Bible Study: February 14, 2024

So tonight we will look at chapters 7, 8, and 9 in Nehemiah. If you looked ahead, you know, at all to chapter 7, you see it's a very long chapter, but it's all about naming the people who came to Jerusalem to help build that wall and the temple. But before we get there, let me just kind of bring you up to speed on where we ended last week. The people had, under the direction of God, Nehemiah, who was their physical director there, completed the wall in a kind of an amazing 52 days.

Through all the distractions and through all the people who were causing them trouble, all the people who wanted to see this building on the wall or the repair of the wall stopped, they kept their eyes focused on God, watched what they were doing, they got the they got the job done. As we end in chapter 6, we saw that the job, the wall, was finished on the 25th day of Elal. Elal is the sixth month of God's calendar, so literally five days before the first day of the seventh month, the wall was completed. As we begin chapter 7, we're going to see chapter 7 and 8, we're going to see the people here now prepared and ready to observe God's Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the seventh month. Let's just pick it up in chapter 7 here.

I will note also that as we finish chapter 6, we're just about halfway through the book, and the physical rebuilding and repair and the gate repair has been done. The rest of the book is going to be dedicated to the spiritual rebuilding. So when the physical rebuilding gets done, the spiritual building is what God is most interested in, and so that's what the rest of the book is going to be talking about. You know, as I was thinking about this earlier today, in some ways it's kind of like when we have a physical rebuilding in our lives, and we have a sickness or some ailment that we have, and God heals us of it.

Many times we should, well, we should, maybe that leads to a spiritual rebuilding of our lives, too. We analyze how we've been living the way that God wants us to. Ask Him, are there changes that need to be made in our lives? So that going forward, we're living His way more completely and more thoroughly. So with that, we'll read the first few verses here of chapter 7, and then I'll pause and talk a little bit about all these names that are recorded here in chapter 7. So chapter 7 verse 1 says, Then it was when the wall was built, and I, I is Nehemiah, it was when the wall was built, and I had hung the doors when the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed.

So job was done. Now it was time to worship God. Got the appointed gatekeepers, singers, the Levites, the people who would be taking care of the temple, now in the fully walled city, and inside those walls, inside those gates, God's way was going to be practiced, teach, and taught, and lived. So He says, I pointed all these, I pointed these, and I gave the charge of Jerusalem to my brother, Hananai, and we saw Hananai earlier in Nehemiah. He's the one that Nehemiah asked about what's going on in Jerusalem, and he said the walls are broken down, the gates are burned, work needs to be done there. So he gave the charge of Jerusalem.

You know, our commentary says he was kind of like the mayor of Jerusalem. He was going to be the one to oversee the city. Nehemiah continued to be the governor. I gave charge of Jerusalem to Hananai and Hananai, the leader of the citadel, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many.

And I said to them, don't let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot.

Don't open up up in the early morning. Now the city is safe, secure, protected. Everything is ordered. Wait until the sun is up, and the sun is hot. And while they stand guard, let them shut and bar the doors and appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. One at his watch station and another in front of his own house. Guard the city. Protect the city. They're talking about it physically because remember there were a lot of people in that area that didn't want to see Jerusalem rebuilt. They did not want to see that walls go up again. And so they knew they were in a hostile area, even though the kings of Persia had given them the money and the permission to go there and rebuild the things. Now the city was large, verse 4, and spacious, but the people in it were few, and the houses were not rebuilt. Now that's, you know, that some of the houses were rebuilt. We saw that in the, hmm, we saw that something happened on your screen, something just happened in my screen, so okay, there we go. We did see some of the houses rebuilt when we were back in chapter 3 when it was recounting all the repair of the gates and the wall and the various houses, but apparently not all the houses were rebuilt. The people were living in. And then the Amaias says, not put it into my heart to gather the nobles, the rulers, and the people that they might be registered by genealogy. And I found the register of the genealogy of those who had come up in the first return and found written in it. So God put it in his heart. Put the names of the people down there, the people who came to Jerusalem, who worked on the temple, who worked on the wall, who worked on the gates. You know, it is notable that God took the time, and there's 60, how many, like 70 verses here in chapter 6, where the names of all the families who went there and worked faithfully on the temple and on the wall, they were all there. They came back in faith to Jerusalem to do the work that God had said, and he recorded in the Bible for us their names.

