NEHEMIAH LESSON 9


     We will begin this lesson in Nehemiah 9:1 "Now in the twenty and
fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with
fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them."

     On our calendar, this would be the 24th day of October. The
children of Israel, here, were determined to repent of their sins
voluntarily, and begin again with their LORD. This was not a set time
they were fasting, and mourning in sackcloth, and throwing dirt upon
their heads. This was a time of their own choosing. Ezra had stopped
them from weeping in sorrow when they heard the law read, because it
was to be a festive time.

     Nehemiah 9:2 "And the seed of Israel separated themselves from
all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities
of their fathers."

     The reading of the law by Ezra had opened their eyes to the
reality of their sins. They wanted to repent, so they could begin
again.  They separated themselves from the world around them, and
confessed their sins, and the sins of their fathers.

     Nehemiah 9:3 "And they stood up in their place, and read in the
book of the law of the LORD their God [one] fourth part of the day;
and [another] fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD
their God."

     This means they read the law for 3 hours, and confessed for three
hours. The Levites actually read the law to them. They were sincere in
their desire to seek God.

     Nehemiah 9:4  "Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites,
Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, [and]
Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God."

     Jeshua, Bani, and Kadmiel represented the three families of the
Levites at that time. The leaders must lead in repentance, as well.
The Levitical family was not free of sin, either. They must cry out to
God for themselves, and then for the people.

     Nehemiah 9:5 "Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani,
Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, [and] Pethahiah, said,
Stand up [and] bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed
be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise."

     The people had been lying prostrate in grief before their LORD.
They were, now, told to stand up and bless and praise the LORD. The
Bible says the praise of the LORD should be done with both hands
lifted to the LORD. This is a very humbling thing to do, but God
inhabits the praises of His people. The proper way to praise the LORD
is by lifting the hands, palms upward, that you might receive of the
LORD. We have become so sophisticated in our churches today, that few
do this. It is still important to do, especially in prayer.

     Nehemiah 9:6 "Thou, [even] thou, [art] LORD alone; thou hast made
heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all
[things] that [are] therein, the seas, and all that [is] therein, and
thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee."

     This was a recognition of the LORD for who He really was. He is
the Creator of everything. The angels in heaven even worship Him, as
well. He is not only Creator, but Deliverer, and Preserver.

     Nehemiah 9:7 "Thou [art] the LORD the God, who didst choose
Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest
him the name of Abraham;"

     Verse 7, above, spoke of Abram who was selected of God to be the
father of all believers. His faith in God won him favor with God.  His
faith was counted unto him for righteousness.

     Nehemiah 9:8 "And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and
madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the
Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the
Girgashites, to give [it, I say], to his seed, and hast performed thy
words; for thou [art] righteous:"

     The covenant that God made with Abraham was an everlasting
covenant. The following Scriptures are the covenant God made with
Abram who became Abraham. Genesis 12:1 "Now the LORD had said unto
Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy
father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:" Genesis 12:2 "And
I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make
thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:" Genesis 12:3 "And I
will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and
in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." The land God
promised Abraham was inhabited by seven heathen families, when God
gave it to the Israelites. Deuteronomy 7:1 "When the LORD thy God
shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and
hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the
Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites,
and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier
than thou;"  God removed these 7 heathen families, and gave the land
to His family Israel.

     Nehemiah 9:9 "And didst see the affliction of our fathers in
Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;"

     These Israelites had been freed from hard labor in Egypt, when
God sent ten plagues on Egypt. Pharaoh released them, after the death
of all the firstborn in Egypt. God even opened the Red Sea that these
same Israelites could walk over on dry ground. At the same time, He
drowned all of the Egyptian soldiers who tried to follow them.

     Nehemiah 9:10 "And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and
on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou
knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a
name, as [it is] this day."

     God had defamed all the false gods of Egypt, and caused all the
nations, who knew of His act, to realize that He was the True God.
They did not know that He could be their God. They called Him the God
of Israel.

     Nehemiah 9:11 "And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that
they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their
persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty
waters."

