16 But they and our fathers dealt proudly and hardened their neck, and didn't listen to your commandments,
But my people didn't listen to my voice. Israel desired none of me. So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, That they might walk in their own counsels. Oh that my people would listen to me, That Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, And turn my hand against their adversaries.
Don't harden your heart, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, When your fathers tempted me, Tested me, and saw my work. Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, And said, "It is a people that errs in their heart. They have not known my ways."
And might not be as their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that didn't make their hearts loyal, Whose spirit was not steadfast with God. The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, Turned back in the day of battle. They didn't keep God's covenant, And refused to walk in his law. They forgot his doings, His wondrous works that he had shown them. He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He split the sea, and caused them to pass through; He made the waters stand as a heap. In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, And all night with a light of fire. He split rocks in the wilderness, And gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths. He brought streams also out of the rock, And caused waters to run down like rivers. Yet they still went on to sin against him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert. They tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire. Yes, they spoke against God. They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out, Streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people?" Therefore Yahweh heard, and was angry. A fire was kindled against Jacob, Anger also went up against Israel, Because they didn't believe in God, And didn't trust in his salvation. Yet he commanded the skies above, And opened the doors of heaven. He rained down manna on them to eat, And gave them food from the sky. Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full. He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind. He rained also flesh on them as the dust; Winged birds as the sand of the seas. He let them fall in the midst of their camp, Around their habitations. So they ate, and were well filled. He gave them their own desire. They didn't turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths, When the anger of God went up against them, Killed some of the fattest of them, And struck down the young men of Israel. For all this they still sinned, And didn't believe in his wondrous works. Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, And their years in terror. When he killed them, then they inquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly. They remembered that God was their rock, The Most High God their redeemer. But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied to him with their tongue. For their heart was not right with him, Neither were they faithful in his covenant. But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn't destroy them. Yes, many times he turned his anger away, And didn't stir up all his wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes away, and doesn't come again. How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, And grieved him in the desert! They turned again and tempted God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel. They didn't remember his hand, Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary; How he set his signs in Egypt, His wonders in the field of Zoan, Turned their rivers into blood, And their streams, so that they could not drink. He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them; And frogs, which destroyed them. He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, And their labor to the locust. He destroyed their vines with hail, Their sycamore-fig trees with frost. He gave over their cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunderbolts. He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, Wrath, indignation, and trouble, And a band of angels of evil. He made a path for his anger. He didn't spare their soul from death, But gave their life over to the pestilence, And struck all the firstborn in Egypt, The chief of their strength in the tents of Ham. But he led forth his own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them safely, so that they weren't afraid, But the sea overwhelmed their enemies. He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, To this mountain, which his right hand had taken. He also drove out the nations before them, Allotted them for an inheritance by line, And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, And didn't keep his testimonies; But turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For they provoked him to anger with their high places, And moved him to jealousy with their engraved images. When God heard this, he was angry, And greatly abhorred Israel; So that he forsook the tent of Shiloh, The tent which he placed among men; And delivered his strength into captivity, His glory into the adversary's hand. He also gave his people over to the sword, And was angry with his inheritance. Fire devoured their young men; Their virgins had no wedding song. Their priests fell by the sword, And their widows couldn't weep. Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, Like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine. He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach. Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, And didn't choose the tribe of Ephraim, But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved. He built his sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which he has established forever. He also chose David his servant, And took him from the sheepfolds; From following the ewes that have their young, He brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, And Israel, his inheritance. So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
When Yahweh sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God, and you didn't believe him, nor listen to his voice. You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you.
Yet you wouldn't go up, but rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God: and you murmured in your tents, and said, Because Yahweh hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Where are we going up? our brothers have made our heart to melt, saying, The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to the sky; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there. Then I said to you, Don't dread, neither be afraid of them. Yahweh your God who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how that Yahweh your God bore you, as a man does bear his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place. Yet in this thing you didn't believe Yahweh your God, who went before you in the way, to seek you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day.
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Commentary on Nehemiah 9 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 9
Ne 9:1-3. A Solemn Fast and Repentance of the People.
1. Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month—that is, on the second day after the close of the feast of tabernacles, which commenced on the fourteenth and terminated on the twenty-second (Le 23:34-37). The day immediately after that feast, the twenty-third, had been occupied in separating the delinquents from their unlawful wives, as well, perhaps, as in taking steps for keeping aloof in future from unnecessary intercourse with the heathen around them. For although this necessary measure of reformation had been begun formerly by Ezra (Ezr 10:1-17), and satisfactorily accomplished at that time (in so far as he had information of the existing abuses, or possessed the power of correcting them) yet it appears that this reformatory work of Ezra had been only partial and imperfect. Many cases of delinquency had escaped, or new defaulters had appeared who had contracted those forbidden alliances; and there was an urgent necessity for Nehemiah again to take vigorous measures for the removal of a social evil which threatened the most disastrous consequences to the character and prosperity of the chosen people. A solemn fast was now observed for the expression of those penitential and sorrowful feelings which the reading of the law had produced, but which had been suppressed during the celebration of the feast; and the sincerity of their repentance was evinced by the decisive steps taken for the correction of existing abuses in the matter of marriage.
2. confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers—Not only did they read in their recent sufferings a punishment of the national apostasy and guilt, but they had made themselves partakers of their fathers' sins by following the same evil ways.
3. they … read in the book of the law—Their extraordinary zeal led them to continue this as before.
one fourth part of the day—that is, for three hours, twelve hours being the acknowledged length of the Jewish day (Joh 11:9). This solemn diet of worship, which probably commenced at the morning sacrifice, was continued for six hours, that is, till the time of the evening sacrifice. The worship which they gave to the Lord their God, at this season of solemn national humiliation, consisted in acknowledging and adoring His great mercy in the forgiveness of their great and multiplied offenses, in delivering them from the merited judgments which they had already experienced or which they had reason to apprehend, in continuing amongst them the light and blessings of His word and worship, and in supplicating the extension of His grace and protection.
Ne 9:4-38. The Levites Confess God's Manifold Goodness, and Their Own Wickedness.
4. Then stood up upon the stairs—the scaffolds or pulpits, whence the Levites usually addressed the people. There were probably several placed at convenient distances, to prevent confusion and the voice of one drowning those of the others.
cried with a loud voice unto the Lord—Such an exertion, of course, was indispensably necessary, in order that the speakers might be heard by the vast multitude congregated in the open air. But these speakers were then engaged in expressing their deep sense of sin, as well as fervently imploring the forgiving mercy of God; and "crying with a loud voice" was a natural accompaniment of this extraordinary prayer meeting, as violent gestures and vehement tones are always the way in which the Jews, and other people in the East, have been accustomed to give utterance to deep and earnest feelings.
5. Then the Levites … said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God—If this prayer was uttered by all these Levites in common, it must have been prepared and adopted beforehand, perhaps, by Ezra; but it may only embody the substance of the confession and thanksgiving.
6-38. Thou, even thou, art Lord alone, &c.—In this solemn and impressive prayer, in which they make public confession of their sins, and deprecate the judgments due to the transgressions of their fathers, they begin with a profound adoration of God, whose supreme majesty and omnipotence is acknowledged in the creation, preservation, and government of all. Then they proceed to enumerate His mercies and distinguished favors to them as a nation, from the period of the call of their great ancestor and the gracious promise intimated to him in the divinely bestowed name of Abraham, a promise which implied that he was to be the Father of the faithful, the ancestor of the Messiah, and the honored individual in whose seed all the families of the earth should be blessed. Tracing in full and minute detail the signal instances of divine interposition for their deliverance and their interest—in their deliverance from Egyptian bondage—their miraculous passage through the Red Sea—the promulgation of His law—the forbearance and long-suffering shown them amid their frequent rebellions—the signal triumphs given them over their enemies—their happy settlement in the promised land—and all the extraordinary blessings, both in the form of temporal prosperity and of religious privilege, with which His paternal goodness had favored them above all other people, they charge themselves with making a miserable requital. They confess their numerous and determined acts of disobedience. They read, in the loss of their national independence and their long captivity, the severe punishment of their sins. They acknowledge that, in all heavy and continued judgments upon their nation, God had done right, but they had done wickedly. And in throwing themselves on His mercy, they express their purpose of entering into a national covenant, by which they pledge themselves to dutiful obedience in future.
22. Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations—that is, put them in possession of a rich country, of an extensive territory, which had been once occupied by a variety of princes and people.
and didst divide them into corners—that is, into tribes. The propriety of the expression arose from the various districts touching at points or angles on each other.
the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon—Heshbon being the capital city, the passage should run thus: "the land of Sihon or the land of the king of Heshbon."
32. Now therefore, our God … who keepest covenant and mercy—God's fidelity to His covenant is prominently acknowledged, and well it might; for their whole national history bore testimony to it. But as this could afford them little ground of comfort or of hope while they were so painfully conscious of having violated it, they were driven to seek refuge in the riches of divine grace; and hence the peculiar style of invocation here adopted: "Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy."
36. Behold, we are servants this day—Notwithstanding their happy restoration to their native land, they were still tributaries of a foreign prince whose officers ruled them. They were not, like their fathers, free tenants of the land which God gave them.
37. it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins—Our agricultural labors have been resumed in the land—we plough, and sow, and till, and Thou blessest the work of our hands with a plentiful return; but this increase is not for ourselves, as once it was, but for our foreign masters, to whom we have to pay large and oppressive tribute.
they have dominion over our bodies—Their persons were liable to be pressed, at the mandate of their Assyrian conqueror, into the service of his empire, either in war or in public works. And our beasts are taken to do their pleasure.
38. we make a sure covenant, and write—that is, subscribe or sign it. This written document would exercise a wholesome influence in restraining their backslidings or in animating them to duty, by being a witness against them if in the future they were unfaithful to their engagements.