And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.
The covenant belongs to a public gathering in Jerusalem after the wall had been rebuilt while much of the city still lay in ruins, when the people assembled for the Feast of Trumpets and Ezra led them in blessing and worshiping God. It came as the response to the reading of the law in Nehemiah 8, whose requirements convicted the people of their wrong. It belongs to the account of the people hearing and understanding God's law, with deep repentance and return to the Lord as the expected result.
Because of all this, the confession behind the covenant recounts God's right judgments, true laws, holy Sabbath, bread from heaven, water from the rock, forty years of sustaining without lack, multiplied children, conquered kingdoms and fat land, readiness to pardon, gracious mercy, pillar of cloud and fire, and many deliverances. Set against this are pride, hardened necks, rebellion, the molten calf, casting the law behind their backs, slaying prophets, and repeated evil bringing dominion by enemies and great distress. In acknowledging God's just dealings and their own sins, Ezra and Nehemiah humbled themselves, confessing their own sins and the sins of the people and asking pardon as though they themselves were the offenders. The people thus recognized their condition and that their sins had separated them from God, so that He had let them come under heathen control to show He would not serve with their sins.
After that acknowledgment the people renewed their commitment to God and entered a covenant to obey His law, making a sure and firm covenant and writing it, with princes, Levites, and priests sealing it. The writing and signing preserved it as a lasting record of their obligation, to remind them of their duty and guard them against temptation.
The verse gives a representation to present 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 otherwise be perverted more and more into strong representations of evil. Its history of disobedience, distress, and repeated mercy is paralleled by Seventh-day Adventists, who have received great truths and favors from God but have not always valued them or returned Him the glory due His name. Yet like Israel they have not been wholly forsaken, with heaven providing help for united medical missionary work and the ministry of the Word.
The covenant belongs to a public gathering in Jerusalem after the wall had been rebuilt while much of the city still lay in ruins, when the people assembled for the Feast of Trumpets and Ezra led them in blessing and worshiping God. It came as the response to the reading of the law in Nehemiah 8, whose requirements convicted the people of their wrong. It belongs to the account of the people hearing and understanding God's law, with deep repentance and return to the Lord as the expected result.
Because of all this, the confession behind the covenant recounts God's right judgments, true laws, holy Sabbath, bread from heaven, water from the rock, forty years of sustaining without lack, multiplied children, conquered kingdoms and fat land, readiness to pardon, gracious mercy, pillar of cloud and fire, and many deliverances. Set against this are pride, hardened necks, rebellion, the molten calf, casting the law behind their backs, slaying prophets, and repeated evil bringing dominion by enemies and great distress. In acknowledging God's just dealings and their own sins, Ezra and Nehemiah humbled themselves, confessing their own sins and the sins of the people and asking pardon as though they themselves were the offenders. The people thus recognized their condition and that their sins had separated them from God, so that He had let them come under heathen control to show He would not serve with their sins.
After that acknowledgment the people renewed their commitment to God and entered a covenant to obey His law, making a sure and firm covenant and writing it, with princes, Levites, and priests sealing it. The writing and signing preserved it as a lasting record of their obligation, to remind them of their duty and guard them against temptation.
The verse gives a representation to present 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 otherwise be perverted more and more into strong representations of evil. Its history of disobedience, distress, and repeated mercy is paralleled by Seventh-day Adventists, who have received great truths and favors from God but have not always valued them or returned Him the glory due His name. Yet like Israel they have not been wholly forsaken, with heaven providing help for united medical missionary work and the ministry of the Word.