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Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Let’s begin a new week together with a challenging question for all of us: What is the value you place upon God’s Word the Bible, and how does that value compare to other things in your life which you highly value…things like family or friends or time or wealth or reputation?
Over the past several years I’ve watched a disappointing trend… fewer and fewer people participate in church gatherings with Bibles in their hands. If you worshipped with a group of other people yesterday, anywhere in the world, did you notice how many people brought their Bible with them? Oh yes, I understand, many people find a Bible App on their cell phone so much more convenient, but how often, as people are reading the Bible on their phone, do they receive a notification and they are distracted far away from God’s Word to something else?
Join me again in Jerusalem in October 445bc. Nehemiah has led the people in a remarkable 52 day rebuild of the huge wall around the entire city. (Nehemiah 3,4,5) Then Nehemiah appointed new Jerusalem city leadership (Nehemiah 7:1,2) and new security systems for the city. (Nehemiah 7:3) When I left you yesterday Nehemiah was leading the city leaders in a census with the genealogy records of all Jerusalem residents. (Nehemiah 7:4,5) We might be wondering what more Nehemiah could possibly do to establish a new Jerusalem culture for the returned exiles who are rebuilding the city of Jerusalem?
So, let’s look at what Nehemiah did next. He records it for us in Nehemiah 8: “…all the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel. So, on the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. Ezra read the Law allowed from daybreak till noon…in the presence of the assembly. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. Ezra the teacher of the Law stood on a high wooden platform built for this occasion…” (Nehemiah 8:1-4) Wow, can you envision it my friends? Every able-bodied person in Jerusalem had gathered in the public square. A high platform had been constructed and the most learned man in Jerusalem has been summoned… Ezra! Remember him?
13 years before (458bc) Ezra the scholar, priest and teacher, had been sent by King Artaxerxes to Jerusalem for the purpose of bringing moral order to the chaos! (Ezra 7:1-10) Ezra came to Jerusalem from Babylon, (Ezra 7:6) with about 1500 other Jewish exiles, almost all of whom were spiritual leaders among the Jewish exiles.
Ezra came with official letters from King Artaxerxes to deal with the moral and civic chaos in Jerusalem. The first big problem which Ezra faced was marriage defilement as many of the Jerusalem Jewish leaders had married foreign women and brought them to Jerusalem.
Many of these women were idol worshippers from neighboring nations and they brought their idols with them. God had several times given the Israelite men a severe warning about this grave danger of lust and love for foreign women! (Numbers 25; Deut. 7:3,4; Joshua 23:6-13)
Now, with the wall rebuild project complete and security systems in place, Nehemiah turned his focus to the spiritual condition of Jerusalem and evidently Nehemiah rallied Ezra, the most respected spiritual leader, to help call the people to God! I presume these two men had first connected back in Susa when Ezra likely met with King Artaxerxes to receive his commissioning and letters for the mission the king sent Ezra to Jerusalem to accomplish. I have no doubt very soon after Nehemiah’s arrival in Jerusalem, 13 years later, Nehemiah sought Ezra to explain that he too had been sent by the king with a specific commission… to rebuild the wall.
Perhaps often, as Nehemiah was threatened by Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, (Nehemiah 6:1-4) Nehemiah may have met with Ezra for seeking God’s guidance. Now it was time for Ezra to rise to the occasion and give leadership to the people of Jerusalem, and so that morning of October 8, 445bc, only six days after the wall was completed, Ezra climbed up onto a high platform constructed specifically for this event. Ezra brought with him the scrolls of Moses and he began to read them out loud to the large crowd assembled.
Please remember these scrolls were very, very valuable and rare. Copies were hand-written by scribes who dedicated their entire lives to reproducing, word by word, these sacred scrolls which had first been written by Moses. What scrolls are these?
We know Moses wrote what is called the Pentateuch, the first five books of our Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. I personally believe Ezra may have begun reading with the scrolls of Deuteronomy.
Why? Because Deuteronomy is the collection of the farewell messages of Moses, spoken to the Hebrews he had led for 40 years in the desert, shortly before his death. Deuteronomy is a summary of the Laws God had given to His people and the story of their escape from Egypt; their nearly one year at Mount Sinai where Moses hiked 8 times up Mount Sinai to meet with God and receive God’s instructions for the people; and their nearly 40 years of wandering in the desert.
Do you notice Nehemiah tells us both Jewish men and women, ‘who could understand’, gathered in the public square to listen to Ezra read God’s Words to them that day. I believe that phrase ‘who could understand’ indicates young children were probably not in that gathering, nor any who may not have understood the ancient language of these scrolls, Hebrew. Yes, that Hebrew would be very similar to the Hebrew spoken, read and written in Israel today.
Did you notice Ezra read CONTINUOUSLY from daybreak till noon!? And the people were at quiet attention as Ezra read!? (Nehemiah 8:3) So what does that tell you my friends, about the respect for and appetite of these people to receive the Word of God? How do you compare that to the appetite for God’s Word that you see in your network of friends, your city, your church, even your family?
In closing today, look with me at what Nehemiah describes happened in that public square that October day. First notice in Nehemiah 8:4 that Ezra was flanked left and right on the platform by men we presume to be priests. Then: “Ezra opened the scrolls…and as he opened it all the people stood up. Ezra praised the LORD, the great God, and all the people lifted their hands and responded ‘Amen! Amen!’. Then the people bowed down and worshipped with their faces to the ground.” (Nehemiah 8:5,6)
Does a sense of awe sweep over you as you envision this scene? Then: “The Levites …instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.” (Nehemiah 8:7,8)
Oh my, this must have been a remarkable experience for all who were present. God’s Holy Word, being read slowly, in the public square, and Ezra pausing often in his reading so the Levites, who were standing among the people, could explain to them what Ezra had read! Remember few if any of these people would likely have had their own copy of the scrolls. We need to pause here and allow the wonder of this event to sweep over us.
Hold your Bible in your hand and read these verses in Nehemiah 8 for yourself and thank God for the privilege we have of living in a time in history when we have the Bible in our language, and we can own one for ourselves and read it as often as we desire! Let’s praise God with this song of worship in great respect for God’s Holy Word…
Today’s Scripture: Nehemiah 8:1-8.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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