The day to afflict the soul! It was a day to loose the bands of wickedness, and that is to fast that God has chosen for the succeeding years.
Nehemiah 9:2 "And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers."
I. INTRODUCTION:
We have here a general account of a public fast, which the children of Israel kept, by order from Nehemiah, and with the advice and consent of the chief of the fathers. It was a fast that men appointed, but such a fast as God had chosen. It was a day to afflict the soul. Probably they assembled in the courts of the temple, and they there appeared in sackcloth & in the posture of mourners, with earth on their heads. By these outward expressions of sorrow, humiliation they gave glory to God, took shame to themselves and stirred up one another to repentance.
A. A Repentant nation gathers
1. An assembly of humble repentance (v-1) "Now on the twenty-fourth of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting. In sackcloth, and with dust on their heads."
a) the children of Israel were assembled - After the wall was completed, after the wall was working, after the people heard & obeyed God's Word after the Holy Spirit was doing a significant work in the lives of people - now there is a scene of dramatic, humble repentance.
b) Assembled with fasting - Fasting showed their lowly & Humble state. They considered themselves so poor before God that they had no food. They also wanted to say, "we are so troubled by our sin, food seems unimportant"
c) In sackcloth - this was wearing rough fabric, or like burlap bag. Again, this was to show their complete poverty of spirit before God. They also wanted to say, "we're so troubled by our sin, the normal comforts of life with arrogant are unimportant"
d) With dust on their heads - This meant they took little handfuls of dirt, cast them on their heads. This was also to show their lowly state before God and to say we're so troubled by our sin, the normal comforts of life with intellects are unimportant.
d-1) All of this reflects humble attitude of heart - humble not only towards God, but also humble towards man. They did this publicly and others would see them in public state.
d-2) Surely there were those among them who said, "I will not humiliate myself and join in" Others must have said "I'll do it, just so others can see that i'm spiritual too," But there were many, if not most, who came to God with truly humble, repentant hearts.
2. An assembly to separate themselves from all foreigners.
a) Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners - Those who were of the pure line of Israel came forth to confess the sin of their nation; they confessed of their sins & iniquities of their fathers.
b) Confessed their sins - This was important to realize and admit their missing of God's mark.
b-1) How do they sin? The word sin comes from the idea "to miss the mark". In the archery tournament, if one did not hit the target in the right place, they would say they "sinned"
b-2) Distances - A sin might miss the target by an inch, or it might miss by ten feet but it was still a sin either way.
b-3) What God told us not to do - We sin when we do what God has told us not to do (telling us either in His Word, in our conscience or through legitimate authority.
b-4) What God told us to do - When we do not do what God has told us to do (telling us in His Word, conscience or authority) Not all sin is the same, but all sin is sin.
c) And the iniquities of their fathers - This was also important, because they had to admit that not only they were sinners, but they came from sinful ancestors. This was especially important in Israel, where there was a tradition of glorifying their forefathers.
c-1) Generational curse - does not mean, there is some type of generational curse that had to be broken. God does not punish the children of their father's sin and it is evil to say He does. (Eze 18)
c-2) Environmental - We do recognize that those raised in an environment of sin might as well repeat those same sins, not because they must, but because their environment made it an easy choice to make.
d) They stood and confessed - It should not seem strange that after such great victories, both with building & spiritually that there was such humble repentance. This shows that repentance isn't something we finish after coming to the Lord Jesus. It's something that grows as we grow closer to Him.
d-1) Repentance grows as faith grows - Do not make any mistake about it, repentance is not thing of days and weeks, a temporary penance to be got as fast as possible! No it is the grace of a lifetime like faith itself. Repentance is the inseparable companion of faith.
d-2) Discovery - How often the discovery of something new in the loveliness of the Lord Jesus Christ has brought with the discovery of some new corruption in our own heart. God will never plant the seed of His life upon the soil of a hard, unbroken spirit. He will only plant that seed where the conviction of His Spirit has brought brokenness, where the soil has been watered with the tears of repentance as well as the tears of joy.
d-3) Gatherings - This great, humble gathering of God's people took place only two days after the end of the joyful celebration of the feast of tabernacles. They had drawn close to God, and now He is drawing them even closer!
3. An assembly to hear God's Word and to worship Him - (v3)
a) they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the law - the humble repentance and confession of sin would have been an incomplete work if it were not for hearing the Word and Worship. God's doesn't show us our sin, just so we will humbly confess, but so that we can walk on in what is right before Him.
a-1) In light of the previous, we may take it that the reading was no mere stream of words, but punctuated with explanatory comments and applications to the present situation.
b) they confessed and worshipped the Lord their God - This brokenness of hearth as led them to humbly come before God and hear His Word. A sure first step of revival is this brokenness of heart.
B) The prayer of repentance - 1 . Those leading the congregation (v4-5a)
a) Then Jeshua, Bani - This mentions those levites & leaders gathered to lead the people in their humble confession. It shouldn't surprise us or make us feel like failures, if we must be led into confession and repentance.
b) Stood on the stairs of the Levites & cried out with a loud voice. Obviously, all eight of these men didn't pray the following prayer at the same time. Perhaps it was written out & they took turns, perhaps it was spontaneously prayed in succession, or perhaps (and according to tradition) Ezra, prayed this prayer.
b-1) Longest prayer - the Prayer is thought to be the longest prayer in the Bible and yet takes only six & half minutes to say. Prayer doesn't need to be long to be glorious & effective.
III. CONCLUSION:
Now it was fulfilled that promise concerning the Jews, that what they returned out of captivity , they should join themselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant. & That they should subscribe with their hand unto the Lord. He that bears an honest mind will not startle at assurances, or will those that know the deceitfulness of their own hearts think them needless.
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!