N
E H E M I A H
CHAP. IX.
The
tenth day of the seventh month between the feast of trumpets (ch. viii.
2) and the feast of tabernacles (ver. 14) was appointed to be the day of
atonement; we have no reason to think but that it was religiously observed,
though it is not mentioned. But here we have an account of an occasional fast
that was kept a fortnight after that, with reference to the present posture of
their affairs, and it was, as that, a day of humiliation. There is a time to
weep as well as a time to laugh. We have here an account. I. How this fast was
observed, ver. 1-3. II. What were the heads of the prayer that was made to God
on that occasion, wherein they made a thankful acknowledgment of God's
mercies, a penitent confession of sin, and a humble submission to the
righteous hand of God in the judgments that were brought upon them, concluding
with a solemn resolution of new obedience, ver. 4-38.
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The
Repentance of the People.
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B.
C. 444.
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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. 2 And the seed of Israel separated themselves
from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of
their fathers. 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.
We have here a general account of a public fast which the children of Israel
kept, probably by order from Nehemiah, by and with the advice and consent of
the chief of the fathers. It was a fast that men appointed, but such a fast
as God had chosen; for, 1. It was a day to afflict the soul, Isa.
lviii. 5. Probably they assembled in the courts of the temple, and they there
appeared in sackcloth and in the posture of mourners, with earth on their
heads, v. 1. By these outward expressions of sorrow and humiliation
they gave glory to God, took shame to themselves, and stirred up one another
to repentance. They were restrained from weeping, ch. viii. 9,
but now they were directed to weep. The joy of our holy feasts must give way
to the sorrow of our solemn fasts when they come. Every thing is beautiful in
its season. 2. It was a day to loose the bands of wickedness, and that
is the fast that God has chosen, Isa. lviii. 6. Without this, spreading
sackcloth and ashes under us is but a jest. The seed of Israel, because they
were a holy seed, appropriated to God and more excellent than their
neighbours, separated themselves from all strangers with whom they had
mingled and joined in affinity, v. 2. Ezra had separated them from
their strange wives some years before, but they had relapsed into the same
sin, and had either made marriages or at least made friendships with them, and
contracted such an intimacy as was a snare to them. But now they separated
themselves from the strange children as well as from the strange wives. Those
that intend by prayers and covenants to join themselves to God must separate
themselves from sin and sinners; for what communion hath light with
darkness? 3. It was a day of communion with God. They fasted to him,
even to him (Zech. vii. 5); for, (1.) They spoke to him in prayer, offered
their pious and devout affections to him in the confession of sin and the
adoration of him as the Lord and their God. Fasting without prayer is a body
without a soul, a worthless carcase. (2.) They heard him speaking to them by
his word; for they read in the book of the law, which is very proper on
fasting days, that, in the glass of the law, we may see our deformities and
defilements, and know what to acknowledge and what to amend. The word will
direct and quicken prayer, for by it the Spirit helps our praying infirmities.
Observe how the time was equally divided between these two. Three hours (for
that is the fourth part of a day) they spent in reading, expounding, and
applying the scriptures, and three hours in confessing sin and praying; so
that they staid together six hours, and spent all the time in the solemn acts
of religion, without saying, Behold, what a weariness is it! The
varying of the exercises made it the less tedious, and, as the word they read
would furnish them with matter for prayer, so prayer would make the word the
more profitable. Bishop Patrick thinks that they spent the whole twelve hours
of the day in devotion, that from six o'clock in the morning till nine they
read, and then from nine to twelve they prayed, from twelve to three they read
again, and from three till six at night they prayed again. The word of a fast
day is good work, and therefore we should endeavour to make a day's work, a
good day's work, of it.
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The
Prayer of the Levites.
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B.
C. 444.
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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. 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. 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. 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; 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: 9 And
didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by
the Red sea; 10 And showedst 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. 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.
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. 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: 14 And madest known unto them thy holy
sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of
Moses thy servant: 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. 16 But they and our fathers dealt
proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy
commandments, 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. 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; 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 show them light, and the way wherein they should
go. 20 Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and
withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their
thirst. 21 Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the
wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old,
and their feet swelled not. 22 Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms
and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of
Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.
23 Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and
broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their
fathers, that they should go in to possess it. 24 So the
children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the
inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands,
with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as
they would. 25 And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and
possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards,
and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became
fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. 26
Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy
law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to
turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations. 27
Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed
them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou
heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou
gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.
28 But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest
thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over
them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them
from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy
mercies; 29 And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring
them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy
commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall
live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would
not hear. 30 Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and
testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not
give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the
lands. 31 Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not
utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and
merciful God. 32 Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty,
and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble
seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes,
and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy
people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day. 33
Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast
done right, but we have done wickedly: 34 Neither have our kings,
our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto
thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against
them. 35 For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in
thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which
thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.
36 Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou
gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold,
we are servants in it: 37 And it yieldeth much increase
unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have
dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are
in great distress. 38 And because of all this we make a sure covenant,
and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto
it.
We have here an account how the work of this fast-day was carried on. 1. The
names of the ministers that were employed. They are twice named (v. 4,
5), only with some variation of the names. Either they prayed successively,
according to that rule which the apostle gives (1 Cor. xiv. 31, You may all
prophesy one by one), or, as some think, there were eight several
congregations at some distance from each other, and each had a Levite to
preside in it. 2. The work itself in which they employed themselves. (1.) They
prayed to God, cried to him with a loud voice (v. 4), for the pardon of
the sins of Israel and God's favour to them. They cried aloud, not that God
might the better hear them, as Baal's worshippers, but that the people might,
and to excite their fervency. (2.) They praised God; for the work of praise is
not unseasonable on a fast-day; in all acts of devotion we must aim at this,
to give unto God the glory due to his name. The summary of their
prayers we have here upon record; whether drawn up before, as a directory to
the Levites what to enlarge on, or recollected after, as the heads of what
they had in prayer enlarged upon, is uncertain. Much more no doubt was said
than is here recorded, else confessing and worshipping God would not have
taken up a fourth part of the day, much less two-fourths.
In this solemn address to God we have,
I. An awful adoration of God, as a perfect and glorious Being, and the
fountain of all beings, v. 5, 6. The congregation is called upon to
signify their concurrence herewith by standing up; and so the minister directs
himself to God, Blessed be thy glorious name. God is here adored, 1. As
the only living and true God: Thou art Jehovah alone, self-existent and
independent; there is no God besides thee. 2. As the Creator of all things: Thou
hast made heaven, earth, and seas, and all that is in them. The first
article of our creed is fitly made the first article of our praises. 3. As the
great Protector of the whole creation: "Thou preservest in being all the
creatures thou hast given being to." God's providence extends itself to
the highest beings, for they need it, and to the meanest, for they are not
slighted by it. What God has made he will preserve; what he does is done
effectually, Eccl. iii. 14. 4. As the object of the creatures' praises: "The
host of heaven, the world of holy angels, worshippeth thee, v.
6. But thy name is exalted above all blessing and praise; it needs not
the praises of the creatures, nor is any addition made to its glory by those
praises." The best performances in the praising of God's name, even those
of the angels themselves, fall infinitely short of what it deserves. It is not
only exalted above our blessing, but above all blessing. Put all the praises
of heaven and earth together, and the thousandth part is not said of what
might and should be said of the glory of God. Our goodness extendeth not to
him.
II. A thankful acknowledgment of God's favours to Israel.
1. Many of these are here reckoned up in order before him, and very much to
the purpose, for, (1.) We must take all occasions to mention the loving
kindness of the Lord, and in every prayer give thanks. (2.) When we are
confessing our sins it is good to take notice of the mercies of God as the
aggravations of our sins, that we may be the more humbled and ashamed, and
call ourselves by the scandalous name of ungrateful. (3.) When we are seeking
to God for mercy and relief in the time of distress it is an encouragement to
our faith and hope to look back upon our own and our fathers' experiences:
"Lord, thou hast done well for us formerly; shall it be all undone again?
