The covenant was a crowning act in establishing a relationship between God and His people. First, the Israelites studied the Scriptures, which led to conviction and confession of sin (Nehemiah 8, Nehemiah 9). After the confession, praises, and petition of the Jews, the renewal of the covenant was performed. Nehemiah signed it first, followed by 83 leaders of the nation. The leaders placed a seal on the document, and the rest of the congregation “entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law” (Neh. 10:29). Then they pledged their loyalty to God by taking four vows. They vowed (1) to not intermarry with people from other nations, (2) to faithfully keep the Sabbath, (3) to cancel all debts, and (4) to take care of the temple (including paying tithes and offerings).
In other words, the signing of the covenant was not enough. They knew that it had to be followed up by action. Their commitment to God had to be observable, and thus they reintroduced important aspects of walking with God as a holy nation. It was through a relationship with God and intentionality in behavior that they were to grow as people of God. A critical aspect of being faithful to God and developing the right habits is regularly and persistently asking God for transformation and help. With His help and keeping our focus on Him, we can develop the right habits and stick to the correct path. The Jews did not leave their growth to chance but diligently made action plans that would keep them grounded in God.
Part II: Commentary
Thematic Structure of Chapter 10
Leaders seal the covenant (Neh. 10:1–27).
The people promise to walk in God’s law (Neh. 10:28, 29).
Pledges of the covenant (Neh. 10:30–39)
No mixed marriages (Neh. 10:30)
Keeping the Sabbath (Neh. 10:31a)
Debt cancellation (Neh. 10:31b)
Temple service (Neh. 10:32–39)
Temple tax (Neh. 10:32, 33)
Wood (Neh. 10:34)
Firstfruits (Neh. 10:35–37a)
Tithe (Neh. 10:37b–38)
Offering (Neh. 10:39a, b)
Summary statement: “We will not neglect the house of our God” (Neh. 10:39c).
From Creation to Re-creation
The biblical Creation story begins in Genesis 1, occurring in a series of seven days. The culmination of the Creation story, known as the First Creation Account, is the seventh day, the Sabbath. This narrative tells humans that we were created dependent upon God and were to live in rela- tionship with Him. Genesis 2 describes Creation from a slightly different perspective but still in a series of seven, culminating in the establishment of a horizontal (i.e., human-to-human) relationship through the marriage of the first couple. Unfortunately, because of sin, God’s creation was de- or un-created by humanity when they broke their relationship with God as a result of attempting to live an autonomous life. Saying no to God’s presence in life spiraled the world quickly into wickedness until God had to intervene with the Flood to stop the avalanche of evil; otherwise, there soon would have been no one left to save.
Thankfully, with God, who is faithful to His word, there is always a new beginning; He re-creates again after the Flood in the time of Noah. God preserves a remnant, and through them He will bring salvation. This re-creation story, written in a sequence of seven, culminates with the covenant (Gen. 8:1–9:17). Although God had to restart many times (tower of Babel, Abraham, Moses, etc.), the covenant has remained a central aspect of the relationship between God and humanity.
Thus, the covenant between God and humans is an important element of the re-creation mission that God has been on ever since humanity’s fall. The covenant is a legal establishment of a relationship between God and humans. It is an attempt at restoring the broken relationship between God and humans. It is necessary because humanity does not trust God. When people trust each other, they do not need paperwork and legal trea- ties to guarantee each other that each partner in the agreement will come through on his or her promises. However, God knows that humans have a hard time trusting Him. So, He devised a way to demonstrate to us that He is always faithful. The covenant is a way for God to show us that He is serious about His commitment to us. God always takes the first step. He is the initiator of the covenant; He establishes the covenant with us.
Making a Covenant
The covenant is a legal document, written according to Hittite treaties between two parties (usually between a suzerain lord and his vassals), making the relationship binding. The best example of how a covenant was made in the Mesopotamian culture is found in Genesis 15 in which God makes a covenant with Abram.
