When the 7th month came, the people gathered as “one man in the square” before the Water Gate.
• 3 festivals take place in the 7th month of the Jewish calendar – the Feast of the Trumpets (1st), the Day of Atonement (10th) and Feast of the Tabernacles (15th-21st).
• We are going to see all 3 of them in chapter 8. On the first day, they gathered as one big assembly.
What exactly are they expected to do on this Feast of Trumpets? We have little information.
• We read of this assembly only in two places - Lev 23:24 and Num 29:1-6. Neither passage gives us much information except that they made sacrifices to God.
• Lev 23:23-25 The LORD said to Moses, 24"Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. 25Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.'"
• They are to seek the Lord on this day and it is a memorial, something to commemorate, with the blowing of trumpets.
Jewish scholars looked at significant events that involved the blowing of trumpets and it could point to their first encounter with God at Mount Sinai after their deliverance.
• Exo 19:10 And the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
• Exo 19:16-19 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, 19and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.
God manifested His presence with the sound of the trumpet. God spoke and entered into a covenant with the people of Israel by giving of Law, His commandments.
• Every year, at the Feast of Trumpets, the blowing of the ram’s horns reminded the people the covenant they had with God and their promise to obey His commandments.
• By doing so, the nation prepares herself for the Day of Atonement 9 days later.
It was therefore very appropriate for the people to assemble as one man to hear God’s voice again, so to speak. And have Ezra read to them the Book of the Law.
• The Law of Moses refers to the Pentateuch, the Torah, the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
• The Law which the Lord had commanded for Israel, since the day at Mount Sinai.
• We are going to see in this chapter that the reading of God’s Word brings about conviction and repentance. The people heard God’s voice and understood His will.
• God’s Word remained true and relevant, to this generation in Nehemiah’s time (444BC) as it was to the generation at Mount Sinai (1312BC), almost 900 years ago.
God’s Word needs no updating, it needs no changing. It is the eternal truth of God.
• Psalm 119:89 “Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.”
• Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
We see a hunger for the Word of God. The people wanted to hear the Word.
• The ground was prepared, in a sense, by Ezra. Ezra had returned to Jerusalem 14 years before Nehemiah and we read about him in Ezra 7.
• Ezra 7:10 “For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.”
• In Ezra 9-10 he confronted the people about their intermarriages and led them to repentance.
The people would have been hearing from Ezra and this was probably a resumption of that after the rebuilding of the walls.
Notice the POSTURE of their heart.
• They came with a thirst for God’s Word. They came believing it to be that which God has commanded for Israel.
• When the book was opened, they stood up. They honoured God’s Word and recognised it as the Word from God.
• 8:6 “Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, "Amen! Amen!" Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.”
8:3 “And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.”
• They stood listening to the reading from daybreak until noon. That was how much they wanted to hear from God.
And it turned out to be a life-changing encounter that they had with the Word (we’ll see more in the next part of chapter 8).
• 8:9 “for all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.”
• Heb 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
• The people cried under the conviction of the word. A. W. Tozer once said, "I did not go through the Book. The Book went through me."
This was so because of the posture of their heart. They were open and thirsting for God’s Word, they were receptive and obedient, they believed it to be God’s Word to them.
• Bottom line is, if we believe the Bible as the Word of God, it will change our life.
• If we don’t – in order words, if we come with cynicism, indifference, scepticism, thinking that it may not be true, it’s not important to us, or anything less that being the Word from God – then it will have little or no effect in our lives.
• Not that God’s Word is powerless, but that we have “rejected” it in our minds and by our hardened hearts. Our unbelief or pride prevented God’s Word from taking root.
Isaiah 55:10-11 “For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, 11so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.”
That’s why people need to KNOW it and people need to UNDERSTAND it, which was stressed a few times in this text.
• 8:2 the people need to be able to understand. 8:3 all who could understand.
• The Levites were sent to instruct the people so that they could understand (8:8).
• Finally in 8:12 they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
Neh 8:8 The Levites “read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.”
People need to UNDERSTAND the Word.
• That’s why the Lord has given the church pastors/teachers (among the five-fold ministry mentioned Eph 4:11). Pastors/teachers more likely one group.
• They are to proclaim/preach the Word (so that people know) but also to teach the Word (so that people understand).
• Eph 4:11-13 “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
• It’s interesting to note that all the 5 groups of people that Christ blessed the church with, every one of them has to do with the Word of God.
The pastors/teachers are to read the Bible, “making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read”, as the Levites did in verse 8.
• Making the WORD clear and giving the meaning of what was BEING READ. Nothing less and nothing more.
• Not their own ideas, not their own meanings. Man’s word has no power to change lives.
• Only God’s Word has the power to bring conviction and change lives, to accomplish what He pleases and achieve what He wants (cf. Isaiah 55:11).
Especially in preaching and teaching the Word, I am careful not to say what I like it to say (carried by my emotions), not to say what I want it to say (driven by my own agenda), and not to say too much what I think it says (when I have to say it, I will have to qualify it).
• I have to remind myself, not to read INTO the text and say what is NOT there.
• Just say what the Word of God says, whatever that is plainest is clearly the Word of God. And then to explain as clearly as possible, so that hearers can understand.
• At the end of the day, I don’t wish them to say, this is what pastor says. I hope to hear from them, this is what God says. It shows that they’ve understood God’s will.
There is POWER in the Word of God, when rightly understood. It can bring conviction, repentance and life-change.
• People are enlightened by the Holy Spirit to know God’s will and obey Him.
• Psalm 1 says if we just meditate on His Law day and night, we are blessed.
• Like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither — whatever they do prospers.
• The meditating upon God’s Word changes us. The Holy Spirit enlightens and transforms us.
So read the Word of God carefully, think about it often, consider what God says, and seek to understand His will.
• Ask who, what, when, how, where and why? That’s meditating. That’s pondering the Word of God.
• It might sound elementary but that’s our common problem. We are not reading and we are not understanding it.
It’s like the job of a translator. The speaker speaks and he translates immediately.
• He cannot day-dream. He pays attention to every word that is said, and in his mind goes through the database of equivalent words (in the other language), pick up the right words, put them in the right order, phrase it correctly in his mind, and then speak it all.
• All these happen in split seconds but that’s what the mind does.
• And we know, if we understand both languages, whether the translation was correct and accurate, whether the meaning was conveyed rightly, as the speaker intended.
• That’s like meditating on God’s Word. We read the Word carefully and capture the meaning correctly, we get to understand God’s intent and obey Him.
• Our obedience to the Word brings about life change. Our life will be like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever we do prospers. We are blessed by it.
