Bible in one year 7/18/2022 Nehemiah Chapter 8-10
By Rev.Katherine Liu
Bruce
Christian Arts
Ministries : Biblical precepts & Gospel music; Pastoral ministry &
Counseling
Chapter 8 Renewing the covenant (under Ezra) The Reading of the
Law
When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settle in their
towns, all the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate.
They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the
Lord had commanded for Israel.(v.1) the first day of the seventh month. The
time of the Feast of Trumpets (Lev.23:24). This is the first mention of a
platform, or podium, in the Bible; it was strong enough to support Ezra and
thirteen others. The reading of the law was interspersed with explanation;
indeed, the law was also translated from Hebrew into Aramaic, the only language
some of the people may have understood.
Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.(vv.5-6). Then, Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “ This day is sacred to he Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the peple had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, “ Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”(v.10). The Levites calmed all the people, saying “ Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve.”(v.11).
Conviction of sin caused the people to weep, appropriate to the
Day of Atonement (on the tenth day of the month)but not to the Feast of
Trumpets and the celebration of the completion of the wall.(v.9). Verses 13-18
Further study of the law revealed that during the Feast of Tabernacles
(Lev.23:34-43) everybody was to dwell in booths; as a result, preparations for
that time of celebration were ordered. The feast had been observed since the
days of Joshua (1Kings8:65;2Chron.7:9; Ezra3:40 but not by the whole
company(Neh.8:17).
Chapter 9 the repentance
of the people
On the twenty-fourth day
the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth
and having dust on their heads.(v.1). Two days after the conclusion of the
Feast of Tabernacles, the people began to acknowledge their sins before God.
From verses 5 to 38, Ezra’s prayer began with an acknowledgment of God’s
majesty(v.6)
“
Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.
Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and
praise. You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens,
and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that
is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship
you.(vv.5-6).
and continued with a recital of the major points of Israel’s history: the Abrahamic covenant (vv.7-8,Gen.12:2;15:17),
“
You are the Lord God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the
Chaldeans and named him Abraham. You found his heart faithful to you, and you
made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites,
Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites,a dn Girgashites. You have kept your
promise because you are righteous.”(vv.7-8)
“you came down on Mount Sinai; You spoke to them
from heaven. You gave them regulations and laws that are just and right and decrees and commands that are good. You made known to them your holy Sabbath and
gave them commands, dcrees and laws through your servant Moses…but you are a
forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.
Therefore you did not desert them, even when they cast for themselves an image
of a calf and said, this is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt, or when
they committed awful blasphemies. (vv.13-18)
and the conquest of Canaan and subsequent backsliding (vv.24-31). It concluded with a confession of sin(vv.32-37) and a commitment to keep God’s laws(v.38)
“Now
therefore, O our God, the great, mighty and awesome God, who keeps his
covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes the
hardship that has come upon us, upon our kings and leaders, upon our priests
and prophets, upon our fathers and all your people, from the days of the kings
of Assyria until today. In all that has happened to us, you have been just; you
have acted faithfully, while we did wrong…but see, we are slaves today, slaves
in the land you gave our forefathers so they could eat its fruit and the other
good things it produces. Because of our sins, its aboundant harvest goes to the
kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies ad our cattle as they
please. We are in great distress. In view of all this, we are making a binding
agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests
are affixing their seals to it.”(vv.32-38).
Chapter 10 The responsibilities of the Covenant and a tenth of the
tithes
All these now join their
brothers the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the
Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the
commands, regulations and decrees of the Lord our Lord. (The penalty for
violating the oath they took in binding themselves to keep God’s law.
From verses 30-39 The
people agreed (1) not to marry heathens (Deut.7:3-4).(2) to keep the Sabbath
and holy days free of commercial activity (Ex.20:8-11; Amos8:5). (3) to observe
the Sabbatical year (Ex.23:10-11) and (4) to support the Temple. On the tithe (Lev.27:30-33
and Mal.3:8) the Levites had to tithe the tithes given to them in order to
support the serving priests, porters, and singers.
“ We also assume responsibility for bringing to
the house of the Lord each year the firs fruits of our crops and of every fruit
tree. As it is also written in the Law, we will brin the first-born of our sons
and of our cattle, of our herds and of our flocks ot the house o four God, to the
priests ministering there. (vv.35-36).
Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the
house of our God, to the priests, the first
of our ground meal, of our grain
offerings, of the fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and oil. And we will bring a tithe of our crops to the Levites, for it is the Levites
who collect the tithes in all the towns where we work. A priest descended from
Aaron is to accompany the Levites when they receive the tithes, and the Levites are to bring a tenth of the
tithes up to the house of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. The people of Israel, including the
Levites, are to bring their contributions of grain, new wine and oil to the
storerooms where the articles for the sanctuary are kept and where the
ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the singers stay. We will not neglect
the house of our God.”(vv.34-39)
Bibliography,
Ryrie, Charles
C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible
Institute, 1986
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