尼希米记

Meditative Reflection
Genuine and Lasting Repentance

“On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads.” (Neh. 9:1)

It was indeed very unusual to read that after the the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated with great joy (8:17) for a week, the Israelites now suddenly gathered together, seemingly without being ordered, and expressed their contrition in a very moving way — fasting, wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads.

It was obviously the work of the Holy Spirit, only He can bring about such contrition and genuine repentance in the heart of man, especially in the hearts of all the people at the same time.

However, their weeping contrition had begun earlier in the first day of the month when they, for the first time in a long, long time, heard the Book of the Law read and explained to them. We are not told which portion of the Law was read to them, but since Ezra read from daybreak till noon, which was followed by more reading by the Levites, it could well be that the entire Pentateuch was read. Whether those were words of rebuke or of promise, we know that the realization of who God is, what He has done for us, who we are and how we have failed Him would be powerful enough to bring us on our knees in adoration and in repentance. It was no different for the people at the time.

While their weeping turned to joy, especially in light of the observation of the Feast of Tabernacles, such a week of remembrance of God’s goodness and salvation, followed by a day of rest and of worship, only drew them so much closer to the Lord. They could not help but deeply feel the need to truly repent, not only with a feeling of contrition, but with a decisive re-commitment as a people to return to God for good, especially in following and obeying the Law of Moses completely.

To ensure that such a decision was not simply out of emotion, they decided to ground their commitment in the Word of God and in prayer, so they decided to spend presumably three hours in the reading of the Word of God and three hours in public confession and worship, before solemnly entering into a covenant with God to “follow the Law of God given through Moses…and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations an decrees of the Lord” their God (10:29).

From hindsight, Nehemiah’s ordering them to stop weeping in the beginning only served to show how genuine their spirit of contrition now was — this time Nehemiah could not and would not stop them, but joined them in making this important re-commitment to honor the Law of God for good.

I find that too often we are trying to force the appearance of repentance and reconciliation in the church, not knowing that it is not our rebuke or demand for repentance that could bring about anything genuine and lasting. Only the Holy Spirit can.

Meditative Reflection
It is about God, not Us

“You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day.” (Neh. 9:10)

This lengthy prayer that precedes their recommitment to follow the Law of God is one of the most moving prayers by the Israelites, as a people of God.

Throughout this prayer, “you”, meaning God, dominates every segment of the prayer. It is true that they are still in slavery and distress (9:37), but God is the center of their prayer, not themselves, nor their plight. This represents quite a change of focus in their relationship with the Lord. They no longer follow and obey God for their own sake, but for God’s sake. This is why the prayer opens with adoration—about who God is! With adoration to begin their prayer, this prayer is a totally God-centered prayer.

Therefore, even in the recounting of the Abrahamic covenant and the recapping of the Exodus event, “you” appears so many times that all the glory, honor and power are rendered to Him. At least, for this generation of Israelites, they appear to have truly learned from the mistake of their fathers.

What about you? Do you believe God for His sake, or for your sake? One of the ways to examine yourself is to see how you prayed today—was your prayer a God-centered prayer—mainly rendering glory, honor and power to Him, or mainly or even solely about you and your needs?

Meditative Reflection
Ifnot for God’s Mercy

“Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert.” (Neh. 9:19)

We were reflecting on the God-centeredness of this prayer yesterday, and I pointed out the many times that  “you” is used in the prayer. In the passage we studied today (vv. 15-25), this pattern continues, with at least 23 times that “you” or “your” are used of God (according to the N.I.V.).

In these 11 verses, the sins of the fathers were highlighted, especially their horrible sin of casting the golden calf. However, the more their sins were highlighted, the more pronounced was the mercy of God. In fact, the entire prayer can be summed up by these words, “if not for the mercy of God”.

We have to remember that this lengthy prayer is a preface to their re-commitment to follow God and His Law. They are acutely aware that it is not because they now have resolved to follow God that God would necessarily pardon their sins — the sins of their fathers and theirs — it is purely out of mercy that God might accept their pledge to be unlike their fathers and to follow Him. This is why, in this prayer, they constantly remind themselves that if not for the mercy of God, they would not have returned to Jerusalem; if not for the mercy of God, they would not have rebuilt the temple; and if not for the mercy of God they would not have rebuilt the city.

Therefore, if not for the mercy of God, even their re-commitment will not be acceptable to the Lord.

