Nehemiah 1 - Selected Verses
"The words of Nehemiah the son
of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the
twentieth year, as I was in Susa the capital" (1:1).
1:1 The words of Nehemiah. In Hebrew
the phrase "The words of Nehemiah" can be translated
"The acts of Nehemiah." Nehemiah was a "man
of action" as much as he was a man of words. Without question words
are important in the life of faith but faith is essentially a life of action.
Believing in God is not a mental exercise but a life committed to following
his will.
"that Hanani, one of my brethren,
came with certain men out of Judah; and I asked them concerning
the Jews that survived, who had escaped exile,
and concerning Jerusalem" (1:2).
1:2 I asked them about the Jews.
Nehemiah took the initiative by asking about the welfare of the
Jews living in Jerusalem. For lesser people, the situation in
Judah would have been someone else's problem but for Nehemiah,
even in a distant land, the condition of those who had
"survived" was a cause of intense concern.
1:4 Fasting. See Spiritual Disciplines Index.
"And I said, 'O LORD God of heaven, the great
and terrible God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love
him and keep his commandments; let thy ear be attentive, and thy eyes open,
to hear the prayer of thy servant which I now pray before thee day and night
for the people of Israel thy servants, confessing the sins of the people
of Israel, which we have sinned against thee. Yea, I and my father's house
have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against thee, and have not kept
the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances which thou didst command
thy servant Moses. Remember the word which thou didst command thy servant
Moses, saying, "If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the
peoples; but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though
your dispersed be under the farthest skies, I will gather them thence and
bring them to the place which I have chosen, to make my name dwell there." They
are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power
and by thy strong hand. O Lord, let thy ear be attentive to the prayer of
thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants who delight to fear thy name;
and give success to thy servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of
this man.' Now I was cupbearer to the king." (1:5-11).
1:5-11 the great and awesome God who keeps
covenant. Nehemiah's prayer
reflects a thorough knowledge of Scripture. Almost every phrase in the prayer
was derived from the sacred text (see Deut 7:9, 21; 10:17; 1 Kings 8:52;
Ps 130:2; Deut 34:5; 4:27; 30:1-4; 9:29). The prayer reflects Nehemiah's
saturation with Scripture. The text was so firmly embedded in his memory
that the words of Scripture had become the thoughts of Nehemiah. In the prayer
life of Jesus, as well as the Church, the Bible has often served as a resource
for addressing God. The prayer contrasts the faithfulness of God with the
unfaithfulness of Israel. It was not necessary for Nehemiah to remind God
of his obligations to Israel, but the prayer serves to alert Nehemiah and
Israel that God was the brooding Father waiting for his children to return
to him that he might once again enter into relationship with them.
RESPONDING
1:4-11 Prayer As Michael Riley points out
in the notes, almost every phrase in Nehemiah's eloquent prayer was
derived from other parts of Scripture, which Nehemiah had internalized after
much study. Nehemiah repeated this
prayer "day and night." Try copying out this prayer, studying it,
and praying it for a week. See if its words become a part of you.
1:4-11 Prayer. See Spiritual Disciplines Index.
RESPONDING
1:6-7 Confession Nehemiah's confession is so
general that it reads like an admission that we always have and always will
sin. Recognizing this
can lead to despair and an inability to let go of past sins for which we
have already repented. Søren Kierkegaard wrote this prayer, "Hold
not our sins up against us but hold us up against our sins so that the thought
of You when it wakens in our soul ... should not remind us of what we
have committed but of what You did forgive, not of how we went astray but
of how You did save us." The next time you feel haunted by a past sin,
pray Kierkegaard's prayer and think of it not just as a failing but
as a reminder of God's saving grace.
 
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E-newsletter Archive
November/December 2004
