(Through the Bible) Nehemiah 8-13 — Chuck Smith

Nehemiah’s Return and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem

Shall we turn at this time in our Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 8. Nehemiah has returned to Jerusalem some 90 years after the first return. Some 160 years from the beginning of the Babylonian captivity. Babylon has been overthrown by the Medo-Persian Empire.

Xerxes has become the king of Persia. Nehemiah was his cupbearer. Because of Nehemiah's obvious sadness in the presence of the king, something that was very unusual, the king questioned him on it. And he said it was because of the reports that he had heard concerning Jerusalem.

The walls of the city were a rubble. The gates were burned with fire. The people were very discouraged. And so in 445 BC, Artaxerxes gave the commandment to Nehemiah to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. And he returned as an appointed governor over the area by Artaxerxes.

And he encouraged the people in the building again of the walls of the city. And in spite of all of the obstacles, both from without and within, the work was accomplished in record time, 52 days. They erected again the walls of the city of Jerusalem.

Even though Tobias, Sambalat, and others had conspired against them, brought commando raids against them and all, still they accomplished the work of God in 52 days. And there was a great celebration of the fact that they had finished the walls.

Ezra Reads the Law to the People

Now as we get into chapter 8, and all the people gathered themselves as one man into the street that was before the water gate. And they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel.

And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women and those that could understand.

And the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon the pulpit of wood that had been made for that purpose, and beside him stood these other scribes.

And Ezra, oh don't think I'm going to try that. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God.

And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with a lifting up of their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Now we see this beautiful scene. The people have gathered together in the area that was there near the porch gate, the street in front of it.

Ezra is standing on a little pulpit of wood that has been made for him. And he stands on this and reads to the people, both men and women, who are standing there from morning until midday. He reads to them the law of the Lord.

And they stand there listening attentively. About noon, after they had been there probably for five, six hours, listening to the word of God. He blesses the Lord, gives praise unto the Lord. And the people respond by lifting their hands and saying, Amen, Amen.

Now the word Amen means, so be it. So it is an acknowledgement of the blessing that Ezra had made. Let it be, let it be. And lifting their hands unto the Lord and then bowing their faces to the ground.

They worshiped him. The Jews are rather demonstrative in their worship of God. It is interesting to go to the western wall to watch them. I don't know if it is a learned behavior or it's just something within them.

But as they are reading their prayer book, they are constantly bowing. And as they get into it, their voices, they lift their voices higher and higher. And they seem to be moving even faster, you know, as they really get into their prayer book and reading their prayers and all.

And then on Friday evening, the beginning of the Shabbat, the young men will come from the Hebrew school up in the upper part of the old city of Jerusalem. And they will come four wide, their arms around each other.

And four wide, a group of them will come down singing songs of welcoming the Sabbath and singing songs in the Lord, sort of coming down with a little kind of a dance step. And they will come on down into the area of the western wall, the large stone area there.

And then they will start dancing as they are singing. And they'll get in a circle and go through all kinds of dances as they're singing and worshiping the Lord. And then when they're through, they lock arms and they go out with a little stutter step again back up to the school.

But it is a very fascinating sight. And it's something that we always like to observe when we are there in Jerusalem, the Friday evening, beginning of the Sabbath and the worship of these people as their voices are lifted in praise unto the Lord.

And as I say, some of them get very demonstrative in their worship, but it is always a very fascinating experience to see. Now here, if you can sort of close your eyes and picture it, Ezra has been reading to them out of the law of the Lord.

And now about noon, he just blesses God. And the people all lift their hands and say, amen, amen, bowing their faces. Now they bow down onto the ground. They begin to worship the Lord. Beautiful scene as the people are making now a commitment of themselves to the law of God and acknowledgement of the law of God as the governing principles by which they are going to live.

Expository Teaching and the Need for the Word

Now, as we read on, that as he read the law, there were certain of the Levites that caused the people to understand the law and the people stood in their place. And they read in the book of the law of God distinctly and gave sense and caused them to understand the reading.

I think that there's a real key here. And I think that it is something that we need to make note of. That is. That they read the word of God distinctly, and then they caused them to understand the meaning.

