Verse 6
YHWH As Unique Creator (Nehemiah 9:6 ).
The initial emphasis was now on YHWH as sole Creator and Lord over all things, Who thus had control of all affairs whether in Heaven or on earth. Behind their words was their distress that they were still subject to the Persians (Nehemiah 9:39). But they recognised that to Him, as the Universal Lord, the Persians and their gods were as nothing. Their future lay only in the hands of YHWH.
“You are YHWH, even you alone, you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all, and the host of heaven worships you.’
He was first addressed as the unique and only Creator of Heaven and earth. Indeed as the One Who has made the Heaven of Heavens, with all that it contains. All that is in those Heavens has been created by YHWH (thus making ‘the gods’ at best created things), and the angelic host owe their existence to His creative power. All the host of Heaven, without exception, whether angelic beings or heavenly bodies, worship Him. He is God over all. For ‘with all their host’ compare Genesis 2:1.
‘Furthermore He has made ‘the earth and all things that are on it’. As John would later put it, ‘All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made’ (John 1:3). Thus they were reminding themselves that even the Persians themselves owed their empire to YHWH. And this description includes ‘the seas and all that is in them’. Note how there is a distinction between the earth and the seas. To the Israelites the seas were a strange element, almost distinct from the earth in which they lived. And yet they recognised that all is under Him. and He preserves them all. For this idea of both creating and sustaining compare Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2-3. The basis of the descriptions here is Genesis 1:0 where heaven, earth and seas are clearly distinguished while being parts of the whole.
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