Nehemiah 9 Study Notes

9:1-37 The penitential prayer of chap. 9 is a beautiful confession of God’s faithfulness and mercy to his people as well as a confession by the people of their nation’s persistent rebellion against God. Some argue that this chapter originally followed Ezr 10. They point out that while the people in Neh 8 were commanded not to “mourn or weep” (8:9) during the Festival of Shelters, the people in this chapter wept and confessed their sins. Yet it was not inappropriate to weep in contrition and repentance of sin; it was only inappropriate to do so during a festival where one was commanded to rejoice. With the completion of the Festival of Shelters on the twenty-second day of the month, it was now permissible and appropriate to repent and confess on the twenty-fourth day of the month.

The prayer itself (vv. 9-37) is an example of the transformation of the lament, so commonly found in the Psalms, into a penitential prayer form common to the postexilic era. It shares many of the same characteristics and themes of the prayers of this era, such as Ezr 9:6-15; Neh 1:5-11; and Dn 9:4-19.

9:1 In the OT era there was a close connection between repentance and mourning. Just as mourners wore sackcloth (Gn 37:34) and put dust (Hb ’adamah) on their heads (2Sm 1:2) when someone died, so did those who mourned their sins and their spiritual condition.

9:2 Critical scholars who argue for the displacement of this chapter from its “original” location after Ezr 10 often point to the connection between the removal of foreign wives (Ezr 10) and this verse. However, in this verse the issue is not specifically foreign wives, but foreigners in general. God’s chosen people, those of Israelite descent (lit “the seed of Israel”), were the ones who needed to confess, not the foreigners.

9:3 Presumably they who stood in their places were the Israelites who separated themselves from foreigners (v. 2), while they who read from the book of the law were those mentioned in the following verse (v. 4)—the Levites.

9:4 What they cried out loudly was apparently the words of the confession in vv. 5-37.

9:5 The prayer in v. 5 is probably a liturgical introduction distinct from the prayer itself that begins in v. 6. The Levites cry, Blessed be the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting, is close to King David’s blessing in 1Ch 29:10 when he and the people generously gave for the building of the first temple.

9:6 The prayer begins with an acknowledgment of the Lord’s incomparability. Only the Lord is the true God of creation who gives life to all and receives the worship of heavenly beings. While several biblical psalms allude to creation (Pss 8; 19; 95; 104), only in Ps 136 does the theme of creation begin the psalm, as it does here.

9:7-8 Like Abram, many of those taking part in the penitential service had been brought out of Ur of the Chaldeans (Babylon). Abram, later renamed Abraham, received the mercy of God, who made a covenant (Hb berith) with him (Gn 15; 17). Just as Abraham was faithful, so God also had been faithful—he had fulfilled his promise.

9:9-11 The description of the exodus from Egypt is recounted with quotes and allusions from Ex 3; 10; 14. The term arrogantly translates a Hebrew verb (ziyd) meaning “to act presumptuously, to be arrogant.” It is used to describe people or “nations who presume to have authority or rights that are not legitimately theirs” (NIDOTTE). The Egyptians regarded the Israelites as their slaves; in reality the Israelites were the Lord’s covenant people, and their redemption from Egypt was remembered as the central redemptive act of the OT. In this mighty act, God made a name for himself as their Savior that endured to the time of Nehemiah and beyond.

9:12-15 The description of the wilderness period (vv. 12-21) begins with a recital of God’s care and provisions for his people. Specific mention is made of the law about the holy Sabbath, which during the exilic and postexilic era became one of the primary markers of Jewish identity (13:15-22). God had provided for Israel’s every need, and at Kadesh-barnea he commanded them to go in and possess the land he had promised the patriarchs (Nm 13-14).

9:16-17 In v. 10 it was the Egyptians who arrogantly mistreated Israel, but now the same verb (Hb ziyd) is used to describe the arrogance of Israel’s ancestors (lit “fathers”) against God and his commands, in spite of his care and provision. Their rebellion against God (v. 17) was both deliberate (they refused to listen) and nonsensical in their appointment of a leader to take them back to their slavery in Egypt.