And maybe, you know, one day, as he determines what goes on, you know, whatever future documents there might be, you know, all of you who are faithful, that God is called to his work, did the work. He might be recording our names, too. But we're here to kind of do the work of God, just like the people of Nehemiah's times were, to do whatever job God assigns us, understanding he's the ultimate director and of everything that we do, but we'll put everything in place.

So when we do the jobs that he wants us to, the work will get done. The work will get done.

So we see, if we look down here, verse 6, it says, these are the people of the province who came back from the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his city.

And the first one listed there, here's the ones who came with Sarubbal.

Remember, he was the first governor there during the building time of the temple.

That work was completed. Then there was a span of time, and then Nehemiah came in as governor to repair the walls and the gates. So as you go down through here, there's a number of names.

I don't think it's beneficial to us. One day we will, these faithful people, as God judges them, we may meet these people in the kingdom. They may be working beside us. Some of these people will have conversations about building that wall. We'll tell them about what it was like to build God's spiritual temple in the end times, and the work that we had to do, and the troubles, and the distractions that we faced in our lives that were different than theirs. But we have all these names that are listed here. I just want to draw your attention to just a couple of names. In 1st 44, there's a name there that may be familiar to us because you see there that there were, of the people that Nehemiah appointed, it says, the singers, the sons of Asaph. And you'll remember in Psalms, some of those Psalms were written by Asaph. So here's his family. They're represented in Jerusalem. They're the singers. And then down there, in verse 46, you have a word or a title that we haven't really seen too much before. It's the Nephonym. The Nephonym, the sons of Zihah, Hasufah, and the sons of Tabayoth. The Nephonym were an interesting group of people when you look in the commentaries and in our UCG Bible commentary. They seemed to be not really Israelites. They were literally slaves. They were temple workers. And one of the things that I read, I didn't see it in our commentary, said that they could marry, but they weren't allowed to marry Israelites. So I don't know if they were captives of nations they took before or what it was, but they were temple workers. And you will see them identified a couple times here in the Book of Nehemiah. We did see them back in chapter 3 during the building process. And they even were working on the construction of the temple. But they were part of the group that was there. That was their role at that time. And that's the service that they provided, whatever it was. The commentary says that it was David. It was King David who appointed the Nephonym and who became those servants down through the ages. So we look down through there, see their name again in verse 60, all the Nephonym and whatever. But in verse 66, it kind of tells us the number of people that came back that worked on this, that came back to Jerusalem, inhabited the city, worked on the temple, the wall. Verse 66 says, all together the whole assembly was 42,360, besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337. So just about 50,000 were there that came back. And then it numbers the horses that were there that came with them, talks about some of the donations or contributions that some of the people made to the working of the temple in verses 71 and 72.

And then at the conclusion, we come down to verses 73 and 73. That leads us into chapters 8 and 9.

It says, so the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the Nephonym, and all Israel dwelt in their cities. Remember at the beginning there, so when they came back, they dwelt in their cities. Some were in Jerusalem. Later on, we're going to see where lots were drawn to see who could live in Jerusalem. So they would come from their cities in Judah and come to live in Jerusalem. We'll see that. I think it's in chapter 10, but it'll be coming up probably next week. And when the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities. So the seventh month comes. The first of the seventh month, we know, is the Feast of Trumpets, and the people are there. The work is done, and now it is time to observe the Feast. Chapter 8 is a very interesting chapter when you see how they worshiped God, how they assembled, what they did, the way they did it. It reminds us of how we do things today as we come together and worship God. So there are some things, and I think that probably, Mr. Armstrong and this area of the church, where they were putting together the format for church services, they looked at what went on in Nehemiah. And we follow pretty much what we see here in Nehemiah as the order of our services or how we present ourselves there. So let's look through that, and we will see some of the key concepts as God gathers his people together on the Feast of Trumpets. They've done the job that they came to do. The wall is built, and now it's time to gather together before God. Chapter 8 and verse 1. Now all the people gather together as one man. There is one of the first things that I have circled in my Bible, as one man.

That would be they were together in unity. They were all together for one purpose in the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. It says they were all together in one place, in one accord. We have the same concept among God's people here who gathered in chapter 8. Xavier, did you have a comment?

Yeah, let's give it an evening, everyone. Back to what you said about the temple servants.

Do you remember on the Gibeonites in Joshua? It says, therefore, in verse 23 of chapter 9, it says, therefore, they are under a curse and will perpetually serve as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God. Because they had light to Joshua, and Joshua did.

Okay, very good. Excellent. Excellent. And I guess somewhere along the line, nothing of them came in to call them that. So yeah, very, very good example of who they were.

