The Covenant To Keep The Law

The Covenant To Keep The Law

Nehemiah 10:28-31 NKJV

[28] Now the rest of the people—the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding— [29] these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes: [30] We would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons; [31] if the peoples of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and we would forego the seventh year’s produce and the exacting of every debt.

     After the confessionals, the people decided to bind themselves to a covenant. They did this because they understood that so many people find it difficult to keep the law. In my journeys to preach, I have been to cities where people do not obey the traffic lights they spent money to install. It is as if the installations were meant for others and not themselves. So they got the principals of the land to endorse tge document of action. The Governor, the Priests, the Levites and Leaders in the land endorsed the document.

     The Preachers Homilectical draws our attention to two things that Keil noted, " Besides the general obligation to observe all the commandments, judgments, and statutes of God, two points, then frequently transgressed, are specially mentioned. In Neh 10:30, that we would not give our daughters to the people of the lands, nor take their daughters for our sons. In Neh 10:31, that if the people of the land brought wares or any victuals on the Sabbath day to sell, we would not buy it of them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and would let the seventh year lie, and the loan of every hand. To the sanctification of the Sabbath pertained the celebration of the Sabbatical year in which the land was to lie untilled and unsown” (Exo 23:10)".

     The sealing of this covenant was necessary to keep some people who are " adrenaline junkies".There is perhaps no bigger adrenaline rush than breaking the law and going against society. They intended the law must be kept. How do you redpond to the laws that keep us together as a society? How do you respond to street lights when there are no police officers to see you? Do you need a signed covenant to act? Think about it. Good morning.