Nehemiah 9:22-25

6. God's compassion takes them to Canaan.

TEXT, Nehemiah 9:22-25

22

Thou didst also give them kingdoms and peoples,

And Thou didst allot them to them as a boundary.

And they took possession of the land of Sihon the king of Heshboh,
And the land of Og the king of Bashan.

23

And Thou didst make their sons numerous as the stars of heaven,

And Thou didst bring them into the land
Which Thou hadst told their fathers to enter and possess.

24

So their sons entered and possessed the land.

And Thou didst subdue before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites,
And Thou didst give them into their hand, with their kings, and the peoples of the land,
To do with them as they desired.

25

And they captured fortified cities and a fertile land.

They took possession of houses full of every good thing,
Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,

Fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate, were filled, and grew fat,
And reveled in Thy great goodness.

COMMENT

Israel's entrance into the Promised Land came in two stages.

Nehemiah 9:22 describes the conquest of the East Bank. Sihon and the Amorites inhabited the land by the Dead Sea; Heshbon was one of their cities. Og and the people of Bashan were closer to the Sea of Galilee. Psalms 135:11 is another example of how this event was impressed on their minds in relation to their entry into the land.

In Nehemiah 9:24 they go on to the West Bank,

Nehemiah 9:23; Nehemiah 9:25 fit both situations. Their growing fat, in Nehemiah 9:25, speaks of their prosperity; in a culture where hunger was the rule, fat was beautiful (Proverbs 13:4). The word revel in Hebrew has the name, Eden, in it; it speaks of delight and pleasantness. Under God, their Eden was being restored.

We realize that the two words, fat and reveled, are taken by many as evidence of apostasy; but the phrase, in Thy great goodness, suggests a more positive interpretation. Even good things can be used in excess; here we see them as goods; in other contexts the first term especially can be associated with excess. The transition to evil comes more naturally with the But of the next verse.

WORD STUDIES

NAME (Nehemiah 9:5, Shem): basically it means a sign, monument, or memorial of a person, thing, or event. This word is translated memorial in Isaiah 55:13. But the emphasis is on the person or event of which it is only the sign. To do something in someone's name is to act by his authority (Exodus 5:23). To know someone by name suggests acquaintance with him personally (Exodus 33:12). To make oneself a name indicates fame and renown (2 Samuel 7:9); conversely, to have no name is to be a nobody (Job 30:8); a good name signified a good reputation or character (Proverbs 22:1); the destruction of one's name meant that his person and the memory of him would be no more (Deuteronomy 9:14).

God's name, then, is His person, His authority, the knowledge of Him, His fame or glory, His character, the memory of all that He has done.

WORSHIP (Nehemiah 9:3); BOW DOWN (Nehemiah 9:6): these are the same word. It contains three ideas; (1) sink down, bow down, fall prostrate, do honor or reverence to someone whether to an equal or to a superior; (2) hence, to worship or adore; (3) therefore, to do homage or yield allegiance to someone.

Worship is incomplete without commitment.