So we're in chapter 8. unity, right? What God wants among his people. All gathered together in one place, in one accord. Here in verse 1, it says, as one man. In the open square, that was in front of the Watergate. Remember the Watergate? It's on the east side of the city, down there by the spring of Gihon, down near the southern part of that eastern side of the gate. And they told Ezra. Ezra is back now. He's the scribe. He is the Ezra of Israel, who built the temple.

And he's the priest. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. So here they are. They're ready to read from God's word, much as we do on the Feast of Trumpets, every Sabbath, and individually, you know, throughout the week as we study the Bible as well. So, verse 2, so Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women, and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month.

Of course, we know that's Trumpets. It's interesting that it says, all who could hear with understanding. It's an interesting way to put it. It indicates that everyone who was of age that could hear and understand the Bible would be there to understand it. So, if there was an infant, they might not have been there.

In fact, someone might have stayed with the infant if they were going to be disruptive. But everyone who was there, that was age that could hear, that could hear with understanding, was there on the Holy Day. Everyone came before God on the first day of the seventh month. And then he read from it, much as we would, opened the scroll. They didn't all have Bibles in their laps like we do when we assemble, but there they were attentive as Ezra opened the book, and he read it in the open square that was in front of the water gate from morning until midday.

So there you have an hour, two hours, or whatever, that he was reading the Word of God. Typically, our services last from an hour and a half to two hours, depending on how many, you know, how much special music and other things may be going on with a sermonette and that and a sermon for a few hours.

So there they were together as Ezra was reading it from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. They were listening. They were engaged. They were there to hear the Word of God. It was an important thing for them to do. Same thing as we come before God on Sabbath days and Holy days, that we should come, and everyone in our families who are of understanding and even beyond that, should come with attentive ear listening to the Word of God, not playing on cell phones with games, not doing other things, but if they're of age to understand, should be focused on what is being said in those services.

They were attentive to the book of the law. So Ezra the scribe stood on a platform platform of wood. Now today we have stages, right? Many of the places that we meet have stages. You see, you know, the person that's going to speak going up on the stage. He's a little bit elevated above the people so they could all see him and hear him so there were no distractions.

So they could they constructed this platform of wood for Ezra to go up as he's preaching and as he's reading out of the book of the law. So Ezra stood on a platform of wood which they had made for the purpose, much like we would see in our services today. And he had this assembly of people with him, kind of there as a support. Beside him at his right hand stood Mattathiah, Shema, Aniah, Urijah, Hilkiah, Messiah, and at his left hand, Padiah, Mishael, and all these names.

Makai, Malchaijah, Hashim, Hash, Hashpadana, Zachariah, and Misholom. All these guys. So, you know, well, it's kind of like we don't do that in services but I know when you look at newscasts and you see the president or the prime minister standing there, he's always got someone around him, right? In times of crime, you know, you have a police chief there and he's gathered together. There's people around to support him and whatever.

And that's kind of what was on the stage there with Ezra. He had him reading the law and then he had these, I guess, leaders of the congregation probably that were up there supporting everything that he said. And Ezra, verse 5, he opened the book in the sight of all the people. They could see what he was reading from. Opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people. Goes back to that twice, right? They built a stage, built a platform for him to stand on. He opened the book. You know, I say one of the things I think anyone who is preaching, whether they're ordained or not, should have a Bible in front of them.

And it kind of always strikes me strange if I see someone go out up without a Bible and they're looking at an iPad or, you know, looking at their laptop. I mean, we opened the book. We opened the book, the Bible, and read from it.

Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood up.

There was a sign of respect. The reason they stood up was they respected. Here the word of God is going to be read. We should stand up and respect as that happens. Now, we don't do that today, but that was a custom back then because it was a notable thing. We're here to read the word of God. You know, it might make us go back to Isaiah 66 a little bit and think about what was written there. That when God says to this man, I will look to one who is of a contrite heart and who trembles, who trembles at my word. When he hears my word, he takes deep respect. He listens attentively to it. And here all the people, when Ezra began to read, they stand up. They stand up in respect of what they're about to hear. And Ezra blessed the eternal, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen. We open our services with prayer, ask God's guidance, direction, inspiration on the speaker, the hearing that we will hear what we need to hear, that he will speak to us today. And we answer, Amen. All the people answered, Amen, Amen, while lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground, symbolizing their humility and their deference to God and recognizing whose presence they were in as they came before this gathering. You know, I hope as we go to services that we remember that we're going into the assembly, the congregation or the holy convocation that God has called us to.

