Nehemiah 9:20

_YET THOU IN THY MANIFOLD MERCIES FORSOOKEST THEM NOT IN THE WILDERNESS: THE PILLAR OF THE CLOUD DEPARTED NOT FROM THEM BY DAY, TO LEAD THEM IN THE WAY; NEITHER THE PILLAR OF FIRE BY NIGHT, TO SHEW THEM LIGHT, AND THE WAY WHEREIN THEY SHOULD GO._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

4-38 The summary of their prayers we have here upon record. Much more, no doubt, was said. Whatever ability we have to do any thing in the way of duty, we are to serve and glorify God according to the utmost of it. When confessing our sins, it is good to notice the mercies of God, that we may be the more humbled and ashamed. The dealings of the Lord showed his goodness and long-suffering, and the hardness of their hearts. The testimony of the prophets was the testimony of the Spirit in the prophets, and it was the Spirit of Christ in them. They spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and what they said is to be received accordingly. The result was, wonder at the Lord's mercies, and the feeling that sin had brought them to their present state, from which nothing but unmerited love could rescue them. And is not their conduct a specimen of human nature? Let us study the history of our...

EXPOSITION SOLEMN FAST KEPT, WITH CONFESSION OF SINS; AND VOLUNTARY COVENANT WITH GOD ENTERED INTO BY THE PEOPLE, AND SEALED TO BY THE PRINCES, PRIESTS, AND LEVITES (Nehemiah 9:1.). When the law was first read to them on the opening day of the seventh month, the people had shown strong feelings of compunction, an earnest desire to return to God by the thorny way of repentance. In checking this feeling on that particular day, Ezra and Nehemia

CHAPTER 9 _ 1. The public humiliation and confession (Nehemiah 9:1)_ 2. The great confession and prayer (Nehemiah 9:6) Nehemiah 9:1. Two days after the feast of tabernacles had been concluded this humiliation and confession of sin took place. The assembled congregation fasted, with sackcloth and earth upon them. Separation was next. Evil confessed must mean evil put away. They separated themselves from all strangers, and after their confession they worshipped the Lord. Here again is the right order of a spiritual revival. Reading, hearing and believing the Word always comes first; humiliation, self-judgment, confession and true worship follow....

THE FAST AND A NATIONAL CONFESSION. All that took place, as described in this section, was the result of the reading of the Law. The command to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles having been observed, there followed a spontaneous outburst of self-condemnation on the part of the people, who were conscience-stricken on account of having hitherto neglected to observe the Law; they had clearly been desirous of expressing their sorrow before (see Nehemiah 8:9), but it would have been inappropriate during the feast. Fasting and prayerful confession were fitly followed (see next section) by a solemn act of resolution of amendment. Nehemiah 9:1. the twenty and fourth day: the second day after the celebration of the feast, _i.e._ in the seventh month (see...

SPIRIT. Hebrew. _ruach._ App-9. Compare Numbers 11:16; Numbers 11:17; Deuteronomy 34:9; Psalms 143:10, and Nehemiah 9:30 below. MANNA. Compare Exodus 16:15.Joshua 5:12....

_thy good spirit_ Referring possibly to Numbers 11:17 -And I will take of the spirit which is upon thee and will put it upon them," 23 29, but mainly to the general Divine teaching of the people, cf. Isaiah 63:11, -Where is he that brought them out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he that put his holy spirit in the midst of them?" For the expression -thy good spirit" cf. Psalms 143:10, Marg. -Let thy good spirit lead me." _to instruct_ i.e. to make them understand. For the use of the verb -sakal," see note on Nehemiah 8:12; cf....

THOU GAVEST ALSO THY GOOD SPIRIT— This whole chapter, says Mr. Peters, contains a beautiful epitome of the history of the Jews; raised and animated by a spirit of devotion, which appears in all that moving eloquence so well suited to the great occasion; and at the same time, with all that chasteness and correctness of thought and expression, which so eminently distinguishes the sacred writings from the wild raptures of enthusiasm. In recapitulating the miracles of divine goodness vouchsafed to their fathers in the wilderness, the sacred writer adds this, as none of the least memorable of God's mercies to them there: _Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them._ See Peters on Job, p. 312....

5. God blesses Israel even during her rebellion in the Wilderness. TEXT, NEHEMIAH 9:16-21 16 But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly; They became stubborn and would not listen to Thy commandments. 17 And they refused to listen, And did not remember Thy wondrous deeds which Thou hadst performed among them; So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But Thou art a God of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness; And Thou didst not forsake them, 18 Even when they made for themselves A calf of molten metal And said, -This is your God Who brought you up from Egypt; And committed great blasphemies, 19. Thou, in Thy great compassion, Didst not forsake them in the wilderness; The pillar of cloud did not

THE RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT 4. Stairs] lit. 'ascent': probably the pulpit of wood mentioned in Nehemiah 8:4. BANI.. BANI] One of the two names is probably an error for 'Binnui': cp. Nehemiah 12:8....