Abram follows the established custom of establishing a covenant between two parties. The literal translation for making a covenant is “cutting” a covenant because it involved the “cutting” of animals. Depending on how wealthy the vassal (the servant) was, he or she would bring a variety of ani- mals to split in half. The vassal did the work of splitting the animals in half and then pledged an oath to the overlord. Since Abram is affluent, he brings a heifer, a female goat, a ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon (Gen. 15:9). He cut each of the animals down the middle and placed them opposite each other on the ground, creating a path in between them. The birds were left whole because of their small size and placed opposite each other. The job of the vassal now was to walk between the cut pieces and proclaim something to the effect of: “Let it be done to me as was done to these animals if I break this covenant.”The overlord did not do the walking between the pieces because it was done only by the one who had the lower status in the relation- ship. So, as was customary, Abram would have walked between the pieces as a vassal even though his doing so is not specifically mentioned in the text. However, although we would expect that action to end the story and for the covenant to be complete, God does not end the ratification of the covenant there. When the sun goes down, Abram suddenly sees “a smoking oven and a burning torch” that pass between the pieces. Smoke and fire represent God in the Old Testament (smoke on the mountain as God’s presence descends and a pillar of fire in the wilderness; later, in the New Testament, we have the tongues of fire [Acts 2], etc.). What do these things mean? God walked through the pieces Himself. He did not expect Abram to walk through and pledge the oath; it was God Himself who pledged, “If I break this covenant, may I be cut in half like these animals.” Incredibly, humans were the ones who broke the covenant again and again. In the end, God was the one who was willing to be “cut” on the cross and to die for sinful people in order to dem- onstrate His faithfulness and incredible love. God never broke the covenant.
But because we did, He took our place in being rent in half; God died for us in our place.
God makes a covenant with us in order to demonstrate His commit- ment and goodness to us. Although we break the relationship with Him, He keeps working on mending it. He wants to restore us to Himself (Exod. 19:4, John 12:32).
Pledges of the Covenant
The Jews in the time of Nehemiah realize that God is faithful. Now they want to make a commitment to be a holy nation for God. The leaders sign a document testifying that they want to be faithful to God. Then, the rest of the Israelites agree to this and swear an oath to follow God’s law. They are aware that the responsibility of walking with God rests on them. But walking with God cannot be just talk; it must be physical actions. The people must be obedient to God’s teachings.
Thus, in a demonstration of the people’s intention to be obedient, the rest of the chapter is dedicated to outlining the specifics of their pledge to God. (1) They will not have mixed marriages with people around them and will not give their children in marriage to those who do not live for God. (2) They will not buy or sell on the Sabbath and will treat it as a holy day, a different day, realizing that buying and selling is done on all the rest of the days of the week. (3) They also will forgive any debt every seventh year and let the ground have rest as instructed in Leviticus 25 during the jubilee year. Finally, (4) they will focus on restoring the services in the temple by providing for the Levites and the priests through paying tithe and offerings and through regulat- ing all temple provisions. The priests were to receive a tenth of the tithes. In the early days, when the Levites greatly outnumbered the priests, this portion was a great provision. But by Nehemiah’s time, such a small group of people remained that receiving a tenth of the tenth was a meager allotment. The fact that the priests agreed to this allotment demonstrates their unselfish and humble attitude. The actions taken by the assembly and the servants in the temple show their wholehearted commitment to God.
Part III: Life Application
Covenant With Abram
1. Imagine the scene of the covenant between God and Abram, engaging all five of your senses. Now answer the following questions:
a. What would the place smell like?
b. What would you hear?
c. What would you taste if you were there?
d. What would you see?
e. What would you feel?
2. What do you think about God’s actions in walking through the cut pieces of the animals in Genesis 15? What do you think Abram was thinking as God “cut” the covenant with him? What does God’s making the covenant with Abram mean to you?
Nehemiah’s Covenant
1. Why did the Israelites commit to those four pledges specifically? What is important about each of them?
2. The community had come full circle; they had rejoiced, mourned, and made a commitment to God. In making these new commit- ments, the Israelite remnant was looking forward to the future, ever bearing in mind that God must help us walk with Him, giving us strength and a greater desire to follow through with living for Him. What commitments can you make to God? What can you do to ensure that you deliver on your pledges as you look into a future of a deeper relationship with God? What role does the Holy Spirit play in your commitment?
