STUDY THEME: BECOMING WHAT GOD WANTS ME TO BE. 6-09-02
"GOD WANTS ME TO BE JOYFUL."
NEHEMIAH 8:1-3, 5-6, 9-12, 13-17
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO NEHEMIAH 8.
In the book of Ezra we see a remnant of the people gathered back in Judah after a long exile in Babylon, the center of false religion of that day. Nehemiah, in his Book pursues the history of the remnant people for several years later.
In about 446 BC in the 20th year of the reign of King Artaxerxes as king of Persia, Nehemiah, the king’s cup bearer, while residing in Shusan, the winter residence of the Persian kings, learned that the remnant in Jerusalem were living in "great affliction." The wall of Jerusalem was all broken down and the gates had been burned. Nehemiah wept, fasted, and prayed.
King Artaxerxes gave Nehemiah permission to go to Judah to repair the wall and gates of Jerusalem. Under the supervision of Nehemiah, Nehemiah 4:6 says, "So we built the wall,--for the people had mind to work." Without any restitution, Governor Nehemiah inspected the work every night. Every day he fed 150 people at his table and dealt with numerous problems of the 42,360 residents. Fifty two days from the time they began the labor, the wall was finished and the gates were in place. It was now time for observing the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths. The command to observe this feast and its purpose are spelled out in Deut. 31:10-13 by the Prophet Moses hundreds of years before the Babylonian captivity.
This brings us to Nehemiah Ch. 8 and today’s lesson: "God wants us to be a joyful people." Our relationship with Christ should make us like Paul in 2 Cor. 6:10 "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing—having nothing, and yet possessing everything." Paul knew that circumstances do not determine the joy believers experience. Real joy comes from within. Joy is more desired than sorrow, for joy is bread and sorrow is medicine. J.W. Beecher.
Today’s Life Question is: "How can we know joy that is not determined by circumstances." We will explore the biblical truth "Believers joy comes from the Lord, not from outward circumstances." The desired "Life Impact" of this lesson is to help us be joyous Christians. Let’s repeat again the nine aspects of the "Fruit of the Spirit" as given to us in Galatians: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PERSEVERANCE OR LONG SUFFERING, KINDNESS OR GENTLENESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, MEEKNESS OR HUMILITY, TEMPERANCE OR SELF-CONTROL. Last Sunday the example of Jonathan and David answered the question, "How can I love others as God wants me to love?" Next Sunday t he example of Isaac answers the question, "How can I experience real peace in this troubled world?"
The events recorded in Nehemiah 8 describe a revival among the Israelites who had returned from exile in Babylon. Ezra and Nehemiah played key roles in the return of God’s people from exile in Babylon. After the Persians defeated the Babylonians in 539 BC, Cyrus, the Persian King decreed that the Jewish exiles could return to their homeland to rebuild the temple. The people assembled to celebrate the first of three feasts to take place in the seventh month; an important month in the Jewish calendar.
In this month the Jewish people celebrated the Feast of Trumpets on the first day and the Day of Atonement on the tenth day. On the fifteenth day the Feast of tabernacles began. Moses, in Deut. 31:10-13, commanded the people to listen to the reading of the Law during this feast every seventh years. This proclamation probably served as the basis for a covenant renewal ceremony.
On the first day of the seventh month, he Feastof Trupets,the Jews celebrated with a solemn assembly and a holiday from work. On the occasion recorded here the people took the initiative. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses. Then the assembly gathered as one man in a large open space near the Water Gate. This meeting probably took place outside the city wall. The association of the Book of the Law with Moses suggests that Ezra had either all or part of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the O.T. written by Moses.
The assembly that gathered to hear Ezra the priest read from the Book of the Law included not only men but also women and children. All who were able to understand what they heard probably refers to the later. Everyone old enough to benefit from the reading was present. Women did not participate in ordinary meetings but came together with the children on such solemn occasions. God wanted His people to know His Word and to differ from pagans characterized by mindless superstition. He knew that a lack of knowledge could destroy His people.
