Nehemiah 9:32 - Exposition

Our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible . Compare Nehemiah 1:5 , with the comment. Who keepest covenant and mercy . This phrase, which occurs also in Nehemiah 1:5 , has apparently been derived from the Psalmist's words—"My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him" ( Psalms 89:28 ). All the trouble . Literally, "the weariness;" but the word is clearly used here for "suffering'' generally. Since the time of the kings of Assyria . The kings of Assyria, in the strictest sense of the word, had been God's original instrument for punishing his rebellious people. A king not mentioned in Holy Scripture tells us that he defeated Ahab, and forced Jehu to pay him tribute. Another (Pul) took tribute from Menahem ( 2 Kings 15:19 , 2 Kings 15:20 ). A third (Tiglath. Pfieser) carried two tribes and a half into captivity ( ibid. verse 29; 1 Chronicles 5:26 ). A fourth (Shalmaneser) laid siege to Samaria ( 2 Kings 17:5 ), and a fifth (Sargon) took it. A sixth (Sennacherib) took all the fenced cities of Judah from Hezekiah, and forced him to buy the safety of Jerusalem ( 2 Kings 18:13-16 ). A seventh (Esar-haddon) had Manasseh brought as a prisoner to Babylon ( 2 Chronicles 33:11 ). Hence Isaiah calls the Assyrian monarch "the rod of God's anger" ( Isaiah 10:5 ).