Nehemiah 9:36
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: 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:
The verse belongs to the gathering of the people at Jerusalem while much of the city still lay in ruins around them. At that gathering Ezra stood on a raised wooden platform in the broad street and held open the Book of the Law of Moses before a large assembly of attentive men, with the Ten Commandments set forth before them. Ezra blessed God and the people responded in worship. It belongs to the confession in which Ezra and Nehemiah humbled themselves before God, confessing their own sins and their people's sins and pleading for pardon as though they themselves were offenders.
The verse confesses that although God gave the land to their fathers to eat its fruit and its good, its produce and abundance, they are servants in it this day. Possession of the promised land had not brought freedom from oppression, for they remained subject to foreign, heathen rule even while they could eat its produce and enjoy its good things. Their true condition was servants in their own land under the control of heathen nations. The land's much increase goes to the kings set over them because of their sins, who have dominion over their bodies and over their cattle at their pleasure, leaving them in great distress, captivity and powerlessness.
Their sins in turning from God had separated them from Him, and He had permitted them to be brought into captivity and powerlessness. God is just in all that was brought upon His people for their wicked works, and the people acknowledged that their suffering was just punishment for their sins. Foreign bondage even within the promised land is the right fruit of rebellion. Because of all this they made a sure covenant and wrote it, sealed by their princes, Levites and priests, to obey God's law.
God would not serve with their sins, but would work through a man who honored Him with singleness of purpose. The history serves as a warning to Seventh-day Adventists that though God has given them great truths and favors, they have often failed to honor Him, yet He has not wholly forsaken them and has provided help for their work. This representation of God's justice and the fruit of rebellion is to be presented to the people as occasion requires to stand boldly in defense of the truth. Without a decided reformation among those in positions of influence, the truth will be perverted more and more into strong representations of evil.