during the time of Samson, from what we know of them from the record. Again, the picture is of salvation by grace all the way through. The restoration was to be empowered by God if the exiles repented; they had not done so, and yet God was still seeking to save them.
Nehemiah 9:28 But after they had rest, they did evil again before You;
therefore You left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the
dominion over them-
Neh. 9:28,31 use the same Hebrew word for forsake / abandon in two
senses. “You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies... but in your
great mercy you did not abandon them” (N.I.V.). God forsook Israel, but
heard them when they cried and came back to them; but in the ultimate
sense He did not forsake them because of His grace and mercy. Thus Zion
feels forsaken by God, but ultimately realizes this was never the case
(Is. 49:14). It will then seem as just for a small moment that God forsook
her (Is. 54:6,7). So when we read in Neh. 9:28 that “You abandoned them”,
it may be that this is God talking through the perceptions of His people-
they thought He had abandoned them, He appeared to have abandoned them,
when He ultimately hadn’t. And this was one of Israel’s experiences which
God’s Son suffered on the cross.
Yet, when they returned and cried to You, You heard from heaven; and many times You delivered them according to Your mercies- The intention was that Israel were delivered when they cried and repented before God. The Jews in Persia hadn't done this and yet by utter grace God had still delivered them from the land of their enemies. But by intermarrying with Gentiles they were demonstrating that they didn't even define their enemies as God did.
Nehemiah 9:29 and testified against them, that You might bring them again
to Your law. Yet they dealt proudly, and didn’t listen to Your
commandments-
"Dealt proudly" is exactly the phrase used about the pride of the
Egyptians which led to their destruction (s.w. Ex. 18:11). We noted on :10
that it was exactly because of this pride that Egypt was destroyed at the
Red Sea, but Israel were in fact no better (:16,29)- they acted as the
Egyptians, and were hardened just as Pharaoh and his leadership were
hardened. Israel's salvation out of Babylon / Egypt was therefore by pure
grace and not because they at all deserved it.
But sinned against Your ordinances, which, if a man does, he shall live in them, turned their backs, stiffened their neck, and would not hear- They were intended to have the yoke of the covenant upon them, but they like a difficult beast of burden refused it. They didn't want covenant relationship with Yahweh. They "did" the ordinances as a matter of casuistic legal obedience, but didn't live in their spirit. Or we could read this as saying that living in the land was to be predicated upon doing the commandments (Dt. 4:1; 6:24; 8:1). The exiles had been returned to the land, but by grace; for they were not 'doing' the commandments; see on Ez. 20:11,12. Indeed it seems they were largely ignorant of them at Nehemiah's time.
Nehemiah 9:30 Yet many years You put up with them-
This is a poor translation. The same Hebrew phrase is translated
'drawn to', in speaking of how God would attempt to draw the exiles back
into a new covenant with Him, seeing they had broken the old covenant
(s.w. Jer. 31:3; Hos. 11:4).
And testified against them by Your spirit through Your prophets- I noted in :20 that the "good spirit" in view there may have been an Angel, seeing that God makes His Angels spirits (Ps. 104:4). And that may be the reference here too. Or it may simply be a reference to how the prophets were inspired by the Spirit of God, "inspired" so that their words and pleas were those of God Himself.
Yet would they not give ear.
Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands-
The prophets were appealing to the people, Jeremiah in Jerusalem and
Ezekiel already in Babylon, right up to the eve of the destruction of the
temple.
Nehemiah 9:31 Nevertheless in Your many mercies- The Hebrew phrase
for "many mercies" is perhaps about the closest equivalent in the Hebrew
Bible to the New Testament concept of Divine grace- see the usage in 2
Sam. 24:14; Ps. 119:156; Is. 63:7; Dan. 9:18. And it is a major
realization of Nehemiah, being used four times in this chapter: Neh.
9:19,27,28,31.
You did not make a full end of them, nor forsake them; for You are a gracious and merciful God- The grace of all this was that God had indeed promised to "make a full end of them" for their sins (s.w. Is. 10:23; 28:22; Ez. 13:13; Zeph. 1:18). It was only the new covenant which promised that God would not make a full end with Israel (Jer. 30:11 s.w.). And they needed to accept this.
Nehemiah 9:32 Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the
awesome God, who keeps covenant and grace-
This is quoting from Ps. 89:28 about God's keeping of covenant with
David's seed, Messiah. This means that this grace was being shown to
Israel on behalf of God's future Messianic Son.
Don’t let all the travail seem little before You, that has come on us, on our kings, on our princes, priests, prophets, and on our fathers, and on all Your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria to this day- The rulership, civil and religious, had been punished for their actual sins, as the prophets make very clear, as Nehemiah admits (:34). There had been no injustice, and so Nehemiah's plea appears somewhat morally compromised. Assyria was the first empire to take God's people into captivity, and was followed by Babylon and Persia in keeping them in captivity.
Nehemiah 9:33 However You are just in all that has come on us; for You
have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly-
Having given a history of God's grace, Nehemiah now throws himself
upon that grace; recognizing that their judgment had been just, but still
asking God to view the human experience side of it with pity. He is
quoting Daniel's prayer (Dan. 9:14); we wonder if copies of the book of
Daniel (which was from only a generation or so previously) were available
in Persia, and Nehemiah had read it- and been influenced by it.
Nehemiah 9:34 Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our
fathers kept Your law, nor listened to Your commandments and Your
testimonies that You pronounced against them-
This was the more shameful for the priests, who were responsible for
teaching God's law to others. Nehemiah appears to be quoting from Zech.
