'And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the
street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the
scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had
commanded to Israel. 2. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the
congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with
understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. 3. And he read
therein before the street that was before the water gate, from the
morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that
could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto
the book of the law. 4. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of
wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood
Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and
Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand Pedaiah, and
Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and
Meshullam. 5. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people;
(for he was above all the people); and when he opened it, all the
people stood up: 6. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all
the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they
bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the
ground. 7. Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jemin, Akkub,
Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan,
Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and
the people stood in their place. 8. So they read in the book in the
law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to
understand the reading. 9. And Nehemiah, which is the Tirashatha, and
Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people,
said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God;
mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the
words of the law. 10. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the
fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing
is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry;
for the joy of the Lord is your strength. 11. So the Levites stilled
all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither
be ye grieved. 12. And all the people went their way to eat, and to
drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had
understood the words that were declared unto them.'--Neh. viii. 1-12.
The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, which
was the sixth month. The events recorded in this passage took place on
the first day of the seventh month. The year is not given, but the
natural inference is that it was the same as that of the finishing of
the wall; namely, the twentieth of Artaxerxes. If so, the completion
of the fortifications to which Nehemiah had set himself, was
immediately followed by this reading of the law, in which Ezra takes
the lead. The two men stand in a similar relative position to that of
Zerubbabel and Joshua, the one representing the civil and the other
the religious authority.
According to Ezra vii. 9, Ezra had gone to Jerusalem about thirteen
years before Nehemiah, and had had a weary time of fighting against
the corruptions which had crept in among the returned captives. The
arrival of Nehemiah would be hailed as bringing fresh, young
enthusiasm, none the less welcome and powerful because it had the
king's authority entrusted to it. Evidently the two men thoroughly
understood one another, and pulled together heartily. We heard nothing
about Ezra while the wall was being built. But now he is the principal
figure, and Nehemiah is barely mentioned. The reasons for Ezra's
taking the prominent part in the reading of the law are given in the
two titles by which he is designated in two successive verses (vers.
1,2). He was 'the scribe' and also 'the priest,' and in both
capacities was the natural person for such a work.
The seventh month was the festival month of the year, its first day
being that of the Feast of trumpets, and the great Feast of
tabernacles as well as the solemn day of atonement occurring in it.
Possibly, the prospect of the coming of the times for these
celebrations may have led to the people's wish to hear the law, that
they might duly observe the appointed ceremonial. At all events, the
first thing to note is that it was in consequence of the people's wish
that the law was read in their hearing. Neither Ezra nor Nehemiah
originated the gathering together. They obeyed a popular impulse which
they had not created. We must not, indeed, give the multitude credit
for much more than the wish to have their ceremonial right. But there
was at least that wish, and possibly something deeper and more
spiritual. The walls were completed; but the true defence of Israel
was in God, and the condition of His defending was Israel's obedience
to His law. The people were, in some measure, beginning to realise
that condition with new clearness, in consequence of the new fervour
which Nehemiah had brought.
It is singular that, during his thirteen years of residence, Ezra is
not recorded to have promulgated the law, though it lay at the basis
of the drastic reforms which he was able to carry through. Probably he
had not been silent, but the solemn public recitation of the law was
felt to be appropriate on occasion of completing the wall. Whether the
people had heard it before, or, as seems implied, it was strange to
them, their desire to hear it may stand as a pattern for us of that
earnest wish to know God's will which is never cherished in vain. He
who does not intend to obey does not wish to know the law. If we have
no longing to know what the will of the Lord is, we may be very sure
that we prefer our own to His. If we desire to know it, we shall
desire to understand the Book which contains so much of it. Any true
religion in the heart will make us eager to perceive, and willing to
be guided by, the will of God, revealed mainly in Scripture, in the
Person, works, and words of Jesus, and also in waiting hearts by the
Spirit, and in those things which the world calls 'circumstances' and
faith names 'providences.'
II. Verses 2-8 appear to tell the same incidents twice over--first,
more generally in verses 2 and 8, and then more minutely. Such
expanded repetition is characteristic of the Old Testament historical
style. It is somewhat difficult to make sure of the real
circumstances. Clearly enough there was a solemn assembly of men,
women, and children in a great open space outside one of the gates,
and there, from dawn till noon, the law was read and explained. But
whether Ezra read it all, while the Levites named in verse 7 explained
or paraphrased or translated it, or whether they all read in turns, or
whether there were a number of groups, each of which had a teacher who
both read and expounded, is hard to determine. At all events, Ezra was
the principal figure, and began the reading.
It was a picturesque scene. The sun, rising over the slopes of Olivet,
would fall on the gathered crowd, if the water-gate was, as is
probable, on the east or south-east side of the city. Beneath the
fresh fortifications probably, which would act as a sounding-board for
the reader, was set up a scaffold high above the crowd, large enough
to hold Ezra and thirteen supporters--principal men, no doubt--seven
on one side of him and six on the other. Probably a name has dropped
out, and the numbers were equal. There, in the morning light, with the
new walls for a background, stood Ezra on his rostrum, and amid
reverent silence, lifted high the sacred roll. A common impulse swayed
the crowd, and brought them all to their feet--token at once of
respect and obedient attention. Probably many of them had never seen a
sacred roll. To them all it was comparatively unfamiliar. No wonder
that, as Ezra's voice rose in prayer, the whole assembly fell on their
faces in adoration, and every lip responded 'Amen! amen!'
