The Joy of the Lord is Your Battering Ram: Text: Nehemiah 8:1-8
Introduction: The Thirst for the Word
We live in an age that is drowning in information and yet is utterly parched for truth. The modern evangelical world, in many quarters, has decided that the Word of God is insufficient for the task at hand. It needs to be supplemented, jazzed up, made relevant, and presented with a side of skinny jeans and a fog machine. The pulpit, once a fearsome piece of furniture where the oracles of God were declared, has been replaced by a TED Talk stage. The assumption is that the people of God are bored with the Bible and must be coaxed into listening with clever anecdotes, therapeutic platitudes, and a general avoidance of anything that might offend our delicate modern sensibilities.
Into this weak and watery landscape, Nehemiah 8 lands like a meteor. Here we have a people who have just come out of exile. Their city is a wreck, the walls are just rebuilt, and they are surrounded by enemies. By every modern metric of felt needs, they should be demanding a seminar on economic recovery, a counseling session on post-traumatic stress, or a political rally to consolidate their power. But what do they do? They gather together as one man, and they make one demand. They demand the Book. They are thirsty, and they know the only well that can satisfy them. They tell Ezra the scribe to bring out the book of the law of Moses.
This scene is a stunning rebuke to our contemporary worship philosophies. This is not a top-down, professionally orchestrated event designed to entertain a passive audience. This is a grassroots, bottom-up explosion of spiritual hunger. The people demand the Word. And when the Word comes, it does what the Word always does when it is honored. It confronts, it clarifies, it humbles, and it rebuilds the people from the inside out. This is not just a historical account of a great Bible conference. This is a picture of true revival. It is a paradigm for what the church ought to be. This is a covenant renewal ceremony, where the people of God are reconstituted and re-consecrated by the public reading and explanation of Holy Scripture.
We must understand that the Word of God is not a collection of helpful hints for a better life. It is the very constitution of reality. It is the instrument God uses to create worlds and to recreate His people. What we see here in the square before the Water Gate is nothing less than a new creation, a people being remade by the same Word that spoke the cosmos into existence.
The Text
And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they said to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which Yahweh had commanded to Israel. Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could understand when listening, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand; and all the ears of the people were attentive to the book of the law. Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. 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. Then Ezra blessed Yahweh the great God. And all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, were providing understanding of the law to the people while the people stood in their place. They read from the book, from the law of God, explaining and giving insight, and they provided understanding of the reading.
(Nehemiah 8:1-8 LSB)
A Unified Thirst (v. 1-3)
The scene opens with a remarkable display of unity and spiritual desire.
"And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they said to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which Yahweh had commanded to Israel... And he read from it... from early morning until midday... and all the ears of the people were attentive to the book of the law." (Nehemiah 8:1, 3)
Notice first the unity. They gathered "as one man." True unity is never found in committee meetings, mission statements, or shared demographics. True biblical unity is found when a multitude of people are all facing in the same direction, looking at the same thing. Here, they are unified by a shared hunger for the Word of God. They are not unified by a shared grievance or a shared political agenda, but by a shared submission to the authority of Scripture.
And it is the people who initiate this. They tell Ezra to bring the Book. This is not a populace that has to be entertained. This is a congregation that is desperate for instruction. They have rebuilt the walls of their city, and now they understand that the walls are meaningless unless the people within those walls are constituted by the covenant of God. A nation is not defined by its borders, but by its laws. They wanted to know who they were, and they knew that the answer was in the law of Moses.
Ezra brings the law before the whole assembly, men, women, and everyone who was old enough to understand. This is a corporate, covenantal gathering. The Word of God is for the whole people of God, not just the scholars. And look at their endurance. He reads from early morning until midday, for five or six hours. And the people were "attentive." The Hebrew literally says their ears "were to the book of the law." This is not passive listening. This is active, focused, hungry attention. They are hanging on every word. This is what happens when the Spirit of God creates a famine, not of bread, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
The Centrality of the Word (v. 4-6)
The physical arrangement of this gathering is itself a sermon.
"Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden podium 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." (Nehemiah 8:4-5)
They built a special wooden podium, a tower of wood, for this occasion. Why? To elevate the reader, and by extension, to elevate the Word he was reading. This is a physical representation of the authority and centrality of Scripture. Ezra stood "above all the people." This is not about exalting a man; it is about exalting the office of the preacher and the message he brings. The preacher speaks for God, and the architecture of the worship service ought to reflect this reality. When the Word is central, God is central.
