Today’s passage: Nehemiah 9
Helpful thoughts:
- As Israel continued in repentance, they assembled to read the Word of God for three hours and then confessed their sins and worshipped for another three hours.
- The majority of this chapter contains the public confession that would have been read to the assembly and prayed to God during that three hour period. This was how the leaders of Israel led the people in repentance.
- The prayer recounts the steadfast faithfulness of God and the continual rebellion of His people.
- In verses 32 and on, the request turns to the present, including the promise of a covenanted loyalty on the part of Israel.
Questions to consider:
- In what way does verse 33 seem to summarize the whole prayer in this chapter? What were the people acknowledging was true about God and about themselves?
- With everything we know about the covenants that God had previously given to Israel, and the way Israel treated Jesus Christ once He came, how does this attempt at a covenant taste a little more bitter than sweet?
- What are we to learn from the continual failings of mankind to keep their own covenants with God? On whose working does our salvation rely (Ephesians 2:8-9)?