Nehemiah…the Completion Of The Wall

After the completion of the wall the people of God had been summoned back into the city of Jerusalem.

And you remember for an entire morning, perhaps four or five hours, they stood in a square in Jerusalem and heard Ezra read the scriptures.

For many people the only time they deal with the Word of God is when it is preached to them. But just to read the scriptures there is great benefit in reading the Word of God.

Illus: You see, when you hear the preaching of God’s Word you are being SPOON FED!!! But when you read the Word of God for yourself God will speak to you through His Word also.

The Bible tells us they had built Ezra a tall pulpit of wood so that he could look over the large crowd and project his voice over them as he read the scriptures to them.

But since his voice could not reach all of them he had placed through out the crowd thirteen men to read what he read.

We take for granted today the loud speakers that we are blessed to have a preacher can preach to thousands.

It is believed that once he read the scriptures these thirteen men were strategically placed among the crowd and they would get their groups assigned to them and ask them, DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT EZRA READ FROM THE SCRIPTURES.

• Some would nod their heads they understood.

• Some would say no we do not understand, can you clearify what he just read and these men would clearify what they had heard from the scriptures.

Also, these thirteen men translated from the Hebrew text into the Aramaic language, which after the exile was the predominant language that the Jews, including those who lived in Jerusalem, spoke.

One gets the impression that perhaps they even applied those Scriptures to their lives.

What a day it was!

You remember that as they gathered that day and they heard the Law of God being read, it was a revival. It was an extraordinary act of the Holy Spirit bringing these people in Jerusalem and the towns and villages round about, bringing them back to a sense of God and of the majesty of His word.

When they heard the Word of God read the Bible tells us they began to weep.

But this out pouring of God’s Spirit this was not a time for weeping but a time of rejoicing.

Nehemiah exhorts them not to weep, but to rejoice.

In verse 10,Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

What a tremendous day this was among God’s people.

Look at Nehemiah 8: 11-12, So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved. And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.

They went home but now let us look at what happens the next day.

Now all the people have gone home, and it is the next day…and the heads of households, including priests and Levites, are going to be summoned back into the city for more Bible study.

What they discover as they read the book of Leviticus, the book of Deuteronomy, the book of Exodus — all three books make mention of the Feast of Booths which is commonly translated to English as Feast of Tabernacles, sometimes also as Feast of the Ingathering.

What is confusing to many when they read about this feast days it actually have four names:

1) Feast of booths

2) Feast of tabernacles

3) Feast of sukok

4) Feast of gathering

Look at Nehemiah 8:13-15 And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law. And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month: And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.

WHAT IS THE FEAST OF BOOTHS OR THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES?

The Feast of Tabernacles, the Lord commanded Israel to observe and one of the three feasts that Jews were to observe each year according to Deuteronomy 16:16 they were to “appear before the Lord your God in the place which He shall choose”.