Nehemiah 9:1-38

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. ² And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. ³ 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. ⁴ 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.

⁵ 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. ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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;

⁸ 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: ⁹ And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea; ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ 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. ¹² 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. ¹³ Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: ¹⁴ And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant: ¹⁵ And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them. ¹⁶ But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, ¹⁷ And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not. ¹⁸ Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; ¹⁹ Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. ²⁰ Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. ²¹ Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. ²² Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. ²³ Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it. ²⁴ So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would. ²⁵ And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. ²⁶ 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. ²⁷ 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. ²⁸ 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; ²⁹ 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. ³⁰ 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. ³¹ Nevertheless for thy great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God. ³² 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. ³³ Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly: ³⁴ 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. ³⁵ 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. ³⁶ 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: ³⁷ 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. ³⁸ And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.

When we think about the goodness of God, our minds may run to the multitude of blessings that are given to all people as a part of His common grace and benevolence. Jesus said in Matthew 5:45, “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” People think about having their family, food to eat, a home to live in, a job to work, etc. God’s goodness is demonstrated in all of those ways, but it is most demonstrated in the salvation He has provided through His Son. Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Titus 3:4-5 says, “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” God has certainly demonstrated His goodness in salvation. When a person is born again and brought into His family, God’s care for them takes on a specific dimension. God begins a work of conforming His children into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). Everything that God brings into our lives and does in our lives as believers is for that good purpose (Romans 8:28). Perhaps the greatest demonstration of His goodness after salvation is that God has promised “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). Despite how many times we fail Him and sin against Him, God will complete the work that He began in us if we are truly His (Philippians 1:6). God’s goodness is seen in His ongoing dealings with His people to continually draw us back to Himself and fulfill the good purpose for which He has made and called us. That is what Nehemiah 9 is about. The wall has been built, the people have just heard the book of the law and celebrated the feast of tabernacles, and now it is time for them to commit themselves to obey the Lord and His Word. Before doing so, the people gather, not for a feast, but for confession repentance. They gather to hear the book of the law, confess their sin, and surrender themselves to the Lord’s will. In so doing, Nehemiah 9 has three important things that you and I must remember as we look back with the people of Israel and consider “The Goodness of God.”

First, we are called to remember His purpose. The people of Jerusalem gathered together a few days after celebrating the feast of tabernacles. Their purpose is to mourn and confess their sins before the Lord. They spend one-fourth of the day (3 hours) reading from the book of the law and another fourth of the day confessing their sin and bowing down before the Lord. The Levites lead the people in blessing the name of God and thanking Him for being the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Through their prayer, they remind the people that “the host of heaven worshippeth” God. God is surrounded by the unending praises of angelic beings who exist to perfectly carry out His will and proclaim His holiness. He created the entire cosmos to that end, that He might be glorified in all of the works of His hands. Psalm 19:1 tells us, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” and Romans 1:20 says, “the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.” God’s creation declares His glory and it is to this end that He made all things. Man’s greatest end is to glorify God. We were created for this purpose. Israel was set apart for that purpose and believers today have been saved for that purpose. Everything exists for the glory of God. The people of Israel would humble themselves before the Lord because, despite all that they and their ancestors had done in sinning against God, He still had a good purpose for them. You and I should always be humbled that we are given a part in God’s great purpose of bringing Him glory. When we consider the goodness of God, we must first remember His good purpose, His glory.

Next, we are called to remember His promises. The prayer of repentance and remembrance goes on to recall God’s faithfulness throughout Israel’s history. In verses 7-8 they recall God’s call of Abraham and the promises that were made to him and his descendants. Verses 9-11 remind the Israelites of God’s salvation and power in delivering them from bondage in Egypt. Verses 12-15 recount the grace and provision of God for His people in the wilderness wanderings between Egypt and the promised land. Verses 16-19 speak to God’s forgiveness and mercy extended toward His people in that He did not forsake them despite their repeated disobedience to Him in the wilderness. Verses 20-25 are about God’s faithfulness and goodness in providing for and sustaining that wicked generation of Israelites that came out of Egypt and faithfully taking the next generation into the promised land. Verses 26-31 speak to Israel’s history from the time of Joshua up until the time of Nehemiah and how God was patient with His people. He lovingly disciplined His people despite their continual cycles of disobedience. One thing that Israel’s history teaches us is that God will always be faithful to His people. He will not abandon us. It is because God is faithful to His Word. He will faithfully follow through on everything that He promised. The Bible tells us that God “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2) and that it is “impossible” for Him to do so (Hebrews 6:18). It goes against His very nature. He will always keep His promises despite the failures of His people.

Lastly, we are called to remember His provision. What Israel deserved for their continued disobedience was judgment. Instead, as the prayer of the Levites points out, God was “gracious and merciful” to them. In their present predicament, the Levites led the people in confessing and recognizing that all that had come upon them was righteous because it came from the hand of God. Further, they recognized that they had become servants of foreign nations and that their land had been given to others specifically because of their own disobedience. However, they understood something profound. God had done all of this because He loved His people too much to allow them to continue in their sin. All that had come upon them in their captivity was actually God’s provision to lead them to repentance from their sin. In fact, God had sustained them in captivity and brought them back to Jerusalem to hear His Word and restore them. His purpose in everything bad that came upon them was a good purpose because God used their captivity to humble them. In light of all that God had done for them as a people, the Levites led the people in committing themselves to obey the Lord. People talk of God’s goodness and all that He has done. They may even know the gospel and understand that Christ has died for them, but knowing about God’s goodness and recognizing what He has done does us no good if we do like many generations of Israelites did and go on living as if He hasn’t. His goodness is meant to bring us to humble confession and repentance. It is meant to lead us to commitment to be the people He wants us to be. In Christ, God has provided all that is needed for our salvation. He has “given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3). We are called to walk in that provision.

As we consider the goodness of God toward us from Israel’s example, we must first remember His good purpose for which He made us and called us. We must also remember the promises that He has made in His Word that He will always be faithful to act according to. Lastly, we must remember the provision that He has made for us in His Son Jesus Christ and His loving discipline of us to mold us and shape us into the people He wants us to be. He has, “delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). We can know that, “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). But what do we do with those truths? The Apostle Paul would give us a word of exhortation as to what we are to do in response to all that God has done: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). In light of all that God has done, the only reasonable thing to do is surrender ourselves to Him. That is where Nehemiah 10-12 will take us. We will look at the reordering of our lives around God’s priorities for us and then committing ourselves to Him.