Vs. 3 provides a summary of the more detailed description to follow. Ezra read the Book of the Law, or more literally, "in it" or "from it," from daybreak till noon. All the people, including men, women and others who could understand, evidently stood for five to seven hours listening attentively as the Law was read to them. They listened carefully because they believed the message to be God’s Word.
In every genuine revival among God’s people the revealed Word of the Lord has had a large place. It was so in Josiah’s day, and in the awakening under Hezekiah. It has been so throughout the Church period. It was he recovery of the Word that brought the Reformation of the 16th century, and every true awakening since has been based upon Bible study and Bible practice.
As believers, we should show our respect for the power and authority of God’s Word in our lives by listening to it, by reading it, and by studying it with great attention. God’s Word can produce joy in our hearts as it did for these people so long ago. I am delighted that we now stand when the Bible is read from the pulpit.
When the people were gathered together, we hear the cry "Bring the book of the Law of Moses" which the Lord had commanded to Israel. "Bring the Book", they cried. Listening to some one read the Bible for hours—from daybreak till noon—is probably not a typical experience for most of us. Our minds would likely wander after a period of time. The Jews, however, were eager to hear God’s message. Listening all morning apparently did not bother them. They wanted to know more about God’s will for their lives. They dedicated an entire morning, from sunrise until noon, to their study of God’s Word.
The biblical writer indicated that some preparation had preceded the gathering because the workmen had erected a large platform especially for the event. This high wooden platform was strong and big enough to hold Ezra and at least 13 lay leaders of the community. This platform enabled the assembled crowd to see and hear Ezra and the other men. Incidentally, this is the first mention of a pulpit in God’s Word.
To minister the Word to such a company must have been both a great joy and a solemn responsibility for Ezra and the Levites as they "caused the people to understand the law, and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the Law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. It needs to be borne in mind that, after the captivity, Hebrew, as a spoken language, had largely been displaced by Aramaic; hence the need of carefully explaining the Hebrew words to the waiting people.
In respect at the reading of God’s Word, as though they were in the presence of God Himself, the people stood for all the long hours of the reading of the Scriptures. In vs. 6 we see a praise befitting the reading. In a synagogue, the reading is always preceded by a benediction. The response of "Amen, Amen," with hands uplifted, was an affirmation of what Ezra prayed. Their posture showed their humble adoration, and submission to God. In vs. 7-8 some Levites assisted Ezra with the peoples’ understanding of the Scriptures by reading and explaining it.
The people worshipped God Himself, not the Book of the Law. They did not worship the scroll as a religious icon. God makes Himself known through His Word. As we read and study the Bible, God reveals Himself to us, leading us to worship Him with attentative hearts and fervent worship, which produces JOY.
Vs. 9 points out that there was unity among all the leaders of this ceremony. When the people heard and understood their violation of it. The most gratifying thing that happened, of cours, is that the people obeyed God’s Word. What they heard touched their emotions, for they wept as they heard the Law. Not tears of joy, but of penitent sorrow came forth as they were grieved by conviction over the distressing manifestations of sin in transgressing the Lord’s commands and the consequent punishments they had suffered in their captivity.
This always happens whenever sinners really hear and understand the Word of God. As they heard the law of God read and explained, the people were grieved because of their sins, and the sins of their fathers, which had brought the nation to judgment in the exile. Godly sorrow is a mark of true repentance; but having repented and having been forgiven, they ought to have rejoiced.
They had listened on the first day of the month from morning to midday; but the more they heard the Word of God, the more desirous they were to hear it more. The more we converse with the Scriptures, the more we will wish and love to do so.
Nehemiah then encouraged the people to consider the day sacred, and to eat, give to others in need, and rejoice in the Lord, their source of strength. Ps. 17:1 says, "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
People of true faith know how miserable they are when they are not in God’s will, living with unconfessed sins. Ps. 32: 3-4 says "When I kept silent, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day through for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture is turned into the drought of summer." Believers do not lose their salvation, but they can lose the joy of the Lord’s salvation. After his sin David prayed in Ps. 52:12, "Restore into me the joy of my salvation: and uphold me with thy free Spirit.