Much superstition may have mingled with the reverence. No doubt, there
was then what we are often solemnly warned against now, bibliolatry.
But in this time of critical investigation it is not the divine
element in Scripture which is likely to be exaggerated; and few are
likely to go wrong in the direction of paying too much reverence to
the Book in which, as is still believed, God has revealed His will and
Himself. While welcoming all investigations which throw light on its
origin or its meaning, and perfectly recognising the human element in
it, we should learn the lesson taught by that waiting crowd prone on
their faces, and blessing God for His word. Such attitude must ever
precede reading it, if we are to read aright.
Hour after hour the recitation went on. We must let the question of
the precise form of the events remain undetermined. It is somewhat
singular that thirteen names are enumerated as of the men who stood by
Ezra, and thirteen as those of the readers or expounders. It may be
the case that the former number is complete, though uneven, and that
there was some reason unknown for dividing the audience into just so
many sections. The second set of thirteen was not composed of the same
men as the first. They seem to have been Levites, whose office of
assisting at the menial parts of the sacrifices was now elevated into
that of setting forth the law. Probably the portions read were such as
bore especially on ritual, though the tears of the listeners are
sufficient proof that they had heard some things that went deeper than
that.
The word rendered 'distinctly' in the Revised Version (margin,
_with_ an _interpretation_) is ambiguous, and may either
mean that the Levites explained or that they translated the words. The
former is the more probable, as there is no reason to suppose that the
audience, most of whom had been born in the land, were ignorant of
Hebrew. But if the ritual had been irregularly observed, and the
circle of ideas in the law become unfamiliar, many explanations would
be necessary. It strikes one as touching and strange that such an
assembly should be needed after so many centuries of national
existence. It sums up in one vivid picture the sin and suffering of
the nation. To observe that law had been the condition of their
prosperity. To bind it on their hearts should have been their delight
and would have been their life; and here, after all these generations,
the best of the nation are assembled, so ignorant of it that they
cannot even understand it when they hear it. Absorption with worldly
things has an awful power of dulling spiritual apprehension. Neglect
of God's law weakens the power of understanding it.
This scene was in the truest sense a 'revival.' We may learn the true
way of bringing men back to God; namely, the faithful exposition and
enforcement of God's will and word. We may learn, too, what should be
the aim of public teachers of religion; namely, first and foremost,
the clear setting forth of God's truth. Their first business is to
'give the sense, so that they understand the reading'; and that, not
for merely intellectual purposes, but that, like the crowd outside the
water-gate on that hot noonday, men may be moved to penitence, and
then lifted to the joy of the Lord.
The first day of the seventh month was the Feast of trumpets; and when
the reading was over, and its effects of tears and sorrow for
disobedience were seen, the preachers changed their tone, to bring
consolation and exhort to gladness. Nehemiah had taken no part in
reading the law, as Ezra the priest and his Levites were more
appropriately set to that. But he joins them in exhorting the people
to dry their tears, and go joyfully to the feast. These exhortations
contain many thoughts universally applicable. They teach that even
those who are most conscious of sin and breaches of God's law should
weep indeed, but should swiftly pass from tears to joy. They do not
teach how that passage is to be effected; and in so far they are
imperfect, and need to be supplemented by the New Testament teaching
of forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But in their
clear discernment that sorrow is not meant to be a permanent
characteristic of religion, and that gladness is a more acceptable
offering than tears, they teach a valuable lesson, needed always by
men who fancy that they must atone for their sins by their own
sadness, and that religion is gloomy, harsh, and crabbed.
Further, these exhortations to festal gladness breathe the
characteristic Old Testament tone of wholesome enjoyment of material
good as a part of religion. The way of looking at eating and drinking
and the like, as capable of being made acts of worship, has been too
often forgotten by two kinds of men--saints who have sought sanctity
in asceticism; and sensualists who have taken deep draughts of such
pleasures without calling on the name of the Lord, and so have failed
to find His gifts a cup of salvation. It is possible to 'eat and drink
and see God' as the elders of Israel did on Sinai.
Further, the plain duty of remembering the needy while we enjoy God's
gifts is beautifully enjoined here. The principle underlying the
commandment to 'send portions to them for whom nothing is
provided'--that is, for whom no feast has been dressed--is that all
gifts are held in trust, that nothing is bestowed on us for our own
good only, but that we are in all things stewards. The law extends to
the smallest and to the greatest possessions. We have no right to
feast on anything unless we share it, whether it be festal dainties or
the bread that came down from heaven. To divide our portion with
others is the way to make our portion greater as well as sweeter.
Further, 'the joy of the Lord is your strength.' By _strength_
here seems to be meant a _stronghold_. If we fix our desires on
God, and have trained our hearts to find sweeter delights in communion
with Him than in any earthly good, our religion will have lifted us
above mists and clouds into clear air above, where sorrows and changes
will have little power to affect us. If we are to rejoice in the Lord,
it will be possible for us to 'rejoice always,' and that joy will be
as a refuge from all the ills that flesh is heir to. Dwelling in God,
we shall dwell safely, and be far from the fear of evil.