We left Nehemiah and Ezra in the middle of what we might call a revival service. Nehemiah 8 ended with their celebrating the feast of booths. Chapter 8 contains a well-known promise:

And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8.10, ESV)

And the commitment meeting picks up in chapter 9:

Then on the twenty-fourth day of this month, the People of Israel gathered for a fast, wearing burlap and faces smudged with dirt as signs of repentance. The Israelites broke off all relations with foreigners, stood up, and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their parents. While they stood there in their places, they read from the Book of The Revelation of GOD, their God, for a quarter of the day. For another quarter of the day they confessed and worshiped their GOD. (Nehemiah 9.1 – 3, MSG)

A half-day of prayer! Half devoted to reading the scripture and half devoted to confession and worship.

The confession recaps Israel’s history, starting with creation:

You’re the one, GOD, you alone; You made the heavens, the heavens of heavens, and all angels; The earth and everything on it, the seas and everything in them; You keep them all alive; heaven’s angels worship you! (Nehemiah 9.6, MSG)

Then it goes through God’s choice of Abraham, the Exodus, the giving of the law, followed by the disobedience, including the golden calf. Then the prayer recalls their going into the promised land, followed by more disobedience, and finally the captivity. The conclusion?

You are not to blame for all that has come down on us; You did everything right, we did everything wrong. None of our kings, princes, priests, or ancestors followed your Revelation; They ignored your commands, dismissed the warnings you gave them. Even when they had their own kingdom and were enjoying your generous goodness, Living in that spacious and fertile land that you spread out before them, They didn’t serve you or turn their backs on the practice of evil. And here we are, slaves again today; and here’s the land you gave our ancestors So they could eat well and enjoy a good life, and now look at us—no better than slaves on this land. Its wonderful crops go to the kings you put over us because of our sins; They act like they own our bodies and do whatever they like with our cattle. We’re in deep trouble. (Nehemiah 9.33 – 37, MSG)

The solution? A “binding pledge:”

Because of all this we are drawing up a binding pledge, a sealed document signed by our princes, our Levites, and our priests.” (Nehemiah 9.38, MSG)

You can read in chapter 10 who signed the pledge, and the particulars of the pledge. I really like the ending:

We will not neglect The Temple of our God. (Nehemiah 10.39, MSG)

We’ve seen before how the Temple was neglected. Joash and Josiah had to renovate it. Then it was rebuilt under the ministry of Haggai:

Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD. (Haggai 1.8, NIV)

We ought not neglect the Temple: spiritually, mentally, physically.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3.16, 17, ESV)

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young— let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance— for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1.1 – 7, NIV)

For physical training is of some value… (1 Timothy 4.8, NIV)