Art not thou the same God still?"
2. Let us briefly observe the particular instances of God's goodness to Israel
here recounted. (1.) The call of Abraham, v. 7. God's favour to him was
distinguishing: "Thou didst choose him." His grace in him was
powerful to bring him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and, in giving him the name
of Abraham, he put honour upon him as his own and assured him that he should
be the father of many nations. Look unto Abraham your father (Isa. li.
2) and see free grace glorified in him. (2.) The covenant God made with him to
give the land of Canaan to him and his seed, a type of the better country, v.
8. And this covenant was sure, for God found Abraham's heart faithful before
God, and found it so because he made it so (for faith is not of ourselves, it
is the gift of God), and therefore performed his words; for with the
upright he will show himself upright, and wherever he finds a faithful
heart he will be found a faithful God. (3.) The deliverance of Israel out of
Egypt, v. 9-11. It was seasonable to remember this now that they were
interceding for the perfecting of their deliverance out of Babylon. They were
then delivered, in compassion to their affliction, in answer to their cry, and
in resistance of the pride and insolence of their persecutors. Wherein they
dealt proudly, God showed himself above them (Exod. xviii. 11), and so
got himself a name; for he said, I will get me honour upon Pharaoh.
Even to this day the name of God is glorified for that wonderful work. It was
done miraculously: signs and wonders were shown for the effecting of it; their
deliverance was the destruction of their enemies; they were thrown into the
deeps, as irrecoverably as a stone into the mighty waters. (4.) The
conducting of them through the wilderness, by the pillar of cloud and fire,
which showed them which way they should go, when they should remove, and when
and where they should rest, directed all their stages and all their steps, v.
12. It was also a visible token of God's presence with them, to guide and
guard them. They mention this again (v. 19), observing that though they
had by their sins provoked God to withdraw from them, and leave them to wander
and perish in the by-paths of the wilderness, yet in his manifold mercy he
continued to lead them, and took not away the pillar of cloud and fire,
v. 19. When mercies, though forfeited, are continued, we are bound to
be doubly thankful. (5.) The plentiful provision made for them in the
wilderness, that they might not perish for hunger: Thou gavest them bread
from heaven, and water out of the rock (v. 15), and, to hold
up their hearts, a promise that they should go in and possess the land of
Canaan. They had meat and drink, food convenient in the way, and the good land
at their journey's end; what would they more? This also is repeated (v.
20, 21) as that which was continued, notwithstanding their provocations: Forty
years didst thou sustain them. Never was people so long nursed and so
tenderly; they were wonderfully provided for, and, in so long a time, their
clothes waxed not old, and, though the way was rough and tedious, their
feet swelled not; for they were carried as upon eagles' wings. (6.)
The giving of the law upon Mount Sinai. This was the greatest favour of all
that was done them and the greatest honour that was put upon them. The
Lawgiver was very glorious, v. 13. "Thou didst not only send, but
camest down thyself, and didst speak with them," Deut. iv. 33. The
law given was very good. No nation under the sun had such right judgments,
true laws, and good statutes, Deut. iv. 8. The moral and judicial
precepts were true and right, founded upon natural equity and the eternal
reasons of good and evil; and even the ceremonial institutions were good,
tokens of God's goodness to them and types of gospel grace. Particular notice
is taken of the law of the fourth commandment as a great favour to them: Thou
madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, which was a token of God's
particular favour to them, distinguishing them from the nations who had
revolted from God and quite lost that ancient part of revealed religion, and
was likewise a means of keeping up their communion with him. And, with the
law and the sabbath, he gave his good Spirit to instruct them,
v. 20. Besides the law given on Mount Sinai, the five books of Moses,
which he wrote as he was moved by the Holy Ghost, were constant
instructions to them, particularly the book of Deuteronomy, in which God's
Spirit by Moses instructed them fully. Bezaleel was filled with the Spirit
of God (Exod. xxxi. 3), so was Joshua (Num. xxvii. 18), and Caleb had
another spirit. (7.) The putting of them in possession of Canaan, that good
land, kingdoms and nations, v. 22. They were made so numerous as
to replenish it (v. 23) and so victorious as to be masters of it (v.
