That You might bring them back to Your law.
Yet they acted1 proudly,
And did not heed Your commandments,
But sinned against Your judgments,
a‘Which if a man does, he shall live by them.’
And they shrugged their shoulders,
1Stiffened their necks,
And would not hear.
And1 testified aagainst them by Your Spirit bin Your prophets.
Yet they would not listen;
cTherefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
aYou did not utterly consume them nor forsake them;
For You are God, gracious and merciful.
The great, the amighty, and awesome God,
Who keeps covenant and mercy:
Do not let all the1 trouble seem small before You
That has come upon us,
Our kings and our princes,
Our priests and our prophets,
Our fathers and on all Your people,
bFrom the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.
For You have dealt faithfully,
But bwe have done wickedly.
Our priests nor our fathers,
Have kept Your law,
Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies,
With which You testified against them.
| << Nehemiah 9:30 | Nehemiah 9:32 >> |
What Does Nehemiah 9:31 Mean?
Nehemiah 9:30-31
Israel had a yo-yo like obedience to God. Sometimes they were up, sometimes they were down. How long did God forbear with them? If we consider that the Exodus happened in about 1440 BC, and the Israelites were taken out of the land in 720 BC, He forbore with seven hundred and twenty years of their constant breaking of the covenant. Does that not say something about the patience of God—His forbearance—even with Israel's terrible sins—apostasy, spiritual adultery?
He certainly punished them and gave them many chances to repent. They would be obedient for a while, then they would fall again. He would forbear with them and give them a chance to repent, but they would not. So He punished them again to leave us an example of how God will deal—does deal—with us.
How often did God not give Israel what she deserved? Countless times! In His mercy and patience, He gave the Israelites time and space to repent. So in the end, as it says here, He had to lower the boom. They received what they deserved. He just delayed the punishment until it could no longer be delayed anymore, because He wanted them to repent.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Forbearance
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Nehemiah 9:31:
| << Nehemiah 9:30 | Nehemiah 9:32 >> |
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