Nehemiah 9:9

Nehemiah 9:9 says, And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;  The priests continued to read about what God had done for the people of Israel in the past, continuing with His delivering them from bondage in Egypt by parting the Red Sea in order for them to leave.   This was a miraculous delivery, just as our deliverance from sin by the sacrifice on Jesus on the cross is a miraculous delivery today, and we should always remember that if we are a follower of Christ. 

Verse ten adds, 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. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day.  The priests continued to speak about how God had sent signs and wonders to pharaoh in order to attempt to get him to release the people of Israel.  God could have just destroyed all the Egyptians, but He gave them an opportunity to make the decision on their own, and things got worse and worse for them when they didn’t.  God could still just destroy all those who defy Him today, but He gives them an opportunity to accept His gift of salvation, and no matter how successful things may be going for them in life, until they come to Him, things are only going to get worse spiritually. 

Verse eleven continues, 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.  The priests then said that God led the people of Israel through the sea on dry land and then all those Egyptians following them drowned.  I have heard some people say that it wasn’t really the sea that they went through on dry land but just a marshy area that didn’t take a miracle, but if that were the case, then God drowned an army in a marshy area as well.  People often look for ways to explain away the miracles of God, but we must accept them for what they are, beginning with the miracle of salvation.  The Israelites passed through because they were following God by faith and were under His protection, and the Egyptians drowned because they weren’t.  God has made a way for people to escape the everlasting destruction that awaits all those who do not accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord, but if they refuse to, just as the Egyptians refused to do what God was telling them to do, then they will still face that everlasting destruction.  The choice will always be left to each person.  

Verse twelve concludes, 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. The priests reminded the people about how God had led the people of Israel with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to light their way.  We have Jesus Christ as our light to lead us on His way and give use everlasting life if we are a Christian, and we also have the Holy Spirit with us at all times to help us follow God’s way.   

 

Nehemiah 9:4

Nehemiah 9:4 says, Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the Lord their God.  Some of the Levites stood up and called out to God in a loud voice.  As Christians and a part of the priesthood of believers, we need to call out to God today, especially if we know that we have not been following His will.  Even if we have, we need to openly proclaim our faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. 

Verse five adds, Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.  Several of the Levites then stood up and called on the people to bless the Lord their God forever and ever, Whose name should be blessed above all blessing and praise.  As I have stated before, I don’t believe that we actually can bless God, but we can show Him honor and respect by obeying His commandments so that He might be honored in the world.  Now, we can offer ourselves to Him in obedience, but I believe that the blessings always come from God to us.  Some people might view this differently, but it is my understanding. 

Verse six continues, 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 worshippeth thee.  As the priests said then, God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and even the hosts of heaven worship Him.  Like the angels, though, we are given the choice of whether to worship Him or not, and like the angels who rebelled, if we don’t acknowledge God as the only God and come to Him by faith in His Son Jesus, we will be sent away to everlasting punishment.  Still, the choice is ours, just as it was for the people listening to the message of the priests that day. 

Verse seven states, Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;  The priests went back to the time of Abram, whom God called to leave the land of Ur and renamed him Abraham after he obeyed God’s call.  I don't believe that we need to change our name today when we become a Christian, but we do change who our Father is.  This doesn’t mean that we should no longer think of our earthly father as such, since we are still to honor both our father and mother, but we have a new spiritual Father. 

Verse eight adds, And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:  The priests then said that God had made a covenant with Abraham and his seed, the people of Israel, to give them the promised land and he did.  Since it tells us that they had found the book of God in the temple and had read it, I think they were just sharing with the people what God’s word said, and that is what we as followers of Christ must do today.  If we haven’t been doing so, we need to dig into the Bible, God’s written word, and pray that thorough the leadership of the Holy Spirit we might better understand His word.  We will never understand it all in this lifetime, but we need to continue to dig deeply into it.   

 

Nehemiah 9:1

 Nehemiah 9:1 says, Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.  On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month the people had humbled themselves.  They did so by fasting, wearing sackcloth, and covering themselves with dirt.  This was symbolic of how they viewed themselves in comparison to God.  We may not go to this extreme today when we worship God, but we need to still know that we are worthless before God of our own merit.  Until we are willing to humble ourselves before God, we cannot truly worship Him. 

Verse two adds, And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.  The people of Israel then separated themselves from all strangers and stood and confessed their sins and the sins of their fathers to God.  I don’t believe we are to physically separate ourselves from non-believers as Christians, since we cannot reach them with the gospel if we do, but we are to spiritually separate ourselves from the world.   Also, we only have to confess our sins to God and not those of others, since each individual must confess their own sins in order to be saved. 

Verse three continues, And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the Lord their God.  For a fourth of the day, they read God’s book of law and for another fourth of the day they confessed and worshipped God.  We might have left after an hour or two, or tuned out if we didn’t, but worship service should still consist of reading and learning God’s word and confessing our sins to Him and worshipping and singing praises to God.  Worship should be something we enjoy and not something that can't be over quick enough.