The Bible is not a “magic book” that changes people or circumstances because somebody reads it or recites it. God’s Word must be understood before it can enter the heart and release its life-changing power. Note that six times in this chapter you can find “understanding” mentioned (vv. 2–3, 7–8, 12–13). Only those people old enough to understand the Scripture were permitted to be in the assembly (v. 3). In our Lord’s parable of the sower (Matt. 13:1–9, 18–23), the emphasis is on understanding the Word of God. Jesus compared understanding and receiving the Word to the planting of seed in the soil, where it takes root and bears fruit.
Ezra was the ideal man to conduct this outdoor Bible school. He was a priest and scribe who “had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). He had come to Jerusalem about fourteen years before Nehemiah had arrived and had already sought to bring the people back to the ways of the Lord (Ezra 7—10).
That the leaders chose the Water Gate for the site of the assembly is interesting. In the Bible, water for washing is a picture of the Word of God (John 15:3; Eph. 5:26), while water for drinking is a picture of the Spirit of God (John 7:37–39). When we apply the water of the Word to our lives, then the Spirit can work and bring the help we need. It is refreshing to the soul when you receive the Word and allow the Spirit to teach you.
Notice the various ministries that Ezra performed for the people during that special conference.
He brought the Book (vv. 1–4). This was on the first day of the seventh month, which was the Jewish equivalent of our New Year’s Day. The seventh month was a special time in the Jewish calendar because the Jews celebrated the Feast of Trumpets on the first day, the day of Atonement on the tenth day, and the Feast of Tabernacles from the fifteenth day to the twenty-first day (Lev. 23:23–44). It was the perfect time for the nation to get right with the Lord and make a fresh new beginning.
The book that Ezra brought was “the book of the baw.” This was probably the entire scroll of the Torah, the five books of Moses, the very foundation of the Jewish religion and civil law. It isn’t likely that Ezra read and explained all five books of Moses in that short a time. Perhaps he concentrated on explaining Deuteronomy and referred to the other books as he had need.
Ezra stood on a wooden platform (“pulpit”) above the people so they could see and hear him better. He faced the public square where the people stood, and the wall and gate behind him may have served as a sounding board to help project his voice to the vast assembly. In verse 4, he named thirteen men who stood with him, perhaps leaders representing the tribes. Thirteen more men are named in verse 7 along with the Levites; perhaps they were teaching priests.
He opened the Book (vv. 5–6). When Ezra lifted the scroll and unrolled it to the passage he would read, the people who were seated in the square honored the Word of God by standing up. They knew they would not be hearing a mere man speak his own ideas; they would be hearing the very Word of God (1 Thess. 2:13). The people remained standing while the law was read and explained (Neh. 8:7). Ezra started his reading and teaching early in the morning and continued through midday (v. 3), which means the congregation stood and listened for five or six hours, and this continued for a week (v. 18). No doubt from time to time, he gave the people opportunities to rest, but the people were there to hear God speak and were willing to stand and listen.
After he opened the Word, “Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God” (v. 6). In many churches, there is a blessing after the reading of the Scripture; but there is certainly nothing wrong with praising the Lord for His Word before we read and hear it. The people affirmed his words by saying “Amen, Amen” (see 5:13), which means “So be it!” It was a united congregation (8:1) that honored the Scriptures and was willing to devote half of their day to hearing it read and taught. They didn’t worship the Book; they worshipped the Lord who spoke to them from the Book.
Our churches today have a desperate need in their public services to show more respect for the Word of God. We are commanded to “give attention to the public reading of Scripture” (1 Tim. 4: nasb), and yet in many churches, the only Scripture publicly read is the text of the sermon. “Independent churches” criticize “liturgical churches” for being bound to tradition, but the so-called “liturgical churches” at least devote themselves to a systematic public reading of the Word of God. (The word “liturgy” simply means “a form of public worship.” Every church has a liturgy, either a good one or a bad one.) We wonder how the Holy Spirit feels when He sees Bibles put on the church floor, or used as portable filing cabinets for miscellaneous papers, or even left behind in church where they are stacked up and finally given to the local city mission. We will defend the Bible as the Word of God, but we don’t always treat it like the Word of God.
We are also in too big a hurry to have the meeting end. In some parts of the world, especially in Eastern Europe before the collapse of the Communist bloc, believers would stand for hours in crowded churches to hear Bible teaching. In the average Western evangelical church, the shorter the sermon, the better we like it.
He read and explained the Book (vv. 7–8). The common people didn’t own copies of the Scriptures, so they were thrilled to hear the Word of God. The word distinctly in verse 8 means that the law was explained to the people in a language they could understand. The Word was translated and expounded in such a way that the people were able to apply it to their own lives. The Hebrew language would have undergone some changes since the days when Moses wrote the Pentateuch, and the everyday conversational Hebrew of the people would be different in some ways from ancient Hebrew. We need new translations of the Bible, not because the Bible changes, but because our language changes.
Suppose you had to use John Wycliffe’s Version of the Bible, the oldest version in English. How much of this passage would you understand if you did not already know it from another version? alle ye that traueilen & teen chargid come to me & I schal fulfille you. take ye my yok on you & lerne ye of me for I am mylde and meke in herte: and ye schulen finde rest to youre soulis/ for my yok is softe & my charge liyt.
Wycliffe’s translation goes back about 600 years (1382); but between Moses’ writing of the law and Ezra’s reading of the law, a thousand years had elapsed!
The Levites assisted Ezra in teaching the law (v. 7), for this was one of their God-given ministries (Deut. 33:10; Mal. 2:7). They probably mingled with the people and, when there was a break in the reading, answered questions and told them how to apply the law to their own lives. Here we have a balance between the public proclamation of the Word in the large assembly and the personal application in the smaller groups. Both are important.