“In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly. Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our ancestors did not follow your law; they did not pay attention to your commands or the statutes you warned them to keep.
Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying your great goodness to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you or turn from their evil ways.”
Nehemiah 9:33-35
Last time we saw the Levites’ prayer turn from a historical review of Israelite history to petition for mercy. For God to see their distress as no trifling hardship. Today we see the prayer return to the goodness and justice of Yahweh.
“…You (attah – You Yourself) are just (tsaddiq – just, righteous, blameless, innocent, in the right, Righteous One, lawful) in all that has befallen (bo – come in, advance, arrive, invade, bring forth) us…”
He Himself has been blameless in whatever has come in, brought forth on His people. He does not have to explain Himself or backtrack or reword the Word. He is not unlawful in dealing with His creation nor would He ever be found guilty by us.
“…for You have dealt (asah) faithfully (emeth – firmness, faithfulness, lasting, truthful, stability, trustworthiness; from aman – confirm, support, believe, guardian, nurse, verified, sure, assurance) but we (anachnu – we ourselves) have done wickedly (rasha – to be wicked, make trouble, vex, deal, violate, inflict punishment)…”
What He accomplishes in our lives will be faithful, firm, assuredly lasting. But we ourselves make trouble, vex one another, and violate what is Right and Good.
Please know this goes deeper than can’t we all just get along. When we act wickedly as a society, we inflict punishment on each other. Our actions and inactions affect our fellow human beings, disregarding what is holy. I zoomed in on that synonym violate for a moment: to treat something sacred with irreverence. Yes, that is what we do.
“…And neither our kings nor our princes (sar from last time: princes, rulers, official, captain, commander, governor, leader, officer, official, overseer, general, lord, principal, head person, master) our priests or ancestors have kept (asah: accomplish) your law (torah: direction, instruction, ruling, teaching)…”
Makes me think of Romans:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
There is no one who understands;
There is no one who seeks God.
they have together become worthless.
There is no one who does good, not even one.”
Sounds pretty accurate. Only one Human ever was purely Good. We have to look to Him. How He accomplished Torah while walking on our soil. The pure embodiment of Loving Yahweh with heart, soul, mind, and strength. The perfection of Loving neighbor as self. Then ask His Spirit in us to live in such a way through us.
“…nor heeded (qashab – to incline ears to hear) your commandments (mitsvah -commandment, prescribed, terms; from tsavah – conditions, law, ordinance, precept, lay charge upon) and testimonies (eduth – admonition, ordinance, warning, witness, testimony) which you testified (uwd – admonished, go about, repeat, do again, earnestly charge) against them…”
Not only did these kings and princes, rulers and governors, leaders and officials not follow Yahweh’s direction and teaching throughout Israel’s history. None of them paid attention to His prescribed commands or repeated warnings against them.
“This word mistvah is distinct from torah in that it also includes ‘moral kindness in keeping the law.’ There are 613 mitzvot (plural of mitsvah). However, because the Temple is no longer in tact – and because Israel is not the theocratic state it was before – Jewish scholars list 271 mitzvot which are still to be followed today. (source)
And let’s remember together these precepts are not just moral, individualistic rules. Rather, these were statutes that showed how justice and love come together communally. We as a Body cannot assume to ignore the corporate law and expect no correction.”
“For even in their kingdom (malkuth – royalty, power, reign, rule, realm, sovereignty, throne, a dominion, empire)…”
Even in their reign, when they ruled with an empire…
Now our Levites point out all the blessings heaped upon our Israelites, showing the futility of these gifts in keeping them in line with God’s ways.
First up: an empire, rule and reign with a king among the nations. And we know this generosity on God’s part was only used to blend in and emulate the ways of those surrounding nations. Including their idols.
“…or in the many (rab – exceedingly abundant) good things (tub – good things, goodness, best things, prosperity, gladness, joy, beauty, welfare) that you gave them (nathan)…”
Or in all the abundant goodness, the best things, beauty and joy you gave them…
“…or the the large (rachab – wide, broad, extensive, proud, spacious, vast) and rich (shamen – fat, robust, lusty, plenteous, oily, gross) land you set before them (paneh – before their faces)…”
Or the extensive, spacious and fat, rich land you set before their faces.
So that’s political power, military might, beautiful and best things, and rich land for an abundant harvest. All this and still:
“they have not served (abad – work, serve, bondage, cultivate, do the work, perform, worship) you…”
They did not do the work to serve you as bond-slaves.
That quite literal rending of those root Hebrew words strikes me as legalistic as a New Testament believer. To perform, work, serve, cultivate puts so much of the responsibility on us in this equation. And the working out of our salvation, even as we rely on it being God Who is at work in us, is part of our discipleship.
So what sort of things do we cultivate in worshipping God with our entire lives? To serve in such a way as to describe ourselves as His blond-slave?
Bowing daily. Telling Him the answer is, “yes” before we know the question. Praying against principalities and powers. Trusting He knows more than we do in every situation.
“or turned (shub – turn back) from their wicked (ra – adversity, bad, evil, affliction, calamity, distress, displeasure, exceeding grief, heavy, hurt, naughty, wretched, trouble, sorrow) ways (maalal – deed, practice, action, endeavor, invention; from alal – abuse, act severely, defile, mock, overdo, be saucy to, impose, affect, child)…”
They did not do the work to worship, but they also did not turn from their evil, sorrowful, heavy practices – abuse, mock, defile.
Yeah, we all worship something. If we’re not doing the work to cultivate worship toward the Most High, we will worship something else. And idolatry always leads to sorrowful, heavy practices.
At this point I wish mocking, defiling what is sacred, and sorrowful practices were only something “out there.” Unfortunately, I see them rise up in my own heart daily. And as each of us battle the urge to become cynical, critical mockers, we can do sincere battle against a spirit of shame, blame, and scapegoating which threatens unity and a sincere safe space for discourse.
Any practices in which you are involved which could be described as sorrowful or heavy? How about abusive? Seems to me the Spirit is uncovering what is hidden in our day and cooperation could lead to liberation.
Because the One Who took it all on the cross did it perfectly, there is always hope for us here and now. He remains righteous. May we join in obedience.