Adjust My Preferences
Welcome! Please set your reading preferences below.
You can access this panel later by clicking the
preference icon
in the top right of the page.
Key Texts: Nehemiah 9:38, Nehemiah 10:39
Study Focus: Nehemiah 10
The covenant was a crowning act in establishing a relationship between God and His people. First, the Israelites studied the Scriptures, which led to conviction and confession of sin (Nehemiah 8, Nehemiah 9). After the confession, praises, and petition of the Jews, the renewal of the covenant was performed. Nehemiah signed it first, followed by 83 leaders of the nation. The leaders placed a seal on the document, and the rest of the congregation “entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law” (Neh. 10:29). Then they pledged their loyalty to God by taking four vows. They vowed (1) to not intermarry with people from other nations, (2) to faithfully keep the Sabbath, (3) to cancel all debts, and (4) to take care of the temple (including paying tithes and offerings).
In other words, the signing of the covenant was not enough. They knew that it had to be followed up by action. Their commitment to God had to be observable, and thus they reintroduced important aspects of walking with God as a holy nation. It was through a relationship with God and intentionality in behavior that they were to grow as people of God. A critical aspect of being faithful to God and developing the right habits is regularly and persistently asking God for transformation and help. With His help and keeping our focus on Him, we can develop the right habits and stick to the correct path. The Jews did not leave their growth to chance but diligently made action plans that would keep them grounded in God.
Part II: Commentary
Thematic Structure of Chapter 10
From Creation to Re-creation
The biblical Creation story begins in Genesis 1, occurring in a series of seven days. The culmination of the Creation story, known as the First Creation Account, is the seventh day, the Sabbath. This narrative tells humans that we were created dependent upon God and were to live in rela- tionship with Him. Genesis 2 describes Creation from a slightly different perspective but still in a series of seven, culminating in the establishment of a horizontal (i.e., human-to-human) relationship through the marriage of the first couple. Unfortunately, because of sin, God’s creation was de- or un-created by humanity when they broke their relationship with God as a result of attempting to live an autonomous life. Saying no to God’s presence in life spiraled the world quickly into wickedness until God had to intervene with the Flood to stop the avalanche of evil; otherwise, there soon would have been no one left to save.
Thankfully, with God, who is faithful to His word, there is always a new beginning; He re-creates again after the Flood in the time of Noah. God preserves a remnant, and through them He will bring salvation. This re-creation story, written in a sequence of seven, culminates with the covenant (Gen. 8:1–9:17). Although God had to restart many times (tower of Babel, Abraham, Moses, etc.), the covenant has remained a central aspect of the relationship between God and humanity.
Thus, the covenant between God and humans is an important element of the re-creation mission that God has been on ever since humanity’s fall. The covenant is a legal establishment of a relationship between God and humans. It is an attempt at restoring the broken relationship between God and humans. It is necessary because humanity does not trust God. When people trust each other, they do not need paperwork and legal trea- ties to guarantee each other that each partner in the agreement will come through on his or her promises. However, God knows that humans have a hard time trusting Him. So, He devised a way to demonstrate to us that He is always faithful. The covenant is a way for God to show us that He is serious about His commitment to us. God always takes the first step. He is the initiator of the covenant; He establishes the covenant with us.
Making a Covenant
The covenant is a legal document, written according to Hittite treaties between two parties (usually between a suzerain lord and his vassals), making the relationship binding. The best example of how a covenant was made in the Mesopotamian culture is found in Genesis 15 in which God makes a covenant with Abram.
