Nehemiah 9:9 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Nehemiah 9:9

Comments

Here the tone changes yet again. It has switched from the grace of God to the mercy of God, his mercy in redemption and salvation. God remembered his promises to Abraham and saw the misery of the people of Israel in Egypt, and he responded to their cries. He honoured that typical covenant by which they would be his people and he would be their God and he did not ignore their cries. He presents himself as the God who can be petitioned.God did this for his names sake – ‘Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known’ (Psalm 106:8) – and certainly this was successful, for Rahab reported the reputation of God that had reached Jericho ahead of the children of Israel: ‘For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. ¹¹ And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath’ (Joshua 2:10-11).

Application

The deliverance of the Israelites was by acts of great power, and so was our deliverance in conversion. How mightily were we delivered from the grip of sin, from the grip of the world, from our old viewpoint and worldview and attitudes, from our lost condition! Their persecutors were destroyed. It was the power of God. So we have gone from God’s majesty to his grace, mercy and compassion, to his power in defending his people.

Do you praise and thank God for salvation? Do you do this regularly? You exalt God, you call upon his name, you magnify him, and you affirm his attributes. You praise and thank him that there was ever a plan of salvation for lost mankind; that Christ came and there would be a covenant relationship for us, and then you thank him for your salvation, and remember the details with praise and thanks, and the miracle which he wrought in putting new life in us. You move to yourself, to the particular, and you thank him personally.

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Nehemiah 9:9 Commentary and Bible Study