Nehemiah 9:21-29
Ne 9:21
Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the
wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and
their feet swelled not.
Then because of their disbelief they were to wander in
the wilderness for forty years.
During that time God had sustained them with the food they needed plus the
clothes they had on their back did not wear out and above that in that heat
their feet did not even swell a little bit.
Thy raiment waxed not old upon
thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. (Deuteronomy 8:4)
The word “swell” carries with it the meaning of “blister.”
Ne 9:22
Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst
divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of
the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.
God had dispossessed the pagan nations out of Canaan.
There were six nations that God had moved out.
And I have said, I will bring you
up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the
Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the
Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. (Exodus 3:17)
They were given the Amorite kingdoms of Sihon and Og.
Sihon and the land of Heshbon were one and the same.
The corners of the land is how they conquered the land of Canaan except
for a few cities which later became snares to them because of their false
religions.
Ne 9:23
Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of
heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised
to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.
God had fulfilled his promise to Abraham that he would
have his seed multiplied.
And he brought him forth abroad, and
said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number
them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. (Genesis 15:5)
This promise of a physical seed was fulfilled by the time they left
Egypt.
And the children of Israel journeyed from
Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot
that were men, beside children.
(Exodus 12:37) Those are the
physical descendants but then if you factor in all of the spiritual descendants
of Abraham, you will have them in the millions.
And if ye
be Christ's, then are ye
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29)
Ne 9:24
So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou
subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest
them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they
might do with them as they would.
From Joshua 12:7-24 we read a list of the kings, thirty
one in all, which were defeated by the hands of Joshua as God went before him
subduing all the lands of the false religions.
Then when all the battles were over they were given the land which God
promised to Abraham and Israel would remain in the land if they kept their word
concerning obedience. The last
phrase of the verse meant that the people of Israel were the ones who decided
what to do with the pagans once they were captured.
Ne 9:25
And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and
possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and
fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and
delighted themselves in thy great goodness.
They had conquered some strong cities which were centers
of Baal worship such as Jericho, Ai, Libnah, Lachish, Hazer and Hebron.
The houses full of goods, wells, vineyards, and olive fields were part of
the promise that God made to Abraham.
And houses full of all good
things, which thou filledst
not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which
thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; (Deuteronomy 6:11)
Then the verse goes on to say they became filled and became fat.
This means that they had become lustful and self-indulgent.
Even though God had fulfilled his promise to them and they were enjoying
his great goodness, nevertheless they had begun to get a spirit of entitlement
as if they deserved everything they were receiving which led to the fact they
were beginning to get a rebellious spirit toward God.
Ne 9:26
Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against
thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified
against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.
As God poured upon them the blessings of his promises, it
was not enough for them as they began to be disobedient and had begun to rebel
against God. One of the great signs
of rebellion among the people of God is when they disregard the law of God and
begin to live according to their sin nature.
This not only happened in Israel, but it is happening in the church when
so many churches are walking with the world, adopting false teachings, and false
Bible versions just to keep the people happy and the donations coming in.
Then Israel slew the prophets which God sent to them to try and bring
them back to sanity and obedience to the promise they made at Sinai.
And all the people answered
together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned
the words of the people unto the LORD. (Exodus 19:8)
Instead of returning to the LORD they had set out on a journey with the
false religions of the land forsaking the LORD.
Then this same situation exists in the churches today.
The majority of them have departed from the true gospel and preach a
counterfeit gospel such as prosperity, tongues, dispensationalism, etc.
Whenever a true Christian comes into those churches and comments about
the falsity of their teachings, they are escorted out which is akin to killing
them so the church could continue in its false teaching appeasing the good
givers. As a result of the slaying
of the prophets, Israel had made some great provocations against the LORD such
as Jeroboam making a golden calf in Bethel and serving Baal and Ashtaroth.
Their rebellion against the LORD had now earned them his ire.
Ne 9:27
Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their
enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto
thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold
mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their
enemies.
Then they entered a period of four hundred years where
they had been periodically delivered into the hands of their enemies.
It was called the period of the Judges when they would commit sins
against the LORD and then he would bring an enemy against them which would
defeat them and take them into captivity and then when their lives got hard they
would cry unto the LORD and he would send them a judge to deliver them such as
Samson, Tola, Jephthah, Jair and others.
This cycle of rebellion, remorse, repentance, and release went on for a
period of four hundred years ending with the time of Samuel who was the last
Judge.
Ne 9:28
But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee:
therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the
dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest
them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy
mercies;
Then after they were released by their enemies they had a
time of rest but after a while they would begin to play the harlot and God sent
them into the hands of their enemies again and again.
These enemies were powerful enough to subdue them and hold them until
such a time God had led the release through one of the Judges.
It was only the mercy of God that showed them kindness in delivering them
from their pagan enemies. The term
“returned” in the verse is a term for repentance.
Ne 9:29
And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring
them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy
commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall
live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not
hear.