Day 151, Nehemiah 9-10

Today was really nice to read because it gave a summary, or recap, of all the things the Lord did for the people of Israel; their history, transgressions, and ultimately God’s forgiveness.

It was neat to read it all again and see it laid out in such a way; explaining what God did for the people, how the people disobeyed him, God comes to the rescue, the people disobey him, God punished them then forgives them, the people disobey…and so on and so on. It has all been a repetitive thing since the beginning, and the Lord is still there for his people. It’s kind of amazing!

Even with all the people did, “God was ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.”

The reading started out with the people of Israel all gathering together and confessing the sins and iniquities of their fathers. They read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, then made confession and worshiped the Lord.

Then the Levites with a loud voice said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.”

They continued on with all the things the Lord had done and what the people had experienced. In the spirit of 150+ days of my Bible Journey and studying, I thought it would be nice to write out all of these things to see the pattern and as a recap:

• The Lord made and preserves heaven with all its host, the earth and all that is on it, and the seas and everything in them.
  
• God chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. He found his heart faithful, and made a covenant with him to give his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. The Lord had kept his promise.
  
• The Lord saw the affliction of their fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea. He performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, his servants, and all the people in the land; for He knew they had acted arrogantly against their fathers. The Lord made a name for himself that day, as it is today.
  
• The Lord divided the sea before them, so they went through the midst of the sea to dry land, and cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters.
  
• By a pillar of cloud the Lord led them in the day, and a pillar of fire in the night to light the way for them and show which way to go.
  
• God came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with the people from heaven and gave them rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments. He made known to them the holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses God’s servant.
  
• The Lord gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock, and told them to possess the land that He had sworn to give them.
  
• But they and their fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their necks and did not obey the commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders the Lord had performed among them. Instead, they appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.
  
• But “God was ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.”
  
• Even when they made for themselves a golden calf and worshiped it as their god, and had committed great blasphemies; the Lord with great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. And still, pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, did not depart from them.
  
• The Lord gave His good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold the manna from their mouth, and gave them water to drink. Forty years the Lord sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
  
• The Lord gave them the kingdoms and peoples allotted to them, and they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan.
  
• The Lord multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and brought them into the land their fathers were told they would enter and possess. So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and the Lord subdued the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand.
  
• They captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in great goodness.
  
• Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against the Lord and cast the law behind His back and killed the prophets who had warned them in order to turn them back to God, and they committed great blasphemies.
  
• Therefore the Lord gave them into the hands of their enemies, who made them suffer.
  
• In the time of their suffering they cried out to the Lord and was heard from heaven, and according to the Lord’s great mercies they were given saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies.
  
• But after they had rest they did evil again before the Lord, and they were abandoned to the hands of their enemies again, so they had dominion over them.
  
• Yet, when they turned and cried out to God, they were heard from heaven, and many times they were delivered according to God’s mercies. They were warned to turn back to the law.
  
• Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey the commandments, but sinned against the rules.
  
• Many years the Lord bore with them and warned them by His Spirit through the prophets. Yet they would not listen. Therefore they were given into the hands of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in God’s great mercies they were not forsaken or completely destroyed, for God is “a great and merciful God.”

They continued their prayer to the Lord praising Him and seeking forgiveness for their wicked ways, as they were still slaves in their land because of their sin.

Because of everything, they made a firm covenant in writing and many people sealed it. Chapter 10 began with listing all the names of those people.

Then it went on to explain the obligations of the covenant, i.e. follow God’s Law that was given by Moses, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord and follow the rules and statutes.

It explained most of what was previously established in the “Rule Book” of Leviticus, mentioning the Sabbath day; giving to the House of the Lord; the offerings and appointed feasts; firstfruits and firstborn sons; the priests; the tithes and contributions; etc.