“THE READING AND THE RESPONSE”
NEHEMIAH 8:1-12
MARCH 15, 2020 

FURTHER BACKGROUND... 

• “This reading [of God’s law] was desired by the assembly. The motive for this request is undoubtedly to be found in the desire of the congregation to [celebrate] the gracious assistance they had received from the Lord during the building of the wall, and through which it had been speedily and successfully completed, in spite of the attempts of their enemies to obstruct the work. This feeling of thankfulness impelled them to the hearing of the word of God for the purpose of making his law their rule of life.” (C. F. Keil, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther) 

• “The Water Gate was on the east side of the city (3:26), giving access to the principal spring...in the valley below. It is interesting that this assembly...was not held in the Temple court, where the altar was the focal point, but at one of the centers of city life.... The law itself insisted that its voice must not be confined to the sanctuary but heard in the house and the street (Deuteronomy 6:7ff.).” (Derek Kidner, Ezra and Nehemiah) 

• Verse 2 identifies the time of this event as “the first day of the seventh month.” The book of Leviticus states: “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation” (23:24). This was known as the Feast of Trumpets (more details given in Numbers 29:1-6) and was meant to be a joyful gathering. 

• “Understand” or “understood” appears five times in this passage. The subject is the law of God. 

QUOTE WORTH CONSIDERING...

“We have already seen that Nehemiah’s ambition was not simply to reconstruct the city’s defenses but to revitalize a spiritual community. Writing in the same century as Nehemiah, the Greek historian Thucydides made the point that it is the people not the walls that make a city. The spiritual, moral, and social contribution of committed men and women is of greater importance than strong bulwarks, but Jerusalem’s governor soon discovered that reforming a community is a more exacting task that restoring its walls.” (Raymond Brown, The Message of Nehemiah) 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 

• Read John 3:8. How does this shed light on this question: Why did this assembly have such good instincts not only about hearing Scripture read, but responding so powerfully to it? 

• This passage emphasizes the importance not only of exposure to God’s Word, but understanding it. When the people understood more fully, they were able to rejoice. Jesus routinely emphasized the importance of understanding. When the assembly heard the requirements and even curses of the law, what else did they need to understand? 

• “The joy of the LORD is your strength.” This is a powerful claim, in light of the wall having been completed (6:15). How can joy from-and-about God actually strengthen and protect his people?