Nehemiah 8:1

READING OF THE LAW.-- Nehemiah 8:1-12.

GOLDEN TEXT. -- So they read in the book, in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.. Nehemiah 8:8. TIME. --B. C. 445. PLACE. --Jerusalem. HELPFUL READINGS. -- Ezra 3:1-7; Ezra 7:1-10; Deuteronomy 31:9-13; Leviticus 10:11; Joshua 8:30-35. LESSON ANALYSIS. --1.. People Hungry for the Word; 2.. Feast for the Soul Provided; 3. The Word of the Lord Hallowed; 4.. Feast of Joy.

INTRODUCTION.

During the first part of the civil administration of Nehemiah the name of Ezra is not named, his civil duties being swallowed up in the superior authority of Nehemiah, but after the city was fortified, order established and the rights of. people now able to defend them respected, Ezra comes again to the front in the re-establishment of religious instruction on. sounder basis. To him, more than to any other man, is due the arrangement of the Jewish sacred writings as found in the Old Testament. Milman, speaking of this work in his History of the Jews, says, "Much of the Hebrew literature was lost at the time of the Captivity; the ancient Book of Jasher; that of the Wars of the Lord, the writings of Gad and Iddo the Prophet, and those of Solomon on Natural History. The rest, particularly the Law, of which after the discovery of the original by Hilkiah, many copies were taken; the historical books, the poetry, including all the prophetic writings, except those of Malachi, were collected, revised, and either at that time, or, subsequently, arranged in three great divisions; the Law, containing the five Books of Moses; the Prophets, embracing the historical and prophetical books; and the Hagiographa, called also the Psalms, containing the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. Job and Daniel are now found among these. At. later period Malachi, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther were added, and what is called the Canon of Jewish Scripture was closed. It is most likely that from this time the Jews began to establish synagogues, or places of public worship and instruction for the use of which copies of the sacred writings were multiplied. The. Law, thus revised, was publicly read in the temple by Ezra, the people listening with the most devout attention; the feast of Tabernacles was celebrated with considerable splendor. After this festival. solemn fast was proclaimed; the whole people, having confessed and bewailed their offences, deliberately renewed the covenant with the God of their fathers. An oath was administered that they would keep the law, avoid intermarriages with aliens, neither buy nor sell on the Sabbath, observing the Sabbatical year, and remit all debts according to the law, pay. tax of. third of. shekel for the service of the temple, and offer all first fruits and all tithes to the Levites."

The events narrated in this lesson occurred at the time of the feast of Tabernacles, one of the most sacred and joyous of the great Jewish feasts, dear to the nation, because interwoven with the dedication of both the first and second temples. On this occasion, notwithstanding the joyousness of the occasion, the language seems to indicate that the tears would flow over the fallen state of the nation compared with its past glory as they heard the words of the law, and their rulers reminded them: "This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep." Then Nehemiah said: "Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send your 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."

1. And all the people gathered as one man.

The date of this gathering is named in the preceding chapter, the seventh month, or the latter part of September, at the feast of Tabernacles,. feast that caused the nation to assemble, and during which they dwelt in tents as. memorial of the forty years' journeyings in the wilderness. It is not stated why the people gathered so unanimously, to make this request of Ezra, but it is probable that it was at the suggestion of Nehemiah. The gathering was in "the street," or rather in. square, before the "water gate," such gate receiving. name from the use which it principally served. The place is identified as lying between the temple and the eastern wall.

They spake unto Ezra the scribe.

Ezra was the most conspicuous of that order of men, learned in the law, devoted to its study and the copying of the sacred records, called the Scribes, who afterwards became so prominent in Jewish history, and who in the Savior's time, had lost sight of the spirit of the law in their slavish observance of the letter. The Scribes had existed before as secretaries, or recorders, then as amanuenses. Thus Baruch, the friend of Jeremiah, was the penman of all his prophecies. Ezra, deeply educated in the Chaldean schools of Jewish learning, devoted to the study and the teaching of the law, might almost be regarded as the founder of the order which henceforth did so much to indoctrinate the people with the principles of the law, and who exerted so much influence on Jewish history. In the Savior's time. large part of Jewish learning was confined to this class.----This is the first time that Ezra is named in the book of Nehemiah. During the stirring period of the building of the temple walls the quiet scholar and teacher naturally fell into the background, but now when this work was completed, he naturally came to the front in the teaching and religious festivities of the people.