CHAPTER IX _On the_ twenty-fourth _day of the_ seventh _month, the people hold_ _a solemn fast unto the Lord, and confess their sins_, 1-3. _The Levites give a general account of God's kindness and_ _forbearance to them and to their fathers; and acknowledge God's_ _mercies and judgments_, 4-37.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Nehemiah 9:2. _THE SEED OF ISRAEL SEPARATED THEMSELVES_] A reformation of this kind was begun by Ezra, Ezra 10:3; but it appears that either more were found out who had taken strange wives, or else those who had separated from them had taken them again. _AND STOOD AND CONFESSED THEIR SINS, AN... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Nehemiah 9:3. ONE _FOURTH PART OF THE DAY_] As they did no manner of work on this day of fasting and humiliation, so they spent the whole of it in religious duties. They began, says _Calmet_, on the _first_ hour, and continued these exercises to the _third hour_; from the _third_ they recommen... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Nehemiah 9:5. _STAND UP AND BLESS THE LORD YOUR GOD_] It is the shameless custom of many congregations of people to sit still while they profess to bless and praise God, by singing the _Psalms_ _of David_ or _hymns_ made on the plan of the Gospel! I ask such persons, Did they ever feel the _sp... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Nehemiah 9:6. _THOU PRESERVEST THEM ALL_] ואתה מחיה את כלם _vettah mechaiyeh eth cullam_, and thou _givest life_ to them all: _and_ _the host of the heavens_, לך משתחוים lecha mishtachavim, prostrate _themselves unto thee_. How near is this to the opinion of _Kepler_, that all the heavenly hos... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Nehemiah 9:7. _WHO DIDST CHOOSE ABRAM_] See the notes on the passages referred to in the margin. _THE NAME OF ABRAHAM_] For the explanation of this name, Genesis 17:5, Genesis 17:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Nehemiah 9:12. _BY A CLOUDY PILLAR_] See the notes on the parallel passages, both here and in the other verses.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 14. _MADEST KNOWN UNTO THEM THY HOLY SABBATH_] They appear to have forgotten this _first_ of all the commandments of God, during their sojourning in Egypt.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 17. _AND IN THEIR REBELLION APPOINTED A CAPTAIN_] This clause, read according to its order in the Hebrew text, is thus: _And appointed a captain to return to their bondage in their_ _rebellion_. But it is probable that במרים _bemiryam, in their_ _rebellion_, is a mistake for במצרים _bemitsrayi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Nehemiah 9:19. _THE PILLAR OF THE CLOUD DEPARTED NOT FROM THEM_] מעליהם _mealeyhem_, "from over them." I have already had occasion to observe that this miraculous cloud, the symbol of the Divine presence, assumed _three_ different positions while accompanying the Israelitish camp: 1. As a clo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 21. _THEIR CLOTHES WAXED NOT OLD_] Deuteronomy 8:4, Deuteronomy 8:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 22. _THE LAND OF OG KING OF BASHAN._] It is most evident that _Sihon_ was king of _Heshbon_. How then can it be said that they possessed _the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon_? The words _the land of the king of Heshbon_ are wanting in two of _De Rossi's_ MSS. In another MS.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _BECAME FAT, AND DELIGHTED THEMSELVES_] They became effeminate, fell under the power of _luxury_, got totally corrupted in their manners, sinned against all the mercies of God, and then were destroyed by his judgments. We have an old nervous saying, "_War_ begets _poverty, poverty_ begets... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 27. _THOU GAVEST THEM SAVIOURS_] The whole book of Judges is a history of God's mercies, and their rebellions.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 30. _MANY YEARS DIDST THOU FORBEAR_] It is supposed that Nehemiah refers here principally to the _ten tribes_. And many years did God bear with them; not less than _two hundred and_ _fifty-four_ years from their separation from the house of _David_, till their captivity and utter dispersion un... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _ON OUR KINGS, ON OUR PRINCES_] I believe Nehemiah in this place mentions the whole of _civil society_ in its _officers_ as they stand related to each other in _dignity_: - 1. KINGS, as supreme. 2. PRINCES. 3. PRIESTS. 4. PROPHETS. 5. The FATHERS, heads or chiefs of tribes and familie... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 34. _NEITHER HAVE OUR KINGS_] In this verse he acknowledges that the _kings, princes, priests_, and _fathers_, had broken the law: but the _prophets_ are left out; for _they_ continued faithful to God, testifying by his Spirit against the crimes of all; and this even at the risk of their lives... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 35. _FOR THEY HAVE NOT SERVED THEE IN THEIR KINGDOM_] Instead of במלכותם _bemalcutham_, "in THEIR kingdom," במלכותך _bemalcuthecha_, in THY kingdom," is the reading of two of _Kennicott's_ MSS.; as also of the _Septuagint, Syriac_, and _Arabic_. This is most likely to be the true reading.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 36. _BEHOLD, WE_ ARE _SERVANTS_] They had no king of their own: and were under the government of the kings of Persia, to whom they paid a regular tribute.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 37. _IT YIELDETH MUCH INCREASE UNTO THE KINGS_] Good and fruitful as the land is, yet it profits us _little_; as the chief profits on all things go to the kings of Persia. _OVER OUR BODIES_] Exacting _personal_ and _feudal services_ from us, and from our _cattle_; and this not by any _fixed r... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Nehemiah 9:38. _OUR PRINCES, LEVITES, AND PRIESTS, SEAL UNTO IT._] Persuaded that we have brought all the miseries upon ourselves by our transgressions, _feeling much_ and _fearing more_, we make a covenant with thee to devote ourselves to thy service; to do with us as thou pleasest. From this... [ Continue Reading ]