Nehemiah 10 - Commited to the Lord

10:1-39

Israel, under Nehemiah, had decided to confess their sins and to commit themselves to the Lord. This commitment was made more certain by having it sealed. So in this chapter we get  a list of all those who sealed this commitment. Nehemiah is the first mentioned, the list that follows is presumably a list of officials. This is followed byLevites and priests., then the “leaders of the people”. There was a  mass binding of themselves to the Lord. two particular ordinances of the law are highlighted. One is not marrying non-Jews, and the other is the observance of the Sabbath, including the sabbath years and jubilees. They had not been doing this, so the exile had ensured that the land would get its sabbath rest. It is estimated that the seventy years in exile would account for the sabbath years the land had filed to have.

“We will not neglect the house of God” sums up the whole process. The people had seriously committed themselves to God.