Abram follows the established custom of establishing a covenant between two parties. The literal translation for making a covenant is “cutting” a covenant because it involved the “cutting” of animals. Depending on how wealthy the vassal (the servant) was, he or she would bring a variety of ani- mals to split in half. The vassal did the work of splitting the animals in half and then pledged an oath to the overlord. Since Abram is affluent, he brings a heifer, a female goat, a ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon (Gen. 15:9). He cut each of the animals down the middle and placed them opposite each other on the ground, creating a path in between them. The birds were left whole because of their small size and placed opposite each other. The job of the vassal now was to walk between the cut pieces and proclaim something to the effect of: “Let it be done to me as was done to these animals if I break this covenant.”The overlord did not do the walking between the pieces because it was done only by the one who had the lower status in the relation- ship. So, as was customary, Abram would have walked between the pieces as a vassal even though his doing so is not specifically mentioned in the text. However, although we would expect that action to end the story and for the covenant to be complete, God does not end the ratification of the covenant there. When the sun goes down, Abram suddenly sees “a smoking oven and a burning torch” that pass between the pieces. Smoke and fire represent God in the Old Testament (smoke on the mountain as God’s presence descends and a pillar of fire in the wilderness; later, in the New Testament, we have the tongues of fire [Acts 2], etc.). What do these things mean? God walked through the pieces Himself. He did not expect Abram to walk through and pledge the oath; it was God Himself who pledged, “If I break this covenant, may I be cut in half like these animals.” Incredibly, humans were the ones who broke the covenant again and again. In the end, God was the one who was willing to be “cut” on the cross and to die for sinful people in order to dem- onstrate His faithfulness and incredible love. God never broke the covenant.
But because we did, He took our place in being rent in half; God died for us in our place.
God makes a covenant with us in order to demonstrate His commit- ment and goodness to us. Although we break the relationship with Him, He keeps working on mending it. He wants to restore us to Himself (Exod. 19:4, John 12:32).
Pledges of the Covenant
The Jews in the time of Nehemiah realize that God is faithful. Now they want to make a commitment to be a holy nation for God. The leaders sign a document testifying that they want to be faithful to God. Then, the rest of the Israelites agree to this and swear an oath to follow God’s law. They are aware that the responsibility of walking with God rests on them. But walking with God cannot be just talk; it must be physical actions. The people must be obedient to God’s teachings.
Thus, in a demonstration of the people’s intention to be obedient, the rest of the chapter is dedicated to outlining the specifics of their pledge to God. (1) They will not have mixed marriages with people around them and will not give their children in marriage to those who do not live for God. (2) They will not buy or sell on the Sabbath and will treat it as a holy day, a different day, realizing that buying and selling is done on all the rest of the days of the week. (3) They also will forgive any debt every seventh year and let the ground have rest as instructed in Leviticus 25 during the jubilee year. Finally, (4) they will focus on restoring the services in the temple by providing for the Levites and the priests through paying tithe and offerings and through regulat- ing all temple provisions. The priests were to receive a tenth of the tithes. In the early days, when the Levites greatly outnumbered the priests, this portion was a great provision. But by Nehemiah’s time, such a small group of people remained that receiving a tenth of the tenth was a meager allotment. The fact that the priests agreed to this allotment demonstrates their unselfish and humble attitude. The actions taken by the assembly and the servants in the temple show their wholehearted commitment to God.
Part III: Life Application
Covenant With Abram
1. Imagine the scene of the covenant between God and Abram, engaging all five of your senses. Now answer the following questions:
a. What would the place smell like?
b. What would you hear?
c. What would you taste if you were there?
d. What would you see?
e. What would you feel?
2. What do you think about God’s actions in walking through the cut pieces of the animals in Genesis 15? What do you think Abram was thinking as God “cut” the covenant with him? What does God’s making the covenant with Abram mean to you?
Nehemiah’s Covenant
1. Why did the Israelites commit to those four pledges specifically? What is important about each of them?
2. The community had come full circle; they had rejoiced, mourned, and made a commitment to God. In making these new commit- ments, the Israelite remnant was looking forward to the future, ever bearing in mind that God must help us walk with Him, giving us strength and a greater desire to follow through with living for Him. What commitments can you make to God? What can you do to ensure that you deliver on your pledges as you look into a future of a deeper relationship with God? What role does the Holy Spirit play in your commitment?