Nehemiah 9

NOW in the twenty and fourth day of this month The next day but one after the feast of Tabernacles, which begun on the 14th day, and ended on the 22 day, Levit. 23. for their consciences having then been fully awakened by the law read to them, and their hearts being full of grief for their great sins, which they were not allowed to express in that time of publick joy and triumph, now when that was past, they resume their former thoughts and passions, and recalling their sins to mind, set apart a day for solemn fasting and humiliation., the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackcloths, and with earth upon them.

And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers From all familiar, and unnecessary society with the heathens, and particularly from those strange Women whom some of them had married. For though Ezra had done this formerly, Ezra 10. as far as he had knowledge of the persons faulty, and power to redress their faults, yet, it seems, there were some criminals, who were either without his knowledge, or out of his power: or, these were some new delinquents that since that time had fallen into the same errour, and showed the truth of their repentance, by the forsaking of their beloved sins, and dearest relations. See again, Nehe. 13. 3., and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers Which they confess partly as one cause of their present sufferings: and partly because they by their practises had justified their fathers sins, and made them their own..

And they stood up in their places, and read in the book of the law So as they did before, giving them the sense of what they read, of which, see on ch. 8. 7, 8. of the LORD their God, one fourth part of the day To wit, for three hours; for there were accounted 12 hours in their day, Iohn 11. 9. Probably they began after the morning sacrifice, at which, divers religious people used to be present, but now they were all assembled together upon this great occasion: and they continued their work from that time till the evening sacrifice, with which they closed the work of the day., and another fourth part they confessed Both Gods mercies, as appears from the matter of the following prayer, and their own sins, as is expressed, v. 2. this day being chiefly set apart for that work., and worshipped the LORD their God Partly by the acknowledgment and adoration of his wonderful mercy in forgiving their sins, and saving them from the deserved judgments which they either felt or feared, and giving them his law, and the knowledge thereof: and partly by imploring his further grace and mercy to them..

Then stood up upon the stairs of the Levites Or, upon the scaffold, &c. i. e. Upon such stairs, or rather scaffolds, or pulpits, as the Levites used to stand upon, when they taught the people. But you must not think that all the persons here named stood in one place, and uttered the following words together; which would have caused great confusion in their speeches, by which means but few of the people could have distinctly heard, or understood them, but that they stood upon several pulpits, each of them either teaching of that part of the Congregation which was allotted to him, or praying, or blessing God with them., Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice Thereby testifying their deep sense of their sins and miseries, and their servent, and importunate desire of Gods mercy. unto the LORD their God.

Then the Levites, Jeshua and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said All the following words. Either therefore they all used the same words, being composed, and agreed upon by Ezra and themselves; or they all prayed in the same manner, and to the same purpose having agreed among themselves concerning the matter of their confessions and prayers. And these are the words which one of them used; and it is implied that the rest of their prayers were of the same nature., stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever From day to day, as long as you live, and to all eternity.; and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

Thou, even thou art LORD alone, thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are therein, the seas and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all, and the host of heaven Either 1. The stars, which after their manner worship and praise God, as all the creatures do after their manner, of which, see Psal. 148. or rather 2. The Angels who are so called, as 1 King. 22. 19. Luke 2. 13. who do worship God truly and properly. And it is most usual, and reasonable to understand all words properly, where there is no need of a figurative interpretation. And if this were understood of metaphorical, and objective worshipping of God, there seems to be no reason to appropriate that to the host of Heaven, to wit, the stars, seeing the hosts of sea and earth do in that sense worship God no less than the stars do, namely, in giving Angels and men matter and occasion of worshipping and praising of God. worshippeth thee.

Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram Out of the midst of all his nation and family. When thou didst pass by, and neglect the rest of them, suffering them to walk on in their idolatrous and destructive courses; thou didst choose, and single out him to serve and glorify thee, to be Father of all the faithful, the progenitor of the Messias, and the person in whom, not we only, but all nations should be blessed, and to enjoy thee to all eternity., and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham.

And foundest his heart faithful before thee When thou madest that admirable trial of his faith and obedience in requiring him to offer up his only son Isaac, thou didst find out, and discover his faithfulness, which was well known to thee before, and also was wrought in him by thy grace. and madest a covenant with him, to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words, for thou art righteous.

And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Aegypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea:

And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them Treating thy people with great scorn and contempt, like slaves and beasts.: so didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day.

And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters i. e. The deep waters, such as these were, into which, when a stone is thrown, there is no hopes of seeing it again..

Moreover, thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar, and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go.

Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws Not such laws as some of the heathen laws were, which taught them fallhood, superstition, Idolatry, and other errours, but such as discover the truth, and the true mind and will of God, and the true and only way to life.: good Both in themselves, and to us also, being useful to reach, and comfort, and save us. statutes and commandments.

And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath That holy and blessed Sabbath-day which thou didst bless and to... n paradise Gen. 2. 3. commanding him, and in him, all his posterity to observe it, which yet almost all people and Nations have quite forgotten, yea so far as to mock at them, Lam. 1. 7. thou didst graciously reveal unto thy people, reviving that ancient law by another particular law about it given to us in the wilderness. and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:

And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock, for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land, which thou hadst... worn to give them.

