Nehemiah 9 · a question people ask
The prayer says they "appointed a captain" (9:17). What does Numbers say?
The prayer says they "hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage" (9:17). Numbers tells it this way: they "said to one another" (Numbers 14:4), "Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt" (Numbers 14:4). In Hebrew, appointed a captain (9:17) and choose a leader (Numbers 14:4) are the same two words, natan and rosh. Numbers gives the words the people said; the prayer says they "appointed a captain" (9:17). The prayer doesn't name Numbers 14, and these notes don't explain the difference in wording; the verses are set side by side for what they say. The prayer's word for bondage here, avdut, is used only three times in the Hebrew Bible: here, and twice in Ezra's prayer, "revive us a little in our bondage" (Ezra 9:8) and "our God has not forsaken us in our bondage" (Ezra 9:9).
The verses
“and refused to obey. They weren’t mindful of your wonders that you did among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and didn’t forsake them.”
“They said to one another, “Let’s choose a leader, and let’s return into Egypt.””
“Now for a little moment grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a stake in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and revive us a little in our bondage. For we are bondservants; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended loving kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to set up the house of our God, and to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.”