Nehemiah 10.01-31 l COVENANT AND SEPERATION

Today’s reading: Nehemiah 09.01-10.39

Nehemiah 10.28-30 “28 Now the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants & all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons & their daughters, all those who had knowledge & understanding, 29 are joining w/their kinsmen, their nobles, & are taking on themselves a curse & an oath to walk in God’s law, which was given through Moses, God’s servant, & to keep & to observe all the commandments of GOD our Lord, & His ordinances & His statutes; 30 & that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.”

In today’s reading, Nehemiah records the people confessing their sin and makes a covenant with God (Nehemiah 09.01-38). We also see the signers of the covenant (Nehemiah 10.01-27) and we see the details of the covenant (Nehemiah 10.28-39).

We read that there is a group of men who declare their dependence of God. (Nehemiah 09.38)

The word “making” in Nehemiah 09.38 is the Hebrew word “karath” which means covenant.

1828 Webster Dictionary defines Covenant:

Covenant n. [L, to come; a coming together; a meeting or agreement of minds.] 1. A mutual consent or agreement of two or more persons, to do or to forbear some act or thing; a contract; stipulation. A covenant is created by deed in writing, sealed & executed; or it may be implied in the contract.

We read about the covenant between the LORD and Abram in Genesis 15.06-18. The LORD tells Abraham to take the animals, split them in half and lay the parts next to each other.

The people making the covenant would sacrifice several animals and divide the bodies, placing the halves opposite each other on the ground. Then the people making the covenant would walk between the pieces of the animals in declaration that, if they failed to keep their word, they deserved the same fate as the animals (Jeremiah 34.18-20).

Look again in Genesis 15:17-18 we see that only the LORD went through the animals and not Abraham! It was only the LORD making promises to Abraham, not Abraham making promises to God. There were no conditions attached, God’s covenant of grace came from the generous heart of God.

Now we as CHRISTians no longer have to make a covenant, or seal a document with God. God wants our obedience to be based on love.

There is no record in the New Testament that states a believer making an oath of obedience to the LORD. In fact, we see we are not to make oaths in James 05.12

Our obedience should be a joyful response to all that He has done for us (Colossians 03.01-02).

Warren Wiersbe Be Determined Ch10 p121

We don’t succeed as Christians because we make promises to God, but because we believe the promises of God & act upon them.

The LORD had a covenant with Israel (Jeremiah 31.33-34).

Making a covenant with the LORD means Separation from the world (Nehemiah 10.28-30).

Separation is not a bad thing. Separation is simply devotion to God, no matter the cost! When a couple gets married, they separate themselves from all other possible mates and they then give themselves completely to each other.

We are to separate ourselves from this world. Throughout the Bible, God’s people are told not to allow the mix of the holy and unholy, the light and the dark (2Corinthians 06.14-17; Ephesians 05.08; 1Thessalonians 05.05; 1John 01.05; for more see THE MUCK OF MIXED MARRIAGES and CONFESSION AND SEPERATION posts).