Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 187 - Nehemiah, God's Builder - Part 9 In chapters 9 & 10 Nehemiah goes from rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem to rebuilding the covenant with God. (Nehemiah 9:1-3 NKJV) Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. {2} Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. {3} And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the LORD their God. The first stage in repairing the relationship was corporate confession of sin. The entire community, not just a few pious individuals, came before the Lord in a day of repentance. They "separated themselves from all foreigners" - which among other things involved the "mass divorce" in Ezra 10 where hundreds of Israelites had to put away their foreign wives. Marrying unbelievers was the sin that led Solomon into idolatry and Israel into sin. The covenant could not be reaffirmed while the "root sin" existed. Nehemiah's view of this sin is recorded in Nehemiah 13: (Nehemiah 13:25-27 NKJV) So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, "You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves. {26} "Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin. {27} "Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?" Paul is somewhat more tolerant, allowing such Christian-non-Christian marriages to continue as long as the non-Christian partner stayed in the relationship (1 Corinthians 7). For more on the inadvisability of marrying a non-Christian see http://www.aibi.ph/articles/noway.htm The covenant needed to be reaffirmed from the ground up. Previously they had been through a week-long bible study and camp, (Nehemiah 8) now they knew and understood the Law and were being axed to commit to the covenant on the basis of a knowledgeable assent - not a mere emotion or duty. But first they had to clear away the sins of the past - both by concrete actions such as divorcing pagan wives, and through 3 hours (One-fourth of the day) of detailed confession including a signing of the confession before God. (Nehemiah 9:38 NKJV) "And because of all this, We make a sure covenant, and write it; our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it." The recitation of the covenant begins with God's creative power: "(Nehemiah 9:6 NKJV) You alone are the LORD; You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You." Interestingly this is very similar to the "eternal gospel" of Revelation: (Revelation 14:6-7 NKJV) Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth; to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people; {7} saying with a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water." The God who made the heaven, the earth and the sea is the God with whom we have to do. Because they are all his, He has the "rights" to them all, and the covenant thus begins with acknowledging God's rights over all creation. It then moves to acknowledging His rights over Israel, via Abraham and Moses and the Exodus. (Nehemiah 9:7-14 NKJV) "You are the LORD God, Who chose Abram, And brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, And gave him the name Abraham; {8} You found his heart faithful before You, And made a covenant with him To give the land of the Canaanites, The Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, And the Girgashites; To give it to his descendants. You have performed Your words, For You are righteous. ....{11} And You divided the sea before them, So that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; And their persecutors You threw into the deep, As a stone into the mighty waters. ..."You came down also on Mount Sinai, And spoke with them from heaven, And gave them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments. {14} You made known to them Your holy Sabbath, And commanded them precepts, statutes and laws, By the hand of Moses Your servant. Thus the Owner of all Creation is also specifically the Owner of Israel as Israel's Redeemer. Similarly all born-again Christians are "twice owned" by God - through Creation, and then through redemption in Christ Jesus. The covenant then moves to a lengthy recitation of the goodness of God to stubborn Israel: (Nehemiah 9:18-21 NKJV) "Even when they made a molded calf for themselves, And said, 'This is your god That brought you up out of Egypt,' And worked great provocations, {19} Yet in Your manifold mercies You did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day, To lead them on the road; Nor the pillar of fire by night, To show them light, And the way they should go. {20} You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, And did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, And gave them water for their thirst. {21} Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, They lacked nothing; Their clothes did not wear out And their feet did not swell. Thus Israel is not bound just by ownership but by obligation and gratitude and the debt of mercy. Similarly Christians are bound to God for His guidance, for His gift of the Holy Spirit and His daily provision. However the Israelites only increased in their stubbornness and rebellion: (Nehemiah 9:29-38 NKJV) ...Yet they acted proudly, And did not heed Your commandments, But sinned against Your judgments, 'Which if a man does, he shall live by them.' And they shrugged their shoulders, Stiffened their necks, And would not hear. {30} Yet for many years You had patience with them, And testified against them by Your Spirit in Your prophets. Yet they would not listen; Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. {31} Nevertheless in Your great mercy You did not utterly consume them nor forsake them; For You are God, gracious and merciful. This eventually resulted in the captivity in Assyria for the northern tribes and in Babylon for Judah and Benjamin. It was from this captivity that they had returned under Nehemiah and Ezra and it was in light of this that they were making a new covenant. {32} "Now therefore, our God, The great, the mighty, and awesome God, Who keeps covenant and mercy: Do not let all the trouble seem small before You That has come upon us, Our kings and our princes, Our priests and our prophets, Our fathers and on all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until this day. {33} However You are just in all that has befallen us; For You have dealt faithfully, But we have done wickedly. {34} Neither our kings nor our princes, Our priests nor our fathers, Have kept Your law, Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies, With which You testified against them. {35} For they have not served You in their kingdom, Or in the many good things that You gave them, Or in the large and rich land which You set before them; Nor did they turn from their wicked works. What a telling comment is verse 35: "For they have not served You in their kingdom, Or in the many good things that You gave them, Or in the large and rich land which You set before them; Nor did they turn from their wicked works." Once we get our own kingdom- we kick God out! "They have not served You in their kingdom" - how few of today's rulers aim to do the will of God! But kings can become paupers and servants - and that was now the position of Israel: {36} "Here we are, servants today! And the land that You gave to our fathers, To eat its fruit and its bounty, Here we are, servants in it! {37} And it yields much increase to the kings You have set over us, Because of our sins; Also they have dominion over our bodies and our cattle At their pleasure; And we are in great distress. {38} "And because of all this, We make a sure covenant, and write it; our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it." They did not serve God while they had a kingdom- so it was taken away from them and they were now, servants of others, and in great distress. Economically great nations can become debt-riddled servants of others in a fairly short space of time. Unless nations like the USA, Australia, Great Britain and Europe decide to carry out the will of God then it is likely that they will become the economic servants of pagan nations. On an individual level you might have a business or a ministry that you once dedicated to God, but now it has become "your kingdom" and you do not serve Him in it as you once did. You own it and you eat the fruit of it. But God owns both it and you! Repent, turn back to your covenant with Him or you will end up serving someone else! For the rest of you - why not review your covenant relationship with God and renew it before Him tonight! Blessings, John Edmiston Were you blessed by Eternity Daily Bible Study? 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