24); the natives were given into their hands, that they might do with them
as they would, set their feet, if they pleased, on the necks of their
kings. Thus they gained a happy settlement, v. 25. Look upon
their cities, and you see them strong and well fortified. Look into their
houses, and you find them fine and well furnished, filled with all sorts of
rich goods. Take a view of the country, and you will say that you never saw
such a fat land, so well stored with vineyards and oliveyards. All
these they found made ready to their hands; so they delighted themselves in
the gifts of God's great goodness. They could not wish to be more easy or
happy than they were, or might have been, in Canaan, had it not been their own
fault. (8.) God's great readiness to pardon their sins, and work deliverance
for them, when they had by their provocations brought his judgments upon
themselves. When they were in the wilderness they found him a God ready to
pardon (v. 17), a God of pardons (so the margin reads it),
who had proclaimed his name as a God forgiving iniquity, transgression, and
sin, who has power to forgive sin, is willing to forgive, and glories in
forgiving. Though they forsook him, he did not forsake them, as justly he
might have done, but continued his care of them and favour to them.
Afterwards, when they were settled in Canaan and sold themselves by their sins
into the hands of their enemies, upon their submission and humble request he gave
them saviours (v. 27), the judges, by whom God wrought many a great
deliverance for them when they were on the brink of ruin. This he did, not for
any merit of theirs, for their deserved nothing but ill, but according to his
mercies, his manifold mercies. (9.) The admonitions and fair warnings he gave
them by his servants the prophets. When he delivered them from their troubles
he testified against their sins (v. 28, 29), that they might not
misconstrue their deliverances as connivances at their wickedness. That which
was designed in all the testimonies which the prophets bore against them was
to bring them again to God's law, to lay their necks under its yoke, and walk
by its rule. The end of our ministry is to bring people to God by bringing
them to his law, not to bring them to ourselves by bringing them under any law
of ours. This we have again (v. 30): Thou testifiedst against them
by thy Spirit in thy prophets. The testimony of the prophets was the
testimony of the Spirit in the prophets, and it was the Spirit of Christ in
them, 1 Pet. i. 10, 11. They spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,
and what they said is to be received accordingly. God gave them his Spirit
to instruct them (v. 20), but, they not receiving that instruction,
he did by his Spirit testify against them. If we will not suffer God's word to
teach and rule us, it will accuse and judge us. God sends prophets, in
compassion to his people (2 Chron. xxxvi. 15), that he may not send judgments.
(10.) The lengthening out of his patience and the moderating of his rebukes: Many
years did he forbear them (v. 30), as loth to punish them, and
waiting to see if they would repent; and, when he did punish them, he did not utterly
consume them nor forsake them, v. 31. Had he forsaken them they
would have been utterly consumed; but he did not stir up all his wrath, for he
designed their reformation, not their destruction. Thus do they multiply, thus
do they magnify, the instances of God's goodness to Israel, and we should do
in like manner, that the goodness of God, duly considered by us, may lead us
to repentance, and overcome our badness. The more thankful we are for God's
mercies the more humbled we shall be for our own sins.
III. Here is a penitent confession of sin, their own sins, and the sins of
their fathers. The mention of these is interwoven with the memorials of God's
favours, that God's goodness, notwithstanding their provocations, might appear
the more illustrious, and their sins, notwithstanding his favours, might
appear the more heinous. Many passages in this acknowledgment of sins and
mercies are taken from Ezek. xx. 5-26, as will appear by comparing those
verses with these; for the word of God is of use to direct us in prayer, and
by what he says to us we may learn what to say to him.
