NEW BEGINNINGS
Nehemiah 8
“So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.”
If you knew the history of Israel you would know that its nationhood as symbolised by a king, and its spirituality as symbolised by the Temple, were not the initiatives of God. Israel hankered to be like the nations around them and God relented.
Israel was to be the people of the Word, as God emphasised to Joshua, the man tasked to lead them into the Promised Land. In Joshua 1, God taught Joshua that the secret to success lies in knowing God’s Word thoroughly and being obedient to his commands. Joshua passed on this truth to the people he led into the Promised Land and in Joshua 8:34-35 we read:
Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.
When Israel’s behaviour became so bad that God had to act (see 2 Chronicles 36:15-19), Israel as a nation was no more: the king was deposed and the Temple destroyed.
But the Word of God remained and he continued to speak through the prophets and also from his promises in the past.
So in the return of the Jews to their homeland, the public reading of God’s Word as they celebrated God’s faithfulness, and the renewed desire and hunger for God’s Word, were very significant. Once again they upheld themselves to be the people of the Word.
As we contemplate the history of the Jews, perhaps it is prudent to consider our own walk with God and whether we have wandered away from the primacy of God’s Word in our faith and conduct and instead relied on other grander symbols, such as assemblies, rituals, structures, organisation, and following the leadership of man.
“Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God.”