Nehemiah 9:5

REHEARSAL OF GOD'S GREAT PROMISE TO ABRAHAM

"Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up, and bless Jehovah your God from everlasting to everlasting; and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. Thou art Jehovah, even thou alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, and all their host, the earth and all the things that are thereon, the seas and all that is in them, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. Thou art Jehovah the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham, and foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perezzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it unto his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous."

A profitable and acceptable feature of any prayer is a rehearsal of God's promises and heartfelt praise for his fulfilment of them. All of the things mentioned here have been the subject of our extensive comments upon the Pentateuch, particularly in Genesis. It appears that during the whole history of ancient Israel that they seemed never to appreciate, nor even to remember, the reason why God called Abraham. That reason: "THAT IN THEE AND IN THY SEED (SINGULAR) ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED" (Genesis 12:3; 26:4).