Nehemiah 1:7

We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:15-44 The best reformers can but do their endeavour; when the Redeemer himself shall come to Zion, he shall effectually turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And when sin is repented of and forsaken, God will forgive it; but the blood of Christ, our Sin-offering, is the only atonement which takes away our guilt. No seeming repentance or amendment will benefit those who reject Him, for self-dependence proves them still unhumbled. All the names written in the book of life, are those of penitent sinners, not of self-righteous persons, who think they have no need of repentance.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The God of heaven - This title of the Almighty, which is Persian rather than Jewish (see 2 Chronicles 36:23; Ezra 1:2 note; Ezra 6:10; Ezra 7:12, Ezra 7:21), is a favorite one with Nehemiah, who had been born and brought up in Persia.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Ne 1:4-11. His Prayer.

4. when I heard these words, that I sat down … and mourned … and fasted, and prayed—The recital deeply affected the patriotic feelings of this good man, and no comfort could he find but in earnest and protracted prayer, that God would favor the purpose, which he seems to have secretly formed, of asking the royal permission to go to Jerusalem.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

We have dealt very corruptly, or we have wholly corrupted, to wit, ourselves, and our ways, and thy worship.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

We have dealt very corruptly against thee,.... Corrupted his covenant, laws, and precepts, as well as themselves, ways, and works; all which were against the Lord, contrary to his nature, mind, and will:

and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses; the laws, moral, ceremonial, and judicial.

Geneva Study Bible

We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. We have dealt very corruptly] The words in the original occasion some difficulty. There is however no connexion, as commentators have supposed, between the Hebrew words used here and a similar root meaning ‘a pledge.’ The Vulgate, adopting a different derivation, has ‘vanitate seducti sumus.’ The LXX. rendering διαλύσει διελύσαμεν πρὸς σὲ and that of a few MSS. ματαιώσει ἐματαιώθημεν ἐν σοί (Field’s Orig. Hex.) show the uncertainty as to the meaning. Elsewhere in the O.T. the word occurs in Job 17:1; Isaiah 13:5; Isaiah 32:7; Isaiah 54:16; Proverbs 13:13; Micah 2:10; Song of Solomon 2:15. The substantive derived from the root here used is rendered ‘hurt’ Daniel 6:23. It is found with the same meaning as in this verse Job 34:31 ‘I will not offend any more.’

commandments … statutes … judgments] The three words occur together in Deuteronomy 5:31; Deuteronomy 6:1; Deuteronomy 7:11; Deuteronomy 8:11; Deuteronomy 11:1.

which thou commandedst] e.g. Deuteronomy 6:1.

thy servant Moses] and Nehemiah 1:8, Nehemiah 9:18.

‘The servant of the Lord’ was a favourite title applied to Moses. In Joshua it occurs with great frequency (e.g. Joshua 1:1-2; Joshua 1:7; Joshua 1:13, &c.). Elsewhere it is found in 1 Kings 8:53; 1 Kings 8:56; 2 Kings 18:12; 2 Kings 21:8; 2 Chronicles 1:3; Psalm 105:26; Malachi 4:4. He is called ‘the servant of God’ in Nehemiah 10:29; 1 Chronicles 6:49; Daniel 9:11; ‘the man of God’ Ezra 3:2; 1 Chronicles 23:14; Psalms 90. (title). Cf. in the New Testament the description of Moses as the ‘faithful servant’ in Hebrews 3:2-5, and Revelation 15:3. The LXX. τῷ Μωυσῇ παιδί σου (Vulg. famulo tuo) will illustrate Acts 4:27 ‘thy holy Servant Jesus’ (τὸν ἅγιον παῖδά σου Ἰησοῦν).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - We have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments. The ordinances of the Law are frequently summed up under these three heads (Deuteronomy 5:31; Deuteronomy 6:1; Deuteronomy 11:1, etc.); but it would be a mistake to regard them as constituting a logical division of the various precepts contained in the Pentateuch, or to suppose that every precept is to be referred absolutely to one or other of the three. Nehemiah 1:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

We have dealt very corruptly against Thee. חבל is the inf. constr. instead of the infin. abs., which, before the finite verb, and by reason of its close connection therewith, becomes the infin. constr., like אהיה היות, Psalm 50:21; comp. Ewald, 240, c. The dealing corruptly against God consists in not having kept the commandments, statutes, and judgments of the law.