This obviously applies to us New Testament believers also. There is nothing we can do to earn the favor of the Lord. All our righteous acts are still like filthy rags before Him, as Isaiah points out (Isa. 64:6). Even today as we approach God, we can only implore based on the mercy of God which was poured upon us through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is now our righteousness (1 Co. 1:30). We can approach God still only based on Him who is our righteousness, and not on our own righteousness.

Meditative Reflection
Submitting to God

“In all that has happened to us, you have been just, you have acted faithfully, while we did wrong.” (Neh. 9:33)

The latter part of this lengthy prayer has several features that deserve our reflection:

(1) Honest acknowledgement of sin: The many “you”s are replaced by “they”s which refer to their forefathers in the divided kingdom era. The recounting of their forefathers’ sins is honest and vivid:

a. They put your law behind their backs;

b. They killed your prophets;

c. They committed awful blasphemies;

d. But as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil.

(2) Unwavering acknowledgement of God’s mercy: While the emphasis might be on their sins with the many “they”s, each segment is still concluded with the long-suffering of God:

a. In your great compassion (v. 27)

b. In your compassion (v. 28)

c. You were patient with them (v. 30)

d. But in your great mercy (v. 31)

(3) Affirmation of the righteousness of God: Even as they mention their present demise — the result of the apparent exhaustion of God’s patience, the destruction of both the Northern and Southern kingdoms and their exile, there is no complaint, putting the blame squarely on themselves: “In all that has happened to us, you have been just…while we did wrong” (9:33); and

(4) Total Submission: Perhaps, the most amazing thing is that this is an open-ended prayer, meaning that it only serves as a platform for making a binding commitment to follow God and His Law from now on, with no request for the restoration of the nation and the driving out of the Persian ruler. Perhaps, it might not be politically prudent to do so, but it does highlight one of the most important attitudes of prayer — submission. In essence, what they are saying is:

a. Lord, you the God of the universe, you are the Sovereign Lord.

b. You have chosen Abraham and you will be faithful till the end.

c. You have brought us out of Egypt, you have put us in this Promised Land.

d. Yes, our forefathers have repeatedly sinned against you, but you have been patient and dealt with us with only compassion and mercy.

e. The reason for our present demise is that we have rebelled against you and your law.

f. We now commit ourselves in a binding covenant to return to you and follow your law.

We leave the rest in your hands — we know we can count on your faithfulness and your mercy.

Meditative Reflection
A People of the Law (I)

“Those who sealed it were Nehemiah, the governor…the priests…Levites…leaders of the people…The rest of the people…bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God…and to obey all the commands, regulations and decrees of the Lord...” (Neh. 10:1-29)

The seriousness with which the Israelites are determined to learn from past sins of the fathers and their desire to be different from them in making the observance of the Law of Moses most central to the life of all the people can be seen in

(1) The making of a written agreement to this effect and sealing it most likely by the signatures of all the leaders, starting with Nehemiah, the governor, followed by the priests, the Levites and the leaders of the people (10:1-27).

(2) The joining of all the rest of the people — and the emphases are on those who are able to understand and those who separated themselves from the neighboring people (10:28), meaning that it is a conscious choice of all the people, preceded by their act of repentance.

(3) The invoking by a curse and an oath—an expression of their utmost sincerity to follow through with their commitment (10:29).

Allow me to quote from William Barclay to help us understand how important and far-reaching the impact of this commitment had been to the history of God’s people:

“There came a day in their history when that pre-eminence of the Law was, as it were, publicly admitted; there came what one can only call a deliberate act of decision, whereby the people of Israel became in the most unique sense the people of the Law. Under Ezra and Nehemiah the people were allowed to come back to Jerusalem and to rebuild their shattered city, and to take up their national life again. When that happened, there came a day when Ezra, the Scribe, took the book of the Law, and read it to them, and there happened something that was nothing less than a national dedication of a people to the keeping of the Law…From that day the study of the Law became the greatest of all professions; and the study of the Law was committed to the men of the Great Synagogue, the Scribes….

“…although political power was an obvious impossibility, they none the less possessed the Law and to them the Law was the very word of God, the great and most precious possession in the world."
(Barclay, Matthew II, 281/2)

Meditative Reflection
A People of the Law (II)

“We will not neglect the house of our God.” (Neh. 10:39)

The uniqueness of this covenant that the people of Israel made under the leadership of Nehemiah includes the following:

(1) Unlike previous covenants that they made under Moses (Exod. 24:3-8; Deut. 29) and Joshua (Jos. 24:1-25), this covenant was entirely initiated by the people. They were not invited to enter into this covenant by God; it was under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, for sure, and upon the reading and hearing of the Law, they took this unprecedented decision on their own. Perhaps, that was the reason why it had such a lasting and far-reaching impact as pointed out by William Barclay (see yesterday’s reflection).

