It would be ludicrous to believe that those who returned from the captivity with Zerubbabel accurately understood their responsibilities before God, as understood from the Law of Moses. They had been in captivity for about forty-eight years, not including the twenty-two years they spent in rebellion against the Lord during the reigns of the last three kings of Israel (a total of seventy years in servitude to the heathen nations, years in which, as a nation, they lived in a state of rebellion. In our own day, we are able to see that many who come to Christ know only what they hear each Sunday from the preachers’ sermons. Although they may read the Bible daily, they understand the word of God only in the context of what they’ve been told through their pastors’ weekly teaching. Little in-depth private study is carried out. In this light, we are able to understand the dearth of the knowledge of the Jewish authorities in the days of Zerubbabel up to the time of the coming of Ezra.
Therefore, simply because one is an authority over a group of God’s people, it doesn’t mean one knows all one should know. It simply means what one says is believed and is usually obeyed by those who submit to that authority. If the authority is wrong, then the people who obey him can never be correct in their understanding or behavior. Therefore, it behooves a pastor, today, to study and submit himself/herself to the word of God, and not simply to the word of the authorities of his/her own denomination or pedigree of the children of God. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the man of God to yield himself to the Lord daily and not simply believe he already knows what the Lord thinks. The manna of God was fresh every day. What was left until the next day was to be discarded. So, one needs to submit daily to the Lord, and what has come through the teaching of men is what is left over from the previous day. It may have been important yesterday to bring us to where we are now, but the future depends, not upon yesterday’s spiritual food, but what comes to us fresh from the Lord each succeeding day.
Therefore, in the context of the arrival of Ezra, the priest, the scribe (Ezra 7:11; Nehemiah 8:3), and his convincing the Jews of their sin (Nehemiah 8:5-9), the Levites and the other Jewish authorities stood on the steps of the Temple and commanded the children of Israel to arise from their mourning and stand before their God and bless him with praise (Nehemiah 9:4-5). Their prayer embraced their entire history, from the calling of Abraham to their release from captivity. They began by addressing and praising God as the great Creator of the heavens and the earth, the seas and all the life, which is in them (Nehemiah 9:5-6).
Afterword, they addressed the Lord as the one who chose Abram, while he was an idolator in Ur (Joshua 24:2), in the land of the Chaldees, calling him out of that life and made him the father of many nations, changing his name to Abraham. Moreover, he had been found faithful and righteous, because he had lived separately from the heathen, the Hittites, the Amorites, etc., while living in the land of the Canaanites (Nehemiah 9:7-8; cp. Genesis 12:1-2; 17:4-8).
In prayer, the Jews recalled the great wonders God performed in humbling Pharoah, destroying his great army in the depth of the Red Sea, and, in so doing, his name became great among the heathen (Nehemiah 9:9-11). They also praised the Lord for leading their forefathers in the wilderness, manifesting himself as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Indeed, he took care of their physical wellbeing with food from heaven and water out of a rock, as well as their spiritual/moral wellbeing by descending upon Mt. Sinai to give them laws, statutes and commandments to live by (Nehemiah 9:12-15). Nevertheless, the fathers proved to be unfaithful and disobedient, and sought to return to their bondage, making themselves gods to lead them back to Egypt, provoking the Lord to anger. Yet, their God proved himself to be a kind, gracious and merciful God (Nehemiah 9:16-18). Unlike any god among the heathen nations, the Lord refused to forsake his people in the wilderness, and remained a cloud by day and a fiery light by night.
For forty years he continued to instruct them morally and to care for their physical needs. Even the clothes on their backs were kept from wearing out. And, after the forty years were over, the Lord brought them into the land, giving them victory over strong nations who had possessed it. They inherited lands with houses already built, with wells already dug, lands full of goods, vineyards and olive gardens, and he caused their fathers to increase in number, as he had promised to do (Nehemiah 9:19-25).
Yet, even after all of this, the people proved unfaithful and disobedient, rebelling against their Lord, so that he disciplined them by giving their enemies victory over them, bringing them into bondage. However, when the people cried out to the Lord, he gave them saviors to deliver them from their enemies, but not long afterward the people would rebel again, and the whole process would repeat itself again and again, until there was no remedy, even after multiple warnings from the Lord through his prophets. So, he sent them to be captives, in bondage in a foreign land, but even then, the Lord showed himself merciful and kind and preserved them (Nehemiah 9:26-31).
Finally, the Levites confessed in prayer that the Lord has always kept his covenant with them, but they have proved unfaithful and rebellious to him. From the very beginning to the present the Lord had been faithful, but they had been rebellious. They had not served their Lord when they possessed the land, and now they are servants in the land and they labor for the benefit of heathen kings, because of the sins they’ve committed. Yet, for all of this, they come to their God in repentance, begging forgiveness for their present sins, and they make a firm covenant to turn back to him and separate themselves from the heathen (Nehemiah 9:32-38).
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