God’s Covenant with the Returned Exiles

October 29, 2017 Background Scripture: Nehemiah 9, 10 Lesson Passage: Nehemiah 9:32 – 38, 10:28, 29 Today’s lesson focuses on the Jewish exiles who returned to Palestine after living in Babylonian captivity. As prophesied by Jeremiah, the captivity had lasted seventy years. The Jews were allowed to repatriate the land of Canaan by the decree of King Cyrus, the Persian king, after the Persians had overthrown the Babylonians. Many Jews were led back to Palestine during three repatriations. They were led by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah respectively. Zerubbabel had led the first wave who laid the foundation for rebuilding the temple. The second group was led by Ezra who finished building the temple after a long delay. The third group was led by Nehemiah who rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem. Once these projects were completed, the hearts of the people were then turned back to God by their leaders. The people gathered to hear the reading of the Law by Ezra. The topic of today’s lesson is somewhat misleading. The text does not present a covenant between God and the returned exiles but an endorsement and ratification of the previous covenant God made with their forefathers at Mt. Sinai. When the returned exiles heard the words of the Law, they were crushed and began to cry because they realized that what had happened to them was the result of them not obeying the covenant God had established with their forefathers. The exiles mourned because they had not kept the Law since the days of Joshua and they had suffered because of it as the Law stated they would. They were encouraged to repent and begin to obey the commandments which had been ignored since the days of Joshua. (That was prior to the years of apostasy during the time the Judges ruled Israel and the latter years under the kings.) They formally observed the feast of tabernacles as part of getting back on track with the provisions of the covenant. They remembered God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt and His protection of her in the wilderness. They recalled the kings God overthrew and gave their lands to Israel for an everlasting possession. Afterwards they began to acknowledge the faithfulness and goodness of the Lord throughout the generations. But they also acknowledged that Israel had behaved wickedly and had not kept God’s Law or heeded His admonitions. They acknowledged that their enslavement on that day was solely because of the disobedience of their leaders and the people who had followed them. It was with this repentant statement in mind that the leaders of the people were encouraged to renew their commitment to the covenant God made at Mt. Sinai with their forefathers. The leaders of the people endorsed, or ratified, the covenant. They again bound themselves to the blessings and curses of the covenant by acknowledging them in writing. The leaders placed their names on the sealed document. And with that, God’s covenant with Israel was renewed with the returned exiles. Robert C. Hudson September 13, 2017