The story of Nehemiah is about a man who was appointed by God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The story of Nehemiah is also from this point on about a man, who was appointed by God to rebuild the lives of His people. It was not enough to just meet the physical needs of the people. The people of Israel had an even greater need. The people of Israel would now have their hearts rebuilt to follow after their Lord. It was now time for a spiritual revival of God’s people.
Nehemiah 8:1 ( ESV )
1And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.
Our story now picks up with all of the people gathering around as one man. The people had been unified through the rebuilding of the walls. They were now unified as a group for a work of God to change their hearts. They gathered around the Water Gate. What a beautiful picture of how God was about to work. The water gate was near the Gihon Springs. They were now willing to let the Word of God cleanse their own souls.
Ezra the scribe had been in the land for around 14 years earlier. He had been faithful to the work and the building of the temple of God. How he must have longed for this day. I believe that like Nehemiah he had been a man of prayer who had called out unto the Lord for a true revival among his people and he was now about to see the mighty hand of God at work.
What would be the main emphasis of the next few days? The Word of God would be brought forth and shared with the people. You see every 7 years it was required of Israel at the Feast of booths to gather all the men, women and children of Israel to hear the Word of God read before them. This ceremony had been neglected for years due to Israel’s captivity. Now they would gather, protected by the walls around them and by the hand of a loving God. They would now hear Ezra and others bring forth to them what could only change their hearts which was the Word of God.
Nehemiah 8:2 ( ESV )
2So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month.
Not only had all the people gathered around to hear the Word of God. This was also the first day of the seventh month. Now that might not mean much to you or to me but it did to Israel. As Warren Wiersbe states, “ For the Jewish people this was like their New Years day. “ It was the perfect timing for God’s people to begin anew with Him. God will always do right by His timing to bring about revival of heart. He knows what it takes to bring us to that point.
Nehemiah 8:3 ( ESV )
3And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.
If we want to really rebuild our lives for service for our Lord we need to intensely bathe ourselves in the Word of God. How many of us will be happy with just a few minutes reading the Word but give hours to entertainment. On this special day, the people of Israel spent around 6 hours just listening to the Word of God. The Bible tells us that they were attentive to the Book of the Law. They had a focused mindset on hearing it read and explained to them.
Nehemiah 8:4-5 ( ESV )
4And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand.
5And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood.
The raised platform had been made for one purpose for the public reading of the Word of God. It was big enough as well, to where as we see in verse 4 a good sized group of people could be there with Ezra, during the reading. Many of these men were probably fellow priest as later on they would be used on a smaller group level to help explain the Word of God to others.
Once again what became the primary focus was not Ezra or the men gathered with him on that day. It was that the Word of God would be opened in the sight of all. Remember it is not what Swindoll, MacArthur, Ryrie or any man has to say that is of the greatest import. No, brothers and sisters it will always be what does the Word of God have to say and let that be of the greatest import to me.
I love those simple last words of verse 5 when it says, “The people stood.” There was a respect for the Word of God as it was now brought forth to them. They treated its reading like that of one who was of royal birth walking into their presence. We may do well to take heed to what I Timothy 4:13 says, “Give attention to public readings of the Word of God.”
Nehemiah 8:6 ( ESV )
6And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
Ezra now started the meeting with thanking the Lord for who He was. He blessed His name for He alone is worthy of our praise. Do we have a heart prepared for rebuilding? One of the first things we can ask ourselves is simply, “Do I have a heart of thankfulness for who He is and what He has done?”
The people’s first reaction after hearing God’s name being blessed was that of answering, “Amen, Amen.” Let it be said, and let it be done. Literally, we will agree to what God tells us. Lord make my heart like this. Whatever you ask or want let me say, “Your will be done.”
They then lifted their hands to the Lord. Lord, I am open to being a servant to you. Use these hands and my life for your service. Then I believe that they fell down with their faces to the ground as one who was not even worthy of looking into his face. Hearts prepared to listen to the voice of the Almighty.
Nehemiah 8:7-8 ( ESV )
7Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Ma-aseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites,£ helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places.
8They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly,£ and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
What happened next we do not know in what order it might have taken place. This we do know that at some time not only was the Word shared by Ezra to the group but they also shared in smaller groups. These men in verse 7 went to the people and explained it to them.
As teachers of the Living Word of God we should seek to be those who will help not only the group but individuals to be able to make sense out of it. They wanted to make sure that every individual understood what God had in store for them. There will be those who will still have hearts of darkness and will not be able to understand the precious Word of God. They have allowed the evil one to blind them to the truths of God. Yet, we should strive to make the Word of God to where the youngest of hearts can be open to him. The key once again though is to let the Word of God deal with the hearts of the people. In the following verses look also at how they responded when the Word of God was opened.
Nehemiah 8:9-12 ( ESV )
9And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.
10Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
11So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.”
12And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.
This day was a holy day for the Lord. It was being set apart for Him and for His glory. As the people saw the Lord for who He was and because of His holiness they were weeping upon hearing the words of the Law. Now get a hold of that dear ones, the Word of God should affect us. It should cause us to tremble. It should cause us to weep as we see who He is and who we are. We have sinned before a holy God.
Here is also what I love about the Lord when we see who He is and who we are it should cause us to mourn. The other thing though is that when we see God for who He is we should also rejoice. Rejoice in that He wants to do a great work in your heart. Rejoice in how He loves you and wants what is best for you. Their day of mourning would be turned into a day of dancing. The Lord wants to strengthen our hearts and hands for His glory. The Lord wants us to rejoice in what He wants to do in changing us.
We need to mourn over our sins and that we have blown it. We have not followed in His ways at all times. Yet, our God wants us to rejoice in our lives for He wants to show forth His loving kindness which is better than life. When I hear and understand His Word I want to rejoice over who He is. May we have these attitudes as well as we rebuild our lives for Him.
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