Expert: Brenda Martin - 7/23/2007

Question
Hello and thankyou for taking my question. In Nehemiah 1:6, Nehemiah prays and asks God to forgive the sins of himself AND the sins of his people. Is it theologically possible to ask for forgiveness of someone elses's sins" (I am thinking of the catholic doctrine of purgatory, confession,etc and so on), or is Nehemiah just practicing a theologically "Incorrect," believe of his time? Could you please explain this prayer. Thanks.

Answer
Lets get this part out the way first-

"the catholic doctrine of purgatory, confession,etc"

Completely unscriptural & wrong, the bible does not say to confess our sins to a man, & it does not teach the doctrine of purgatory.

Background of the prayer--Nehemi′ah’s brother Hana′ni and other men from the land of Israel come to visit Nehemi′ah. They tell him about the trouble the Israelites are having, and how the WALLS OF JERUSALEM WERE STILL BROKEN DOWN. This makes Nehemi′ah very sad, and he prays to Jehovah about it.

God answered his prayer--One day the king notices that Nehemi′ah is sad, and asks: ‘Why are you looking so sad?’ Nehemi′ah tells him that it is because Jerusalem is in such a bad condition and the walls are broken down. ‘What is it that you want?’ the king asks.

‘Let me go to Jerusalem,’ Ne·he·mi′ah says, ‘so that I may rebuild the walls.’ King Ar·ta·xerx′es is very kind. He says that Ne·he·mi′ah may go, and he helps him to get wood for doing some of the building. Soon after Ne·he·mi′ah comes to Jerusalem, he tells the people about his plans. They like the idea, and say: ‘Let’s start building.’

The reason Nehemiah asked for Israel's forgiveness was; they had been so busy seeing to their own houses that they had left off biulding the Temple Walls, so Nehemiah was asking God to overlook this & help them get back to the job at hand.

Jas. 5:16: “Pray for one another.”

When we pray for others we give proof to God of our interest in the lives of men, we show an active concern about them.

but this is the crux of the matter--There is power in a righteous person’s prayer that is in harmony with God’s will.—1 John 5:14, 15.

all the best
Brenda