(2) While it was not sealed by the sprinkling of blood as in Exodus 24, it was signed by all the representatives, both political and religious, with the voluntary commitment by the people with a curse and an oath.

(3) The commitments are not written in vague terms, but are very specific, obviously with the purpose of correcting those areas that had been neglected or blatantly violated in the immediate past, as these below:

a. Inter-marriage with their neighbors (v. 30)

b. Doing business on Sabbath (v. 31)

c. Not forgiving debts of others every 7^th year (v. 31)

d. Not giving the small temple tax as commanded in Exodus 30:11-16 (vv. 32-33)

e. The priests and Levites not contributing to the wood burnt on the altar (v. 34)

f. Not observing the basic responsibilities of tithing and giving the offering of the first-born etc. As a result, the priest and Levites were not properly provided for, and the house of God was neglected (vv. 35-39).

I do believe that their desire to observe to Law was certainly pleasing to the Lord. However, ultimately they still did not understand that by themselves, they did not have the strength to observe the Law. Nobody does! As a result, no sooner had they executed their covenant, upon a brief departure of Nehemiah, some of these provisions were blatantly broken, leading to more drastic actions taken by Nehemiah in the last chapter of the book.

In the final analysis, as good as the Law of Moses is, it is meant primarily to show us and make us conscious of our sins (Rom. 3:20), so that we may be drawn to repentance and to totally trust God for our redemption through His prescribed sacrifice which is ultimately our Lord Jesus Christ.

As good and significant as this reformation under Nehemiah was, the people of the Law had gradually deteriorated into a people of legalism — a religion that was condemned by our Lord Jesus Christ, a religion that eventually condemned Him to death.

This is an important lesson for us to learn today as well in that we also uphold the Word of God, not for the sake of pride, but for the sake of being drawn to see the follies of our sins and our desperate need to trust God for our forgiveness, and for the power to live a life pleasing to Him continually — this is the true meaning of a people of the Word.

Meditative Reflection
The Holy City

“Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten in Jerusalem, the Holy City…” (Neh. 11:1)

As Nehemiah finished the work of the rebuilding of the walls of the city of Jerusalem, he realized that for the proper protection and functioning of the city, it needed to be repopulated, because at the time, “the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it” (7:4).

As a result, Nehemiah first retrieved from the archive the list of the people who had first returned to the city under the edict of King Cyrus, more than 90 years ago, to see who should be residing within the city according to their ancestral rights.

The abject poverty they faced by living in Jerusalem upon their return, the fierce opposition that they had to face constantly and relatively fertile land in other towns of Judah and Benjamin, all contributed to their departure from Jerusalem in the last 80 plus years.

However, before tackling the issue of the repopulation of the city, the people, upon the reading and understanding of the Law of Moses sealed a commitment to follow the Law of Moses — which was an important act of repentance. For the first time since their return to Jerusalem, Nehemiah called it the Holy City. Before then, there was no point of calling it the Holy City for these reasons:

- The people still lived in blatant violation of the Law of Moses.

- The temple was rebuilt some 60 years ago, but the Law was not read nor understood properly.

- The temple did not really function properly without proper tithing and without an adequate number of Levites and priests to serve, for many “lived in the towns of Judah, each on his own property in various towns” (11:3).

Now, with their repentance as a people, the city of Jerusalem could, once again, be honored and revered as the Holy City—a city where God has chosen to dwell. And chapter 11 is a rather heart-warming chapter in which we read that “The people commended all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem” (11:2).

While we are not told who these volunteers were, I believe that they would have included the leaders mentioned in 11:1. Leaders also need to set the example, and with their examples other people would follow suit. It was only when there were still not enough settlers (in number) that Nehemiah had to draw lots to select one out of ten families to move back to Jerusalem.

The total count of families (if I counted correctly) came to 3,044 families and with a typical Jewish family at the time being rather sizeable, the total number of settlers should be more than 15,000—a rather significant addition to the city.

Indeed, they should be commended, because they followed in the footsteps of their fathers some 90 years ago — they were those whose heart God had moved (Ezra 1:5) — not for their own sake, but for the sake of the house of God. Apart from the walls of city now being repaired, there was little change in their circumstances — they needed to start over again in rebuilding their land and families and the threat of outside opposition had not subsided. But now they had one another — a united people who sought to follow the Law of God to make the city, once again, a Holy City.