They actually expounded to them the scriptures. I feel one of the greatest needs in the church today is the reading of the word of God with the explanations. And expository preaching is probably the greatest need in the church today.

And yet it is amazing how little you'll actually find of the reading of God's word and then just the giving of the explanation. You don't know how many thousands of people there are all over the United States who would like to trade places with you tonight.

There are about a hundred people or so in Detroit, Michigan, who have contacted us and they said, we're praying and believing God to send us a pastor from Calvary Chapel. And we have started putting our ties into a savings account just waiting because we're confident God is going to send us a pastor.

We've sought for a church throughout this city where we could just be taught the word of God. Where we can just gather and study the word like you do at Calvary. They started listening to the radio. Then they started sending for tapes.

And now there's over a hundred people that are listening to tapes. And they say, well, Chuck is our pastor. But they can't find a church where they can just gather and learn the word of God. Find the teaching of the word.

It's an amazing thing how difficult it is to find a church that will just teach the word of God and won't get all involved in the church hype or get all involved in emotionalism or something else. Just the plain teaching of the word.

And in the New Testament church, it said that they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine, in the breaking of bread, in the fellowship and in prayer. But to find a church that just does that is a difficult thing.

And so we get letters. We got a call from people in Corpus Christi. There's over a hundred people down there that are praying that God will send them a pastor now from Calvary Chapel because they've been listening to the tapes and all.

And they've been gathering. They gather every week, listen to tapes and praying that God will send them a pastor teacher who will come down and will lead them. And it's just from all over the United States, we're receiving requests of groups of people that are gatherings, listening to the word, want the word of God, want the teaching of the word of God, but can't find it in any of the churches in their community.

And I have a difficult time understanding this. Because as far as I'm concerned, that's really what the church is all about. Learning the word of God. Understanding what God's word has to say to us. You don't need to learn my philosophies or man's philosophies.

You can go to the university and get that. What you need is to learn what God has declared about life and the meaning of life, the purpose of life, the reason for life, the way of life. And so this is what they were doing.

They just read the scriptures distinctly. And then these fellows explained them. They gave them the understanding. They made the scriptures clear to them. And they were reading out of the law of the Lord, explaining to them the law of the Lord.

Conviction, Repentance, and the Joy of the Lord

Now, Nehemiah, who is the governor, Tershitha is the governor and Ezra, the priest and the scribe and the Levites that taught the people said to all the people, this day is holy unto the Lord your God.

Don't mourn or weep. For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, go your way, eat of the fat, drink the sweet, send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared.

For this day is holy unto our Lord. Neither be you sorry for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So as they were reading the scriptures and as the scriptures were being explained, the people came under a godly conviction.

For they realized how far they had failed in keeping the law of God. The word of God brought conviction to their hearts and realizing their failure before God, they began to weep as the scriptures were being read.

It's always a beautiful thing to see God's spirit working in the hearts of people. It's always a beautiful thing to see how the word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than a two edged sword and is able to pierce between the soul and the spirit and really begin to cut deep.

That conviction just brings tears as people realize their failures. But they said, hey, don't weep, don't mourn. This is a day of rejoicing because we are renewing the covenant with God. It's a time of coming back to God.

It's a time of restoration. And so go eat the fat, drink the sweet, give portions to those that have not prepared for the joy of the Lord. So be your strength. Oh, what joy there is in the Lord, what joy there is of the Lord.

And what strength there is in that joy. God has intended that your life be filled with joy. That's God's will for you. God wants you to have a life full of joy. Peter speaks about the joy that is unspeakable or indescribable and full of glory.

Jesus said that your joy may be full. And he was talking always about this fullness of joy. What a misconception it is of God to think that God wants to lay heavy burdens on all of us, to make us just, you know, have to grind through life and barely pull through.

I just pray God will help me to make it to the bitter end, you know, to endure. Well, God wants you to enjoy. And the command was to enjoy the joy of the Lord. So be your strength and oh, what joy there is in walking with Jesus.

