Nehemiah
8:1-10
1
all the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They
told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had
given to Israel. 2 Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the
assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This
was on the first day of the seventh month. 3 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. 4 The scribe Ezra stood on a
wooden platform that had been made for the purpose; and beside him stood
Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and
Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on
his left hand. 5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for
he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people
stood up. 6 Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people
answered, "Amen, Amen," lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their
heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. 7 Also Jeshua,
Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah,
Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the law,
while the people remained in their places. 8 So they read from the book, from
the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people
understood the reading. 9 And 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 when they heard the words of the law. 10
Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and
send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is
holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your
strength."
In
my office there is an entire shelf full of Bibles. There’s the well-worn,
black, bonded leather King James Version I received after graduating high
school, full of pen marks and highlighter ink; there’s also an identical copy
that’s hardly been opened that I received when I was baptized with my baptismal
certificate in the front cover. There’s the one I call “big red,” my copy of
the New Oxford Annotated Study Bible,
the slim tan New Revised Standard Version I recently retired due to its cracked
binding and peeling faux leather cover. There’s the thin, black NIV I use at
weddings and funerals, the burgundy copy of a spiritual practices Bible, a
hardback copy of Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase “The Message,” a Green Bible, with every verse mentioning
creation printed in soy-based green ink. I’ve got a Hebrew Bible, two Greek New
Testaments, and even a Hebrew New Testament, and then there’s the New American
Standard Bible I carried in college and the New Interpreter’s Study Bible I was
gifted at my ordination by the congregation of Shades Crest Baptist Church.
Then, of course, there’s this compact NRSV that I have with me just about
everywhere I go, along with the Bible app on my phone and the countless copies
distributed throughout the various volumes of commentaries that occupy the
other shelves in my study.
I’ve
lost count of the number of times I’ve read through the Bible (especially the
New Testament), the number of times I’ve taught on the Bible, preached from the
Bible, written about the Bible, and all because I have ready access to a copy
of the Scriptures just about any time and any place. I can simply walk over to
my shelf and pull down a copy, launch an app on my phone, or go to one of
thousands of websites on the internet where I might find the full text of the
Bible, or I can simply check into a hotel room and pull open the drawer on the
nightstand, sit in one of many waiting rooms, go to the library, or buy one off
the shelf at Dollar Tree. The Bible is not a difficult book for us to get, to
hold in our hands, but it hasn’t always been like that.
You
see, contrary to what some might think, the Bible did not come to us as it is—a
complete work of at least sixty-six books bound together, no. The Bible has a
long history that begins with an oral tradition, of families sitting around
fires and supper tables telling and retelling the stories of their people. For
generations, the stories of Adam and Eve, of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
about David and Goliath were all passed down through the oral telling of these
stories. Even the Laws of Moses were transmitted by this oral tradition.
The
people, however, were never completely faithful to these stories, traditions,
and laws. The history of the Israelites shows us how rare it was for them to
get it right, how they longed to be like other peoples, how their judges and
kings would become corrupt, how God would use nations like Assyria and Babylon
to destroy an already divided kingdom. The Assyrians conquered and devastated
the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel around the year 722 B.C.; the
kingdom would never truly come back together after that. Around the year 586
B.C. Babylon conquered the two remaining tribes in the southern kingdom of
Judah, exiling the elites of the kingdom and leaving there own people to
inhabit the newly conquered nation. However, Babylon’s reign in Judah wouldn’t
last long, for the Persians conquered Babylon and became the new super power in
the world. The Persian king, Cyrus, had a different approach to handling
conquered peoples in his empire: he issued an edict in the year 538 B.C.
releasing the (now-called) Jews back to their homeland so that they might
rebuild their traditions, while always remembering they were still subjects of
Persia. Two of the leaders of this
journey back to Judah, of this rebuilding of a people, were a scribe named Ezra
and the former king’s cupbearer named Nehemiah. The story of the attempted
rebuilding of Jerusalem is recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah
(traditionally only one book in the Hebrew Scriptures).
I
give you this very brief bit of ancient history, because, up to this point in
the history of God’s people, Scripture is still mostly oral traditions. It
isn’t until after the exiles return to Judah that Ezra begins to write many
these laws, stories, and histories down, because it was becoming clear that
they might lose them with the passing of time and the dispersion of the people.
So Ezra earns the nickname “The Scribe” in this era, because he sought to
preserve the words of the Law for future generations, just as he and Nehemiah
were seeking to preserve the traditions of the temple and Jerusalem for years
to come. And that brings us to the event in our text this morning.
