Nehemiah 9:26

THE CONTINUED DISOBEDIENCE OF THE PEOPLE AND THEIR MULTIPLE REBELLIONS AGAINST GOD

"Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their back, and slew thy prophets that testified against them to turn them again unto thee, and they wrought great provocations. Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries. But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee; therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies, and testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law. Yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thine ordinances (which if a man do, he shall live in them), and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear. Yet many years didst thou bear with them, and testifiedst against them by thy Spirit through thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless in thy manifold mercies thou didst not make a full end of them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God."

These verses are an abbreviated but sufficiently specific elaboration of the multiple apostasies of the Chosen People, which in the aggregate constitute the entire record of the Old Testament. Wonderful indeed are the mercies of the gracious God who found a way to forgive Israel over and over again. An apostle has told us that these things were "written for admonition" (1 Corinthians 10:11); and the great lesson for Christians is centered right here in this willingness of the heavenly Father to forgive the sins of his people, if only they will love God and be faithful to his word.

In the final section of this prayer, Israel pleads their phenomenal sufferings as the basis of their plea for mercy, confessing at the same time that they fully deserved the punishments God had laid upon them. Still, despite their sufferings, they made a solemn covenant (of obedience) and sealed it.