RPG Adults
ELEMENTS OF CONGREGATIONAL SERVICE (IV)
MONDAY, MARCH 9
Nehemiah 9:1-3
Leviticus 23:33-37
“The fifteenth day of this seventh month
shall be the feast of tabernacles…”
ELEMENTS OF CONGREGATIONAL SERVICE (IV)
The feast of tabernacles is the third of the annual covenant feasts the LORD instructed through Moses that required congregational gatherings at Jerusalem: “Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God” (Deut 16:16). They would take part in this feast by building and living in tents as directed while listening to the Word of God. Again, the instructions given by Moses in Deuteronomy 16:16-17, that they were not to “appear before the LORD empty: Every man shall give as he is able,” point to and stress congregational response and duty.
Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month (Neh 9:1). The feast of tabernacles was, according to the law, supposed to start on the fifteenth day of the month and end on the twenty-second day (since it lasted for seven days, and the eighth day was a sabbath) according to Leviticus 23:39. Yet, the record given stated that on the twenty-fourth day the people “were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes” (Neh 9:1). This indicated that the congregational response and duty did not end with the end of the service, but extended beyond that. Their coming together with fasting and sackclothes revealed the effect of the Word they had heard during the service upon their hearts and lives. They returned mourning for their sin. They had feasted and fasted! And upon the instruction of the Levites, they rejoiced under the comfort of the “holy day” and “the joy of the LORD” (Neh 8:9-12).
And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers (Neh 9:2). After all that had happened during the feast, they returned. We are then given a summary of the effect of the Word of God upon their lives. The act of separation surely did not start only after the feast. Rather, it was present during and continued after the feast because there was no mention of strangers in the congregational gathering of Nehemiah 8. The observance of the feast, in accordance with the law of Moses, required the separation spoken of here.
THOUGHT: Separation is a congregational response to God’s Word.
PRAYER: (Use 1 Kings 8:52-53.)