When we return to the Lord, He rejoices and we share in that joy. Joyful believers find strength to stand against any difficulty or danger in the Lord’s strength. Nehemiah had come to Jerusalem to build a wall, a practical necessity if they were to defend themselves against the enemies that surrounded their city. Now the wall was finished, but Nehemiah the administrator and builder knew what Ezra the Bible scholar also knew—the people’s true security was not in walls but in the Lord. I wish someone could explain this to our nation at this time. Our military superiority does not guarantee us security. We need the mighty hand of God as our source of protection.
One expressioof the people’s joy was to be feasting and sharing it with those who had nothing. The fat represented for them the best. The sweet was the tastiest. This feast was to be a time of joy from the food and from the fellowship with one another in their homes. Much of he joy came froms ending protins unto them for whomnothng is preapared. The O.T. gve strong emphasis to caring for the poor. Paul wrote in Eph. 4:28 that one purpose of Christians work is to have something to share with the needy. Expressing Christian love in such practical ways brings joy, Jesus said in Matt 25:35 "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat."
The people apparently continued to weep and mourn because of their sins. Vs. 11 says the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Hold your peace" or "be still," for the day is holy, neither be ye grieved." The reason they gave was that the first day of the seventh month, the Feast of Trumpets, was to be a day of rejoicing. In Vs. 11 the Levites were not so much calling the people to be silent as urging them to turn from their grieving to rejoicing. The people went to their homes to eat, drink and to send portions for the poor. The last part of vs. 12 gives another reason for their joy. They made great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. Their celebration was the result of hearing the Word and understanding it."
These verses describe events that took place on the second day, that is, the day after the events of vs. 1-12. The majority of the people returned home. The second day of the seventh month was not a feast day. Many had responsibilities to do and no extra time to spare from work for further study. Only a select group assembled on this day. They were the chief of the fathers of all the people or "the heads of all the families." These were the men who had the responsibility of teaching the law in their own homes. They had an additional time of Bible study, no doubt to help them fulfill their role. They met with the priests, and the Levites, and Ezra the scribe. The objective was to understand the words of the law. Full understanding is the result of more than one day of Bible study. The revival had given them a hunger to learn more about God’s Law. They recognized Ezra as a gifted teacher and decided to stay with him for more intensive study.
During their study, they found something written in the law, which the Lord had commanded, by Moses. They discovered that they were about to fail to keep one of the feasts commanded by God. The feast of Booths or Tabernacles was to be kept in the middle of the seventh month. This feast was to be observed on "the fifteenth day of the seventh moth. It was to last seven days. It was to be a harvest feast, and it was to be observed with joy and rejoicing.
Since they discovered these instructions on the second day of the seventh month, the timing was perfect. They had exactly two weeks to prepare for the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths. The manner of keeping it was to use tree branches to erect temporary places to live. This was to remind them of two thing: (1) their dependence on the Lord, and (2) the Lord’s deliverance of their forefathers from Egypt, including their years in the wilderness following the exile, when they had lived in such temporary dwellings.
We may wonder why such a clear commandment was a new thing for these family leaders that they had to discover it through a study of the Word. We must remember the years of neglect and sin that had made the law of God a closed book for generations. At any rate, they proceeded to issue a proclamation to their generation that they keep the feast just as it was commanded. They were to gather branches from all kinds of trees to make booths. The people eagerly obeyed the Word of God. Every person who had returned from exile built booths and lived in them. As a result, they kept this feast in a way that had not been done since the days of Joshua, the son of Nun. Now the Feast of Tabernacles had been celebrated since Joshua, but not with such joy.
As we recall God’s gracious work in our own lives, we should celebrate joyfully.
Nehemiah 9 is the longest prayer in the Bible. Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the Temple is considerably shorter. You may wish to read Neh. 9.
NEXT SUNDAY FROM GENESIS 26 WE FIND THAT God EMPOWERS HIS PEOPLE TO LIVE IN PEACE. A.V. DAUGHERTY 6-09-02