Nehemiah 9

The grand subject of the book of Nehemiah is, the restoration of the city to dwell in, at the time of " the restoration."
When the wall was finished in the twenty-and-fifth day of the month Elul-.the work was obviously wrought of God-the doors were set up, and the porters, singers, and Levites appointed, and the care of the gates and walls appointed (chap. 6). Then came the reckoning of the genealogies (chap. 7). In chap. 8 we have the reading of the law to the people. A joyous feast, though the hearts were broken, followed (ver. 9-12): then the feast of tabernacles, with its gladness (ver. 14-18). Chapter 9 begins with-The twenty-fourth day of the same month there was a solemn assembly of the people, with fasting, and sackcloth, and earth upon them; and the day was spent in hearing the law of the Lord read, and in confession and worship. The Levites, Jeshua, etc., called to "stand up and bless the Lord," etc. In the recital, for the people, of their outpouring, we find a remarkable tracing-out of the acts and ways of the Lord from the beginning, mixed up with the dark contrast of the returns Israel had made to Him. The creation (ver. 6); the call of Abram, and the change of his name, and gifts to him (ver. 7, 8); the mercy to Israel in deliverance from Egypt (ver. 9-11); His dealings with them; the pillar of guidance; Sinai; the Sabbath, the law, the manna, water, the promise of the land (ver. 12-15). From ver. 16 we have Israel's returns for such goodness-proud dealings, stiffened necks, refusal to hearken, return in heart to Egypt; God's graciousness; the molten calf; God's patient continuance of mercy through forty years, and in their entrance into the land, and blessing and multiplication in it-to ver. 25. Their wickedness (ver. 26); judgment and deliverance (ver. 27); wickedness, judgment, and deliverance (ver. 28); the contrast of the character of the Lord with that of Israel in His triumphing in grace over their ways (ver. 29-35).
Verses 36-38 give the peculiarity of the actual position-
"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: 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. And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it."
Though the Lord's people, they were, through sin, in the hand of an adversary, and had to own that it was of the Lord's grace that they were permitted even thus to be in their land and in the beloved city, Jerusalem. How fallen that city from what it was in the days of Solomon! How different the aspect and position of the people from the time when under the Prince of Peace! As to themselves, their state was, though one of restoration, humbling enough: to their hearts as Jews, to whom the promise of the Messiah belonged, their position had deeper and better blessing: it was, in that point of view, not the comparison drawn between Shushan and Jerusalem-or between Jerusalem in its actual state and in a past state of glory-but it was the renewed taste to their souls of the unwavering faithfulness of God to His promises: to Him Jerusalem was still an object of delight- the city of the great King-His self-chosen city of habitation-metropolis yet to be, of the whole earth.
In the presence of all this goodness on His part, and evil, vile requital, on theirs, they renewed the covenant with the Lord-to walk in his law as given to Moses (chap. 10:29), and to be a separate and peculiar people to Him (ver. 30, 31., etc.).
How should the slipped feet of a fallen people get a firm footing in renewed blessing, save by humiliation and confession-by the recognition that, spite of their own evil doings, the Fountain of Goodness remains pure, and that God can shame man by pouring out blessing even in the midst of failure-blessing, however, of this kind, it will always be found, is of such kind as points onward to the glory to come, and which cannot be rightly enjoyed apart from the anticipations of what is to come. Let its connection with that which is to come be forgotten, and the heart must feel its contrast with what is gone before, or the presence of thorns of judgment which still remain. But if pointing onward, how shall the glory to come be thought of, be brought to mind, and be better tasted through the present mercy! And can this be, without deep self-loathing and humiliation being produced in the soul? Sure I am, that those who look into the glory to come, or look to Jesus as He is, will find enough to make them bow the head, as having had their hearts already bowed down by the taste of the rich, full, free, unmerited grace which presents such scenes before them as theirs-their very own -on the bright to-morrow of the Lord.