Nehemiah 8:1-12
1 All the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. 2 Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month.
3 Ezra read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.
4 The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand.
5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, "Amen, Amen," lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their places.
8 So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. The interpreters gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.
10 Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
11 So the Levite priests stilled all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved." 12 And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.
for this day is holy to our Lord.
The joy of the Lord is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:10
Although some had settled and made homes for themselves in Babylon, many of God's people returned to Jerusalem after being exiled in Babylon. Without a doubt, Babylon had meant cultural, geographic, religious, political, and culinary displacement. By the time of the New Moon event we read about in Nehemiah 8, they'd rebuilt the city walls (safety) and and the temple walls (identity), yet found themselves subjects of yet another empire, Persia.
Torah
Torah is the Pentateuch or first five books of the Old Testament. These are spoken, written, remembered, recited, re-enacted words God used to call and to claim a people. To form and to shape a common life. To redeem and to sanctify. The words are history, poetry, songs, liturgies, sagas and include the decalogue or the Ten Words of the Sinai Covenant in Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21.
Scripture
Today's scripture passage from Nehemiah reads "Torah" for every English instance of "law."
Remember that for the apostle Paul, "law" almost never means the commandments or the entire Torah. For Paul, "law" almost always means ceremonial, sacrificial practices that are not redemptive or salvific.
At this time of resettling into Jerusalem, orally transmitted texts were starting to be written down by people from many religious traditions. The words gained added authority by being edited, codified, and gathered into a canon or collection that had passed certain criteria to ascertain origins and authorship. Much of our current Old Testament came into being during those years.
This is the only instance of Nehemiah in the Revised Common Lectionary's three year cycle! The Anglican Communion that occasionally differs reads Nehemiah 9:6-15 during Eastertide and Nehemiah 9:16-20 during the Ordinary Time season of Pentecost
History
You know the story! Both the nomadic desert lifestyle and the Ten Words of the Sinai Covenant formed a people after God's heart. In addition, you probably remember several water features along the way from Egypt to Canaan.
Babylon had meant cultural, geographic, religious, political, and culinary displacement from the familiar and expected. People in exile had little or no access to scripture. We humans easily forget, especially when another culture or religion or concern surrounds or engulfs us. Many had forgotten Torah because exile in Babylon also meant exile from the identity-forming narrative of the Exodus along with the Sinai Covenant.
Actors in today's narrative include Ezra and Nehemiah. Although the books that bear their names are separate in our bibles, originally there were a single volume. The occupying Persian empire even had hired them to help the people acclimate to their post-exilic homecoming and to provide spiritual (Ezra) and political (Nehemiah) leadership. Ezra descended from Moses' brother, Aaron the priest. Ezra 7 tells us he was a scholar of the commandments who had a heart to study and teach. As priest and scribe, Ezra would have been one of the maybe 3% who could read and write.
Everyone gathered at the Water Gate. Was it near Gihon Spring? On the way to the Pool at Siloam?
Most who asked Ezra to bring "the book of the law" and read Torah probably had some knowledge of scripture and possibly a degree of devotion and curiosity, too. But very few could read or write.
Nehemiah 8:7-8 Understand. Interpret. This could have been translation from the Hebrew most had forgotten or never known into the Aramaic most spoke. It could have been exegesis, explanations, and cross references.
Response
Whenever I've read and loved this passage, I've imagined tears of joy, yet most commentaries said they probably were tears of grief and repentance from being convicted of breaking the law.
Though we know the commandments as gifts of grace, we sometimes talk about the bitterness of the law and the sweetness of the gospel. Could it have been mixed emotion tears of both sorrow and joy?
In wisdom Ezra counseled the people, do not weep. This is a time for joy. Glory in a feast of rich food and extravagant drink, and be sure to provide festive food for everyone who may not have any.
Where We Live
This interactive communal experience of reading, hearing, interpreting, understanding, and living the words of scripture was like what we in the church do in preaching, teaching, and individual study.
We become a People of the Book who interpret scripture for our own context. As Walter Brueggemann says, we become "fully texted" people who know and live scripture.
Keep On Reading!
• Nehemiah 8:14-18
After a full day of hearing and learning Torah, they immediately celebrated Sukkoth, the Feast of Booths, a festival of double thanksgiving—for the Exodus and for the Commandments. Scholars consider both the nomadic desert lifestyle of the exodus and the gifts of the Ten Words or Commandments constitutive for the people of God, similar to the way a constitution creates a nation or country.
Sukkoth reenacts the Exodus in tents that offer some shelter yet remain somewhat open to weather and natural elements. At this Sukkoth, former exiles who'd probably forgotten a (whole) lot claimed trust in and obedience to the God of the Exodus, God of the commandments.They became People of the Book! Read, heard, interpreted, lived.
Where We Live: Keep On Reading!
As I observed, this interactive experience is what we do preaching, teaching, reading, studying, interpreting, living scripture.
Gathered at the Water Gate, some people probably heard God's good news for the first time; others probably remembered what they'd forgotten.
Too many self-improvement specialists counsel people to forget the past and concentrate only on the future. Scripture advises us remember, remember, remember.
Recall and recollect by telling the stories of liberation and resurrection. The stories of slavery and death. Re-enact the stories and the histories. In a context that usually was more playful than it was serious, that's what Israel did. That's what we do in the liturgy. Bring the stories to life!
Fully texted People of the Book. Read, heard, interpreted, known, and lived.
God called and claimed Ezra's listeners by the Water Gate.
God called and claimed Israel amidst seas, springs, streams, and rivers
God calls and claims us…?
and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:13
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