---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Nehemiah 9"
description: "CHAPTER 9   :-. A SOLEMN FAST
AND REPENTANCE OF THE
PEOPLE. 1. Now in the twenty and fourth day
of this month—that is, on the second day after the close o"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/nehemiah/9"
---

CHAPTER 9

. A SOLEMN FAST
AND REPENTANCE OF THE
PEOPLE.

**1. Now in the twenty and fourth day
of this month**—that is, on the second day after the close of the
feast of tabernacles, which commenced on the fourteenth and
terminated on the twenty-second (). The day immediately after that feast, the
twenty-third, had been occupied in separating the delinquents from
their unlawful wives, as well, perhaps, as in taking steps for
keeping aloof in future from unnecessary intercourse with the heathen
around them. For although this necessary measure of reformation had
been begun formerly by Ezra (), and satisfactorily accomplished at that time (in so far
as he had information of the existing abuses, or possessed the power
of correcting them) yet it appears that this reformatory work of Ezra
had been only partial and imperfect. Many cases of delinquency had
escaped, or new defaulters had appeared who had contracted those
forbidden alliances; and there was an urgent necessity for Nehemiah
again to take vigorous measures for the removal of a social evil
which threatened the most disastrous consequences to the character
and prosperity of the chosen people. A solemn fast was now observed
for the expression of those penitential and sorrowful feelings which
the reading of the law had produced, but which had been suppressed
during the celebration of the feast; and the sincerity of their
repentance was evinced by the decisive steps taken for the correction
of existing abuses in the matter of marriage.

**2. confessed their sins, and the
iniquities of their fathers**—Not only did they read in their
recent sufferings a punishment of the national apostasy and guilt,
but they had made themselves partakers of their fathers' sins by
following the same evil ways.

**3. they . . . read in the book of
the law**—Their extraordinary zeal led them to continue this as
before.
**one fourth part of the
day**—that is, for three hours, twelve hours being the
acknowledged length of the Jewish day (). This solemn diet of worship, which probably commenced at
the morning sacrifice, was continued for six hours, that is, till the
time of the evening sacrifice. The worship which they gave to the
Lord their God, at this season of solemn national humiliation,
consisted in acknowledging and adoring His great mercy in the
forgiveness of their great and multiplied offenses, in delivering
them from the merited judgments which they had already experienced or
which they had reason to apprehend, in continuing amongst them the
light and blessings of His word and worship, and in supplicating the
extension of His grace and protection.
. THE LEVITES
CONFESS GOD'S
MANIFOLD GOODNESS,
AND THEIR OWN
WICKEDNESS.

**4. Then stood up upon the stairs**—the
scaffolds or pulpits, whence the Levites usually addressed the
people. There were probably several placed at convenient distances,
to prevent confusion and the voice of one drowning those of the
others.
**cried with a loud voice unto
the Lord**—Such an exertion, of course, was indispensably
necessary, in order that the speakers might be heard by the vast
multitude congregated in the open air. But these speakers were then
engaged in expressing their deep sense of sin, as well as fervently
imploring the forgiving mercy of God; and "crying with a loud
voice" was a natural accompaniment of this extraordinary prayer
meeting, as violent gestures and vehement tones are always the way in
which the Jews, and other people in the East, have been accustomed to
give utterance to deep and earnest feelings.

**5. Then the Levites . . . said,
Stand up and bless the Lord your God**—If this prayer was uttered
by all these Levites in common, it must have been prepared and
adopted beforehand, perhaps, by Ezra; but it may only embody the
substance of the confession and thanksgiving.

**6-38. Thou, even thou, art Lord
alone,** &c.—In this solemn and impressive prayer, in which
they make public confession of their sins, and deprecate the
judgments due to the transgressions of their fathers, they begin with
a profound adoration of God, whose supreme majesty and omnipotence is
acknowledged in the creation, preservation, and government of all.
Then they proceed to enumerate His mercies and distinguished favors
to them as a nation, from the period of the call of their great
ancestor and the gracious promise intimated to him in the divinely
bestowed name of Abraham, a promise which implied that he was to be
the Father of the faithful, the ancestor of the Messiah, and the
honored individual in whose seed all the families of the earth should
be blessed. Tracing in full and minute detail the signal instances of
divine interposition for their deliverance and their interest—in
their deliverance from Egyptian bondage—their miraculous passage
through the Red Sea—the promulgation of His law—the forbearance
and long-suffering shown them amid their frequent rebellions—the
signal triumphs given them over their enemies—their happy
settlement in the promised land—and all the extraordinary
blessings, both in the form of temporal prosperity and of religious
privilege, with which His paternal goodness had favored them above
all other people, they charge themselves with making a miserable
requital. They confess their numerous and determined acts of
disobedience. They read, in the loss of their national independence
and their long captivity, the severe punishment of their sins. They
acknowledge that, in all heavy and continued judgments upon their
nation, God had done right, but they had done wickedly. And in
throwing themselves on His mercy, they express their purpose of
entering into a national covenant, by which they pledge themselves to
dutiful obedience in future.