Ezra
has gathered all the people (men and women and all who could hear with
understanding) in the square before the Water Gate, for the people had
asked Ezra to bring out the Law and read it to them. This all took place on a
date that is now recognized as the beginning of the Jewish New Year, Rosh
Hashanah. Now, it is easy to lose the significance of what is taking place here
in the flurry of consonants that is the list of Hebrew names: the people have
requested Ezra to read the Law to them, and he gathers—not in the Temple where
the people would be divided by race and gender—but by the Water Gate, where all
of the people who wished to listen could. There’s something wonderfully
powerful about that, about knowing that Scriptures (at that time, likely just
the five books of the Law, maybe even only Deuteronomy) have an inherent
accessibility about them, that they are not to be placed on a high shelf out of
the reach of some, nor are they to be locked inside an institution for only the
privileged to behold. The Scriptures are unbound religious institutions, yet it
is important to note what takes place around Ezra’s reading of the Scriptures.
In
verse 4, our text begins: “The
scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose…And
Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above
all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra
blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, ‘Amen, Amen,’
lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with
their faces to the ground.” This reading of Scripture does not take
place in some flippant manner; it is not an act of curiosity or an attempt to
prove a point. When Ezra reads from the Scriptures it is an act of worship!
This is not an attempt to answer the question, “What do the Scriptures say
about…?” Before the first word is read, Ezra blessed God and the people respond
with physical acts of worship. (It may be important to note here that the
people are worshipping God, NOT the Scriptures. That seems to be a line
that is blurred with some in the more fundamentalist strains of Christianity
today).
Notice
too, that when Ezra begins to read how long her did read: verse 3 says, “He read from it facing the square before the
Water Gate from early morning until midday” (now, I don’t ever want to
hear anyone ever complain about me reading a text ten or more verses long
again!). What is more (and perhaps more worth the mentioning) is what takes
place while Ezra reads the Scriptures. Verses
7 & 8 tell us, “Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub,
Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the
Levites, helped the people to understand the law, while the people
remained in their places. So they read from the book, from the law of God, with
interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the
reading.” Ezra did not simply throw the reading of the text out
among the people and say, “You can figure it out for yourselves!,” nor did he
say, “These are the Scriptures, take them literally as I’ve read them.” The
Scriptures needed interpretation, and the Levites, those whom God had called to
the spiritual leadership of God’s people, gave that interpretation to the
people.
This
is an important point that cannot be overlooked. If Scripture is merely quoted,
recited from memory, or read aloud without any prayerful, thoughtful,
interpretation, it can be very dangerous. Ezra could have read from the Law and
then simply waited to see how the people would respond, or he could have even
used the very language of the Law itself to manipulate the people into doing
whatever he desired (many so-called spiritual leaders have). By reading and then interpreting the
Scriptures for the people, Ezra and the Levites are able to reveal the
contemporary meaning to their post-exilic peers. We see the people’s response
to the Scriptures and their interpretations in verses 9 and following: ‘"This
day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people
wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, ‘Go your way,
eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom
nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved,
for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’"
At
first, the people weep when they hear the words of Scripture, perhaps many for
the first time. Maybe they wept because they were suddenly aware of their
shortcomings. Perhaps they wept because there are those words in Scripture that
prick your heart in such a way that one cannot help but be overcome by
emotions. Maybe they wept because they realized they had been missing out on
the worship of God for all of those years in exile. Whatever the reason, Ezra
and the Levites instruct them to go to their homes and celebrate and to
celebrate with those who have nothing. Why? “for the joy of the Lord is your
strength.”
The people of God heard the Law,
heard its interpretation in the midst of worship, and were then reminded of the
joy of God. This is a monumental moment in the history of God’s people, for it
is the template for how we conduct worship even today. When we gather for
worship, we gather to listen for a word from God, interpreted through the
Scriptures by one who is called by God to the task of such proclamation. We
gather to be reminded of what God has called us to, of what God has done for
us, of who God is and who God is calling us to be. We gather, not in restricted
spaces where thick lines are drawn between people, but in an open sanctuary,
where all who wish to draw closer to God are welcome. This passage from
Nehemiah reminds us of the centrality of Scripture to our worship, and the
centrality of worship to our understanding of Scripture, of the importance of
interpretation, and the overarching, ever-excelling joy of God in which we
truly find our strength.
So,
the next time you pick up your Bible, the next time we gather in this place to
worship, to listen for a word from God, may you be mindful of the ways God
speaks to God’s people. May you be mindful of how you read and use Scripture,
and may you come to love the words of Scripture—not for their defensive
usefulness, but for the wonderful ways they reveal the joy of the Lord to us
all. Amen.
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