Nehemiah 9:9-15

4. God's hand is seen in the Exodus.

TEXT, Nehemiah 9:9-15

9

Thou didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt,

And didst hear their cry by the Red Sea.

10

Then Thou didst perform signs and wonders against Pharaoh,

Against all his servants and all the people of his land;
For Thou didst know that they acted arrogantly toward them,
And didst make a name for Thyself as it is this day.

11

And Thou didst divide the sea before them,

So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground;
And their pursuers Thou didst hurl into the depths,
Like a stone into raging waters.

12

And with a pillar of cloud Thou didst lead them by day,

And with a pillar of fire by night

To light for them the way
In which they were to go.

13

Then Thou didst come down on Mount Sinai,

And didst speak with them from heaven;

Thou didst give to them just ordinances and true laws,
Good statutes and commandments.

14

So Thou didst make known to them Thy holy sabbath,

And didst lay down for them commandments, statutes, and law,

Through Thy servant Moses.

15

Thou didst provide bread from heaven for them for their hunger,

Thou didst bring forth water from a rock for them for their thirst,
And Thou didst tell them to enter in order to possess
The land which Thou didst swear to give them.

COMMENT

As the Cross and Resurrection are the focal points of the N.T., so the Exodus, the giving of the Law, and the entrance into Canaan constitute the central event of the O.T. Whenever Israel praised God for His acts in history, in the Psalms or elsewhere, this would have to be mentioned. So it is the largest topic of this prayer.

The deliverance from Egypt occupies Nehemiah 9:9-12.

Nehemiah 9:9 recalls the words of Exodus 3:7, with other acts following.

In Nehemiah 9:10, Pharaoh's arrogance is paralleled by Exodus 15:7. God's making a name for Himself illustrates an idea in the Word Studies under NAME, at the end of this chapter.

In Nehemiah 9:11, even the imagery of the stone is taken from Moses-' victory song, Exodus 15:5; Exodus 15:10.

Nehemiah 9:13-14 rehearse the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai.

The statement in Nehemiah 9:14 that God revealed His Holy Sabbath at that time is informative. It reinforces Deuteronomy 5:15, which says that the purpose of the Sabbath was to commemorate their release from slavery in Egypt; their enjoying rest was an appropriate symbol. There is no mention of Sabbath keeping in the O.T. before that event. It is true that God Himself rested on the seventh creative day, and He blessed and sanctified it; but there is no suggestion that He required its observance by man until Moses-' time, as Nehemiah 9:14 says.

The bearing that this has on Seventh Dayism is clear. The Sabbath was not an eternal, unchanging law, but a national celebration of Independence. The Lord's Day celebrates another event, in another manner.

Nehemiah 9:15 bespeaks the provision which God made for His people in that circumstance: the manna, the water from the rock, and the instruction for possession of the land. We think of our bread from heaven (John 6:48-51), and of our rock, which is Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4).

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.