Seeds for 11/04/2024 - Nehemiah 9:38-10:39
Scripture:
9:38 “In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.”
10:1 Those who sealed it were:
Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hakaliah…
28 “The rest of the people—priests, Levites, gatekeepers, musicians, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand— 29 all these now join their fellow Israelites the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the Lord our Lord…
39 “We will not neglect the house of our God.”
Observation:
Let’s take a look at chapter 10 as a whole. There are details, but they all dovetail in a strong theme that’s really the point of the whole thing, summarized in 9:38 and 10:28-29 above. The people are renewing their covenant with the Lord.
Chapter 9 closes with these words: "“In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement…” Of course to understand chapter 10, we need to ask, “in view of all what?” and remind ourselves the context of the passage for today.
Chapter 9 consists mostly of a confessional prayer, lead by the Levites, in which they recalled their essential history with God. The takeaway is this: God was better to us than we deserved. We broke covenant, and even had consequences, but God continually forgave, delivered, and restored us. They determine to renew the covenant because the work of physical restoration led by Nehemiah, coupled with the work of spiritual restoration led by Ezra rests upon the continued faithfulness of God.
Paul’s words in Romans 12:1 seem an apt summary of the dynamic at work here.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
They are offering themselves to God in worship in clear view of God’s persistent mercy toward them.
The second thing I see is that this is a commitment “from top to bottom” of the Jewish people. The leaders—civic and religious, i.e., Nehemiah, the Levitical priests—are all on board. The nobles among the people are signing on. But all the people, common and noble alike are together renewing their promise to covenant faithfulness. The text reports that they were “making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests [were] affixing their seals to it.”
This is neither a populist uprising nor an elite class imposing an order from the top down. Instead, it is a common experience of heart revival, culminating in covenant renewal. As the old saying goes, “the ground is level at the foot of the cross.” They have experienced that truth a few centuries before the coming of the messiah, but their reality is the same. Having experienced the Word of God, conviction accompanied by confession levels the playing field. Class and station matter not. Awakening is open to all and needed by all.
Application:
How has noticing or remembering God’s mercy drawn you to revival and renewal of your faith?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, remind me of your history of mercy toward me, that I may continually offer myself to you as a living sacrifice. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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