9:18-21 God’s mercy was put to the test in the making of the golden calf (see Ex 32). Yet even this serious offense was met with mercy. God’s presence remained with them in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, and his provision continued during their entire forty years in the wilderness. God even sent his good Spirit (Hb ruachka hatovah) to instruct his people, probably a reference to the seventy elders chosen by Moses (Nm 11:16-17,23-30) who received some of the Spirit Moses had (Nm 11:25).

9:22-25 The final historical period, the giving of the land (vv. 22-31), is introduced with a synopsis primarily derived from Moses’s review of the event in Deuteronomy. The defeats of Sihon and Og (see Nm 21; Dt 2-3) were crucial victories that secured Transjordan for Israel (Ps 135:11; 136:19-20). All that God had promised he faithfully brought about for his people, who delighted in his great goodness.

9:26-31 Just as God’s faithfulness to his people in the wilderness (vv. 12-15) was rewarded with their rebellion (vv. 16-17), so God’s faithfulness in the gift of the land was met with unbelief and unfaithfulness. In a poetic play on words not found elsewhere in the OT, the Israelites are described as those who were disobedient and rebelled (Hb wayyameru wayyimredu) against God (v. 26). Verses 27-30 recount the cycle of sin played out repeatedly in the book of Judges. Despite their persistent and repeated failure, God did not destroy them or abandon them.

9:32-37 After the long review of Israel’s broken promises and rebellion against God, the prayer finally turns from confession to a petition addressed to our God, the God who (unlike Israel) keeps his gracious covenant. The only request in this long prayer is that God would take note of their hardships. The term hardships (Hb tela’ah) occurs only rarely in the OT, but it is used to refer to times of great distress or trials, such as the exodus (Ex 18:8) or Jerusalem after its destruction at the hands of the Babylonians (Lm 3:5). While some have explained the mention of the Assyrian kings as a reference to the Persians (cp. Ezr 6:22), more likely it marks the beginning of foreign domination over Israel with the fall of the northern kingdom in the eighth century BC, a condition that persisted in Nehemiah’s time under the Persians.

Yet the prayer makes clear (vv. 33-34) that the blame for all their hardships was their own and not God’s. God was just. Both the Levites leading the prayer and all who joined in with them confessed their solidarity in sin, because they had acted wickedly. The tragic irony was that the land was God’s great gift to them—if they would only keep the covenant. Instead they would lament, Here we are—slaves in it! While God’s people hoped for God’s intervention, they ended their prayer by acknowledging the sad reality: We are in great distress.

9:38-10:39 In the Hebrew Bible, 9:38 is the first verse of chap. 10, since its subject matter clearly relates to the covenant renewal ceremony that follows. The opening phrase of this section, In view of all this, links the covenant renewal with the penitential prayer of chap. 9. Many critical scholars maintain that chap. 10 is displaced from its original position, yet there is no conclusive evidence that this is so. It is true that Ezra is not mentioned as a signatory of the covenant in chap. 10. It is also correct that some of the issues dealt with in 10:30-39 are issues that Nehemiah dealt with in chap. 13. Still, some of the issues dealt with in 10:30-39 are absent from chap. 13, while chap. 13 deals with issues not mentioned in 10:30-39. Moreover, one should not conclude that the pledges made in chap. 10 were fully kept from that time forward.

There are several possible explanations for why Ezra is not mentioned in the chapter. If he was the author of the covenant, there may have been no need for his signature. Also, since many of the names listed in the document (10:1-27), especially of the priests, are family names, it may be that Ezra was not mentioned since he was part of the Seraiah family of priests (Ezr 7:5). It is interesting that the high priest at this time, presumably still Eliashib (Neh 3:1), is not mentioned in the list of signatories. He too, like Ezra, was included under the Seraiah family signature. The discussion below will assume the events of chap. 10 follow logically and chronologically after the events of chaps. 8-9.

9:38 After their corporate confession of sin, the leaders made a binding agreement in writing. The phrase binding agreement (Hb korethim ’amanah) is unique, combining the common Hebrew idiom for making (Hb careth, lit “cut”) a covenant with the rare term “agreement” (Hb ’amanah), derived from the Hebrew verb (’aman) “to be faithful, to be trustworthy.”