Sabbath 160635120

Dear Friends,

The Great Restoration under Ezra and Nehemiah was held and the Law was read in the year of Jubilee from 375/4-374/3 BCE in the Seventh month of the Sabbath year, and ended in the Seventh month of the Jubilee year (see the paper Reading the Law with Ezra and Nehemiah (No. 250)). It is important we all understand how it was done as it is the guide to the Reading of the Law.  They began the reading of the law at Trumpets.  The people were told they were required to read the Law of God and the people asked for it to be brought out and read to them. They and the priests prepared at the end of the Sixth month and constructed a pulpit from which it was to be read.

They did not go anywhere except to Jerusalem from the surrounding countryside. Nehemiah came for it.   The Book of the Law was begun to be read from Trumpets and continued on from the Second day of the month. The people and the priests were all excited about it and wept during the reading and exposition.  The text in Nehemiah 8:1-18 says exactly how it was done.

Note also that it has to be a half day on the Holy Days and the Feast and from midday on the Holy Days the people are then told to go their way and eat the fat (of the herd) and drink the sweet (wine) on the afternoon from the Day of Trumpets until the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Note also that they had been in preparation before Trumpets when they started to read the law and had made a wooden pulpit.  Thus the event had been well known and well prepared beforehand.  We now have more text because of the New Testament. We know from Nehemiah that they also read it on the second day of the month, which may have been a Sabbath after the New Moon, as they would not usually have gathered on normal work days.  So we can demonstrate from this text that they continued studying and reading the law of God through the Seventh month until  midday 21 Tishri, the last day before the Last Great Day.

Nehemiah 8
[1] And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had given to Israel. [2] And Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. [3] And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. [4] And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden pulpit which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithi'ah, Shema, Anai'ah, Uri'ah, Hilki'ah, and Ma-asei'ah on his right hand; and Pedai'ah, Mish'a-el, Malchi'jah, Hashum, Hash-bad'danah, Zechari'ah, and Meshul'lam on his left hand. [5] 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. [6] And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God; and all the people answered, "Amen, Amen," lifting up their hands; and they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. [7] Also Jesh'ua, Bani, Sherebi'ah, Jamin, Akkub, Shab'bethai, Hodi'ah, Ma-asei'ah, Keli'ta, Azari'ah, Jo'zabad, Hanan, Pelai'ah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their places. [8] And they read from the book, from the law of God, clearly; and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. [9] And Nehemi'ah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. [10] Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." [11] So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved." [12] And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. [13] On the second day the heads of fathers' houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the law. [14] And they found it written in the law that the LORD had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, [15] and that they should publish and proclaim in all their towns and in Jerusalem, "Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written." [16] So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of E'phraim. [17] And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and dwelt in the booths; for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. [18] And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the book of the law of God. They kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance (RSV).

So this reading of the law is to be spread out from Trumpets to 21 Tishri and finished before the Last Great Day. Go your way and study and eat the fat and drink the sweet.

Wade Cox