RECOMMITMENT

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.”

Those who sealed it were: Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hakaliah. Zedekiah, Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pashhur, Amariah, Malkijah, Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluk, Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, Maaziah, Bilgai and Shemaiah. These were the priests. The Levites: Jeshua son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel, and their associates: Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, Mika, Rehob, Hashabiah, Zakkur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, Hodiah, Bani and Beninu. The leaders of the people: Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, Malluk, Harim and Baanah.

“The rest of the people—priests, Levites, gatekeepers, musicians, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand—all these now join their fellow Israelites the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the Lord our Lord.

“We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons.

“When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts.

“We assume the responsibility for carrying out the commands to give a third of a shekel each year for the service of the house of our God: for the bread set out on the table; for the regular grain offerings and burnt offerings; for the offerings on the Sabbaths, at the New Moon feasts and at the appointed festivals; for the holy offerings; for sin offerings[c] to make atonement for Israel; and for all the duties of the house of our God.

“We—the priests, the Levites and the people—have cast lots to determine when each of our families is to bring to the house of our God at set times each year a contribution of wood to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law.

“We also assume responsibility for bringing to the house of the Lord each year the firstfruits of our crops and of every fruit tree.

“As it is also written in the Law, we will bring the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, of our herds and of our flocks to the house of our God, to the priests ministering there.

“Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of our ground meal, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and olive oil. And we will bring a tithe of our crops to the Levites, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all the towns where we work. A priest descended from Aaron is to accompany the Levites when they receive the tithes, and the Levites are to bring a tenth of the tithes up to the house of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. The people of Israel, including the Levites, are to bring their contributions of grain, new wine and olive oil to the storerooms, where the articles for the sanctuary and for the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the musicians are also kept. “We will not neglect the house of our God.”

Nehemiah 9:38, 10:1-39

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As the ninth chapter of Nehemiah closed, the people of Israel were sharing their current condition with God…that they were essentially slaves in their own land, the very Promised Land that had been given to their ancestors who had repaid the Lord’s goodness and grace with disobedience and sin. It was obvious that the generation of Israelites in Nehemiah’s time were hungry for restoration…to get back in God’s favor.

The first step toward getting right with God again always starts with repentance, confessing your sinful behavior, professing your willingness to turn from the sin, and asking God for His forgiveness and mercy, recognizing His omnipotence and authority. The people of Israel met this requirement in Nehemiah 9.

The next step needed to be a recommitment to God’s will and word. As we read our scripture passage we see in the very last verse of Chapter 9, the people take the first step toward recommitment as they made a “binding agreement…in writing” with the leaders, Levites and priests all “affixing their seals to it.” A lengthy list of those endorsing the binding agreement is provided as Chapter 10 opens.

So what did the people promise to do? The remainder of Chapter 10 captures their vows.

First, all the people, which included “priests, Levites, gatekeepers, musicians, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand,” joined their “fellow Israelites the nobles”, binding themselves with a “curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the Lord our Lord.”

Before Joshua and the Israelites entered the Promised Land, God told them that they were to “obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Joshua 1:7b-8) As we look at the history of the people of Israel in the Holy Land, they found themselves away from God’s will when they allowed themselves to depart from His word and instruction.

Nothing has changed today. Deliberately stay away from reading and abiding in God’s word and you will find yourself away from His will, astray, lost and abounding in sinfulness as the Israelites did.

As we look back to our passage in Nehemiah, we see that the Israelites recognize they need to first get back into the word of God so they can ensure they are living in the will of God. They promise to follow the law of God, binding their lives in commitment to His holy word, carefully obeying all His commands, regulations and decrees.

Commitment and obedience to God. You want to get right with Him? There is no better place to start.

The remainder of the chapter gets specific regarding some of God’s commands, regulations and decrees. We get the feeling that these specific mentions were the very commands that their Israelite ancestors had violated thus making this promise one that would include not repeating the mistakes of the past. In other words, the people of Israel wanted God to know they were learning from the past and not willing to repeat prior errors. They were recommitting themselves to give God their best…their first fruits…just as He was always giving them…and gives us today.

The same is expected of you and I. We are expected to learn and commit ourselves to not repeating past sinfulness whether ours or those close to us. The consequences of sin that we witness should be enough to convince us to not engage in that behavior. But unfortunately, like the Israelites who found themselves out of God’s favor, we are too often stubborn and stiff-necked, wanting to fulfill our desires before meeting God’s. God gives us His best…His first fruits and we give Him our worst…or we completely turn from Him altogether. The world becomes a greater priority than the One who created it.

Friends, we have much to learn from the people of Israel in this passage. Let’s not delay in recommitting ourselves to God’s word and way…and there no better place to start than Jesus who proclaimed Himself as the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). As Christians, we are to model ourselves after Christ in every way...and when we do this we draw ever closer to the Father for remember that Jesus also proclaimed that He and the Father are one. (John 10:30) In the presence of the Father and the Son places us firmly in the place of righteousness and we know that blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. (Matthew 5:6)

Be blessed by God’s word as you hunger and thirst for His righteousness. Commit yourself to faithfully read and follow His word. Respond to His will for your life and you will find yourself living the life the Lord intends for you to have, a life fully in communion with Him and full of joy and peace and hope and love.

Who doesn’t want that?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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