But Notwithstanding all these singular and wonderful mercies: which he hither to recounted to aggravate their sins, which he now comes to confess; and to lead them to a sincere and ingenuous grief and repeutance for their sins, not only for the mischief which they brought upon themselves, but for the injury and indignity which they offered to God. they and our fathers dealt proudly i. e. Sinned presumptuously, and with contempt of God, as scorning to submit their wills to Gods., and hardned their neck, and hearkned not to thy commandments.

And refused to obey Persisted in their disobedience after many admonitions, and invitations to repentance., neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them: but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain i. e. designed, proposed, and resolved to do so, Numb. 14. 4. and therefore they are said to do so as Abraham is said to have offered up Isaac, Heb. 11. 17. because he intended, and attempted to do it., to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, flow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not

Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Aegypt, and had wrought great provocations

Yet thou in thy manifold mercies, forsookest them not in the wilderness Where if thou hadst left them without thy conduct and comfort, they had been utterly lost and undone.: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go.

Thou gavest also thy good spirit Which thou didst graciously and plentifully impart unto Moses, and then unto the seventy Elders, Numb. 11. 17, 25, 26. to the end that they might be able to direct and govern thy people wisely, and in thy fear., to instruct them, and with-heldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.

Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their cloths waxed not old, and their feet swelled not Of which, see the notes on Deut. 8. 4..

Moreover, thou gavest them kingdoms, and nations, and didst divide them into corners Or, into a corner. But the singular number is very commonly put for the plural. This is understood, either, 1. Of the Israelites, to whom God divided by lot the Kingdoms and Nations last mentioned, and gave them all the corners, or sides or quarters (for all these the word signifies) of their land. Or, rather 2. Of the heathen Nations, whom God in a great measure destroyed and the remainders of them he dispersed into corners; that whereas before the Israelites came, they had large habitations and dominions, now they were cooped up into corners, some of them into one Town or city, and some into another, in the several corners of their land, as indeed we find them afterward, whilest the Israelites dwelt in a large place, and had the possession of their whole land, some few and small parcels excepted. Compare Deut. 31. 26. where the like phrase is used in the same sense.: so they possessed the land of Sihon and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.

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.

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 hand, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would.

And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and olive-yards, and fruit-trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness i. e. In all these comforts and blessings which by thy great goodness they obtained and enjoyed. f i. e. Neglected and despised them, would not regard nor observe them, whereas they should have had them continually before their eyes, to direct and govern them. Compare Psal. 50. 17. Ezek. 23. 35..

Nevertheless, they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, & cast thy law behind their backs Of which see on Levit. 18. 5. Ezek. 20. 11. Rom. 10. 5. Gal. 3. 12., and slew thy prophets, which testified against them, to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.

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.

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.

And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkned not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments (which if a man do, he shall live in them Of which see on Levit. 18. 5. Ezek. 20. 11. Rom. 10. 5. Gal. 3. 1....) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck i. e. Would not submit to thy yoke, like stubborn oxen., and would not hear.

Yet many years didst thou forbear them i. e. Thou didst delay to bring upon them these judgments which thou hadst threatned and they had deserved, and didst wait for their repentance., and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets By thy prophets who spake to them by the inspiration of thy holy Spirit, whom therefore they should have obeyed.: yet would they not give ear i. e. Would not obey, them nor would they vouchsafe so much as to hear them.: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.

Nevertheless for thy great mercies sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them, for thou art a gracious and merciful God.

Now there ore our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy i. e. Covenanted mercy or thy covenant of mercy and peace Or he adds mercy, because the covenant in its self was not a sufficient ground of hope, because they having so basely broken it, God was discharged from keeping it, and therefore they fly to Gods free and rich mercy for relief.: let not all the trouble seem little before thee Do not thou account it small and insufficient for our punishment, and that it is fit to continue and encrease it. that has 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 Strictly and properly so called; for from them was the beginning of all the calamities both of Iudah and of Israel, as appears, from 2. Kings 15. 19. and 18. 13. Or, the kings of Babylon, so called, a Chron. 33. 11., unto this day.

Howbeit, thou art just in all that is brought upon us: for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly.

Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fa thers kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments, and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testifie against them.

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 i. e. Which thou didst lay open to their view and possession removing their enemies and all impediments out of the way., neither turned they from their wicked works.

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 In that land wherein heretofore under thee and by thy favour we were rightful lords and owners..

And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us We plow and sow and labour, and thou givest thy blessing to our indeavors; and yet in a great measure this is not for our selves, as formerly it was, but for our kings, to whom we pay great & heavy tributes for these things: of which see Ezra 6. 8. and 7. 24., because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattel Pressing or foreing both us and our beasts to go and do what they please., at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

And because of all this Because all this misery lies upon us for our sins, we do heartily repent of them & resolve to forsake them., we make a sure covenant Or, we faithfully promise and engage our selves to future obedience. and write it, and our princes, Levites, and priests seal unto it.