Nehemiah 9 Footnotes

9:6 The Bible does not support naturalistic explanations for the existence of life (Gn 1:1-31). Here the Levites confess their belief that God gave life to all things. The entire community accepted this confession (see Neh 10:28-29).

9:7 The following confession provides a fairly comprehensive summary of Israel’s past. It is evident that their history was well known, which suggests that much of it was already written and in circulation prior to the postexilic period.

9:8 The Levites noted that God had given the land of Israel to Abraham by a covenant commitment (Gn 17:1-9). They believed this covenant was still valid. In fact, they considered their restoration to the land as an indication that God is righteous. His failure to keep his covenant commitment would have been an unrighteous act. God would be unrighteous today if he were to renege on his covenant commitment to Abraham.

9:10-11 Many people today question whether or not the miracles recorded in the Bible actually occurred. These Jews, who had suffered so long in captivity and were now restored to their homeland, did not question them. They believed their God had performed these miracles in their distant past.

9:30 Recently scholars have attempted to equate Israel’s prophets with similar figures in contemporary near eastern cultures. They believe prophets constituted a unique social institution of ancient Near Eastern cultures, speaking to their communities about their social and religious responsibilities. While it is evident that these other cultures had their own so-called prophets, they were not speaking on behalf of the Lord, but rather on behalf of their own gods. God warned the people not to listen to these other prophets (Dt 18:9-22). Even some of Israel’s own prophets were false (Dt 13:1-5; Jr 23:9-40).