1. They begin with the sins of Israel in the wilderness: They, even our
fathers (so it might better be read), dealt proudly (though,
considering what they were, and how lately they had come out of slavery, they
had no reason to be proud), and hardened their necks, v. 16.
Pride is at the bottom of men's obstinacy and disobedience; they think it
below them to bow their necks to God's yoke, and a piece of state to set up
their own will in opposition to the will of God himself. (1.) There were two
things which they did not duly give heed to, else they would not have done as
they did:--The word of God they heard, but they did not hearken to God's
commandments; and the works of God they saw, but they were not mindful of his
wonders: had they duly considered them as miracles, they would have obeyed
from a principle of faith and holy fear; had they duly considered them as
mercies, they would have obeyed from a principle of gratitude and holy love.
But, when men make no right use either of God's ordinances or of his
providences, what can be expected from them? (2.) Two great sins are here
specified; which they were guilty of in the wilderness--meditating a return,
[1.] To Egyptian slavery, which, for the sake of the garlick and onions, they
preferred before the glorious liberty of the Israel of God attended with some
difficulty and inconvenience. In their rebellion they appointed a captain
to return to their bondage, in distrust of God's power and contempt of his
holy promise, v. 17. [2.] To Egyptian idolatry: They made a molten
calf, and were so sottish as to say, This is thy God.
2. They next bewail the provocations of their fathers after they were put in
possession of Canaan. Though they were delighted themselves in God's great
goodness, yet that would not prevail to keep them closely to him; for, nevertheless,
they were disobedient (v. 26) and wrought great provocations.
For, (1.) They abused God's prophets, slew them because they testified
against them to turn them to God (v. 26), so returning the greatest
injury for the greatest kindness. (2.) They abused his favours: After they
had rest, they did evil again, v. 28. They were not wrought
upon either by their troubles or their deliverances out of trouble. Neither
fear nor love would hold them to their duty.
3. They at length come nearer to their own day, and lament the sins which had
brought those judgments upon them which they had long been groaning under and
were now but in part delivered from: We have done wickedly (v.
33): our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers, have all
been guilty, and we in them, v. 34. Two things they charge upon
themselves and their fathers, as the cause of their troubles:-- (1.) A
contempt of the good law God had given them: They sinned against thy
judgments, the dictates of divine wisdom, and the demands of divine
sovereignty. Though they were told how much it would be for their own
advantage to govern themselves by them, for, if a man do them, he shall
live in them (v. 29), yet they would not do them, and so, in
effect, said that they would not live. They forsook their own
mercies. This abridgment of the covenant, Do this and live, is
taken from Ezek. xx. 13, and is quoted, Gal. iii. 12, to prove that the law
is not of faith; it was not them as it is now, Believe and live,
yet they gave a withdrawing shoulder, so it is in the margin. They
pretended to lay their shoulders under the burden of God's law, and put their
shoulders to the work, but they proved withdrawing shoulders; they soon flew
off, would not keep to it, would not abide by it. When it came, as we say, to
the setting to, they shrunk back, and would not hear. They had a backsliding
heart; and, though God by his prophets called them to return, they would
not give ear, v. 30. He stretched out his hands, but no man
regarded. (2.) A contempt of the good land god had given them (v.
35): "Our kings have not served thee in their kingdom, have not
used their power for the support of religion; our people have not served thee
in the use of the gifts of thy great goodness, and in that large and fat land
which thou not only gavest them by thy grant, but gavest before them by the
expulsion of the natives and the complete victories they obtained over
them." Those that would not serve God in their own land were made to
serve their enemies in a strange land, as was threatened, Deut. xxviii. 47,
48. It is a pity that a good land should have bad inhabitants, but so it was
with Sodom. Fatness and fulness often make men proud and sensual.
IV. Here is a humble representation of the judgments of God, which they had
been and were now under.
