Nehemiah 9:22-38

Introduction

Last week we looked Nehemiah 9:6-21. In that we saw the Levites reminder of God the Creator, the God of Abraham, the God of the Exodus and The wilderness wandering.

This week we are going to look at verses 22-38 and see more of the Israelites History and how God was there through all of it.

The Conquest of the Promised Land. vs. 22-25

Up to this point the Levites had pretty much summed up the Pentateuch for the Israelites, and now they come to the book of Joshua.

In verse 22 and the first part of verse 23 we see the dividing of the land for the 12 tribes and another promise that God kept.

This promise goes back to Genesis 15:5 “5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.”

Isn’t it amazing despite their failures that God still kept his word, may I remind us this morning that no matter how many times we fail God, he always keeps his word.

In Verse 23, they continue with what God did on the conquest

God brought them into the land that He promised their fathers

We know if God promised Abraham the land he would possess it and he did as we see in verse 24 where the Bible tells us their children went in and possessed the land.

While the original Israelites in the Exodus didn’t get to possess the land the Children of Israel still received the land through their descendants.

Verse 24 continues by telling us that God is the one who subdued the enemies of the land on their conquest. Remember when they allowed God to fight their battles they utterly destroyed their enemies, but when they disobeyed they lost the battle.

Look what God gave them

Their Kings

The people of the land

fat (bountiful) land

Houses full of goods.

Wells that where already dug

Vineyards

Oliveyards

Fruit trees in abundance

Notice God didn’t give them the bare minimum, but gave them an abundance

They ate, they were filled, and became fat (prosperous)

The last thing the levites said would have been a great way to end the story

And delighted themselves in thy great goodness.

Everything they could want, every need they had supplied, God took them out of slavery and gave them everything they could desire and look how they responded

Its almost as if Deut. 6:10-12 foreshadowed what would happen at the end of Joshua and beginning of Judges

Deuteronomy 6:10–12 “10 And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, 11 And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; 12 Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.”

Rebellion vs 26

The Israelites responded to Gods goodness after the conquest of the land the same way they did when he took them out of Egypt. They Rebelled!

One commentator said it this way “The history of Israel is a history of rebellion. It’s a history of God being good to Israel and Israel using God’s goodness to them to rebel against Him.

They rebelled

They cast God’s law behind their backs

They slew the prophets which testified against them to turn to God

and wrought great Provocations or they greatly provoked God through all that they did.

Its easy to read scripture and point our fingers at Israel thinking how can they be so disrespectful to a Holy God, but we do the same thing every day when we sin against a Holy God.

The Judges vs. 27-28

In verse 27 and 28 the levites summarize the time of the judges

Israel started out by serving the Lord, then they would fall into sin and idolatry they would end up being enslaved, then they would cry out to God, God would raise up a judge, then they would be delivered. Once completing this cycle it would start over.

Look at what delivered them both times

vs. 27 - God’s manifold or numerous mercy

vs. 28 - According to thy mercies

Even in God’s judgment of Israel he exercised mercy, by saving them from the punishment they deserved.

The prophets during the reign of the Kings vs. 29-30

God sent the Prophets to get the Israelites to turn back to him but look how the Israelites responded

They dealt proudly

They hearkened not unto thy commandments

They sinned against your judgements

They withdrew their shoulders

hardened their necks

and would not hear

God was rich in mercy and longsuffering through all of their rebellion in the judges and now against the prophets

Forbear - refuse

You testified against them by your spirit through the prophets

Then the levites tell them what happened because they would do what they were supposed to

They wouldn’t give ear to what God was trying to get across to them so again God delivered them into the hands of their enemies.

Again we often judge Israel, but how many times do we go against what God is telling us to do?

This rebellion leads to Exile, but the exile isn’t the end of the story.

Mercy extended vs. 31

Because of God’s mercy for the Children of Israel he didn’t

utterly consume them

nor forsake them

Deuteronomy 31:6 “6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”

God is a gracious and merciful God

Grace - God’s riches at Christ expense

Mercy - Not getting the punishment we deserve

Lamentations 3:22 “22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.”

Israels plea for restoration vs. 32

They are pleaing with God to not show more justice but more mercy

Confession of God’s righteousness and Israels sin vs. 33-35

In verse 33 they acknowledge they have fallen short of the standard

Thou hast done right

we have done wickedly

In verse 34 we see its everyone who has broken the law

our kings

our princes

our priests

our prophets

our fathers

No one has kept Gods law or listened to his commandments or testimonies

Verse 35 tells us

They haven’t served him in their kingdoms that God had given them out of his goodness

they haven’t turned from their wicked way.

Their current state

They were servants in their own land, under kings that God had set over them because of their sin

Those kings have dominion over

their bodies

their cattle

their pleasure

the Israelites found themselves in great distress

The proposed covenant vs. 38

They have rehearsed God’s goodness, their sin, and God’s mercy, and now they are prepared to make a covenant to keep the covenant. We will see the details of this covenant when we study Nehemiah 10.