1:4, which would have been a recent prophecy.
Nehemiah 9:35 For they have not served You in their kingdom-
This therefore appears relevant to the "kings" just mentioned in :34.
They didn't want to be kings of God's Kingdom, instead they had hijacked
His Kingdom and turned it into "their" own kingdom; just as the temple of
Yahweh and feasts of Yahweh became "the temple of the Jews" and 'feasts of
the Jews'. And we too can hijack the one true faith for our own ends.
And in Your great goodness that You gave them, and in the large and rich land which You gave before them, neither did they turn from their wicked works- See on :37. The land of Palestine was not "large", but the eretz promised to Abraham was- from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. Likewise, as at Nehemiah's time, the land was not always "rich", because they were punished with famines for their disobedience. So we read here of the potential which God had enabled, even though they didn't realize it.
Nehemiah 9:36 Indeed, we are servants this day, and as for the land that
You gave to our fathers to eat its fruit and its good, we are servants in
it-
As
Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her
(Hos. 3:1), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s
go’el , redeemer (Is. 41:14; Is. 43:14; Is. 44:6,24; Is. 47:4; Is.
48:17; Is. 49:7,26; Is. 54:5,8). The redeemer could redeem a close
relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (Lev.
25:25,26, 47-55; Ruth 2:20; Ruth 3:9,12). The redeemer was also the
avenger of blood (Num. 35:9-28; Josh. 20:3,9). All these ideas were
relevant to Yahweh’s relationship to Judah in captivity. But the promised
freedom didn’t come- even under Nehemiah, Judah was still a province
within the Persian empire. And those who returned complained: “We are
slaves this day in the land you gave…” (Neh. 9:36). The wonderful
prophecies of freedom and redemption from slavery weren’t realized in
practice, because of the selfishness of the more wealthy Jews. And how
often is it that the freedom potentially enabled for those redeemed in
Christ is in practice denied them by their autocratic and abusive
brethren?
We enquire how they could say this about their fruitful land-
in the midst of a famine so severe it led them to sell their children into
slavery. Something isn't right here. The famine was because of their sins.
But they speak as if it hadn't happened. The only sin they want to confess
is the sin of intermarriage with other Israelites. Again, despite some
fine spiritual insights, this prayer seems choreographed and presented by
Nehemiah to fit his agenda of redefining Israel as the golah Jews, and
enforcing separation from the other Jews. Neh. 5 explains that they were
slaves because the wealthy golah Jews had forced the poorer Jews to sell
themselves into slavery. The heavy taxation was operationalized by none
less than Nehemiah the Persian tax collector. So these complaints sound
like the "poor darling" syndrome and rather lack integrity.
Nehemiah 9:37 It yields much increase to the kings whom You have set over
us because of our sins. They also have power over our bodies, and over our
livestock, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress-
On one hand, they were insistent that they were eagerly obeying
the law and abiding in the old covenant. But the allusion to Dt. 28:33 is
evidence enough that God was still cursing them. For it was a curse of
disobedience that "The fruit of your ground, and all your labours shall a
nation which you know not eat up" (Dt. 28:33). And yet Nehemiah was the
Persian governor and chief tax collectors over Judah! By doing so he was
in effect enabling and operationalizing this curse upon God's people. All
for the sake of liking to think that he would have Persian money available
to build a nice wall around Jerusalem and fix some social problems, at the
cost of reinforcing their power and taxation.
Ez. 34:14 had prophesied of a far greater potential: “I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel”. The restored Judah did live in a “fat” pasture land (:35), but the fatness of the land was still given to the kings of Persia because of Judah’s spiritual weakness. The fact they were paying tribute in cash and kind to their overlords was proof enough that they were still under judgment for sin (Dt. 28:33; Is. 26:13). And Neh. 5 makes it clear that the people were indeed under "great distress" in order to pay the tribute.
Nehemiah 9:38 Yet for all this, we make a sure covenant, and write it; and
our princes, our Levites, and our priests, seal it-
The referent of "for all this" is unclear. The "yet" can be dispensed
with as in AV. This would then connect the covenant with the entire potted
history of Israel which has occupied Neh. 9; and that has been the history
of God's grace to a repeatedly impenitent and disbelieving people. In this
case, "for all this", on the basis of accepting that grace, those who had
just been convicted of sin, the priests, Levites and princes, made a
covenant expressing their repentance. They would thereby become a parade
example of how the goodness of God, in this case His grace exhibited in
history, leads to repentance (Rom. 2:4).
Nehemiah led the people to make a covenant that they would keep
the old covenant. What should he have done? The people have stated in :8
that God made a covenant with Abraham. Their response should have been to
re-affirm that by making a covenant with God on that basis. And the
promises to Abraham are the basis of the new covenant. But instead, the
people wanted to keep the old covenant. Zechariah had clearly stated
that the old covenant was broken. They had broken it, and Isaiah, Jeremiah and
Ezekiel had offered the people a new covenant with God. Nehemiah should
have led the people into that new covenant. Instead he tried to cement
them back into the old covenant. From this viewpoint, his covenant was on
one hand not a bad thing- to urge people to obedience to God. But it was
not the covenant he should have led them to. Perhaps looking back on his
life in this memoir, he realizes that. This covenant he got them to sign
up to was at best misplaced idealism, urging God's people to obedience to
that which could not save them and had been abrogated, carefully avoiding
the new covenant which had been so clearly offered to them.
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