     This is, again, speaking of the opening of the Red Sea to give
Israel passage through the midst of the sea, and causing the Egyptian
soldiers to drown.

     Nehemiah 9:12 "Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy
pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in
the way wherein they should go."

     The presence of the LORD crossed the wilderness with them. His
presence was seen of them in the fire by night and the smoke by day.
They moved when the fire, or smoke, moved, and stopped when it
stopped.  He led them as a Father would a helpless child. He is the
Light of the world. They would not dwell in darkness. The Light of the
world was with them.

     Nehemiah 9:13 "Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and
spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and
true laws, good statutes and commandments:"

     God came down the mountain and spoke the ten commandments to
them. It frightened them so badly, they asked Moses to speak to God
for them. They were without excuse, when they sinned with the golden
calf, while Moses was on the mount getting the ten commandment on
stone. He was gone 40 days and nights, but that was no excuse. They
had heard in their ears, before he went up the mountain, these same
commandments.

     Nehemiah 9:14 "And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and
commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses
thy servant:"

     This was speaking of the Levitical law and commandments. There
were over 625 of them in the book of Leviticus. God gave them laws of
religion, civil laws, dietary laws, etc. Moses received them of God,
and gave them to them. These same laws were spoken of by the Jews as
the law of Moses.

     Nehemiah 9:15 "And gavest them bread from heaven for their
hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their
thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land
which thou hadst sworn to give them."
     The manna that fell from heaven fed them for their 40 year
journey across the wilderness. When they had no water, Moses struck
the Rock, and water came forth to quench their thirst. Look, with me,
at what Jesus said about this Bread.  John 6:50 "This is the bread
which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not
die."  John 6:51 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven:
if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread
that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world." I Corinthians 10:4 "And did all drink the same spiritual
drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and
that Rock was Christ."

     Nehemiah 9:16 "But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and
hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,"

     This one verse is the story of these Israelites. The LORD would
forgive them, and they would fall back into sin, over and over.

     Nehemiah 9:17 "And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy
wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in
their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but
thou [art] a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to
anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not."

     They had been slaves in Egypt. They were so rebellious, they
turned against God, and started to go back to Egypt. Moses prayed for
them and God forgave them.

     Nehemiah 9:18 "Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and
said, This [is] thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had
wrought great provocations;"  Nehemiah 9:19 "Yet thou in thy manifold
mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud
departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the
pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they
should go."

     The mercy of God always outweighed His judgement. They deserved
to die for their sins, but God forgave them. This was the story of the
Israelites the entire 40 years of their wandering in the wilderness.















                           Nehemiah 9 Questions


1.  On the 24th day of the month, what did the children of Israel do?
2.  When had they been convinced they needed to repent of their sins?
3.  Verse 2 tells us they ___________ themselves from all strangers.
4.  They stood and ___________ their sins, and their father's
    iniquities.
5.  What did they do for 1/4 of the day?
6.  Who represented the three families of Levites at the time in this
    chapter?
7.  The Levitical family must cry out to God for __________, and then
    for the ________.
8.  What are the people told to do in verse 5?
9.  How should you praise the LORD?
10. What do they say about God in verse 6?
11. He is not only Creator, but ________, and ___________.
12. Where was Abram living, when God selected him?
13. His ________ in God won him favor with God.
14. What kind of covenant did God make with Abram?
15. Quote Genesis chapter 12 verses 1, 2, and 3.
16. How many heathen people were living in the land God promised
    Abraham?
17. Where were the Israelites living in hard bondage, when God heard
    their cry?
18. What did God do for them at the Red Sea?
19. God had _________ the false gods of Egypt.
20. The nations around called God the God of __________
21. God led them with what?
22. At Mount Sinai, God spoke what to the people directly?
23. What did they ask of Moses, because they were frightened of God?
24. While Moses was on the mountain receiving the ten commandments on
    stone, what did the people do?
25. What law is verse 14 speaking of?
26. What is another name for it?
27. Who was the Bread from heaven that fed them on their journey?
28. What did Jesus call Himself in John chapter 6 verse 51?
29. Where does He call Himself the spiritual Rock?
30. The ________ of God always outweighs His judgement?