Nehemiah 9:16-25, Nehemiah 9 Revisited (2)

Continuing with thoughts from Nehemiah 9.

·       9:14: At Mount Sinai God made known His holy Sabbath.  There is a simple point here.  The Sabbath is based on the 7^th day of Creation.  So perhaps, from Adam to Mt. Sinai, people held the 7^th day of the week to be holy.  But, the point here is that it was not until the Law that the Sabbath became the sign of God’s relationship with Israel.  It was never said to be so prior to that time.  Of course, as Rom. 5 points out, prior to Mt. Sinai was a time “when there was no law” (5:13).  The point is that those who try to hold Christians to that day, because of the relationship with creation, are wrong.  The Sabbath had a special meaning for Israel that is not repeated in the NT.  As Paul said, for us one day is the same as another.

·       9:17: How I love this and count on this!  God is “ready to forgive,” even those who are hard-hearted.  There are people I pray for and I long for them to come to Christ, as we all do.  Some are hard-hearted from my perspective.  But God is ready to forgive, full of sufficient mercy and compassion to forgive.

·       9:8,22: God’s gift to Israel was the land.  We are most familiar with the repeated promises in the wilderness days to give them Canaan, the land of the seven nations.  But let us not forget that He also gave them, not the land of Moab or Ammon or Edom, but the land of Sihon and Og, two Amorite kings.  This included what was called Gilead (land east of the Jordan River between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea) and Bashan (what is today called the Golan or Golan Heights).  The nations today will never agree to that.  Gilead belongs to Jordan today.  And Bashan is under Israeli control since the 1973 tank battle with the Syrians; but the world today calls it “occupied territory,” saying it rightfully belongs to Syria.  They would like Israel to return it, so the Syrians can again take up their great artillery positions up there, and rain down death and destruction on the Hula Valley and the Galilee.  That is why, as much a blessing as it was, the decision of the United Nations and the Balfour Agreement and the “yea” vote of the United States by President Truman are insufficient grounds for Israel.  When the Messiah is about to come, Israel’s situation will become much more tenuous, being invaded by a Russian-connected army (Ezek. 38-39).  God will hide the righteous nation (Rev. 12) until the Messiah comes to set things right (Rev. 19).  In other words, Britain and the United States and the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) get too much glory for Israel’s current success.  The way the Bible reads, God will gain the glory when Israel is saved! (Deut. 32:27,39).