It's an important thing. We go with respect. We go with honor. We go because we reverence God, and we're doing what he's saying. And when we come in there and we hear the services that he's prepared for us, it's a tremendous opportunity. And to remember, we are in God's presence.

That is where he is as his people are getting together, and his Holy Spirit should guide us and direct us. And as we're together and they're hearing his word, we're together as one, as one, his people, his children before him. And that's kind of what we see the picture here, Nehemiah 8, verse 7. And verse 7, it says, also, it has these names here, also, Yeshua, Bonnie, Sheraviah, Jaimin, Aqab, Shabbathai, Hodeidjah, Messiah, Caledah, Azariah, Joseph, Hanaan, Paliah, and the Levites helped the people to understand the law.

Helped the people to understand the law. So here it is. They're reading from the Bible, and it's like, well, what does that mean? What does that mean? How do we apply it into our lives?

Right? So sometimes, you know, you read the Bible, and when you go to church, the minister is explaining to you, this is what this means. This is how we can apply it into our lives. This is what God wants us to do. And that's what they were doing there is now they hadn't heard the word of God for a little bit of time here, or not in the way that they were that day. So they had these helpers. None of them were ordained as elders or deacons, but I'm just going to use that as an example. Elders, deacons, leaders in the church who understood the law, right, that would would come by. And if someone had a question, it's like, yeah, this is what this is saying. This is what we need to do. And it was not just to hear the word go home and not understand it, but to develop an understanding of what God's way is, how it benefits in our lives, what we need to be doing to please God. And so they took the time to teach and to explain so that people could understand.

Again, if I give you a New Testament example, you'll remember back in the book of Acts, when we were there, we had the deacon Philip. And remember, he was on his way from some area, I think it was. And he saw this eunuch from Ethiopia out there, and he went up to approach it. And there's the eunuch from Ethiopia, and he's reading in the book of Isaiah. And Philip says, what are you doing, basically? And he goes, well, how do you understand what you're reading, I guess, is what Philip said. And he goes, well, how can I understand what's written here in Isaiah without help? So Philip sits down and helps him to understand. That's what we do at services.

That's what these Bible studies are. That's why it's okay to ask questions. We want people to understand what is going on, what the Bible says, so that we all get the grasp of what God's Word is. So they help the people to understand the law, and the people stood in their place.

They weren't moving all over the place. They weren't like, you know, disruptive. It's like, they stood there, and they listened. Or say, so they read distinctly from the book in the law of God, and they gave the sense. They gave the sense. This is what it means. This is what God is talking about here. Doubtless, I won't say doubtless, no doubt, as they were reading some scriptures, it would be like, well, you'll remember back in the book of Genesis, we read this.

Today, you know, we will say, well, in the book of Acts, right? We said, well, as the apostle said that, it might remind us of this law that was given back there, and they were referencing those things. And so they gave the sense of the law, and they helped them to understand the reading.

There it is, you know, twice. So our, you know, people that come into the church, we're here to help and to teach so that people understand what the Word of God is.

In verse 9, you have Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra, the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people. So you see who it was there. Nehemiah was the governor, but he was still there teaching. We see Nehemiah very aware of what God's law is and was, and, you know, we will see later where he begins correcting. We already saw back in chapter 6, I believe it was, where he saw some of the things that the people were not doing in conformity with the law of God. He corrected him on that. So Nehemiah, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all of them, This day is holy to the Lord your God. Don't mourn or weep. And this is an interesting thing that I'll explain a little bit. It wasn't that they were gathered together weeping because it was the Feast of Trumpets. It was because they were, as they were hearing and they were understanding what the law of God was, they were realizing, we haven't lived that way. We haven't been following God's way. So when they were mourning, it was like, and crying, it was like, we haven't been doing what God said. There was this recognition that came upon them. And later on in chapter 9, we're going to see they call a fast day to deal with the sins that they've been doing and to acknowledge them and to repent of them. But that's what he's saying. This day is holy to the Lord your God. This is a day that we come before him and observe what he wants. Don't mourn nor weep for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law because they recognized we haven't done.

We haven't done what God said to do. It's interesting how many times when the word of God hasn't been read, when you read in the Old Testament and the people hear it, they turn to God. They recognize what they've done. They don't make excuses. They don't say, well, we didn't know.

