The people came together in Nehemiah 9 to confess their sins and the sins of their fathers and to repent and turn back to the ways of the LORD. They were, as a community, recommitting themselves to God and His ways. As an extra visible step and commitment, the leaders, priests, and Levites signed a written document. Truly, I believe this was symbolic. What was contained, including the curse of disobedience, is already part of the law of God and coming into relationship with Him. (Read Deuteronomy 28 for more on the curse of disobedience and blessing of obedience.)
The people were firmly recommitting to God publicly and personally as a community of believers. I believe this helps establish a framework to help each other to hold to the law and encourage one another. This is powerful.
Signers of the Document
1Now on the sealed document were the names of: Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, 2Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, 3Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, 4Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, 5Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, 6Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, 7Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, 8Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah. These were the priests. 9And the Levites: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel; 10also their brothers Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, 11Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, 12Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 13Hodiah, Bani, Beninu. 14The leaders of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, 15Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, 16Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, 17Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, 18Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, 19Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, 20Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, 21Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, 22Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, 23Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, 24Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, 25Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, 26Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, 27Malluch, Harim, Baanah.
Obligations of the Document
28Now the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding, 29are joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and are taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God’s law, which was given through Moses, God’s servant, and to keep and to observe all the commandments of GOD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes; 30and that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. 31As for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the sabbath or a holy day; and we will forego the crops the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.
32We also placed ourselves under obligation to contribute yearly one third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: 33for the showbread, for the continual grain offering, for the continual burnt offering, the sabbaths, the new moon, for the appointed times, for the holy things and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God.
34Likewise we cast lots for the supply of wood among the priests, the Levites and the people so that they might bring it to the house of our God, according to our fathers’ households, at fixed times annually, to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law; 35and that they might bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the LORD annually, 36and bring to the house of our God the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks as it is written in the law, for the priests who are ministering in the house of our God. 37We will also bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the oil to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes in all the rural towns. 38The priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse. 39For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine and the oil to the chambers; there are the utensils of the sanctuary, the priests who are ministering, the gatekeepers and the singers. Thus we will not neglect the house of our God.
I find it interesting what they highlighted specifically. It shows they wanted to place extra emphasis on these things beyond just “obey the law”, even if they were already contained in the law. As we read, reflect on our society today and how far we have drifted. If someone is trying to dedicate themselves to returning to God’s ways, that is precisely what Nehemiah and the people who signed this document were doing. This is a great place to start for personal application in our lives today!
- Observe the commandments, statutes, and ordinances of the law. Christians today largely ignore this as obsolete or pick and choose which ones to obey. (For more, read Understanding the Law – What Does It Mean Today?)
- Do not intermarry with people of different faiths. This will draw us away from Yahweh. This one is not emphasized as strongly today, but it is still there in most Christian communities.
- Do not do business with others on sabbath, even if they are not themselves observing sabbath and following Yahweh. This instruction has largely been left behind by modern day Christians, along with truly observing the sabbath as a day of rest.
- Forego the extraction of debt and planting of crops every 7th year. This is certainly a topic we don’t talk much about today in Christian circles. Most of us would need to do more research to simply understand what was being instructed and how to apply it. This could make for an interesting Bible study for each of us.
- Support and participate in the activities of the temple, including the sabbaths, new moons, and appointed times. We have no temple and priesthood today and thus cannot observe all that was instructed. However, I have found it rewarding to reinstate for my family observing sabbath and the appointed times as well as starting to recognize and observe the new moons. Certainly, this is not common among Christians. I would encourage each of you to learn more and observe these times the LORD called out. Sabbath was made for us and is a wonderful break in the week to rest and recharge. The other appointed times are focused on bringing us closer to Yahweh. Believe it or not, they each not only look back to the past before Messiah, but they all have meaning in Messiah as well. The spring appointed times look back at the first coming of Yeshua and the fall appointed times look forward to His return! (For more information, read Celebrating God’s Holy Days (Moedim))
- Bring your first fruits and tithe to Yahweh. Again, without a temple and priesthood, we cannot observe this commandment as instructed. We can however make the leap to understand that we should put a priority on setting aside money we earn for the purpose of honoring God. This may be donating to a local or broader ministry, funding missionaries, helping the poor, or even helping people directly in your own life and giving the glory to God. The point is that we should remember that God wants our hearts and part of this is best demonstrated by setting aside money to support His work and bring Him glory!
I invite you to pray with me:
Father, thank You for examples in scripture that remind us of important aspects of walking with You still today. Help renew our minds and spirit to embrace and pursue You and Your ways wholeheartedly. Bring us together in communities and raise up leaders to help guide us in the way we should go! Help us have the courage and discernment to turn away from things we should not be doing and pursue Your ways, even if they seem strange to us today. Amen.
Shalom
Devotion by John in service to Christ
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