And so the Levites stilled all the people. They said, hold your peace for the day is holy. Neither be grieved. And so all the people went their way to eat, to drink and to send portions and to make great merriment.

Because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. Oh, what a joy should fill your heart when you go from this place and you've understood the word of God. You know, in the New Testament talks about where the gospel went and so forth.

And it said, and there was great joy in all that city as the result of receiving the word of God. The result of receiving the gospel, always it follows there is great joy. And so they went their way to just make their merriment and all because they had understood the words.

The Feast of Tabernacles and Remembering God’s Faithfulness

And on the second day, they're gathered together, the chief fathers of all the people, the priests, the Levites, to Ezra, the scribe, to understand the words of the law. So the first day it was a public meeting, all of the men and women, plus those that were able to understand.

So children from junior high school, perhaps on. Those that were able to understand stood there for the reading and the explanation of the law of the Lord. Now, on the second day, just the rulers had gathered together that they might be taught the law of God.

And they found written in the law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month. That they should publish and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem saying, go forth unto the mountain, fetch olive branches, pine branches, myrtle branches, palm branches and branches of thick trees to make booths as it is written.

So the people went forth and brought them and made themselves booths, everyone upon the roof of his house or in the courtyard or in the court of the house of God and in the street of the Watergate and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.

And all the congregation of them that were come out of the captivity made booths and they sat under the booths for since the days of Joshua, the son of Nun, unto that day, the children of Israel had not been keeping this particular commandment.

Now, this particular feast called Sukkoth or the Feast of Tabernacles, which takes place in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. It was commanded in the law of Moses that during this particular feast, they were to make these booths and they were to move out of their houses and for a week live in these little booths that were made out of branches.

Now, as they made these booths, they had to leave enough space in the walls, the thatched walls of palm branches or whatever. They'd leave enough space for the wind to come blowing through it. They'd leave enough space in the roof so that as they would lie there at night, they could see the stars.

The purpose of the Feast of Tabernacles was to remind them how that God had preserved their fathers through the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. That's why they were to make booths. Your fathers dwelt in tents for 40 years.

Now you're living in the land that God promised. You're living in a house and all. And it's, you know, your plastered houses and all this. So in order that you might really remember the hardships that your fathers endured, make these little booths, move out and live in them for a week.

And it'll remind them of God's preservation of their fathers through the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. And to give them a little taste of some of the inconveniences of living in booths or in thatched huts or whatever.

And it reminded them of the 40 years. Also, the feast was to commemorate the fact that God was faithful to his promise and he brought them into the land and gave them the land that he had promised to their father, Abraham.

So a twofold aspect of the Feast of Tabernacles. Feast of tents. Remember the tents that your fathers dwelt in as they were in the wilderness and how God preserved them. But then the faithfulness of God, he kept his promise.

And after 40 years, he brought them into the land that had been promised under Abraham. During the time of Christ, they further celebrated this particular feast by a daily procession of the priest from the Temple Mount down to the Pool of Siloam, where the priest would fill these great water pots with water from the pool and then would come again singing up the steps back to the Temple Mount.

And as the people were all gathered worshiping there, the priest would pour these water jugs out onto the pavement and let the water just splash on the pavement. And that was a reminder to them of how that God provided water out of the rock in the wilderness for their fathers.

And they would sing and worship God as the water was poured out on the pavement during the days of the Feast of the Tabernacles. They did that for seven days. The feast lasted for eight days. On the eighth day, there was no procession to the Pool of Siloam.

There was no pouring out of water. This was to commemorate the fact God brought us into the land, a land that is well-watered, a land that we do not need a miraculous supply out of the rock, that we are now dwelling in the land that God had promised.

And so the eighth day, no pouring of water, no processions, just as an acknowledgment that God had kept his covenant with Abraham, kept his word with their fathers, brought them into the land. Now, the Bible tells us that Jesus was in Jerusalem on the last day, the great day of the feast, which was the Feast of Tabernacles.

And he cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. This was the day that they didn't make the procession to the Pool of Siloam. And Jesus declaring himself as the rock from which the water of life flows.