They recognize it. And they mourn for what they haven't been doing. And then they turn to God in their hearts. In the book of Nehemiah, the people that were there at that time, as we go through the rest of the book, you will see where their hearts are. They are willing to change their lives completely in order to get in concert with the way that God wants us to live. So they're all weeping when they heard the words of the law. And then he said to them, go your way. Eat the fat. It's a holy day. It's a holy day. Go your way. Eat the fat. Drink the sweet. And send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. Again, recognizing that others may not have the provisions that you prepared for this holy day. One of the commentaries that might have been the UCG one says that, that may have been referencing where it says that in your holy days, you don't forget the fatherless, the widow, and those. And so remember them. Make sure that everyone is participating in this holy day. And what you have, share with them so that everyone is before God and rejoicing. So send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord. Don't sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Remember, there's joy, there's happiness, there's peace in Christ. And we receive that, and we feel that when we turn to Him and when we repent.

So they recognize their sins, but they said, you know, I don't know if this is even the right way to put it. We'll deal with that later. Today, rejoice before God because you're where He wants you to be. And because He has brought you this knowledge and this awareness of what you have not been doing, now you have the opportunity to turn back to Him and repent. And in repentance and in yielding and submission to God, that's where we find joy and peace and calm and all the things of life that make life meaningful. So, verse 11, they did it. So the Levites quieted all the people.

Okay, enough of the crying. This is the feast day. So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, Be still, for the day is holy. Don't be grieved. Rejoice in this. Rejoice in the fact that God has called you and opened your mind to this. Now salvation can be achieved. Now you're aware.

Now you can repent and return to Him and use the spirit that God puts with us before we're baptized and in us after we're baptized to turn to Him with all our hearts, minds, and soul.

Verse 12, And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions, and rejoice greatly.

So they listened. They listened to what the Levites said. They listened to what Ezra said. They listened to what Nehemiah said and thought, Okay, let's rejoice before God. There is cause for rejoicing, even in the fact of what we now know that we didn't know before what we need to do.

All the people went their way to do all those things, and they rejoiced greatly because they understood the words that were declared to them. They were inspired. They were zealous. Now they were ready to do the will of God. You know, I've mentioned a few times that when we were over in some of these overseas areas, and we could feel the zeal of the people overseas. They have a zeal to do God's work. And it wasn't that they didn't, that they were sinning or anything, but you could just feel their enthusiasm as we would talk about the things that could be done. And as we work toward preaching the gospel, really preaching the gospel in all nations, as Christ would have us do. And you could feel that zeal and inspiration, and it inspired us, too. It's like we're ready to do it. We're ready to get out and do what God said to do, and do it the way that He said it as He leads us, guides us, and opens the doors to do that. That should happen at Sabbath services. We should be inspired when we're before God. We should be inspired when we hear the Word of God. You know, there's times in my life, just like there's times in your life, I can feel down, and I can feel kind of tired, and you know, like, what's the purpose or whatever, and you get these feelings. But every single time I go back and I just start reading in the Bible, you can feel the zeal, and you can feel the energy come back again. If you ever feel down, you ever feel kind of not what you know how you should, pick up the Bible and just start reading it. Let God's Word into your mind, and you will see the energy, and feel the energy, and determination come back. It's God. It's God. We have to do the things to stir up that spirit when we feel that it's not there to do the things that God would have us do. And so that's what they did. They did what they were told to do. That's a very good thing to do, to see what God's Word says to do. And then they went out, they went out and did it exactly as they were told, and exactly what God's Word said. So in verse 13, so that was the beast of Trumpets, and now on the second day, the heads of the Father's houses of all the people with the priests and Levites were gathered to Ezra the scribe in order to understand the words of the law. So they came together the next day. Let's look at these words of the law. Let's learn more about it. Let's see what God is saying.

And they found written in the law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the Feast of the Seven Months. Seventh month. So the first day of the seventh month is the Feast of Trumpets. The tenth day is the Day of Atonement. And beginning the fifteenth day is the Feast of Tabernacles. When you look in Leviticus 23, you see this, it's called the Feast of Temporary Dwellings, the Feast of Booths. And at the end of chapter 23 in Leviticus, it talks about these booths that people can dwell in. And so they're reading this and thinking, whoa, this Feast of Tabernacles is coming up. And here we're reading about these booths that should be constructed. So they're learning about God's way, and they're excited. They're excited about learning it. And in verse 15 it says, well, they're learned about dwelling in booths, and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, go out to the mountain, bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, fertile branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.

Well, if you go back and look at the last verses of Leviticus 23 there, where it's talking about the Feast of Tabernacles, it will talk about those very things. And so they go out and do it.

