2 And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
There was a distinct difference between the children of Israel and those who were not of Israel. Today many blend in with the world. We blend by conversation and the conduct of the world. But, when the Word of God has been made clear, we are to separate and leave the position we have taken in the world's system and do what it takes to become one with God. Israel saw something wrong and paid attention to what was needed and made the adjustments.
3 And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the Lordtheir God.
The Word of God was read and afterward, the people confessed that they were wrong and worshipped the Lord for who He was and is.
4 Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the Lord their God.
5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
The leaders did not care about what anyone thought. They cried unto the Lord. They told the people to stand up and bless the Lord God.
When leaders forget themselves and bless the Lord, there would be no force for the followers to mimic the same praise and exaltation.
They said, bless the Lord who is above all (things) that He has allowed us to have!!!!!!
Lord send us leaders who will do like these. Make those leaders known so that we can hear what you really said.
6 Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.
Lord, give me the revelation of how splendid you are! Help me to praise you before I send you a list of all the things I want. Help me to recognize how to worship you.
7 Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;8 And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:9 And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;10 And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day.11 And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters.12 Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go.13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:15 And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.16 But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,17 And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;19 Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.20 Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.21 Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.22 Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.23 Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.24 So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would.25 And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.26 Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.27 Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.28 But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the land of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;29 And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.30 Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.31 Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.
Verses 7-31 is the outline of How God brought Israel out from slavery to the promised land. Israel, now Judah, makes it known that they know the Word of God in the beauty of God and the disobedience of Israel. They were reminded and taught this within the last few days after gathering at the Water Gate and asking Ezra to read the Word. They reminded God of what He did and how they ignored His Word. They testify using this prayer, the Word of God. When God hears His Word, God hears us. We have God's undivided attention. He knows that we want His attention and He wants to give it to us. As a mother, when I hear my children repeat what I have said, it melts my heart. I know that what I said has registered. Many of us do not know what God said and we despise others who do. What a tragedy. To watch God deal with Israel's behavior is enough to respond as Judah did. When I first saw the same as Israel saw in the Word of God, I responded the same exact way. Lord, please wake us and allow us to see you for who you really are just as these verses proclaim.
32 Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.
This verse stands out as the only request made in this whole chapter.
The people asked God to understand the heavy cost of what they know they deserve. They did not make this the center of the prayer, they wanted God to know although we deserve everything you have done please notice this is painful.
33 Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:
How do we know God is just in all that he judges? God is just in all that he judges because He gave us our consequences before we made our choices. Then he showed us time after time how to escape the traps we get ourselves into. Not only does He place preventive measures in our paths, but He also sends others to steer us away from the penalty of our ungodly choices.
34 Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them.
35 For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.
The kings, rulers, and leaders you allowed us to have, sinned. When the law is made of sin, we learn to live with sin. Each of us knows deep within us what is right or wrong, but the laws we put in place, seem to cover us, and we simply snuggle under the blanket of sin and cast all cautions to the wind.
36 Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it:
Our fathers did wrong, now we as our fathers do wrong. We are not wrong because of our father's trespasses, we are sinners because doing wrong is convenient. The discipline of doing what is right is a process of understanding God and His Word. Waiting is a virtue and most of us hate waiting. Ultimately we fall into sin because we like the fast food of life and we do not like waiting in a long line for what we want.
37 And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.
The same people God delivered out to slavery are right back into slavery. They are the people God used to let us into what it is like to understand what He will tolerate from us. Sin puts us under the authority of people who rule over sinners. When we let of go of God we swing on the branches of the enemy. We cook, clean, give and do whatever the chief of sinners wants to be done. We go from serving God who knows and owns everything and serve a mere man who has nothing to gain but what he grabs from others.
38 And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.
God is gracious no matter who says He is not. This prayer admits the wrong of the people, not just individuals. We are blessed to know when we are wrong. Understanding you are wrong is good. Changing the wrong is perfect.
My Minute in A Song
The People Saw Themselves
The people saw themselves
And cried out for help
They confessed that they were wrong
They recognized their God
For who He Is
And lifted there voices in a song
Lord we need you again
We turn from our sins
Please hear and forgive
And let us live
Lord we need you again
We turn from our sins
Please hear and forgive
And let us live
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