There is something that our individualistic culture can learn from Nehemiah 9. The prayer recorded here exemplifies the ‘corporate’ nature of biblical confession. That is to say, the people in biblical times did not just confess their individual sins, but the sins of their family, tribe and nation, past and present (see Jeremiah 14:20; Daniel 9:4ff; Psalm 106:6, Ezra 9:5ff). They saw their sins as part of a multigenerational pattern of sin that could only be stopped by confessing the whole multigenerational sequence of sin. It was often the case that blameless men, like Daniel and Ezra, confessed the past sin of their people as though it was their own. It was not that they were personally guilty for the sins of the past (see Ezekiel 18:20). Rather, they recognised that every generation that does not acknowledge the sins of the past inevitably shares in those sins. This is why the Jews regularly remembered these sins (Psalm 95:8). Corporate confession therefore breaks the pattern of sin that inevitably establishes itself across generations. This is testimony to the original authority, and the extent of the corresponding responsibility, that God gave to human beings (Genesis 1:26-28). If we do good, that good can flow down the generations, but it is the same if we sin. God “visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:7). In so empowering us God committed himself to allowing the domino effect of our choice to flow down generations. Through Christ you can break the pattern of sin and curse and activate a new pattern of blessing.
Confess the sins of your people and receive the grace and blessing of Christ for you and your children.
Read Nehemiah 9
