Nehemiah 9:30-38
Ne 9:30
Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst
against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear:
therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.
The word “forbear” means to prolong.
God forbore them for many years, literally hundreds of years until his
patience finally ran out in 721 B.C. when the northern kingdom was removed from
the land as they did not have one godly king.
Then the southern kingdom was taken to Babylon in 586 B.C. as they had
some godly kings who instituted some godly reforms.
The final event was cast in 70 A.D. when they lost the land for good,
never to be returned to the land again.
The people living their today are not the descendants but are followers
of the false religion of Judaism which is not Old Testament.
Literally they were rebellious to God from the time they left Egypt which
was in 1447 B.C. until 70 A.D. which was 1517 years.
It is interesting that the Reformation took place in 1517 A.D.
Ne 9:31
Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not
utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and
merciful God.
Even as rebellious as Israel was, God never forsook them,
of course, at the time Nehemiah was penned, he did not know that the Messiah was
coming through the nation of Israel so God protected them even when they were in
a time of rebellion. Utterly
consume means to completely destroy them or forsake them and let them go by
attrition. Two of the
characteristics of God is that he is very gracious and merciful because he knows
we are just dust.
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth
that we are dust. (Psalm
103:14) Gracious means kind or
benevolent. Merciful means full of
compassion.
But thou, O Lord,
art a God full of compassion,
and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. (Psalm 86:15)
Ne 9:32
Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the
terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem
little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on
our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people,
since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.
Then Nehemiah describes God to the people.
First he is called great which can also be understood as “noble or
exalted.” Then he describes him as
“mighty” and the word can also be understood as “warrior” where God would be
extolled for the fact that he had fought many battles for Israel and especially
what he did against Pharaoh in the Exodus.
Then he is spoken of as “terrible” but not in the bad sense it means
“awesome or one to have reverent fear of.”
Then he extols his virtue as keeping covenant along with mercy.
When Israel broke their covenant of Sinai, they then went to the LORD
seeking mercy for their transgressions.
Then he pleads with God not to look upon their troubles as small but they
were big to the people who disobeyed and were the recipients of the justice of
God. They acknowledged the fact
that their sins were continual since the time of the Assyrian kings which would
have been in the eighth century B.C.
And Pul the king of Assyria
came against the land: and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that
his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand. (2 Kings 15:19)
Menahem reigned from 772-762 B.C.
Ne 9:33
Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon
us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:
They freely admit that because of their heinous sins
against the LORD, he was just in bringing them under judgment since they had
broken the covenant of Sinai and many times rejected the word of God and killed
the prophets. Their works were
indeed wicked especially in the area of adhering to pagan religions.
Ne 9:34
Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our
fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies,
wherewith thou didst testify against them.
Here the complete list of all the rulers from the
magistrates to the king to the priests who should have known better all were
guilty of violating the law of God and turning themselves and the people to
false religions. The very word of
God testifies against false religions so they would have had all the writings of
Moses where there were severe warnings for turning their back on the LORD and
the law.
Ne 9:35
For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in
thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which
thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.
The land which God promised to Abraham was to be their
home if they obeyed the covenant they agreed to but they did not.
Even in the land of promise they had heavily practiced idolatry even
building a golden calf in the northern kingdom.
They had turned their backs on the LORD even in the times of plenty when
there was no judgments reigning down on them.
They thought prosperity was a license for them to do as they pleased.
Instead of acknowledging the fact that it was the LORD who gave them the
great prosperity, they took it as their own achievements and arrogance began to
set in which led to their downfall.
Ne 9:36
Behold, we are servants this day, and for
the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good
thereof, behold, we are servants in it:
They had categorized themselves as servants.
The word “servants” may also be understood as “bondmen or slaves.”
They were now back in the land but they were still not free because they
were still under the authority of the king of Persia.
The land was given to them by God but at this time, because of their
disobedience, they had to pay tribute to the king of Persia as we read earlier
in the book of Nehemiah.
Ne 9:37
And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou
hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies,
and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.
Here they are acknowledging the fact that the land was a
good and prosperous land which brought in much increase for the kings which had
ruled over them because of their transgression of the word of God.
They admit the fact that it was God who set the kings up to rule over
them because they rejected God as their king.
These kings had dominion over the people and also over all of their
possessions and at any time could request more tribute or more slaves to work
within their kingdom. They were in
great distress because they would be doing all the work but now a portion of
their products and national wealth had to be given to a pagan king instead of
making their country stronger, their work strengthened a pagan nation.
Ne 9:38
And because of all this we make a sure covenant,
and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto
it.