tion of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore. "And Shechania, the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. "Now, therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my Lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. "Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee; be of good courage, AND DO IT." Here we notice 1. That Ezra did not start out to harangue and scold the people, but that he went directly to God in humble prayer and confession; 2. That he felt as though he had participated in the sins of his people. Listen to him: "O my God! I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to Thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens * * * And all that has come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seing that thou, our God has punished us less than our iniquities deserve." 3. That he continued in prayer and confession until his tears soaked and mellowed the hardened hearts of his people; until the fire from heaven melted and thawed the frozen hearts; until men, women and children came to him, effected by his prayers and tears, and the power of God, brought down, so to say, by his fervent prayers and heartrending confessions and humiliation. Listen to him now he wails, moans, cringes, writhes, as a worm in the dust:-"O my God, I AM ASHAMED AND BLUSH TO LIFT MY FACE TO THEE, MY GOD. I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to Thee." "For our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up to the heavens." Whose iniquities and trespasses? Ours, Ours, OURS! As one of the people, Ezra feels and acknowledges the sins of the church and the iniquities of the nation as his own together with the rest. And so it is. In the church and in the nation, the organization and relationship of the organism is so intimate that the suffering of one member effects all the members. And the iniquities and trespasses of one member effects a whole church, as a whole community. We are reminded of Achan who trespassed at the conquest of Jericho, taking a Babylonish garment, two shekels of silver and a wedge of gold. For this trespass of this single man, the battle of Ai was lost to the army and thirty-six men were killed. And when Achan had been detected, Joshua said to him: "Why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burnt them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones * * * So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger." This is recorded for a warning, and an example of the effects of sin, even by an individual. How much greater the effects, then, when clubs, leagues, associations, societies, towns and cities conspire to disobey God's commandments? How awful the accursed liquor traffic and the organized, segregated and protected vice in our cities! This we know, but how does it effect us? Are we ashamed, and do we blush to lift our faces up to God? Has it all brought us to tears, and down, down to the seat of mercy, praying and confessing in the fashion of Daniel and Ezra? Or are we numb, careless, dead? Well, brethren, God has means to wake us up. "If we turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordained his arrows against the persecuters." Ps. 7:12, 13. CHAPTER XXIX. Nehemiah's Solicitude, Prayer, Confession. Divine Interference. Says Nehemiah: "And it came to pass in the month Chisleu (December) in the twentieth year (of the reign of Artaxerxes the first) as I was in Shushan the palace, "That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. "And they said unto me: The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. "And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I set down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven; Nehemiah's Prayer. "And I said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: "Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayst hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel, thy servant, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned. "We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandest thy servant Moses. "Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: "But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. "Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. "O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer." Note "Cupbearer," an attendant or officer of the household of a prince or noble, whose office it was to fill and hand the cups to his master and to guests. "And it came to pass in the month of Nisan (April), in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, the king, that wine was before him; and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. "Wherefore the king'said unto me, "Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was sore afraid. "And I said unto the king, Let the king live forever; why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? "Then the king said unto me, For what doest thou make request? So I prayed the God of heaven. "And I said unto the king, If it pleases the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldst send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it. "And the king said unto me (the queen also sitting by him), For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. "Moreover, I said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come to Judah; "And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me. "Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. "When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah, the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel." Neh. 1:1-11; 2:1-10. Here we have: 1. Nehemiah's solicitude. He is spiritually minded, evidenced by the fact that he makes diligent inquiry concerning his people, God's people, whom he loves and among whom he is organically and spiritually one. "For those who are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but those who are after the spirit the things of the spirit." To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Rom. 8:5-8. What is it to be carnally minded? It is not to find the highest enjoyment and pleasure in religious and devotional exercises; but to seek and to esteem worldly pleasures and amusements gratifying, satisfying, delighting; such as theaters, dancing, card playing, feasting, gain, wealth, fame, vanity, pride, luxury, indolence, sensuality. What is it to be spiritually minded? It is to have the highest gratification, enjoyment, pleasure, and delight in worship and devotional exercises; to be conscious of and experience the love and magnanimity and approval of God respecting what we are and what we do. On the other hand the spiritually minded abhor theaters, dancings, card playing and all worldly pleasures, because their Savior is not to be found in them or among them. What pleasure would there be in a dancing or card-playing party, if the opening were to be attended with the reading of passages of Holy Scriptures and a season of prayer? 2. Nehemiah's prayer. Approaching the throne of God, Nehemiah properly recognizes the majesty of God, His power and kindly disposition. "I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven," Nehemiah begins, "the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments." Here is an expression of due respect and devotion. "O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God," is an expression of humble respect, and the phrase, “That keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments," is an expression of filial devotion, without which he could not have approached God in faith, and confidence to be heard, and his petition to be taken into consideration. The next point of importance in Nehemiah's prayer is his urgent solicitation to have God's attention. He feels the need of both ears and eyes for listening and observation by his Lord God of what he has to tell and what he has to present in this case. Again, Nehemiah makes his supplication and petition as a servant. He is reconciled to God, enjoys peace and the sunshine of LOVE, according to the covenant he referred to in his introduction to his supplication. Again, Nehemiah continued, persevered in prayer. "Which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel, thy servants," he pleads. (And he had to continue this pleading for four months, as we shall see in the following chapter.) Again we observe the substance of his prayer which was: 3. Confession. "And confess the sins of the children of Israel, which WE (notice this word We; not they, no, WE) have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned." It is this disposition, this self-abasement, this self-accusation, this mingling and mixing himself with all his people, himself and his father's house, and that in such a degree that he weeps, mourns and fasts-it is this that gives such importance and weight to Nehemiah's prayers, supplication and confessions. Then follows a list or catalogue of the sins committed. And it is this which proves the genuineness and sincerity of the confessions. Many Christians admit that they are "sinners, weak and needy," but they know of no sins committed. They offer prayers in generalities, and may preach sermons to: God, but the broken heart, the contrite spirit, the penitent tears, the wailing supplication, these are not in evidence. 4. Divine interference. The report from Jerusalem by Nehemiah's brethren was received by him in the month of Chisleu, |