Nehemiah 9:26-31

7. Disobedience, punishment, and repentance characterize the period of judges and kings.

TEXT, Nehemiah 9:26-31

26

But they became disobedient and rebelled against Thee,

And cast Thy law behind their backs
And killed Thy prophets who had admonished them.

So that they might return to Thee,
And they committed great blasphemies.

27

Therefore Thou didst deliver them into the hand of their oppressors who oppressed them,

But when they cried to Thee in the time of their distress,

Thou didst hear from heaven, and according to Thy great compassion

Thou didst give them deliverers who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors.

28

But as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before Thee;

Therefore Thou didst abandon them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them.
When they cried again to Thee, Thou didst hear from heaven,
And many times Thou didst rescue them according to Thy compassion,

29

And admonished them in order to turn them back to Thy law.

Yet they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Thy command-merits but sinned against Thy ordinances,
By which if a man observes them he shall live.
And they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen.

30

However, Thou didst bear with them for many years,

And admonished them by Thy Spirit through Thy prophets,
Yet they would not give ear.

Therefore Thou didst give them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

31

Nevertheless, in Thy great compassion Thou didst not make an end of them or forsake them,

For Thou art a gracious and compassionate God.

COMMENT

Nehemiah 9:26-29 relate particularly to the rule by judges, though the pattern is the same when the kings ruled. The cycle of disobedience, suffering oppression, and God's hearing and delivering occurs frequently in the book of Judges. The killing of the prophets (Nehemiah 9:26) may raise eyebrows, but there were prophets in that period (Judges 6:8; in 1 Samuel 3:20, Samuel is called a prophet; 1 Samuel 9:9 indicates they had existed before under the title of seers). If they existed, it is a natural assumption that some of them would have been killed.

The many times of Nehemiah 9:28 is an obvious reference to events during Judges. Even without the repetition indicated by that phrase, there are three cycles of evil (Nehemiah 9:26, But they became disobedient; Nehemiah 9:28, they did evil again; Nehemiah 9:29, yet they acted arrogantly) each followed immediately by God's gracious deliverance, if we look ahead to Nehemiah 9:30.

The reference to the ordinances in Nehemiah 9:29 is revealing; By which if a man observes them he shall live. This does not refer directly to life hereafter, but to survival in this world. The keeping of the laws really did add to their longevity as compared to their contemporaries.

Nehemiah 9:30-31 relate more fully to the Kingdom Period: God's long forbearance, His urgings through the prophets, their deafness, the inevitable Captivity, and God's compassionate preservation and deliverance of His people are all here.

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.