There Shall Be Seven Weeks: Confession of Sin
Daniel 9:25b …there shall be seven weeks…
The context of this series of posts is the course of the Jewish people for the initial 49 years of the 483 year period communicated from the angel Gabriel to the prophet Daniel. The city of Jerusalem has been rebuilt post exile.
The people of Israel have returned to God and celebrated the Fall Feasts for the first time as a nation in their Promised Land and in Jerusalem. The Fall Feasts concluded on Tishri 22nd. Two days later…
Nehemiah 9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on their heads.
Israel under the leadership of Nehemiah and Ezra, they wasted no time. The date is two days after the solemn assembly on the 24th of Tishri. We know the occasion is of serious tone. Note the description of the scene: fasting, sackcloth, and dust on their heads. Humility is the idea.
Nehemiah 9:2 And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
The nation Israel “separated” or badal in the Hebrew. They set themselves apart from other peoples. Badal is the same word used in the creation week. God divided the day from night. He separated the light from darkness.
The same is true for us today as followers of Jesus Christ. Believers are not to be a part of this world. We are called to be holy and different.
John 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
1 Peter 1:15-16 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
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…and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
This is a corporate and historical confession. The people of the nation of Israel are admitting they are sinners both currently and in the past. Israel is expressing their guilt. They know they are worthy of punishment. But, the people continued to worship God.
Nehemiah 9:3 And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God.
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