Calling on God (Nehemiah 9:1-6)

The seventh month of this year was turning out to be crucial for the city of Jerusalem and the people who lived in Judea. Already they have kept the Feast of Trumpets and the week-long Feast of Tabernacles (it is likely that they had also kept the annual Day of Atonement, although it is not mentioned in Nehemiah – it occurred between those two other feasts). The Feast of Tabernacles finished on the twenty-second day of the month. The meeting described in Nehemiah 9 took place two days later, which suggests that there was a sense of urgency about it. They wanted to know the blessing of God and their response is a useful guide for us as we search for his blessing.

What they did (9:1-5)

The narrator of the events of that day mentions several features of the people as they gathered together. He highlights their appearance and their actions. It was a day marked by fasting; this was distinct from how they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, indeed almost the opposite. Fasting usually involves refraining from what is enjoyable, which is not surprising given that fasting was intended to help God’s people focus on their sins and failures. The people all looked the same, dressed in sackcloth and with earth on their heads, actions that signified deep mourning for sin, and since they all dressed in this way, there was an expression of communal unity in their attire.

Another detail that is mentioned is that they separated themselves from all foreigners. There would have been two kinds of foreigners there at the time – those who wanted to join the Jews as proselytes and those who didn’t. It would have been inappropriate to allow the second type of foreigner make confession of sin to the God they had no desire to worship. 

Their posture is also mentioned. They all stood when they were confessing their sins and when they were listening to the Word of God. A quarter of the daylight hours (three hours) was given to each activity, which could be another way of saying that they met from dawn till midday, as previously (8:3). The heat that occurred at noon and the hours after it was not suitable for prolonged activities, even spiritual ones.

Details are given of what they confessed; they did not only confess their own sins but also the iniquities of their fathers. Moreover, the confession followed the reading of the Word of God, a reminder that confession of sin should be intelligent as well as intense, informed by what God forbids in his Word. Their confession was part of their worship of their covenant God, which indicates that the failure to acknowledge the covenant was at the heart of their confession.

The Levites led the praise and confession. One group of Levites cried to God and another group responded, urging the people to stand up and bless the Lord. Perhaps the people were sitting down for a rest after standing to hear the Word of God. The people probably repeated what the Levites articulated from their elevated position, although it is possible that they only indicated their heartfelt assent to what the Levites said.

The call to worship (v. 5)

In the prayer the Levites say many things about God and his actions towards his people. But before they mention his actions with Israel they highlight several truths about him, stressing his greatness. They call the people to bless the Lord. The basic meaning of bless is to speak well of someone, and there is much that we can say with regard to blessing the Lord. Their exhortation in verse 5 is a call to worship God, and the call speaks well of him: ‘Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting.’

Two details are emphasised in the call to worship: their relationship with God and how long the relationship has been and will be in existence. First, their relationship is seen in the way God is described – he is ‘the Lord your God’. Yahweh (in capitals) is the special name by which God revealed himself to Moses at the burning. It is significant that Israel knew the name of God. It was given to them by divine revelation, but his choosing to inform them of his name points to the reality of the relationship. They could call God by his name. Elohim (God) is a title that describes God in his fullness. So Israel not only knew what the true God is (his attributes), but they also knew who he is.

How long had this relationship been in existence? The answer to the question depends on which viewpoint is being taken. From the viewpoint of the Israelites, the relationship began when God revealed himself to Abraham, the founder of the nation, whom God sovereignly called to that role. From the viewpoint of God himself, it had always been his purpose to have this relationship with them. His purpose is eternal, he always knew that it would occur.

The description of God in the call to worship also extends the other way. Since it is from everlasting to everlasting, it means it will not end. This description of their God would have been a tremendous encouragement to the people listening to the Levites giving the call to worship. That Levites had given to them a big description of their Lord as they approached him at that time.

What they say about God initially (9:6)

The first detail that is mentioned is the superiority of God. Here are the people of Judah engaging in a great activity, that of worshipping God. They lift high the name of the Lord. But how high can they elevate it when they are blessing him? We see something of their estimation in the prayer that follows. Yet their prayer, great though it is, is only the activity of creatures. Supposing there were many other creatures participating in the praise of God, all of them together cannot rise to the heights in which God exists. He is forever above the greatest authentic worship that can be offered to him. No matter how excellent the words of their blessing of the Lord, it always falls short of who he is in his fullness. Great is the God we adore, those people are saying. He is always superior to the best that can be given him.

