Nehemiah 8 Rejoice

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.

Setting: Square before the Water Gate after the wall had been completed

Men & Women hearing the reading of God’s Word (v. 3b ears of all the people are attentive to the book of the Law)

Ezra the priest - stood on a wooden platform

Reading from the Book of the Law of Moses - that the LORD had commanded Israel

1st day of the 7th Month - Tishrei (Sept-Oct) (Wall completed on 15 day of Elul (Aug-Sept)

Early morning until midday

They have gone through years of turmoil, suffering derision from their enemies, unsafe and unsettled, feeling like they had to fend for themselves, no clear leadership or direction, and probably above all unsure about God’s presence in their life

Actions: (We need to not stop meeting together and give attention to the Word of God, the Apostles and the early church devoted themselves to the Apostle’s teaching. It is the Word of God that must be the center of our community and the response thereof).

Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people and blessed the LORD , The Great God...(What did he say to bless the LORD?_________)

Men stood on his right and left

All the people:

1st) stood

2nd) answered, “Amen” lifting up their

3rd) Lifted up their hands

4th) bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground

v. 4 Men stood on Ezra right and left - priests & Levites

v. 7 Levites - helped the people to understand the Law

v. 8 The read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly (interpret or paragraph by paragraph), and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading

Response:

All the people mourned and wept as they heard the words of the Law:

To mourn - Hebrew: to wither, to wilt, to dry up, to be ruined. it’s not a physical condition - rather a physchological one (Revelations 3 15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. ) They see they are withered

To weep (wept) - cry - the response of a convicted heart of sin

Nehemiah the Governor and Ezra the priest and scribe and Levites said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do nor mourn or weep.” Lev. 23:24-25 Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the LORD.” Deuteronomy 16:15 For seven days you shall keep the feast to the LORD your God at the place that the LORD will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Dt 16:15). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Le 23:24–25). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

This Day (Today or this specific season in time (not just Chronos, but Kairos) is holy to the LORD your God (qados - separated, sacred, set apart - it’s for Him, and for what His purpose is.) People think that God wants us to be religious, follow a bunch of rules, and if we get it wrong, He wants to beat us over the head and put us in hell (that is what our sins deserve) but the Word of God tells us that is not His Holy Will - rather in John 3:16-17 16 “For God so loved the world,[i] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

So this is not the day that you focus on your sins and failures, or our ancestors sins and failures, it’s the day that we focus on the JOY of the LORD is our strength.

Be quiet

v. 11 Be quiet for this day is holy - the opposite is to be grieved. Think about holy moments when God appears or reveals Himself partially, (Moses - take off your sandals this is holy ground, Isaiah - woah is me, for I am a man of unclean lips among an unclean people with unclean hearts - God takes a coal from the altar and touches Isaiah’s mouth and says this is holy, Angels appear over the Bethlehem skies, and the shepherds in fear, but the Angels say don’t be afraid, for I bring you good news of great joy! When the Holy means the profane, we wither, but God’s holiness comes to us not to bring fear, or withering, but JOY and strength!)

All the people went their way 1) Eating the fat 2) drinking sweet wine 3)sending portions to anyone who has nothing ready - because the Words that were declared to them.

*It wasn’t the physical walls that gave them JOY and strenght, it was that God’s Word endures forever, it is the Absolute truth that will accomplish what He has purposed, and God had Rebuilt the foundations of their lives upon His Word.