We shall continue the study of the book of Nehemiah of the Old Testament this week.
Recap of Last Week’s Reading:
Let’s recap what happened in the immediately preceding chapters:
The rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem was finally finished in spite of much opposition, but Nehemiah discovered that very few people actually resided in Jerusalem, making the defense of the city difficult and casting the future of the city in doubt. So God put into his heart to do something about it (7:5) and the first step he took was to retrieve the official record of the list of returnees at the decree of Cyrus. In the meantime, “all the people assembled as one man” in Jerusalem and urged Ezra (who appeared not to have taken the lead as he did upon his return 13 years ago) to bring out the Book of the Law to read to them for the whole morning. It was followed by other Levites explaining or translating to the people so that they could understand what was being read. The next day, there was a smaller crowd, mainly consisting of the heads of the families and the Levites and Priests for a “small group Bible study” led by Ezra. Upon the reading of the feast of Tabernacles, they immediately jumped to observe it with about 2 weeks of preparation time. They built booths or tents as prescribed by the Law and observed the festival with great joy for 7 days and rested, as prescribed on the 8th day (i.e. 22nd of the month).
(1) What was the impact of the observing of the Feast of Tabernacles, especially with the day of rest of the 8th day, which was a day of worship, as described in 9:1?
(2) How might you explain the fact that upon the first reading of the Book of Law by Ezra (and explained by the Levites) the people responded with genuine weeping only to be told to rejoice by Nehemiah (8:10), which they certainly did with the joyous celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, only to turn to even greater mourning, with fasting and the wearing of sackcloth and having dust on their heads now?
(3) From chapter ten, we understand that they had been moved to make a very serious commitment in the form of a covenant with God to comply with His Law from then onward. Here, after their expression of contrition, both for the sins of their fathers and themselves, they said a long prayer as a prelude to this extremely serious commitment which set the tone for the religious life of the nation for the next few centuries, even until the time of Jesus:
a. In the prelude or preparation for this solemn commitment, they spent a quarter of the day (likely 3 hours) in reading the Book of the Law and another 3 hours in confession and in worship: Do you think there is any significance to the sequence? If you emulate what they did, what impact do you think it would have on you?
b. The Bible emphasizes that those who were preparing for such a commitment were those “who had separated themselves from all foreigners”. Why does the Bible choose to emphasize this, in addition to describing the serious act of external expression of contrition in v. 1?
The rest of the chapter is their corporate prayer as a preface to the agreement or covenant they were about to make with God in chapter 10. Let’s reflect on each segment of this important prayer, and attempt the following:
- Discern the theme or emphasis of each segment;
- Understand why they expressed it as part of the preface or basis of their re-commitment to the Lord;
- See how you may identify with their prayer.
(4) Vv. 5-6: An Adoration
a. Why did they start their prayer with adoration?
b. What is meant by “you alone are the Lord (i.e. Yahweh)”? (Italics, mine)
c. They mentioned God as the Creator not just of the sky, but of the entire universe — pause and meditate on how vast the universe is as we know it.
d. God is also the Creator of the earth and seas and all that is in them — pause and see what a picture this might depict in your mind.
e. “You give life to everything”— pause and reflect on what it means that God is the life giver to “everything”.
f. Turn from the physical world to the spiritual realm: Who is God?
g. Write your own words of adoration after these reflections.
h. Compare your words of adoration with those in the beginning of this prayer in v. 5. Can you identify with their feelings toward the Lord?
(5) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“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.
(1) Vv. 7-8: Chosen by the faithful God
a. What is the significance of recalling the choosing of Abraham?
b. How and why did God choose Abraham?
c. Why did they conclude that God is righteous?
d. What is the emphasis in this segment of prayer?
(2) Vv. 9-12: Deliverance from slavery
a. In delivering them from slavery, what are the three verbs (or actions) of the Lord being highlighted in their prayer in Vv. 9-10.?
b. In punishing Pharaoh and delivering the Israelites with His miraculous power, God has “made a name” for Himself “which remains to this day”: Have you ever thought of this as an important result of the Exodus? How may you apply to your own salvation?
c. What immediately followed their deliverance from Egypt? (9:12)
d. What is the emphasis in this segment of prayer?
(3) Vv. 13-14: The Giving of the Law
a. How was the Law given?
b. Why did the prayer mention that the laws are just, right and good within the context of this prayer and the ensuing re-commitment?
c. Why, of all the laws, did they single out the Sabbath?
d. What is the emphasis in this segment of prayer?
(4) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“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?
(1) V. 15: The Heavenly Provision
a. Of all the provisions God made for them, why did the prayer highlight the giving of manna and of water from the rock?
b. What is the emphasis in this segment of prayer?
(2) Vv. 16-18: The sin of the golden calf
a. What description did they use to describe the sins of their forefathers, especially in the casting of the golden calf?
b. What is the emphasis in this segment of prayer—their sins or God’s mercy and why?
