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The Historiography and the Prayer of Nehemiah 9

WOO Sang-Hyuk 1

1안양대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the nature and sginificance of the prayer of Nehemiah 9:5b-37. In general, the prayer is known asa penitential prayer. The penitential prayer means a prayer that confesses sin. However, the key to this prayer is not repentance, but pleading God for mercy. This study approaches from the perspective of historical prayer. Historical prayer refers to a prayer composed of specific historical events and times experienced by the people of Israel. Nehemiah 9:5b-37 contains the history of Israel which includes the Abrahamic covenant and the Exodus, the wilderness journey, the conquest of Canaan, and the Persian era after the captivity. These historical events are the module which is used as the building blocks of this prayer. Nehemiah 9:5b-37 interprets the above-mentioned history of Israel in terms of the confession of sin and the compassion of God. In particular, mercy appears not only to interpret past history but also as a hope to solve their suffering now. This study proceeded in the following order: First, I briefly introduced the trend of the research and the approach taken by this paper. Then, I looked at how Nehemiah 9:5b-37 is constructed. Thirdly, I examined the role of the land in supporting the coherence and cohesion of Nehemiah 9:5b-37. Fourth, I presented the working principles of their confession of sins and the compassion of God presented as theological premises. This prayer has fivec ompassion cycles. Finally, based on this analysis, it is concluded that the prayer of the Levites is a prayer of resistance that reflects the desire to escape the rule of the Persian empire after the exile.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.