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 (Neh. 8: 1).Post-exilic Jerusalem was inhabited by a mixture of elite Jewish people who had survived exile in Babylon and returned home, and the poorer Jewish people who had been left behind when Jerusalem fell to the Persians in 539BCE. The wall was finished and the people were safe and secure in the newly fortified city but their commitment to God and the way they were living was displeasing to God. Many married persons outside the Jewish faith. The practice of Judaism had become watered-down or totally abandoned. Secularism had set in. The rebuilding of the Temple had been delayed and the people were losing their identity as the people of God.
In September 458 BCE Ezra and Nehemiah had a public Open Air Meeting in square before the Water Gate in Jerusalem and the entire period was dedicated to the reading and interpretation of God’s word. The people were from different homes, different families with different experiences but they came together as “one man”. With all their likes and dislikes they had a common desire. A careful study of verses 1-8 will reveal that the people were single-minded (v1), enthusiastic (v1b), attentive (v3), responsive (v5), submissive (v6) and teachable (v8). We will not all understand and interpret God’s word the same way but our desire to gather around and in the Word will always draw us together rather than divide us.
In our present materialistic and increasingly secular age people are progressively more indifferent to the Bible. A major part of the enemy’s strategy to weaken and eventually destroy the believer and keep the unsaved blinded is to get us to keep our Bible (hard or electronic) closed. The adversary is happy when we do not go to Bible Study and smells victory when we cannot find our Bible.
God’s “word is a lamp unto [our] feet, and a light unto [our] path” (Ps.119:105). Therefore we should seek to hide the word of God in our hearts by memorization and meditation so that we may not sin against God and for us to have the word when we can no longer read it. We must read and live the word. Therefore, let us get back to Bible; back to private and family devotions. The words written by Michael Smith are so true. He wrote:
Holy words long preserved
for our walk in this world
they resound with God's own heart
Oh, let the ancient words impart
Words of Life, words of Hope
Give us strength, help us cope
In this world, where e'er we roam
Ancient words will guide us home
Chorus
Ancient words ever true
Changing me and changing you
We have come with open hearts
Oh, let the ancient words impart
The world needs God’s message of love. We need the words to share and strength to share them. Our lives ought to be God’s message to all with whom we come into contact so they can hear God’s words in all that we do.
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