(3) Vv. 19-21: 40 years in the wilderness
a. What is the emphasis in this segment of prayer and why?
(4) Vv. 22-25: Promise fulfilled
a. The prayer dealt with their entrance into the Promised Land: Can you list all the clauses that begin with “you”?
b. What is the emphasis in this segment of prayer?
(5) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“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.
(1) Vv. 26-27: Deliverance in spite of sin
a. In contrast to the previous segment, v. 26 is marked by the pronoun, “they”: Can you list all the clauses that begin with “they” in this verse?
b. However, what is the emphasis in this segment of prayer?
(2) V. 28: The repeated pattern
a. What is the repeated pattern highlighted by this prayer?
b. What is the emphasis in this segment of prayer and why?
(3) Vv. 29-31: God’s long-suffering
a. How did the forefathers test the Lord?
b. Did God really ignore or overlook their sins? Why or why not? What was the proof?
c. What is the emphasis in this segment of prayer?
(4) Vv. 32-35: The hardship was real
a. What was the hardship that this prayer referred to?
b. This is a confession of the most recent sins that led to their present hardship:
- List the sins that were being confessed.
- How did this prayer show their contrition?
- On what basis did this prayer ask for God’s mercy now?
(5) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“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.
(1) Vv. 36-37: Still in Slavery
a. Now that they were able to rebuild not only the temple, but the city, why did they say that they were still in “great distress”?
b. How did the ending of this lengthy prayer serve as a transition to their public commitment to follow the Law as a nation?
(2) What did they do to make it a “binding agreement”?
(3) Who were the people who participated in the “sealing” of this agreement? Though no one really knows the reason, have you noticed that the name of Ezra was missing from this document?
(4) While the rest of the people were not part of the official “sealing” procedure, how did they bind themselves to this agreement? Who were the “rest of the people”?
(5) What is the commitment they are making now concerning the Law of Moses?
(6) How does this commitment reflect on the lessons they have learned from their past and present?
(7) What can you learn from your reflection on their prayer in the last chapter and the commitment they now make that you may apply to your life?
“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)
Here they set out their specific commitments to follow the Law of God and to carefully obey all the commands, regulations and decrees of the Lord:
(1) The first commitment is about inter-marriage with their neighbors. Why was it mentioned as their first commitment? How important was it?
(2) In keeping the Sabbath, what particular sin were they repenting from? How important was this commitment?
(3) How was the next commitment (10:31b) related to the rebuke of Nehemiah in 5:9-11? How important was this commitment?
(4) What was the next commitment in 10:32 about? (See Exod. 30:11-16.) How important was the impact of this commitment? (The change from half a shekel in Exod. 30:13 to a third might simply reflect the change in the monetary system over the years, especially under the Persian monetary system.)
(5) Now the priests and Levites also made their commitment to provide wood for burning at the altar which appears to clarify the responsibility in this respect in Leviticus 1:17 and 6:12ff. Since this was likely a response to their previous negligence, what might have happened before this commitment was made as far as the making of sacrifices was concerned at the altar?
(6) Then the people committed to bring their tithes again to the house of the Lord which included the annual tithes of the first crops and fruits, the offerings in lieu of their first-born, etc. How important was this commitment?
(7) Finally, they specified the resumption of the proper procedures of ensuring tithes were properly collected and accounted for with the purpose that they will not “neglect the house of our God” (10:39). How important was this commitment, considering such was probably neglected in the last 70 years after the temple was rebuilt?
(8) Pause for a moment at this point, and imagine a new society of God’s people where there was no more inter-marriage with neighboring idol worshipping gentiles, where Sabbath was honestly kept, where extreme poverty was avoided, temple worship was resumed with proper offerings at the appointed times and the people were tithing as they should: How different would such a society be from the past?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“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 7th 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.
(1) The problem in 7:4 that “the city was large and spacious but there were few people in it” was now solved. From vv. 1-2, who were the volunteers and who might not be?
(2) What might be the significance that the city of Jerusalem be populated adequately?
(3) This was the first time Jerusalem was called the Holy City since their return. What significance might it add to the repopulation of the people inside the city?
(4) Nehemiah now listed the provincial leaders who settled in Jerusalem (either voluntarily or not) and they included the people of Judah and of Benjamin, priests, Levites, and gatekeepers. What might be the reason for his emphasis in v. 20 that the rest (which should be the majority) lived outside of Jerusalem, each on his ancestral property?
(5) What might be the reason that the (Persian) king gave orders that the temple activity be regulated (i.e. be maintained), especially through the singers?
(6) Jamieson, Fausset & Brown’s commentary points out that the “whole region in which the villages here mentioned [in 11:25-30] were situated had been completely devastated by the Chaldean invasion and therefore it must be assumed that these villages had been rebuilt…” (p. 627). What might be the reason that Nehemiah took the time to tell us that the people of Judah now lived in them?
(7) In summary, what is the picture being painted by Nehemiah in this chapter and what might be his message?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“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.