Nehemiah 9:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we have a general account of a public fast kept by the children of Israel, probably by Nehemiah’s direction and with the advice and agreement of the family leaders. It was a fast set by people, but it was also the kind of fast God had chosen. It was a day to humble themselves deeply, as Isaiah 58:5 says.

They likely gathered in the temple courts and appeared in sackcloth, with dust or earth on their heads, like mourners, in Nehemiah 9:1. These outward signs of grief and humility gave honor to God, brought shame to themselves, and stirred one another up to repent. Earlier they had been told not to weep, in Nehemiah 8:9, but now they were called to weep. The joy of our holy feasts must give way to the sorrow of solemn fasts when those days come. Everything is beautiful at its right time.

It was also a day to break the bonds of wickedness, and that is the fast God has chosen, as Isaiah 58:6 says. Without that, putting on sackcloth and ashes is only an empty show. The seed of Israel, because they were a holy people set apart for God and better than their neighbors, separated themselves from all foreigners with whom they had mixed and formed marriage ties, in Nehemiah 9:2. Ezra had separated them from foreign wives some years earlier, but they had gone back to the same sin. They had either married again or at least become close friends with them, and that closeness had trapped them.

Now they separated themselves from the foreign children as well as from the foreign wives. Those who mean to join themselves to God in prayer and covenant must also separate themselves from sin and sinners. For what fellowship has light with darkness?

It was also a day of fellowship with God. They fasted to him, even to him, as Zechariah 7:5 says. First, they spoke to him in prayer. They offered him their humble and devout hearts in confessing sin and honoring him as the Lord and their God. Fasting without prayer is like a body without a soul, a useless corpse.

Second, they listened to God speaking to them through his word. They read from the book of the law, which is very fitting for a fast day. In the mirror of the law, we see our faults and uncleanness, and we learn what to confess and what to change. The word also guides and strengthens prayer, because the Spirit uses it to help our weakness in praying.

Notice how the time was divided between these two duties. They spent three hours, a quarter of the day, in reading, explaining, and applying Scripture, and three hours in confessing sin and praying. So they stayed together six hours and used all that time in holy worship, without saying, “What a burden this is!” Changing the exercises made the time less tiring. The word they read gave them material for prayer, and prayer made the word more useful.

Bishop Patrick thinks they spent the whole twelve hours of the day in devotion. From six in the morning until nine, they read. Then from nine until twelve, they prayed. From twelve until three, they read again, and from three until six in the evening, they prayed again. The work of a fast day is good work, so we should try to make it a full day’s good work.