**22. Moreover thou gavest them
kingdoms and nations**—that is, put them in possession of a rich
country, of an extensive territory, which had been once occupied by a
variety of princes and people.
**and didst divide them into
corners**—that is, into tribes. The propriety of the expression
arose from the various districts touching at points or angles on each
other.
**the land of Sihon, and the
land of the king of Heshbon**—Heshbon being the capital city, the
passage should run thus: "the land of Sihon or the land of the
king of Heshbon."

**6-38. Thou, even thou, art Lord
alone,** &c.—In this solemn and impressive prayer, in which
they make public confession of their sins, and deprecate the
judgments due to the transgressions of their fathers, they begin with
a profound adoration of God, whose supreme majesty and omnipotence is
acknowledged in the creation, preservation, and government of all.
Then they proceed to enumerate His mercies and distinguished favors
to them as a nation, from the period of the call of their great
ancestor and the gracious promise intimated to him in the divinely
bestowed name of Abraham, a promise which implied that he was to be
the Father of the faithful, the ancestor of the Messiah, and the
honored individual in whose seed all the families of the earth should
be blessed. Tracing in full and minute detail the signal instances of
divine interposition for their deliverance and their interest—in
their deliverance from Egyptian bondage—their miraculous passage
through the Red Sea—the promulgation of His law—the forbearance
and long-suffering shown them amid their frequent rebellions—the
signal triumphs given them over their enemies—their happy
settlement in the promised land—and all the extraordinary
blessings, both in the form of temporal prosperity and of religious
privilege, with which His paternal goodness had favored them above
all other people, they charge themselves with making a miserable
requital. They confess their numerous and determined acts of
disobedience. They read, in the loss of their national independence
and their long captivity, the severe punishment of their sins. They
acknowledge that, in all heavy and continued judgments upon their
nation, God had done right, but they had done wickedly. And in
throwing themselves on His mercy, they express their purpose of
entering into a national covenant, by which they pledge themselves to
dutiful obedience in future.

**32. Now therefore, our God . . . who
keepest covenant and mercy**—God's fidelity to His covenant is
prominently acknowledged, and well it might; for their whole national
history bore testimony to it. But as this could afford them little
ground of comfort or of hope while they were so painfully conscious
of having violated it, they were driven to seek refuge in the riches
of divine grace; and hence the peculiar style of invocation here
adopted: "Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the
terrible God, who *keepest covenant and mercy.*"

**6-38. Thou, even thou, art Lord
alone,** &c.—In this solemn and impressive prayer, in which
they make public confession of their sins, and deprecate the
judgments due to the transgressions of their fathers, they begin with
a profound adoration of God, whose supreme majesty and omnipotence is
acknowledged in the creation, preservation, and government of all.
Then they proceed to enumerate His mercies and distinguished favors
to them as a nation, from the period of the call of their great
ancestor and the gracious promise intimated to him in the divinely
bestowed name of Abraham, a promise which implied that he was to be
the Father of the faithful, the ancestor of the Messiah, and the
honored individual in whose seed all the families of the earth should
be blessed. Tracing in full and minute detail the signal instances of
divine interposition for their deliverance and their interest—in
their deliverance from Egyptian bondage—their miraculous passage
through the Red Sea—the promulgation of His law—the forbearance
and long-suffering shown them amid their frequent rebellions—the
signal triumphs given them over their enemies—their happy
settlement in the promised land—and all the extraordinary
blessings, both in the form of temporal prosperity and of religious
privilege, with which His paternal goodness had favored them above
all other people, they charge themselves with making a miserable
requital. They confess their numerous and determined acts of
disobedience. They read, in the loss of their national independence
and their long captivity, the severe punishment of their sins. They
acknowledge that, in all heavy and continued judgments upon their
nation, God had done right, but they had done wickedly. And in
throwing themselves on His mercy, they express their purpose of
entering into a national covenant, by which they pledge themselves to
dutiful obedience in future.

**36. Behold, we are servants this
day**—Notwithstanding their happy restoration to their native
land, they were still tributaries of a foreign prince whose officers
ruled them. They were not, like their fathers, free tenants of the
land which God gave them.

**37. it yieldeth much increase unto
the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins**—Our
agricultural labors have been resumed in the land—we plough, and
sow, and till, and Thou blessest the work of our hands with a
plentiful return; but this increase is not for ourselves, as once it
was, but for our foreign masters, to whom we have to pay large and
oppressive tribute.
**they have dominion over our
bodies**—Their persons were liable to be pressed, at the mandate
of their Assyrian conqueror, into the service of his empire, either
in war or in public works. And our beasts are taken to do their
pleasure.

**38. we make a sure covenant, and
write**—that is, subscribe or sign it. This written document
would exercise a wholesome influence in restraining their
backslidings or in animating them to duty, by being a witness against
them if in the future they were unfaithful to their engagements.

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