Nehemiah 9:7,8

3. God is exalted for His goodness to Abraham.

TEXT, Nehemiah 9:7-8

7

Thou art the LORD God,

Who chose Abram

And brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees,
And gave him the name Abraham.

8

And Thou didst find his heart faithful before Thee,

And didst make a covenant with him

To give him the land of the Canaanite,
Of the Hittite and the Amorite,
Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite
To give it to his descendants.
And Thou hast fulfilled Thy promise,
For Thou art righteous.

COMMENT

History was of great significance to Israel's religion. The people believed, on good authority, that they could see evidence of God's taking action in their affairs in actual observed events. Faith, in Scripture terms, is always rooted in history. Judaism and Christianity alone are regarded as historical religions, whose truth can be measured by verification of the events which gave them their character. Therefore this psalm moves into a recital of that history.
Without a Divinely inspired interpretation and record of our nation's history, we may still be profited by recalling and recounting His favors to us.

Nehemiah 9:7 : The history of the people of Israel starts with Abraham. There might also be an implied parallel between God's bringing Abraham out of the land of the Chaldeans and His recent delivery of Israel, Abraham's descendants, from the same land.

Nehemiah 9:8 records God's generosity and faithfulness to Abraham and to his descendants. Of course He would keep His promise, because He is righteous: this is the keynote of the prayer.[72]

[72] Adenay, Expositor's Bible, op. cit., p. 300.

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.