And the people's response is immediate and instinctual. As soon as Ezra opens the scroll, "all the people stood up." This is an act of reverence. It is an act of submission. It is the physical posture that says, "We are ready to receive orders. We recognize that a word from our King is about to be read." This is not a casual affair. This is a solemn assembly before the living God, and their bodies reflect the attitude of their hearts.
Then comes the worship. This is not just an academic lecture.
"Then Ezra blessed Yahweh the great God. And all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground." (Nehemiah 8:6)
The reading of the Word leads directly to the worship of God. Ezra blesses God, and the people respond with a robust, corporate "Amen, Amen!" This is not a weak, mumbled assent. This is a solemn oath. The word amen means "let it be so," or "this is true and binding." They are affixing their signature to the truth of God's Word and God's greatness. This is participatory worship. They are not spectators. They lift their hands, an ancient posture of prayer and reception, and then they fall on their faces in adoration. The Word of God rightly handled always does two things: it reveals God in His greatness and it reveals man in his smallness, and the proper response to both is worship.
The Necessity of Explanation (v. 7-8)
But the reading of the Word is not enough. It must be understood.
"Also Jeshua, Bani... the Levites, were providing understanding of the law to the people while the people stood in their place. They read from the book, from the law of God, explaining and giving insight, and they provided understanding of the reading." (Nehemiah 8:7-8)
Here we see the birth of the sermon. The Levites, scattered among the people, are doing the work of exposition. They are making the sense of the text plain. The words here are crucial: "explaining," "giving insight," "providing understanding." The Word of God is not a magical incantation. It is a rational, coherent, propositional revelation that is meant to be understood by the mind and then applied to the heart. This is why preaching is not optional. The simple reading of Scripture is powerful, but God has ordained that it be accompanied by faithful explanation.
The task of the preacher is not to be original or clever. His task is to get out of the way and let the text speak. He is to read the text, explain the text, and apply the text. That is the job. These Levites were not giving their hot takes. They were giving the sense of the passage. They were ensuring that the people did not just hear the words, but that they understood the meaning. An un-understood Bible is a closed Bible. And so God has given teachers to the church to open the book and make its glories plain to His people.
The Word Rebuilds the World
So what is the takeaway for us? This scene in Nehemiah is the pattern for genuine reformation and revival in any age. Our culture is in ruins for the same reason Jerusalem was in ruins: disobedience to the law of God. We have abandoned our foundation, and we are surprised that the house is collapsing. The only way back is the way the exiles took. It begins with a desperate hunger for the Word of God.
This must begin with the church. We must recover the centrality of the Word in our worship. Our services should be structured like this one was: with the Word of God elevated, read at length, explained faithfully, and responded to with robust, corporate worship. Worship is a dialogue. God speaks to us in His Word, and we respond to Him in our prayers, our amens, and our songs. This is covenant renewal. [4] Every Lord's Day, we are called into His presence, we are consecrated by His Word, and we are sent out with His blessing to apply that Word to every area of life. [6]
The law of God, which they heard that day, does for us what it did for them. First, it crushes us. It shows us our sin. It reveals how far short we have fallen of the glory of God. When the people truly understood the law, they began to weep (Neh. 8:9). This is the first work of the law, to show us our need for a savior. [5] But the law is not the final word. The final word is the gospel.
For us, the Book of the Law points to the one who is the fulfillment of the Law, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Word made flesh. He stood up and read the law in the synagogue, and then He said, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." He is the one who perfectly obeyed the law on our behalf, and He is the one who took the curse of the law for our disobedience upon Himself on the cross. The Word read in Nehemiah drove the people to their faces in repentance. The Word made flesh in Jesus Christ lifts us up and seats us in the heavenly places.
Therefore, let us be a people who demand the Book. Let us be a people whose ears are attentive to the law. Let us be a people who stand in reverence when it is read, who shout our "Amen" to its truth, and who demand that our teachers make its meaning plain. For when the Word of God has its rightful place among the people of God, those people become a battering ram against the gates of Hell. The joy that comes from hearing and understanding this Word, the joy of the Lord, is our strength.