Page 78 - Principles of Leadership - Nehemiah

Rather, God wants his people to know that the holy life is the happy life. Nehemiah reinforced this truth by
commanding the people to throw a party because this day was holy to the Lord!

We have misrepresented the concept of holiness in our lives and churches. We connect "holy" with what is
drab, dull, unpleasant, and lifeless for most of us. All one needs to do is walk through a meadow of wildflowers
or hike up through towering fir trees or sit in amazement watching the tide come crashing up against rugged
rocks to realize that the God of such beauty, such creativity, such richness, and color and variety, is anything
but dull. And this God is infinitely holy. At its best, holiness and richness of life are the same life." 197

3. God’s Word shared (8:13-18)

On the second day, the family leaders of all the people, along with the priests and Levites, assembled before
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Ezra the scribe to study the words of the law. They found written in the law how the LORD had commanded
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through Moses that the Israelites should dwell in booths during the festival of the seventh month. So they
proclaimed and spread this news throughout all their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hill
country and bring back branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and [other] leafy trees to make booths,
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just as it is written.” The people went out, brought back [branches], and made booths for themselves on
each of their rooftops, and courtyards, the court of the house of God, the square by the Water Gate, and the
square by the Gate of Ephraim. The whole community that had returned from exile made booths and lived
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in them. They had not celebrated like this since the days of Joshua, son of Nun, until that day. And there was
tremendous joy. Ezra read out of the book of the law of God every day, from the first day to the last. The
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Israelites celebrated the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day there was an assembly, according to the
ordinance.

On the second day, the family leaders of all the people, along with the priests and Levites, assembled before
Ezra the scribe to study the words of the law. My grandmother wrote in the front of the first reference Bible I
ever owned that this book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book. I had a professor fond of
saying that what you do with the Bible will determine what God can do with you. Notice in this passage that the
people assembled for the public reading and study of the word. This was years before the invention of the
printing press, and therefore, the people would gather for public reading. “The dedicated public reading of the
sacred text continues throughout the New Testament and is well documented. Jesus famously stands up and
reads from the scroll of Isaiah (Luke 4:17); the Reformation’s Sola Scriptura asserts the centrality of the word of
God in worship. This correlation between revival and renewal and the faithful reading of the Law is evident
throughout history. The corollary is that whenever God’s people forsake this practice, now measured in
millennia, the loss in the transfer is incalculable and invites an understanding of human-centered worship
rather than God-centered.” 198

"The conquest of the land of Palestine under Joshua's leadership took place about 1400 BC. This account in
Nehemiah 8 occurred around 445 BC. After such long negligence, how gracious of God to lead them to learn
about and celebrate this feast of such great joy." 199 It is also worth noting the supreme understanding of Ezra's
Scriptures. Over several years, this feast of Tabernacles / Booths had been turned into a feast of celebrating the
fall harvest. But Ezra was an expert in the Law of Moses and was familiar with Leviticus 23:33-43. Therefore,
Ezra introduced a new, yet old, idea – the festival was to commemorate God's grace "so your descendants will
know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God"
(Leviticus 23:43). As a consequence, the people's joy was very great. But notice the exact words that were used,
and there was tremendous joy. Again, I am reminded that obedience to the word of God always brings great
joy. It does so because obedience allows them to experience God. They were riding a wave of God’s blessings,
and they wanted to continue to experience God like their forefathers had done when they left Egypt.

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