Nehemiah 9:25

_THEIR CHILDREN ALSO MULTIPLIEDST THOU AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN, AND BROUGHTEST THEM INTO THE LAND, CONCERNING WHICH THOU HADST PROMISED TO THEIR FATHERS, THAT THEY SHOULD GO IN TO POSSESS IT._ 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...

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 _peace, peace_ begets _affluence, affluence_ begets _luxury_ and _corruption_ of _manners_; and hence _civil broils, foreign wars_, and _desolations_." A sensible Roman historian has said the same: "_Imperium facile iis artibus_ _retinetur, quibus initio partum est: verum ubi pro_ LABORE, DESIDIA; _pro_ continentia _et_ aequitate, LIBIDO _atque_ SUPERBIA _invasere_: fortuna _simul cum_ moribus IMMUTATUR....

BECAME FAT. - i. e., “grew proud,” or “wanton” - a phrase only occurring here, in the margin reference, and in Jeremiah 5:28. DELIGHTED THEMSELVES - Rather, “luxuriated.” The word in the original does not occur elsewhere; but cognate terms make the sense clear....

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...

FAT LAND. rich soil. WELLS DIGGED. Hebrew. _bor,_ cisterns hewed. See note on Genesis 21:19. DELIGHTED THEMSELVES. made their Eden. Hebrew. _'anag._ Hithp. pret. only here....

_strong cities_ R.V. FENCED CITIES. Cf. Deuteronomy 9:1; Joshua 14:12, e.g. Jericho, Ai, and Hebron, but it was a long time before all the cities were reduced. Thus Jerusalem held out until David's reign. (Cf. Judges 1:8; Judges 1:21.) _a fat land_ i.e. fat soil, -adamah." In Numbers 13:20 the country (-erec̣") is spoken of as -fat" or -lean." Cf. Deuteronomy 8:7-9 for a fuller description of the land's fatness. _full_of _all goods_ R.V.

6. God's compassion takes them to Canaan. TEXT, NEHEMIAH 9:22-25 22 Thou didst also give them kingdoms and peoples, And Thou didst allot them to them as a boundary. And they took possession of the land of Sihon the king of Heshboh, And the land of Og the king of Bashan. 23 And Thou didst make their sons numerous as the stars of heaven, And Thou didst bring them into the land Which Thou hadst told their fathers to enter and possess. 24 So their sons entered and possessed the land. And Thou didst subdue before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, And Thou didst give them into their hand, with their kings, and the peoples of the land, To do with them as they desired. 25 And they captured fortified cities and a fertile land. They took possession of houses full of every good thin