Nehemiah 10:1

Nehemiah 10:1 says. Now those that sealed were, Nehemiah, the Tirshatha, the son of Hachaliah, and Zidkijah,  The first part of this chapter just lists those who were referred to as being sealed.  Once the covenant was read, these people quickly gave their assent to it and signed a pledge to do so as Matthew Henry points out.  We need to act quickly when we hear the gospel and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord and enter into a covenant relationship with Him.  God then seals us as His forever.  I will simply list these verses without much comment. 

Verse two adds, Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah,

Verse three continues, Pashur, Amariah, Malchijah, 

Verse four states, Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, ]

Verse five adds, Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, 

Verse six continues, Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch,

Verse seven says, Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, 

Verse eight adds, Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah: these were the priests.  We do have the clarification that those listed so far were the priests, and as Christians, we are all a part of the priesthood of believers. 

Verse nine states, And the Levites: both Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel;  Next the Levites were listed.  These are the people who took care of the work in the temple, and as followers of Christ, we are to take care of our bodies, the temple of the Holy Spirit, but also of the worship service when we gather as a body of believers.  We all have a responsibility in the church. 

Verse ten adds, And their brethren, Shebaniah, Hodijah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan,   

Verse eleven continues, Micha, Rehob, Hashabiah, 

Verse twelve states, Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 

Verse thirteen adds, Hodijah, Bani, Beninu. 

Verse fourteen continues, The chief of the people; Parosh, Pahathmoab, Elam, Zatthu, Bani, 

Verse fifteen states, Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 

Verse sixteen adds, Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, 

Verse seventeen continues, Ater, Hizkijah, Azzur,

Verse eighteen states, Hodijah, Hashum, Bezai,

Verse nineteen adds, Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, 

Verse twenty continues, Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, 

Verse twenty-one says, Meshezabeel, Zadok, Jaddua, 

Verse twenty=two adds, Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, 

Verse twenty-three continues, Hoshea, Hananiah, Hashub, 

Verse twenty-four states. Hallohesh, Pileha, Shobek, 

Verse twenty-five adds, Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, 

\Verse twenty-six continues, And Ahijah, Hanan, Anan, 

Verse twenty-seven concludes, Malluch, Harim, Baanah. These were all people involved in proclaiming God's will to the people and carrying out the duties of the temple. As Christians, we all have responsibilities that we should fulfill in the church, and we should all work together to ensure that it happens.

   

Nehemiah 9:32

Nehemiah 9:32 says. Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.  The priests then acknowledged the power of God, Who they said was both merciful and terrible and prayed that He would not destroy them as He had destroyed or allowed to be destroyed the people of Israel in the past.  God will one day seem terrible to those who do not accept His gift of salvation, but He is a merciful God Who has already provided a way for everyone to escape punishment for their sins.  Of course, they must accept that merciful gift in order for it to apply to them. 

Verse thirty-three adds, Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:  They acknowledged the justness of God, and so must we.  They said God had done what was right and they had done wickedly.  This will always be the case.  If we suffer everlasting punishment for our sins it will be because we chose to and not because God is acting unjustly.   

Verse thirty-four continues, Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them.  They then acknowledged that their rulers had not obeyed God.  We are not condemned for the sinful actions of our leaders, but we need to pray that they will be Godly men and women who seek to do God’s will. 

Verse thirty-five states, For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.  They further stated that even though God had given them a large and prosperous land that they did not obey Him.  God has given everyone a much greater gift today, and that is salvation through putting our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, but many people still refuse to acknowledge Him. 

Verse thirty-six adds, Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it:  They said they were God’s servants in the land that He had given them.  We will always be servants of God as Christians and never be over Him. 

Verse thirty-seven continues, And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.  They acknowledged that God was the One Who had given them prosperity in the land that He had given them when they were obedient to Him. They also said the kings that God had set over them took much of their increase in wealth and even had dominion over their bodies because of their sins. They had failed to keep God as their King, and this was the beginning of their troubles.   I don’t believe that this means we will have everything that we want today as followers of Christ, but God has already given us the greatest blessing, and that is everlasting life with Him in the place that He has prepared for us, and if we aren't careful, those in power over us will profit from it more than we do.   

Verse thirty-eight concludes, And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.  They then said that because of what God had done for them that they were making a sure covenant with Him.  They wrote it down and the priests and Levites, as the spiritual leaders, had sealed it.  We are made a part of God’s kingdom because He has provided the only way to salvation and if we accept this merciful gift, the God Himself seals us as His. 

Nehemiah 9:26

Nehemiah 9:26 says, Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.  Even after hearing God’s word read and being reminded of all He had done for them in the past, they heard how the people of Israel in rebelled against God.  They ignored His law and killed His prophets.  These were God’s chosen people, but they didn’t accept Him as God.  Jesus Christ died so that we can all be a part of God’s people, but we are not forced to be.  Many people still refuse to put their faith in Jesus Christ and enter into a covenant relationship with God.  Just as He gave the people then the choice, so does He give everyone the choice today. 

Verse twenty-seven adds, Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.  The word of God recorded how God removed His protection from them and allowed them to be defeated by their enemies.  They then called out to Him and He gave them saviors they are told.  We as Christians should never turn our back on God, but if we do, we may find that He has removed His protective hand from us.  Of course, He has already sent the only true Savior that there ever has been, and that is Jesus Christ.  Those saviors then were just temporary saviors, delivering them from physical bondage, but even then, the only real eternal Savior was Jesus Christ. 

Verse twenty-eight continues, But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the land of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;  The people gathered there were reminded how the people of Israel of old had once again turned away from God after He once again delivered them from bondage after they again cried out to Him.  We don’t need to fall into that same cycle of obedience and disobedience, but if we do fall away from God’s will, He awaits to hear from us and forgive us.  It is up to us to repent and ask for forgiveness though, since He will never force us to do so. 

Verse twenty-nine states, And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.  As stated earlier, the people of Israel ran in cycles of faith which led to peace followed a time of rebellion when they were defeated by the world.  When this happened, if they sincerely called out to God, He would again deliver them.  For us today, God has delivered us from the power of sin forever if we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, but He will still allow us to give in to the power of sin.  If we do, even though all our sins are forgiven, we need to acknowledge that we have done wrong and ask for God to restore us to a right relationship with Him. 

Verse thirty adds, Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.  God sent prophets to call the people to repentance when they rebelled against Him, but they would not heed the prophets.  God has sent the only Deliverer that there ever was or will be, and that is Jesus Christ, Who calls us to put our faith in Him and be restored to a right relationship with God.  Yet, the majority of people in the world refuse to hear and heed God’s word. 

Verse thirty-one continues, Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.  For the sake of God’s great mercy, He did not completely destroy the people of Israel or allow them to be completely destroyed by another nation.  If we have put our faith in Jesus Christ, we will never be spiritually destroyed, but we may find ourselves back in bondage to sin if we stop living by faith. This is all by the mercy of God.