Nehemiah 9:6 - Exposition

Thou art Lord alone . Compare Psalms 86:10 and Isaiah 27:1-13 :16. In the latter passage the phrase used is almost identical. The heaven of heavens . Compare Deuteronomy 10:14 ; 1 Kings 8:27 ; Psalms 148:4 . The expression has been explained as—

1. The very highest heaven;

2. The heavens in all their infinity,

The latter sense best suits the various passages where the phrase occurs. With all their host . The "host of heaven" has been taken to mean—

1. The angels;

2. The stars.

By the immediate context the stars would seem to be here intended; but the last clause of the verse is more properly applicable to the angels. Still, it must be remembered that, according to H.S. ( Psalms 148:3 ), even the stars "praise" God. Thou preservest them all. The preservation of all created things by him who called them into being is scarcely taught in the Old Testament elsewhere than in this passage. The Psalmist says in one place, "Thou preservest man and beast" ( Psalms 36:6 ); but this acknowledgment falls very far short of the universality of the present passage. Man naturally, but foolishly, fancies that things once created are able to preserve themselves. Exact thought sees, that if all things have been produced from nothing, it requires precisely the same power to sustain as originally to produce them. Hence " preservation " has been called "a continual creation."