1. Former judgments are remembered as aggravations of their sins, that they
had not taken warning. In the days of the judges their enemies vexed them
(v. 27); and, when they did evil again, God did again leave them in
the hand of their enemies, who could not have touched them if God had not
given them up; but, when God left them, they got and kept dominion over them.
2. Their present calamitous state is laid before the Lord (v. 36, 37): We
are servants this day. Free-born Israelites are enslaved, and the land
which they had long held by a much more honourable tenure than grand
sergeantry itself, even by immediate grant from the crown of heaven to them as
a peculiar people above all people on the earth, they now held by as base a
tenure as villenage itself, by, from, and under, the kings of Persia, whose
vassals they were. A sad change! But see what work sin makes! They were bound
to personal service: They have dominion over our bodies; they held all
they had precariously, were tenants at will, and the land-tax that they paid
was so great that it amounted even to a rack-rent; so that all the rents,
issues, and profits, of their land did in effect accrue to the king, and it
was as much as they could do to get a bare subsistence for themselves and
their families out of it. This, they honestly own, was for their sins. Poverty
and slavery are the fruits of sin; it is sin that brings us into all our
distresses.
V. Here is their address to God under these calamities. 1. By way of request,
that their trouble might not seem little, v. 32. It is the only
petition in all this prayer. The trouble was universal; it had come on their kings,
princes, priests, prophets, fathers, and all their people; they had all
shared in the sin (v. 34), and now all shared in the judgment. It was
of long continuance: From the time of the kings of Assyria, who carried
the ten tribes captive, unto this day. "Lord, let it not all seem
little and not worthy to be regarded, or not needing to be relieved."
They do not prescribe to God what he shall do for them, but leave it to him,
only desiring he would please to take cognizance of it, remembering that when
he saw the affliction of his people in Egypt to be great he came down to
deliver them, Exod. iii. 7, 8. In this request they have an eye to God as one
that is to be feared (for he is the great, the mighty, and the terrible,
God), and as one that is to be trusted, for he is our God in
covenant, and a God that keeps covenant and mercy. 2. By way of
acknowledgment, notwithstanding, that really it was less than they deserved, v.
33. They own the justice of God in all their troubles, that he had done them
no wrong. "We have done wickedly in breaking thy laws, and therefore thou
hast done right in bringing all these miseries upon us." Note, It becomes
us, when we are under the rebukes of divine Providence, though ever so sharp
and ever so long, to justify God and to judge ourselves; for he will be clear
when he judgeth. Ps. li. 4.
VI. Here is the result and conclusion of this whole matter. After this long
remonstrance of their case was made they came at last to this resolution, that
they would return to God and to their duty, and oblige themselves never to
forsake God, but always to continue in their duty. "Because of all this,
we make a sure covenant with God; in consideration of our frequent departures
from God, we will now more firmly than ever bind ourselves to him. Because we
have smarted so much for sin, we will now stedfastly resolve against it, that
we may not any more withdraw the shoulder." Observe, 1. This covenant was
made with serious consideration. It is the result of a chain of suitable
thoughts, and so is a reasonable service. 2. With great solemnity. It was
written, in perpetuam rei memoriam--that it might remain a memorial for all
ages; it was sealed and left upon record, that it might be a witness
against them if they dealt deceitfully. 3. With join consent: "We make
it; we are all agreed in making it, and do it unanimously, that we may
strengthen the hands one of another." 4. With fixed resolution: "It
is a sure covenant, without reserving a power of revocation. It is what
we will live and die by, and never go back from." A certain number of the
princes, priests, and Levites, were chosen as the representatives of the
congregation, to subscribe and seal it for and in the name of the rest. Now
was fulfilled that promise concerning the Jews, that, when they returned out
of captivity, they should join themselves to the Lord in a perpetual
covenant (Jer. l. 5), and that in Isa. xliv. 5, that they should subscribe
with their hand unto the Lord. He that bears an honest mind will not
startle at assurances; nor will those that know the deceitfulness of their own
hearts think them needless.
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