Fasting, Sack-Clothes and Earth upon Them - Nehemiah 9:1

In the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah said of Ezra, “day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner”, and in chapter nine and verse one of Nehemiah, Nehemiah said, “the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sack-clothes, and earth upon them” where we read,

Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, 

and with sack-clothes, and earth upon them.

The verse reads, “Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting,”Nehemiah began with the words, “now in the twenty and fourth day of this month” which means “at the twenty-fourth sunrise to sunset belonging to the lunar month or new moon”, “the children of Israel” or “the offspring and progeny belonging to Israel whose name means God prevails and is the name of the descendants and nation of descendants of Jacob” “were assembled with fasting” which means “were collected together and gathered accompanied by refraining from eating food or drinking”. Nehemiah shared how the people of Israel assembled with refraining from eating and drinking upon the “twenty-fourth” sunrise to sunset within the “seventh month” which corresponds to October. 

The verse goes on to say, “... and with sack-clothes, and earth upon them.” Nehemiah continued with the words, “and with sack-clothes” or “and wearing mesh or sacking for grain that was worn in mourning or humiliation”, “and earth upon them” which means “and the ground, land or dirt was on them, the people of Israel who assembled”. Nehemiah shared how the people of Israel wore mesh sack clothes with dirt upon them during this twenty-fourth day. 

When we meditate upon Nehemiah's words in this verse, we discover how the people of Israel began a “fast” after the “feast of tabernacles” or “Sukkot” in which they wore grain sacks with dirt on them as a sign of humiliation. There is a time for feasting, and there is a time for fasting. (See Ecclesiastes 3:1-11) God wants us to come to Him in humility, and when we realize our need for His Son Jesus who died on the cross for our sins and was raised from the dead three days later, we should bow our heads, repent of our sins and wear as it were our “spiritual sack-cloth” as we ask Him to forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and give us an eternal opportunity to offer Him thanks for all eternity. 

Next time Nehemiah say, “the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".