To the present day, many of the Orthodox Jews still build little booths beside their houses, and they'll move out and live in these booths for the seven-day period of the Feast of Tabernacles. When we were in Jerusalem, and in Haifa and all, during the Feast of the Tabernacles several years ago, beside several of the houses, we saw these little booths that the people had made, and they moved out of their houses and lived in these inconvenient little booths, and they do it to the present day.

There are probably Orthodox Jews here in Orange County that do live in these little booths for the period of the feast. Now, it is interesting, on the feast of the Jews, the three major feasts were Passover, Pentecost, and Feast of the Tabernacle.

On these three feasts, all of the male Jews had to come to Jerusalem to present themselves to God. They all just came to stand here before God. Here we are, God, your people. And there was great celebration, great feasting and all during this period of time.

Passover and Pentecost as Prophetic Feasts

Two of the feasts have been fulfilled, for they were prophetic. They were looking forward, they are all of them prophetic, looking forward to future events. The Feast of Passover, commemorating the Lamb that was slain in order that the firstborn might be spared the death, was only a foreshadowing of the Lamb of God that was to be slain in order that we might have life, that we should not perish but have everlasting life.

And thus, it was significant that Jesus was crucified during the Feast of the Passover in order that he might fulfill that which that feast foreshadowed, the Lamb of God who was to take away the sins of the world.

The Feast of Pentecost was a celebration of the first fruits. For 50 days after the Feast of Passover, they would go out and they would cut the corners of their fields and bind the sheaves and bring them in and offer them to God in a wave offering.

And this was saying to God, here, Lord, are the first fruits of the harvest that you have given to us this year, because the spring wheat and grains and so forth all ripen up about June over there. And so they offer to God the first fruits of the harvest there in June at the Feast of the Pentecost.

And it was significant that when the day of Pentecost was fully come, as the disciples were gathered together in Jerusalem, suddenly there was the sound from heaven like as unto a mighty rushing wind, and it filled all the house where they were seated.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And they spoke in other tongues as the Spirit gave them the utterance or the ability to do so. And it happened right on the day of the Feast of Pentecost, which again is significant because there, when 3 ,000 people were added to the church, was the first fruits of the glorious harvest that God was going to gather together in the church, the bride for Jesus Christ.

And the first fruits of that were on the day of Pentecost, the day in which they were offering to God the first fruits of the great harvest. And so that feast was always foreshadowing the first fruit of the bride of Christ, the great harvest that God was going to gather.

The Feast of Tabernacles and Christ’s Return

Now, the Feast of Tabernacles. Remember, it commemorates the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, but it also commemorates the covenant of God completed coming into the promised land and now dwelling in this land of promise.

The earth has been going through a long wilderness period, but God is going to keep his promise. Peter said to us, God is not slack concerning his promises as some men count slackness, but he is faithful to us.

But there will be those in the last day scoffers who will say, well, where is the promise of his coming? Since our fathers have fallen asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning. Peter said, not so.

There are things that you're not taking into consideration, the flood, and you're also not taking into consideration that God, well, the flood that God has in catastrophes. Entered into the history of man to alter the situations.

Plus you don't take into consideration the time dimension that one day is as a thousand years to the Lord, a thousand years is as one day. But then he said, God is not slack concerning his promises. And he's referring directly to the promise of the coming again of Jesus Christ, but he is faithful.

And then he tells us the reason for the delay. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now the earth has been going through a long wilderness experience, but we're going to be coming soon into the glorious promised land, the promised kingdom, the promised age.

It's going to happen. And I am convinced that when Jesus returns to establish the kingdom age, he'll do it during the feast of the tabernacles and thus fulfilled the third of the major Jewish feast. And so I anticipate the return of the Lord in what would be in our calendar October.

Uh, not, I'm not, don't say Chuck said he's coming this October. I didn't say this October, but when he comes to establish his kingdom and sets his foot on the Mount of Olives, it will be in the month of October.

And I, I know that it's at least seven years off at least how many years off. I don't know, but at least seven years off, because there's one more seven year period that has to be fulfilled upon the nation of Israel.

