When Nehemiah had finished the walls of Jerusalem, and had set up the gates, the enemies of the Jews were still active, as they had been from the beginning--even as Daniel had prophesied nearly a hundred years before that the walls should be built, "even in troublous times," (Daniel 9:25) and watchmen were set upon the wall, all around, "every one in his watch, and every one to be over against his house." (Nehemiah 7:3)
Although the wall was finished and the gates set up, "The city was large and great: but the people were few therein, and the houses were not built." (Nehemiah 7:4)
But before going any further in the matter of building particularly, he began a further reformation in the lives and worship of the people. So he says: "And my God put it into my heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy." (Nehemiah 7:5) "And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spoke unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law." (Nehemiah 8:1-3)
The words of the book, though written by Moses, were really the words of God; and it was right that the ears of all the people should be attentive to the words that were read to them. Inattention to the reading of the word of God is disrespectful to its Author. If some one of the rulers of this world were to send a communication to us personally, there would be close attention given to the reading of it. The Bible is the communication which the Majesty of the universe sends to us; it is the word of our best Friend; in it He teaches us to profit, telling us the way which we should go to reached happiness and peace at all times. Would that all people today to whom the word is read, were as attentive as were these people at Jerusalem when Ezra read. "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord your God which teaches you to profit, which leads you by the way that you should go. O that you had hearkened to my commandments! then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea." (Isaiah 48:17-18) "And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up: And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground." (Nehemiah 8:4-6)
It is right for all the people to have part in the worship. It is right for the people to listen attentively to the reading of the word; it is right for them to join in thought in the prayer of the one who leads; and it is right for them to respond to the words of the prayer by saying, "Amen." This is the rule of the New Testament as well as of the Old.
Paul prohibits speaking in the church in an unknown tongue without an interpreter, because the unlearned could not say "Amen" to what was said, seeing he could not understand what was said. Therefore if he who speaks or prays is to do it in language that can be understood, so that those who hear can say "Amen" to it, why do not those who hear say "Amen" to it? If it be the speaker's part to speak in language to be understood so that the hearers may say "Amen," it is equally the part of the hearers to say "Amen" when they do understand. But there is so much coldness, formality, listlessness, and inattention, in the services of the church that this duty is almost entirely neglected. This ought not so to be.
Such was the preaching on the occasion of which we write; for says the scripture: "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)
This is the only kind of preaching that is strictly genuine. The Bible is God's word to the people. The minister is to take that word, and, by the aid of the Spirit of God, to put it into the mind and hearts of the people, and it can be done only by reading in the book in the law of God distinctly, and giving the sense, and causing them to understand the reading. It cannot be done by taking a single verse, or sentence, or perhaps a single word, from the Bible, and then talking about something else for thirty or forty minutes. In other words, it cannot be done as D. L. Moody says that some men do: Take the text from the Bible, and go all over Christendom for the sermon. Under the solemn charge: "before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick [living] and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom," (2 Timothy 4:1) the command of God is, "Preach the word." (2 Timothy 4:2)
Again: "The prophet that has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? says the Lord. Is not my word like as a fire? says the Lord; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" (Jeremiah 23:28-29)
The word of man is chaff; the word of God is wheat. Give the people the word of God--the wheat--and they will have bread; they will have that upon which they can feed. Give them the words of men, and they have chaff indeed.
Christ said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life;" (John 6:63) and, "By every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God," (Matthew 4:4) shall man live. And when He sends forth men to preach, the commission is: "Go therefore, and teach all nations, Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28:19-20)
It is true, that if the word of God be preached faithfully there will be many points wherein the people will be found to be doing wrong; many things will be found held contrary to the word of God; and things even which our fathers did not do, shall we have to do, as it happened at the time of which this lesson tells.
• It will be found that the coming of the Lord is near, and that we must prepare to meet Him while living.
• It will be found that future life depends on the resurrection of the dead, and not on the immortality of the soul.
• It will be found that future life is obtained through the Son of God alone; that he that has the Son has life, and he that has not the Son of God has not life.
• It will be found that the seventh day, and not the first day of the week, is the Sabbath of the Lord, and that we must keep it so, or our action will not be Sabbath-keeping at all.
And when we find out these things, and many others in which we have thought and done wrong, we must be like this people of old, honest enough with God and ourselves to turn from our ways and thoughts and conform to those of the word of God. (See Nehemiah 8:13-17) Then it will be with us as was said to them, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." (Nehemiah 8:10)--Signs of the Times, February 25, 1886--Notes on the International Lesson, March 7--Nehemiah 8:1-12
A.T. Jones