His name is glorious, they say. In saying ‘name’ here, they could be referring to the name Yahweh or they could be referring to his character or to his attributes. The idea behind the term glory in the Old Testament is that of weightiness. God is heavy in the sense that he is not weightless like the gods of the nations who could do nothing.

The glory of God is the sum of all his attributes. Moses on one occasion asked God to reveal his glory. The Lord graciously agreed to do so and came to Moses in a manner that informed him that God was greater than what Moses could behold (Ex. 33:17-23). But Moses was allowed to see something that was explained to him by the Lord himself when he said about himself, ‘The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation”’ (Ex. 34:6-7). In that divine description of himself, God mentioned several of his attributes to Moses. So Moses’ prayer was answered by receiving much more than he could have imagined when asking, although what was revealed to him would take forever to explain.

The Levites continue by stating the uniqueness of God. In a sense, they have already stressed that reality when describing him as superior and glorious. Yet they desire to affirm that he alone possesses such splendour. They realised the fact which the Lord himself stated when he later asked in Isaiah 40:25: ‘To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.’ The Lord is unique, far greater than can be imagined, and there is not anything with which he can be compared.

In order to make the point, the Levites then give three evidences of the uniqueness of God. The first evidence is that he is the Creator of the universe. Of him alone can it be said, ‘You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.’ Anything that exists, whatever it is, exists because the Lord made it. This is true of the place where God reveals himself in a special way, in heaven where he has his throne; and it is true of the earth and the seas in which all kinds of creatures, animate and inanimate, exist. Everything you saw today exists because of God, and everything that you were unable to see also exists because of God.  

The second evidence is connected to the first, which is that the Creator of all things is also the Preserver of all things, and they remain in existence as long as he wishes them to exist. Why was there a history of Israel, why was there a present for Israel, what was there a future for Israel? Because God the Creator is also God the Preserver. Obviously, we could ask numerous similar questions. How long will there be an atmosphere? As long as God keeps it in existence. How long will there be the pull of gravity? As long as God keeps it in existence. How long will a telescope let a person see the universe? As long as God keeps telescopes, people and the universe in existence.

The third evidence for the uniqueness of God is that the highest creatures of all worship him. As the Levites say to their God, ‘the host of heaven worships you.’ The angels, with their vast creaturely intellects, worship God continually. This was true with regard to creation when it was brought into existence by him: ‘On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?’ (Job 38:6-7). And they worship the Lord for many other reasons.

Lessons

What can we take for ourselves from the commencement of this prayer? In the call to worship, we were reminded of the eternity in which God exists and of how in a special way his people are his from everlasting to everlasting. This raises questions such as ‘when did they become his people?’ and ‘how did they become his people?’ The answer to the first is that in his eternal plan they have always been his people and the answer to the second is that they are his people because he has loved them eternally. Such a reality is a big mystery, but only for creatures.

Then we can consider our understanding of the uniqueness of God. As far the universe is concerned we know much more about its contents and its workings than Israel did, and such knowledge can help us appreciate his uniqueness. In addition, we have the complete Word of God in which we find out his significance as the God of salvation. It has been revealed to us that the God who revealed his name Yahweh to Israel has also revealed his name to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In that fuller revelation, we have been told what each of the divine persons does for our salvation. Certainly, we worship a unique, supreme God.

A third detail that we can take from this prayer of the Levites is that it is beneficial for us to think of the activities of the holy angels. Everything they do individually is an act of worship as is everything they do collectively. At this moment in time, they are all worshipping the Lord. There is a special sense in which we join with them when the worship of God takes place, as the author of Hebrews reminds us: ‘But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel’ (Heb. 12:22-24).

In addition, since the reason for the gathering in Jerusalem recorded in Nehemiah 9 was for confession of sin, we can see that a helpful, indeed essential, element in such confession is to have a very elevated view of the great God of eternity. Without such a view, do we really grasp the awfulness of sin against such an exalted Lord, and if we do not grasp the contents of his salvation, can we know why we should confess our sins?