Today’s passage: Nehemiah 8
Helpful thoughts:
- The command to read the law before the whole assembly of people was given in Deuteronomy 31:10-13.
- This reading took about six hours (Verse 3).
- After the reading to the whole assembly, other teachers/leaders went and read the Word of God and “gave the sense” of what was written. The people were hearing the preaching and teaching of God’s Word!
- As the people heard of all the ways the nation of Israel had disobeyed, how God had been merciful and gracious to them, and how they would seek to move forward in obedience to them, there was reason for mourning, then for gratitude, and then for rejoicing.
Questions to consider:
- How does verse 8 stand as a model for preaching and teaching still today? Whose words do we need to hear and read? Where does the Spirit work to teach us truth and cause us to grow (2 Timothy 3:16-17)?
- In what ways should conviction and repentance look the same today as it did for these returned exiles? Why can we progress from grieving our sin, to having hearts of gratitude, to being filled with the joy of the Lord? How has Christ provided this for us?
- As a people with repentant hearts, what did they want to do the next day and for the rest of the week after having gone so long without the Word of God (Verses 13, 18)? How can our knowledge of God and the gospel drive our desires to know His word more?