What the Past Can Tell Us (Nehemiah 9:7-38)

Having focussed on the greatness of God as they gathered in Jerusalem on the twenty-fourth day of the month in order to make a covenant with him, the people who had returned to the land of Judah then proceeded to look back through the history of their nation right to its beginning at the time of Abraham about fifteen centuries before. As they do so, they mention several periods from their national history, and with regard to each period they say something about the Lord and his actions as well as their forefathers and their actions. So first, we can consider briefly what they said about God as well as what was said about the Israelites, and then we can mention some lessons for ourselves.

God and Abraham (vv. 7-8)

Abraham was selected by God and brought out of his pagan background in order for the Lord to make a covenant with him. God is described as sovereign in his plan and gracious in his choice of Abraham; moreover, he is said to be the searcher of Abraham’s heart as well as the One who made a covenant with him to bless his descendants by giving to them the land of Canaan despite the presence of several people groups within it. Abraham is described as faithful before he became involved in the covenant, which implies a period of testing before the covenant was made. Having made the covenant, God had remained faithful to it down the centuries.

God and journeying to the land (vv. 9-21)

The second section of their confession concerns how they were brought back to the land after the Exodus from Egypt. God had been aware of the sufferings of their forefathers at the hands of Pharaoh and his government, and he particularly delivered them at the Red Sea in answer to prayer when he destroyed the Egyptian army through the sea engulfing them after the Israelites had crossed over on dry ground. This deliverance was followed by the special guidance of the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. At Mount Sinai, God gave them rules for living in the land when they would reach there, and also provided them with manna and water which continued to be given throughout their travels.

Yet they refused to obey the Lord and attempted to return to Egypt. But the God who had appeared to Moses and revealed to him that he was ‘a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.’ Even after they made the golden calf, he continued with them, leading them by the two pillars, instructing them by the Spirit and providing miraculously for their needs for forty years.

God and receiving from him the land (vv. 22-31)

When the Israelites reached the promised land, they enjoyed population growth, overcame the inhabitants, captured territory and took possession of vineyards and orchards already producing in abundance. Yet instead of showing loyalty to the Lord, a cycle of rebellion against God took place despite the goodness of God towards them. They killed prophets that he sent and worshipped idols instead. God judged them for those sins by allowing enemies to rule over them, but when they prayed for deliverance they were restored. Sadly, each return was short-lived and was followed by another departure from his ways. This happened many times despite them being warned by the Holy Spirit through their God-sent prophets. But since he was a gracious and merciful God he did abandon them fully.

God and the current generation (vv. 32-37)

The people then comment on their current situation. They know that they have only experienced a partial restoration from the Babylonian exile. They have been in a form of captivity since the time of the Assyrians, a captivity that had lasted about two hundred years already. Nevertheless, they acknowledge the righteousness of God in having brought them into captivity for the sins committed by all ranks in previous generations. They had deserved to be punished by exile. But that was not all that they said.

Although they were back in the land, they were not there as those who had inherited it from being children of Abraham. Instead of having the land as sons, they were in it as slaves of a foreign power. The rich yield of the land was not at their disposal or benefit; instead, its riches belonged to the emperors of Persia. The people knew that this state of affairs was not right, and they were in great distress about it. But in God they had hope.

Yet we can see from verse 38 that those people were ready to have future dealings with God and had produced something tangible to confirm it. They had composed a covenant for signing. It was a good state for them to be in, and it highlighted the interest of religious and political leaders. In the next chapter we will see what the commitments of this covenant were.

The address by the Levites was obviously a historical survey of Israel from a spiritual point of view. But what lessons can we take for it for ourselves?

Recognising God’s rule in history

The first one is obvious. We have to know about what God has done in the past. He has revealed his power in numerous ways. The people of Israel had their great days that they could look back on and see what the Lord had done for them and not just for their forefathers at those times. The same is true for us. There are many events that we can look back to and see how they affect us today.

Realism before recovery

A second lesson that comes from the history of Israel at the time of Nehemiah is that there has to be a sense of realism before there is recovery. As we consider ourselves, what suggestions can be made about our links to the past. I suppose one response is indifference to them because some assume that there is no link between us and the past. Another response might be ingratitude because we don’t care about what happened in the past, forgetting that it involved us. Or we may have the response of disrespect because we imagine that nothing invaluable happened in the past. The range of responses that fall into a lack of realism are no doubt many.

But perhaps other reactions could be mentioned that come from ignoring the past. One could be lack of incentive to pray large petitions because we don’t know what God did in previous generations. Or there could be lack of interest in knowing Christ more deeply because we are unaware of how close people of previous generations walked with God. Maybe there is lack of investment in service because we don’t know how rewarding people in the past discovered the service of God to be.

The one aspect that is repeatedly stressed in this survey by the Levites is that frequently the people of Israel had refused to obey the commandments of God. This was the common fault in each of the periods that the survey considered. Maybe that is why they don’t mention some of the highlights. No kings or priests or prophets are mentioned by name apart from Abraham and Moses. The silence of that realism should be deafening.

Repentance before recovery

A third feature that comes from the survey is the necessity of repentance before there could be a recovery. We can see from the account how that necessity was repeated throughout the history of the nation. There was never a time of recovery without it being preceded by a period of national repentance. How do we know that was the case since the word ‘repentance’ is not mentioned in the survey? The answer is that dire straits brought the people to their knees. They cried to the Lord to remember them, and he did.

It is important to remember that the parallel of Israel is not a modern nation or a set of nations. The parallel to Israel is the church. Blessings that came to Britain or America or elsewhere in the past were not sent according to national boundaries. They were sent to the church as it existed in those places. It is the church that has a spiritual history, and we want God to do today what he did for previous generations who belonged to the church. He gave them converts who became disciples for the rest of their lives. That must be what we want to see as well. True converts become disciples and followers of Jesus. And since it seems to be a rule in God’s kingdom that periods of growth are preceded by periods of repentance, then the church in weak times should ask the exalted Saviour to send repentance to them. Peter reminded his listeners that is one reason why Jesus is exalted: ‘God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins’ (Acts 5:31).

Recognition of God before recovery

The fourth lesson that we can take from this survey is the awareness that those making this confession had of God. A wonderful description is given of him in verse 32: ‘Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love…’ It would be useful for us to read that description slowly and take in the details stressed in each word, starting with the word ‘our’. He is our God because he has revealed himself to us in his Word and in his mighty acts. We have thought of some of those acts earlier. And there are many descriptions of his splendour in his Word. Here we can see that those desiring to make a covenant with him recognised his almightiness and his faithfulness. He is almighty in his actions, and he acts according to his covenant arrangements, and those acts are acts of mercy. He was the God who had sent his Spirit to help them even although they were unworthy.