So, but when it does happen, I'm certain that it'll happen in October that the third of the Mary, the third of the major Jewish feasts might thus be fulfilled. And so, uh, two of them have now been fulfilled.

The third one waits, but how significant going through the long wilderness and now entering into the promise, the promised land, the glorious promises of God. And so, uh, they discovered the feast of the tabernacle written there in the law.

They not known about it. They made their little booths and they moved out and they kept the feast for seven days. And on the eighth day, the solemn assembly, according to the manner. So as I said, the feast of tabernacles actually lasted for eight days, the seven days of the feast.

And then they had this solemn assembly. It was on the day of the solemn assembly that Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink now in chapter nine and the 24th day of this month, the children of Israel were assembled with fasting and with sackcloth and earth upon them.

Confession of Sin and the Greatness of God

So again, it's quite a, a picturesque site. The people have all gathered together. They've been fasting. They're wearing sackcloth, uh, rough garments, no doubt, very irritating. And they've got dirt on them.

The custom of just a sign of mourning. Again, uh, you just, you know, rubbed dirt on your face and, and you look miserable. And the seed of Israel separated themselves from the strangers. And they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

And they stood up in their place and read in the book of the law of the Lord, their God, one fourth part of the day and another fourth part, they confessed and worship the Lord, their God. So again, can you picture them there for a fourth part of the day, the reading of the scriptures, and now for a fourth part of the day, uh, just worshiping God, praising God and worshiping God.

It's interesting how that we get fidgety sitting in comfortable pews after a half hour, an hour or so, you know, we, we were so fidgety and yet here are these people standing for a fourth part of the day, hearing the word of God read.

And then for another fourth part of the day, just standing there, worshiping God. They'd never get by with it today. Then stood up upon the stairs, the Levites, and they cried with a loud voice unto the Lord, their God.

And they said, stand up and bless the Lord, your God forever and ever and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. Now, even thou art Lord alone, and now it's made the heaven and the heaven of heavens with all the hosts of the earth and all things that are there in the seas and all that are there in, and I'll preserve us them all.

And the host of heaven worshipeth thee. So this glorious acknowledgement of God, the greatness of God, the glory of God, the power of God, you've made the heavens of heavens. You are above everything.

You've made the universe and you preserve the universe. Now it is interesting that Paul tells us in the book of Colossians concerning Jesus Christ, that all things were made by him and by him, all things are held together.

This whole universe is held together by the power of Jesus Christ. According to Columb's law of electricity, positive forces repel each other. Opposite forces attract. Try and put two positive poles of a magnet together and you'll see how the positive poles repel.

But the whole concept of a magnet and the attraction is that of the opposite poles attracting, the positive poles repelling. There is actually a tremendous repelling force in positive poles or positive charges, the protons.

If you add one tablespoon full of protons on the North Pole solid, another solid tablespoon full on the South Pole at that distance of some 8 ,000 miles, the repelling force would be so great that it would take 3 ,000 tons to hold those protons on the poles.

Even at that distance, the repelling force of positive protons, positive particles. So we know that an atom has in its nucleus positive charges held together. But how are they held together? The scientists talk about the nuclear glue.

Now, we have discovered that we can upset the nuclei of an atom by bombarding it with slow-moving neutrons. And when we can upset the nuclei of an atom, that when we can, we can then cause these positive poles to respond according to their nature.

And we have an atomic explosion. That's what it's all about. It's upsetting the nuclei of an atom by the bombardment of slow-moving neutrons that get in and upset these positive forces and they respond according to their own nature of repelling.

And when they do, you see the tremendous force that is unleashed when you start a fission reaction of these positive poles responding to their own nature and you get this tremendous explosion of the atomic bomb.

All it is is releasing the positive charges to respond according to their nature of repelling. Now, if that much power is unleashed by nature when they are responding to their nature, then it also stands that it takes at least that much power to hold them together contrary to their nature.

If the whole material world would respond according to the natural laws of the repelling of positive forces, immediately this whole thing would just dissolve and would just be one gigantic poof. And positive particles would be just going all over repelling each other and the whole universe would just blow to pieces.

