We in today’s Western world tend to think individualistically and so imagine a relationship to God restricted to just him and me. The Lord, however, deals with his people corporately. Achan’s sin was the people’s sin (Joshua 7:1). So Nehemiah could never wash his hands from his ancestors’ sins nor from the sins of the people as a whole. Sin is a far more nefarious thing than simply an individual wronging God; it is a corruption of the whole heart that affects the way society functions in its entirety. It makes corporate responsibility so real for society’s ills.
6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.