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CENTRALITY OF GOD’S WORD IN SERVICE (I)
TUESDAY, MARCH 3
Nehemiah 8:1-8

Deuteronomy 31:9-13

 

“…that they may hear,
and that they may learn,

and fear the LORD your God…”

 

CENTRALITY OF GOD’S WORD IN SERVICE (I)
 
Nehemiah 7 ends with the wall completed, and the people encouraged to settle within the city (since few people were living in Jerusalem) and to give towards the building of the Temple. Though they had earlier given, as recorded in Ezra, the work was yet to be completed. Nehemiah 8 then turned from the wall, to the people. The wall was built with mortar and bricks; the people were to be built by the Word of God!
 
And all the people gathered themselves together (Neh 8:1). This phrase points to the congregational gathering of God’s people, which was not the first, for there is a record of another similar gathering in Ezra 3:1‑7 when the people first came into the land and were still living in the cities. In the first gathering, they gathered to offer burnt offerings to “the God of Israel” and to keep the feast of Tabernacles. In Nehemiah 8:1-8, they gathered to hear the Word of God read as they called for “Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses” (Neh 8:1). This gathering of the people was commanded by Moses in Deuteronomy 31:10-13. And as was commanded, the people came together “before the water gate” in Jerusalem which was according to the command of Moses “the place which he shall choose” (Deut 31:11). The congregation comprised “men and women, and all that could hear with understanding” (Neh 8:2). This was again just as was commanded by Moses in Deuteronomy 31:12 where he said, “Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates.” And just as was required by the law of Moses, and as they had requested, the “book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel” (Neh 8:1) was brought before the congregation for a public reading and exposition of the Law before them. May the church of Christ never lack ministers like Ezra, who are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but are ready to bring out the Word of God, to read it and expound it to the understanding and blessing of the congregation of God’s people. Like Archippus, may we “…(t)ake heed to the ministry… that thou fulfil it” (Col 4:17).
 
THOUGHT: It is the Word of God that instils the fear of God.

PRAYER: May we and our children hear, and learn, and fear Thee.

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