Year 2, Week 28, Day 2 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 28, Day 2

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Nehemiah 9.

Today’s reading continues the Book of Nehemiah. While we moved on from the Book of Ezra, we have not moved on from Ezra. Ezra will emerge again in yesterday’s reading, demonstrating that there is a close connection between the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The opening scene of Nehemiah took place in Susa and occurred in around 445 BC, or about fifteen years after the closing scene of the Book of Ezra. Nehemiah was committed to repair the wall around Jerusalem and the first part of the Book of Nehemiah records how the wall was rebuilt. Starting in Nehemiah 7, the second part of the Book of Nehemiah focuses on the rebuilding of the people. Ezra plays a key role in leading the people to renew their relationship with the LORD. Nehemiah 9, occurring over three weeks after the events from Nehemiah 8, starts with another round of reading from the Law before it turns into a time of prayer: “And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God…“Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise” (Nehemiah 9:3,5). Their prayer revolves around a historical summary of Israel’s relationship with the LORD: "Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly” (Nehemiah 9:33).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the focus of praise to the LORD: “You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you” (Nehemiah 9:6). The people praisingly acknowledged the LORD as Maker of the heavens and earth. Building upon praising the LORD as Creator, they also give praise for the Covenant plans and promises that the LORD initiated with their father, Abraham: “You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land…And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous” (Nehemiah 9:7-8). The LORD is also acknowledged as the One who rescued them and led them to the Land promised to Abraham: “And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders…You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them” (Nehemiah 9:9-10a,15).

But the thing about the LORD that their prayer mostly focuses it praise upon is the enduring mercy that the LORD has shown to them through the years: “But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments…But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them” (Nehemiah 9:16-17). This entire section of the prayer contrasts the LORD’s merciful responses in the face of persistent human rebellion. Not even blatant idolatry deterred the LORD from showing mercy: “Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness” (Nehemiah 9:18-19a). While they tried to reject the LORD, the LORD did not reject them: "The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing” (Nehemiah 9:19b-21a).

Even after the LORD placed them in the Promised Land and they took possession of it, things did not change: “And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness. Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets…and they committed great blasphemies” (Nehemiah 9:25-26). And yet, while they were chastened, the LORD’s mercy also did not change: “Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies” (Nehemiah 9:27). Israel’s pattern remained the same throughout their time in the Land: “Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God” (Nehemiah 9:30-31). Even though their rebellion would land them back in captivity again, the LORD would sustain them while in captivity and promise a new day of hope, which drove them to seek the LORD once again: “Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love…Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests” (Nehemiah 9:32a,38).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe