Nehemiah 9:9-11 - Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

The Deliverance From Egypt (Nehemiah 9:9-11).

They now reminded YHWH what, having established His sovereign power over all things, and having chosen Abraham and made a covenant with him to give him and his descendants the land, this had caused Him to do. It had caused Him to deliver the children of Abraham out of Egypt. They had been afflicted by a powerful foreign king and nation, but YHWH had miraculously delivered them, bringing them through the Red Sea, just as they now hoped that He would deliver them from the hand of another powerful king and nation, and would bring back other exiles who were scattered around the world.

Nehemiah 9:9-11

“And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, (Exodus 3:7)

And heard their cry by the Red Sea, (Exodus 14:10)

And showed signs and wonders on Pharaoh, (Exodus 7:3; Deuteronomy 6:22)

And on all his servants, and on all the people of his land, (Deuteronomy 6:22; Deuteronomy 34:11)

For you knew that they dealt proudly against them, (Exodus 18:11)

And you got yourself a name, as it is this day. (Exodus 9:16)

And you divided the sea before them, (Exodus 14:16; Exodus 14:21)

So that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, (Exodus 14:22; Exodus 14:29; Exodus 15:19)

And their pursuers you did cast into the depths, (Exodus 15:4; Exodus 15:19)

As a stone into the mighty waters.” (Exodus 15:5; Exodus 15:9)

In poetic prose the writer vividly describes the deliverance of ‘their fathers' from their afflictions, both by signs and wonders wrought in Egypt affecting the whole land, and especially by His deliverance at the Red Sea when the host of Pharaoh perished in the waters. God had seen the afflictions of His people, had heard their cry, had noted the pride and arrogance of their tormentors, had worked signs and wonders against a foreign tyrant, and had thereby ‘got Himself a Name', a recognition of Who and What He was. As can be seen the words are full of references to the Book of Exodus. This then was the God on whom they were now depending, and to Whom they were looking. It is quite apparent that they were hoping that God would act in a similar way again.

Related Commentaries of Nehemiah 9:9

Nehemiah 9:9-11

9 And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;

10 And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day.

11 And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters.