Neh 9:1-3 | KingComments | STEP | In this chapter, we become partakers of the confession of guilt of the Israelites. We can connect this chapter with Ezra 9 and Daniel 9 where we also find confessions of guilt, spoken by Ezra and Daniel. The consequences of reading the law, the Word of God, become visible. The Word of God is at the origin of everything that follows. The Word was read in Nehemiah 8. The first consequence there is that God gets His part: the Feast of Booths is celebrated. The second consequence we find here: the people take their true place before God. They acknowledge that their present position is the result of not listening to God’s commandments. The people of God are deeply impressed by the Word of God. The Word has caused great joy among the people ( ). Now the Word of God leads them to confess their sins. There is fasting and mourning. This does not contradict the feast and joy of the previous chapter. It belongs together. Joy and self-denial go hand in hand with the Christian as it is right. Joy in the Lord is the result of knowing Him; humbleness is the result of recognizing one’s own failure, the result of knowing oneself. Fasting is a sign of mourning. He who fasts sees the seriousness of the situation in which the people of God or he himself find themselves. By fasting one renounces food, needed by the body and what is lawful to take, to devote oneself in the spirit to the sad circumstances and to call upon God about them. Isaiah speaks about fasting as God intended ( ; cf. ). Man takes his true place toward God and gives God His true place. A sequel to the Feast of Booths as we find here is not prescribed anywhere in the law. The Feast of Booths ends on the twenty-third of the month. What we read here takes place on the twenty-fourth of the month. That day is not part of the feast. They don’t want to ruin the feast by their grief. After the feast, however, the Word takes effect on their conscience. It is voluntary and complemented by the working of the Spirit. An exuberant feast is followed by a day of penance and repentance. In this way expressions of mind alternate. Being surrounded by blessings can make us small when we realize how undeserved they are and, as a result, bring us to confession. We wonder how we have earned it. Mourning and dirt upon them is, as it were, becoming equal to a dead person. To take that place because there is the consciousness of being dust and ashes in the presence of the Almighty (cf. ; ) is also the place of blessing.

‏ Nehemiah 9:1-3

Introduction

In this chapter, we become partakers of the confession of guilt of the Israelites. We can connect this chapter with Ezra 9 and Daniel 9 where we also find confessions of guilt, spoken by Ezra and Daniel.

Fasting and Sackcloth

The consequences of reading the law, the Word of God, become visible. The Word of God is at the origin of everything that follows. The Word was read in Nehemiah 8. The first consequence there is that God gets His part: the Feast of Booths is celebrated. The second consequence we find here: the people take their true place before God. They acknowledge that their present position is the result of not listening to God’s commandments.

The people of God are deeply impressed by the Word of God. The Word has caused great joy among the people (Neh 8:13). Now the Word of God leads them to confess their sins.

There is fasting and mourning. This does not contradict the feast and joy of the previous chapter. It belongs together. Joy and self-denial go hand in hand with the Christian as it is right. Joy in the Lord is the result of knowing Him; humbleness is the result of recognizing one’s own failure, the result of knowing oneself.

Fasting is a sign of mourning. He who fasts sees the seriousness of the situation in which the people of God or he himself find themselves. By fasting one renounces food, needed by the body and what is lawful to take, to devote oneself in the spirit to the sad circumstances and to call upon God about them. Isaiah speaks about fasting as God intended (Isa 58:6-7; cf. Joel 2:12-17). Man takes his true place toward God and gives God His true place.

A sequel to the Feast of Booths as we find here is not prescribed anywhere in the law. The Feast of Booths ends on the twenty-third of the month. What we read here takes place on the twenty-fourth of the month. That day is not part of the feast. They don’t want to ruin the feast by their grief. After the feast, however, the Word takes effect on their conscience. It is voluntary and complemented by the working of the Spirit. An exuberant feast is followed by a day of penance and repentance. In this way expressions of mind alternate. Being surrounded by blessings can make us small when we realize how undeserved they are and, as a result, bring us to confession. We wonder how we have earned it.

Mourning and dirt upon them is, as it were, becoming equal to a dead person. To take that place because there is the consciousness of being dust and ashes in the presence of the Almighty (cf. Gen 18:27; Job 42:6) is also the place of blessing.

Separation and Confession

The praise of the LORD at the Feast of Booths cannot go together with connections forbidden by God. Sincere recognition of failure brings to action. The first act is separation from foreigners. In this they are not half-hearted. They separate themselves from “all” foreigners. The second act is confession. Confession of sins does not only take place at the beginning of life as a Christian, but is part of the whole life of the Christian. Separation and confession of sins belong together.

Nor do they detach themselves from their ancestry. They do not put themselves above their fathers, but make themselves one with them. It is the recognition that we, human beings, have dishonored God through our lives.

Listen, Confess and Worship

Again the Word of God occupies the principal place. All their actions are controlled by it. They listen to it and obey it. Confession and worship are the effect of hearing God’s Word. There is a balance between being preoccupied with God’s Word on the one hand and confession and worship on the other hand. The same length of time is used for both soul exercises. The time of listening to God’s Word is followed by an equal period during which the Word takes effect in the conscience.

What they read or hear is material for prayer, and through prayer the Word gets its desired effect. Word and prayer must go hand in hand. He who reads only the Word, without prayer, gathers knowledge for the head. A theoretical Christian state arises, which will lead to annoyance of fellow Christians. Those who devote themselves solely to prayer run the risk of losing themselves in mysticism and fanaticism. Whoever does both will grow up in the “grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2Pet 3:18) and become a good follower of Him.