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.

 

God had testified or witnessed against them by sending them prophets to bring them back to the law.  If they were being obedient, they would not have had any need for rebuke from a prophet instead they rejected and killed the prophets and turned an arrogant attitude toward the prophets and the word of God.  They rejected living by the commandments of God and completely sinned against God by rejecting the judgments he sent upon them.  Some of them was famine, blight, locusts, thirst, etc. and even these life threatening events did not cause them to be obedient.  Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 18:5)  According to Leviticus, if a person keeps the statutes and judgments of God’s law, then they will live in them without any divine retribution but if they disobey the law, instead of living, they will die.  To withdraw the shoulder and harden the neck would be like oxen who reject the fact of the yoke upon them.  These people were rebellious in that they refused to be yoked to the law of God and live and that refusal of the law caused them to close their ears to the truth of God’s word.

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