Nehemiah 1:10

Now these are thy servants, and thy people,.... Meaning those that were in Jerusalem and Judah, gathered out of several countries, and returned to Jerusalem: whom thou hast redeemed by thy great

And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: No JFB commentary on these verses.

Nehemiah 1:10 Now these [are] thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.Ver. 10. Now these are thy servants and thy people] And therefore thou art concerned, in point of honour, to see to them, and to work for them, as every master will do for his servants, and king for his subjects. Otherwise, the neighbouring nations our enemies may possibly say as Aigoland, king of Saragossa, in Aragon, did; of whom it is reported, that he long time made Charlemagne believe that he would be baptized. And when he came for that purpose to the French court, and saw many diseased and poor people expecting alms from the emperor’ s table, he asking what they were? was answered, that they were the servants and people of God. On these words he speedily returned, desperately protesting that he would not serve that God which could keep his servants no better. Whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power] And wilt thou part with thy purchase, or obscure the glory of thy conquest over the gods and people of Egypt, by leaving this thy people destitute?

(4-11) Nehemiah’s appeal to God. The prayer is a perfect example of the private and individual devotion with which the later Hebrew Scriptures abound. It begins with formal and appropriate invocation (Nehemiah 1:5-8), flows into earnest confession (Nehemiah 1:6-7), pleads the covenant promises (Nehemiah 1:8-10), and supplicates a present answer (Nehemiah 1:11). The extant Scriptures, freely used, are the foundation of all. (4) Fasted.—Like Daniel, Esther, and Ezra, Nehemiah fasted: fasting appears in later Judaism a prominent part of individual devotion, as it is in the New Testament. (6) Both I and my father’s house have sinned.—The supplication was for the nation; and in such cases of personal intercession the individual assumes the sin of all the past. (8) The spirit of many threatenings and promises is summed up, as in the prayer of Nehemiah 9. (11) This day . . . this man.—During his “certain days” of mourning Nehemiah had fixed upon his plan, suggested by his God. “This day” is “this occasion”: the appeal itself was deferred for some months. The king becomes “this man” in the presence of the “God of heaven.” For I was the king’s cupbearer.—One of his cupbearers, therefore in high authority, having confidential access to him.

10. This verse states the ground on which the privilege of the promise is claimed. Now these are thy servants, &c.] The connexion of thought, which is not very obvious at first sight, seems to be as follows. Having stated the Divine promise, Nehemiah returns in thought to ‘the children of thy servants’ of Nehemiah 1:6. They, by their confession of sin, had fulfilled the condition, they had ‘returned’ unto their God. They could claim the fulfilment of His promise. They were not aliens. They were His own people whom He Himself had redeemed. whom thou hast redeemed] Of the two Hebrew words, rendered by the English ‘redeem,’ i.e. ‘ga’al’ and ‘padah,’ the word here used is ‘padah.’ It is noteworthy that in the similar expression, Exodus 6:6, ‘redeem you with a stretched out arm,’ the word ‘ga’al’ is used, while here, as always in Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 7:8, Deuteronomy 9:26, Deuteronomy 13:5, Deuteronomy 15:15, Deuteronomy 21:8, Deuteronomy 24:18), the word ‘redeem’ is ‘padah.’ LXX. ἐλυτρώσω; Vulg. redemisti. The redemption, here spoken of, looks back, beyond the recent restoration from Babylon, to the original deliverance from Egypt, which sealed for ever the relation between Jehovah and His people. by thy great power, and by thy strong hand] Nehemiah combines two familiar phrases which do not seem to be elsewhere combined except in Exodus 32:11 ‘thy people which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand.’ Along with ‘great power’ we frequently find ‘a stretched out arm,’ as in Deuteronomy 9:29; 2 Kings 17:36; Jeremiah 27:5; Jeremiah 32:17 : and again ‘a stretched out arm’ following upon ‘a strong (or mighty) hand,’ as in Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 5:15; Deuteronomy 7:19; Deuteronomy 11:2; 1 Kings 8:42; 2 Chronicles 6:32; Psalms 136:12; Jeremiah 32:21; Ezekiel 20:33-34. It is possible that Nehemiah here has the Jehovist Exodus 32:11 in his thoughts. But as the reading there is doubtful, both the Samaritan and the LXX. texts having ‘a stretched out arm’ instead of ‘a mighty hand,’ we cannot be confident that we have here a quotation. The words ‘yad hakhezakah’ are rendered by the R.V. ‘strong hand’ here and Exodus 3:19; Exodus 6:1; Exodus 13:9; Numbers 20:20; Psalms 136:12; Jeremiah 32:21 (Ezekiel 30:22), and ‘mighty hand’ in Exodus 32:11; Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 5:15; Deuteronomy 6:21; Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 7:19; Deuteronomy 9:26; Deuteronomy 11:2; Deuteronomy 26:8; Deuteronomy 34:12; Joshua 4:24; 1 Kings 8:42; 2 Chronicles 6:32; Ezekiel 20:33-34.