But there's a power that's holding it all together. Imagine the tremendous power it must take to hold this material universe, even the power that would take to hold this pulpit together. The amount of fissionable material in the bomb at Hiroshima was about the size of a dime.

And yet when those positive particles were allowed to respond according to their nature, look at the tremendous damage that was accomplished. But what force is holding them together? Here they talk about it, oh God, you've created the heavens and heavens, you're so great, your power is above all things, you know.

And you actually are preserving the whole thing. Paul tells us he's holding it together. By him all things consist or are held together. How glorious. The power of God. Now Francis Schaeffer said that the time has come when we as Christians just shouldn't say God.

Well God did this for me or God did that for me because there are many concepts of God today in the minds of people. And when you say God, a person thinks of the God in their own concept, that which they have in a thought of God.

And it may be far different from the thought that you have of God. Some fellow may sit and meditate upon his navel and say, oh that's God, you know. Or you sit and you hold a rose and you smell of it and you say, oh that's God.

So when you say God, a person may think of this rose, oh you know. And so he said that we must start defining and saying the God who created the heavens and the earth. Now they are defining the God because there were many gods that were worshipped around them.

Baal was worshipped and Molech was worshipped and Mammon and so many various gods were worshipped by the people around them. That as they began their worship of God, they make really a definition and a distinction of the God that they are worshipping.

Bless Jehovah your God forever and ever. Blessed be thy glorious name which is exalted above all blessing and praise. For even thou, oh Yahweh or Jehovah alone has made the heaven and the heaven of heavens, the whole universe with all of the host and the earth and all of the things that are therein.

The seas and all that is therein. Now they've been reading the law of Moses and they were been reading Genesis in the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth. Been reading the first few chapters of Genesis.

And so they acknowledge that God was the one who has created, even as is declared in Genesis, this whole universe and all that is in it. Now it is interesting in the New Testament, the fourth chapter of the book of Acts, when the apostles were responding to the prohibition that was laid upon them by the religious leaders not to speak anymore in the name of Jesus.

Peter and John gathered with the disciples and they told them the experience they had before the Sanhedrin. And they prayed and when they started to pray they said, oh Lord thou art God. Thou has created the heavens and the earth and everything that is in them.

Probably remembering the prayer offered here in Nehemiah where much the same thing is said. Thou art the God who has created the heavens and all the hosts, the earth and all the things that are in the sea, that all the things that are in and you preserve them all and the host of heaven worshipeth thee.

So the host of heaven would be a reference to the angels who worship God. So when he said he created all the host of heaven, it would be he has created all of the angels and they do worship him. Thou art Yahweh, the God who did choose Abram and brought him forth out of the earth, the Chaldees.

You gave him the name of Abraham and you found his heart faithful before thee and you made a covenant to give him the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites and so forth.

And you have performed your words for you are righteous, acknowledging that God made the promise to Abraham. God fulfilled the promise to Abraham. Here we are. We're in the land for God. You are righteous.

And you did see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt. You heard their cry by the Red Sea. You showed your signs and wonders upon the Pharaoh. And so they're just sort of rehearsing their history. They had been reading this history.

They had been listening to it. They've been reading the law of the Lord from morning till noon. And so these are the things that they were reading in the first five books. You did divide the sea before them so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land and their persecutors you threw into the deeps as a stone into the mighty waters.

That sort of puts down the little theory that it was the Sea of Reeds and it was only, you know, 18 inches deep. Figures don't lie, but liars sure can figure. Moreover, thou let us them in the day by the cloudy pillar at night by the pillar of fire to give them light in the way wherein they should go.

And you came down also upon Mount Sinai and you spoke with them from heaven and gave them right judgments, true laws, good statutes and commandments. So notice he gave to them right judgments, true laws, good statutes and commandments.

And you made known unto them your holy Sabbath and you commanded them the precepts and the statutes and the laws by the hand of Moses. You gave them bread from heaven, the manna in the wilderness for their hunger.

And you brought them water out of the rock for their thirst. And you promised that they should go in and possess the land that you had sworn to give to them. But they and our fathers dealt proudly. Now here's the acknowledgement.