Nehemiah - Chapter 9
1-5:
THE ASSEMBLY
The feast of Booths in chapter 8 ended on the 21st day, with an additional day for a sacred assembly. After the interval of one more day, the people gathered. The people fasted, wore sackcloth, and put dust on their heads. This gesture was followed by the people of Israel now separating themselves from any one not Jewish. The separation is understandable as afterward came the confession of national and ancestral sins, of which non Jews would have no part.
Teams of Levites “stood on the stairs of the Levites” (a type of platform) to cry out to God and to lead in worship. The verb “to confess” appears in verse 2 & 3 and while it normally means to acknowledge one's sins, in this case it brings a broader meaning. It is used in the Hebrew language here to give an extended meaning concerning what is true about a person or about God. Confession here means reciting God's nature or His works as well as a statement of human sins. It also means in the original language to tell the truth and the whole truth about one's own self.
6-37:
TRUE CONFESSION
This magnificent passage contains a rich retelling of biblical history from creation through the time of Nehemiah. Look at how deep the confession becomes:
Verse 6 refers to the creation (Genesis 1)
Verse 7 refers to the Covenant with Abraham (Genesis 11-17)
Verse 9-11 refers to the Exodus from Egypt (Exodus 1-14)
Verse 12 refers to the pillar of fire and smoke (Exodus 13:21-22)
Verse 13-14 refers to the giving of the Law (Exodus 20)
Verse 15 refers to the manna and water from a rock (Exodus 16-17)
Verse 17 refers to the rebellious Hebrew people (Exodus & Numbers)
Verse 18 refers to the golden calf incident (Exodus 32)
The Levites were filling in the past for the Jews who needed to hear and accept what God had done for his chosen people as well as how the people had failed their Lord.
The remainder of the confession moves back and forth between the sin of the people and God's gracious responses that were more and more corrective toward them. Elements of the confession echo well known biblical themes concerning God's grace toward the chosen ones.
Verse 21 “Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell” (Deut 8:4)
Verse 22 “So they took possession of the land of Sihon, the land of the king of Hesbon and the land of Og the Bashan” (Deut 1:4 / Joshua 2 / Ps 135)
Verse 27 “When they cried out to you, You heard from heaven and according to Your abundant mercies, You gave them deliverers who saved them.”
(Judges 2)
Verse 33 sums up the essence of this strong confession well. “However You are just in all that has befallen us, for You have dealt faithfully, but we have done wickedly”
God had been patient, merciful, forgiving, and always faithful. His chosen people had been rebellious, forgetful, sinful, and constantly faithless in their covenant relationship with Him.
The people of God were reaping what they had sown. They deserved the sentence of servitude to foreign kings. The confession of chapter 9 offers no excuses, only an admission of the people's perpetual guilt in contrast to God's perpetual grace.
When the people of Israel confessed their national sin, they made a complete confession, telling the whole truth, not only about themselves, but also about God.
Look once more at a portion of this amazing confession:
Verses - Confession
6-15 - God's greatness in creation, covenant, and redemption.
16-17 - The people's hardening of their necks
17 - God's grace.
18 - The people's idolatry.
19-25 - God's mercies.
26 - The people's disobedience.
27 - God's discipline and salvation,
28 - The people's evil.
28 - God's deliverance.
29 - The people's stiff necks.
30-31 - God's patience, judgment, and mercy.
The full meaning of the wonderful confession filled with truth about the people and the Lord is that God is holy. He cannot and will not tolerate sin, nor can sin tolerate God.
While God's holiness shines against the foul sin of his people, the mercy of God invites us to confess our sins. The very nature of God calls us to tell Him the truth. True and contrite confession of sin will always find mercy and forgiveness for those who are His.