Nehemiah 9 Study Notes

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).

The root indicates being hot. Jacob cooks stew (Gn 25:29). One lexicon, depending on Arabic, claims this idea represents a different root than other instances of ziyd, which describe acting arrogantly (Ex 18:11). Pharaoh and Egypt treated Israel arrogantly at the exodus (Neh 9:10). People act willfully by undertaking premeditated murder (Ex 21:14). They act defiantly (Dt 1:43) or arrogantly against God (Jr 50:29), presuming to speak falsely for him (Dt 18:20). The adjective (13x) describes willful or deliberate sins (Ps 19:13). The arrogant are accursed (Ps 119:21). Arrogant people will ultimately bring worldwide judgment (Is 13:11; Mal 4:1). With prepositions, the noun implies arrogantly ignoring God’s messengers (Dt 17:12) or presumptuously proclaiming false prophecy (Dt 18:22). Presumptuous hearts are self-deceived, claiming invincibility against God (Jr 49:16).

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.”