Nehemiah 8 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Nehemiah 8:1-8

When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, 

1 all the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel.

2 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. 3 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.

4 Ezra the teacher of the Law stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion. Beside him on his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.

5 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. 6 Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, ‘Amen! Amen!’ Then they bowed down and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

7 The Levites – Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah – instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. 8 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.

A. Find Out:

1. Who came to where, and when? v.1a
2. What did they tell who to do? v.1b
3. So what did he do? v.2,3
4. How did he speak? v.4,5
5. And what happened? v.6
6. Who else joined in and how? v.7,8

B. Think:

1. How would you summarise what took place in these verses?
2. How do you think the timing was significant?
3. What do you think was the point of it all?

C. Comment:

  This is now probably October-November, 445 B.C. The wall has been completed as we’ve seen and the people are settled back in their towns around the neighbouring area (7:73c). We are not told why but the people all gather in one of the main squares of the city (v.1) and they call upon Ezra to read the Law to them. This appears to be the first time Ezra is mentioned since he first came some years before (see Ezra 7:1-6 etc.) with a call to take and teach the Law to the people settling back there. He has obviously been there ever since but now there is this call for him, as an appointed scribe, to read the Law to them.

  This he does (v.2) reading it throughout the morning (v.3) while everyone, men and women, stood and listened attentively. To achieve this he stood on a large high platform (v.4a) built for the occasion – which suggests that this was all pre-planned. On the platform are named thirteen men, presumably to help him and maybe to take turns in reading. There were also Levites, (v.7) again thirteen of them apparently instructing them (v.8). Perhaps one group read, then paused while the other group taught and applied it. Within the procedure came a moment of worship (v.5,6) but the main emphasis was on bringing the Law – the decreed will of God for His people. This isn’t just a city with walls, it is the people of God and thus they remember this.

D. Application:

1. We are God’s people because He has called us.
2. He knows best how He has designed us – that is His will.  

Passage: Nehemiah 8:9-15

9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

10 Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’

11 The Levites calmed all the people, saying, ‘Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve.’

12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

13 On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered round Ezra the teacher of the Law to give attention to the words of the Law. 14 They found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month 15 and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: ‘Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and other leafy trees, to make temporary shelters’– as it is written.

A. Find Out:    

1. Who were together leading the people? v.9a
2. What did they tell them not to do? v.9b
3. What did Nehemiah and the Levites tell them to do? v.10,11
4. So what happened? v.12
5. So who got together next? v.13
6. What did they find? v.14,15

B. Think:

1. Why do you think the people were anxious to start with?
2. Why were Nehemiah and the others able to reassure them?
3. How are these verses seen as a process?

C. Comment:

  It is interesting to note that Nehemiah and Ezra were ministering together (v.9a) assisted by the Levites. For some reason – and we are not told why – the people had been weeping when they heard the Law being read (v.9b). Whether it was at the wonder of the Law coming back into the heart of their community life, or whether they were fearful that they had failed God, is unclear. But the instruction to them by the leaders is not to weep because it’s God’s day, a special day, a gift from God, if you like, and was therefore to be received with rejoicing.

  Thus Nehemiah tells the people to go and celebrate (v.10) because it is God’s day and not a day for mourning. The Levites join in, (v.11) presumably scattered around the crowd, reassuring the people not to grieve for, by implication, there is no reason to. The pattern appears to be listening to the Law in the morning and then celebrating for the rest of the day.

  The next day, family leaders, together with priests and Levites, gather to Ezra to listen to the Law again (v.13) and in it they come to the point where it speaks of feasts and specifically that of Booths (v.14), the news of which should be spread throughout the land so that all may come (v.15a). They see the practical instruction to go out and bring back branches to makes these booths or shelters (v.15b)

D. Application:

1. When you start to read God’s word, it starts speaking to you.
2. When the word speaks, obey.

Passage: Nehemiah 8:16 -9:3 

16 So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves temporary shelters on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim. 17 The whole company that had returned from exile built temporary shelters and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great.

18 Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an assembly.

9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. 2 Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. 3 They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshipping the Lord their God. 

A. Find Out:

1. So what did everyone do? v.16
2. How extensive was this celebration? v.17
3. How long did it continue? v.18
4. What happened on the 24th of the month? v.1
5. Who did and said what? v.2
6. How did they spend the day? v.3

B. Think:

1. Read 8:2 and then Lev 23:39-43
2. What was the Feast being celebrated?
3. Read Lev 16:29-34 What followed the Feast in these verses?

C. Comment:

  According to the Law, the 10th day of the 7th month was to be the Day of Atonement, a day of confessing sins. On the 15th day was the start of the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles or Booths (see Lev 23:33-43). It seems that this came as a discovery to these Jews for, as the Law was being read, they came across the instructions in respect of the feast of Tabernacles or Booths (v.14,15) and it so happened that this was taking place in the seventh month. Nehemiah had already told them to have a spirit of rejoicing when they started hearing the Law being read (v.10) and so now, coming across this reference to the fifteenth day Feast, they determine to follow the instructions and hold the Feast (v.15) which they then do (v.16) with a greater sense of joy than had ever been experienced in the nation before (v.17) while the Law was continuing to be read (v.18).

  Now of course they had missed the Day of Atonement on the 10th day and so a couple of days later they hold another day in the spirit of that day, fasting and confessing sin and worshipping the Lord (v.1). As the impact of the Law hits them, the Jews separate themselves out from the foreigners in the city (v.2) and make confession as the people of God. Part of the day was spent reading the Law, and part in confession (v.3)

D. Application:

1. Understanding God’s will often bring a sense of need to repent.
2. Don’t hesitate to confess and say sorry for your failures.