It says it here in Leviticus 23, you know, we keep the Feast in temporary dwellings today.

They went out and did what they read in the book of the law. And the people went out, and they brought them, and they made themselves booths, each one on the roof of his house or in their courtyards or the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the water gate, and in the open square of the gate of Epryom. So they would be dwelling in those booths for the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, and away from their homes, just as we talk about, we go away to the Feast of Tabernacles to leave the world behind us, symbolizing the temporary dwellings that we are in now, looking forward to the kingdom of God, where we will live forever and ever, beginning in that millennial period that is there. So they are doing that now. They won't be living in their houses. They will be dwelling in these booths that are scattered around the city or on the roofs of their homes. Becky, you got a question or comment?

Hi. I love the way when the people are told to rejoice, to go rejoice. In my mind, that was God confirming to them that they were doing the right thing. He was encouraging them by using a blessing.

And no doubt, the next year when it came around, they're going to remember maybe certain ways that he blessed them specifically when they went to rejoice. And they knew, yes, I am supposed to be doing this thing. It was almost like a confirmation in my mind that they were going the right way.

That is an excellent point. Thank you for bringing that up. You have probably experienced that everyone here has probably experienced. We know when we're doing God's way, right? Because you just, you just, you can just feel it. Sometimes when you aren't, you kind of feel troubled or whatever, and you wonder, what am I doing? What haven't I done? What did I do wrong or whatever?

Because God leads us and does it. But you're absolutely right. When you're doing God's will, you feel the energy, and you feel that peace. And you're right, these people did feel that.

They were ready to go out and do God's will. Hey, Bill.

I was going to say, hello.

Oh yeah, go ahead, Jeremy.

So, I've always, I always wonder like what the booze looked like in ancient times.

And so I looked up a picture once, and basically like they look like similar to similar to like what the Bedouins' tents are today.

Basically like these big tents made out of animal skin, and it would be that would be outside the city.

Okay, okay, very good. Yeah, they're very, they're very makeshift dwellings, right?

The temporary, temporary place to be. Very good. Bill?

I never realized how much the people suffered because of the leaders.

If they had taught them, if the priest had done their jobs, it seemed to me that a lot of this stuff would have never happened, possibly.

I think, I think that's one of the lessons we learned, right? Somewhere along the line, the people kept stop talking about God's way. Yeah.

Our job never let that happen, so.

Good point.

Okay, let me see. Where were we then? We saw they, um, right, we're in verse 16.

So they went out, they built these booths in verse 17.

So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths, for since the days of Joshua, the son of Nun, for since the days of Joshua, the son of Nun, until that day, the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness.

Now, they had kept the Feast of Tabernacles, um, you know, before that, but I guess it's talking about the booths here and doing everything the way God said, and the fact that there was great gladness, that had not happened since the days of Joshua. That's, that's a lot of time.

That's a lot of time. But when we do things God's way, there is, as Mrs. Bingman pointed out, great gladness. Verse 18, also, day by day, from the first day until the last day, notice, you know, some people will say about the Feast of Tabernacles, why do we need to go to church every day of the eight days of the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles and the eighth day? God does it. They're only the first and eighth days, our holy days. But here, also, day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the book of the law of God. So we have our example there. We're going to the Feast and we should be in God's presence reading of his law and in services in his audience at that time. And they kept the Feast seven days, and on the eighth day, there was a sacred assembly according to the prescribed manner. So they kept the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles and the eighth day, just like you and I do every year.

So chapter nine, so we have the people. We can see the mind that they're there. They have a mind to obey God. They have a mind to turn from the error of their ways they had been living to the way of God. And so when we come to chapter nine, we find the setting now is a few days past the Feast of Tabernacles. Feast of Tabernacles begins on the 15th, and so the eighth day would be what, the 22nd day of the month? Yeah, so 22nd day of the month. So now we find ourselves on the 24th day of the month, just a few days after the end of the Feast of Tabernacles and the eighth day.

On the 24th day, verse one, of this month, the children of Israel were assembled with fasting.

This wasn't a fast day, but they were fasting. You know, we notice that during the, during, you know, when they kept the Feast of Trumpets, and they did prepare for the Feast of Tabernacles, but it doesn't mention the Day of Atonement in the verses we just read. So not sure if they kept the Day of Atonement, maybe didn't realize it until too late. I have no idea, or this was another fast day that they had called. So here on the 24th day, the children of Israel were assembled with fasting in sackcloth and with dust on all their heads, the symbols of appearing before God in remorse, in humility, in submission to Him, then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners. We're going to see later on in the chapter, and it's referencing this as well, that the people had intermarried with the people of the land. And so as they did that, they allowed the ways of the world to come into their midst, and they began living like the world. And that's going to be a key thing to talk about as we get into the latter chapters of Nehemiah. But we see this here. Remember, we had talked about that in chapters 5 or 6, where that had been addressed by Nehemiah as well. And I said that was a harbinger of what we were going to see later on as Israel and Judah needed to face up to what they had done. They stood up, they separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

So what are they doing? Look what we've done. We have not obeyed God. We've looked into the book of the law. We have not followed what God said. We intermarried. We allowed the ways of the world in.

We have perverted the way of God. We didn't even follow the book of the law. We didn't even know about the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Trumpets. And as we open the book of the law, we see how we have departed from God. And so you have now this remorse that we were seeing as the people began to understand on the Day of Atonement, not the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Trumpets, that they're recognizing that again. They're going back in repentance. So they were confessing, you know, their sins and the iniquities of their fathers because it wasn't just them. It was the way of life that had been occurring in Jerusalem there. And they stood up. There's their standing again. When they face God, we see them standing right out of respect. They stood up in their place and they read from the book of the law, the Lord their God, for one-fourth of the day.

So here it is. Okay, we're seeking God's guidance. We are fasting. We are looking to God for guidance. We are remorseful for the sins that we have committed. We are acknowledging those sins.

We're in a state of preparing to turn from those ways and turn to God. So they stand and they read from the book of the law for one-fourth of the day. And for another fourth, they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God. It's a day of fasting. So however many hours that they were determining, whether those one-fourth of the daylight hours, two or three hours, or whatever it is, that they, you know, were reading the book of the law, then they took another several hours to go and pray and to talk to God and confess and worship to Him and repent before Him of what was going on.

It was a day dedicated to seeking God, repenting, and turning from Him and asking Him for guidance, for forgiveness, and for direction. And then, Jeshua, Bonnie, Cadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunny, Bunny, Sherebiah, Bonnie, and Shannani stood on the stairs of the Levites, and they cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God. You can kind of picture the scene there. We have the people together doing these things, and then they stand up, and then they give this prayer.

And it's a pretty wonderful prayer that they give. A long prayer, but I'll talk about it before we read it here in just a minute. And the Levites, along with these people, Jeshua, Cadmiel, Bonnie, Hasbaniah, Sherebiah, Hodeidoshebaniah, and Pathiah, said. Now, as we read through this prayer, and I don't really need to intersperse much about it because what they are doing is recounting to God all the things that He has done for Israel. And it's a very meaningful prayer when you realize what they're coming out of.

They are learning again about God. They are recognizing everything that He has done for His people Israel. And sometimes our prayers, you know, sometimes our prayers are just completely Thanksgiving. Thank you for everything that you have done for us, and we can recount those blessings, and it lifts us up as we thank God and recognize Him for all we do.

Other times, we may do what they do here and recount everything that God has done in our lives, just so we remember what we've done and remember who we were before. Other times, as prayers of, you know, for other people and intercessory prayers, we pray for their sicknesses and for what's going on in their lives, that God will heal and direct, and not just sicknesses, but other trials that people may have as well.

Other times, as prayers of anything that God leads us to as His Holy Spirit leads us to pray in concert with Him. So this prayer is one where they are just recounting and being reminded.

And God is inspiring this prayer, reminding them of everything He's done for them. He is a great God. He is their Savior. He is our Savior. Everything He has done, the fact that we even know who God is, gives us the opportunity and eternal life that the rest of the world who doesn't know God doesn't have that hope. They put their hope in a false place, but you and I have our hope in exactly the place it needs to be, and that is the only God in the world, the only true God who provides the salvation for all of mankind. So let's just read through this and feel the emotion as the people stand up and they pray this prayer together.

Verse 5, it says, You are the Lord God who chose Abram, and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Gurgashites to give it to his descendants.

You have performed your words, for you are righteous. Remember, everything you said you would do, God, you've done. We can remember the same thing. Everything God said he would do, he has done. Every prophecy we read in the book of Isaiah, when we're in that book, he has done. So we know everything he says he will do, he will do.

He is faithful to keep the promises he has made to us if we follow his way and yield to him.

Verse 9, you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and you heard their cry by the Red Sea.

You showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all his servants, and against all the people of his land. For you knew that they acted proudly against them. Notice as we go through this, how many times the word proudly shows up. It's not a pride that you know that they acted proudly against them. So you made a name for yourself as it is this day. God ascribes sin to the pride that's in us. You divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and their persecutors you threw into the deep, as a stone into the mighty waters.

Moreover, you led them by day with a cloudy pillar, and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light on the road which they should travel. You came down, also on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them just ordinances and true laws, good statutes, and commandments. You made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them precepts, statutes, and laws by the hand of Moses, your servant. All these things you gave them, God, were all designed for their good, not just the physical blessings of food in the wilderness, water from a rock, but you gave them the spiritual food and the guidance they needed to live happy, productive, joyous lives. You gave them bread, verse 15, from heaven for their hunger. You brought them water out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them. But they and our fathers, what did they do? They acted proudly. They hardened their necks. They did not heed your commandments. They refused to obey, and they were not mindful of your wonders. They forgot what God had done for them. They forgot the parting of the Red Sea, and it didn't seem to bother them at all to just ignore what God had said to do. They refused to obey, and they were not mindful of your wonders that you did among them. But they hardened their necks, and in their rebellion, they appointed a leader to return to their bondage because they wanted to go back to the way things were. But you are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness, and you didn't forsake them. You didn't forget them and say, you know, they're not worth my time. God never forgets us. He is always ready and willing when we come back with a repentant and humble attitude to work with us again and to let us back in, if I can use that term. He is ready to forgive when we come with that humble spirit and that attitude of repentance that we need to come back to Him and to be led by Him.

Even when they made a molded calf for themselves and said, this is your God that brought you up out of Egypt and worked great provocations, yet in your manifold mercies you didn't forsake them into wilderness. The pillar of the cloud didn't depart from them by day to lead them on the road, nor the pillar of fire by night to show them light on the way they should go. He would have been justified in doing those things, right? That was kind of a slap in the face like none other.

You know, just to hear the calf, I mean, but God still showed them mercy.

You also, verse 20, gave your good spirit to instruct them. As God gives us His spirit to instruct us in the way to go, you gave your good spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing. Their clothes didn't wear out and their feet did not swell.

Moreover, you gave them kingdoms and nations and divided them into districts, so they took possession of the land of Sihan, the land of the king of Heshban, and the land of Ag, king of Beshan.

You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, just as He promised Abraham he would do.

And you brought them into the land which you had told their fathers to go in and possess.

So all the people went in and possessed the land. You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land. It wasn't their might. It wasn't their power and military strategies that did it. It was God who gave them the victory, is what He's saying here. You subdued them, the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands with their kings and the people of the land that they might do with them as they wished. And they took strong cities and a rich land and possessed houses full of all goods, cisterns already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and grew fat, and they delighted themselves in your great, in your great goodness. Nevertheless, even though you gave them all those things, nevertheless they were disobedient and they rebelled against you. They cast your law behind their backs, killed your prophets who testified against them, that were sent to them to turn them back to God, and they worked great provocations. They angered God. They kept throwing it in His face. Therefore you delivered them into the hands of their enemies, who oppressed them, and in the time of their trouble, when they cried to you, you heard from heaven, and according to your abundant mercies, you gave them deliverers who saved them from the hand of their enemies. You recall, I mean, right here in chapter 27, we're in the time of the Judges, the book of the Judges, where, you know, they would obey God for a while, go back into captivity. They would come back to God. He would give them the freedom again that they needed and whatever, but then they would always turn back and forth as we see that, and that's what he's talking about there. Verse 28, but after they had rest, they again did evil before you. Therefore you left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they returned and cried out to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. This is kind of a picture of us, too. We will obey God for a while. We may stray. We may, I hope, we always come back to God and realize when we're feeling that distance from him to turn to him with all our hearts, God has us back, but we need to develop that consistency of commitment to God and staying close to him. Anyway, that's what the habit of these people were. Of course, they didn't have God's Holy Spirit. We do. We do, and that should drive us, and we should engage God every day, and the Holy Spirit, and ask for his Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us every day.

So he says this is happening in verse 29. He says, and you testified against them that you might bring them back to your law. Yet they acted proudly. They thought they knew more.

They got full of themselves and thought they didn't need this or that or whatever. Yet they acted proudly, and they didn't heed your commandments. But they sinned against your judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. Meaning that the judgments God gives, we live by them, and they shrug their shoulders. Like, whatever. They stiffen their necks, and they would not hear.

Yet for many years you had patience with them and testified against them by your spirit in your prophets. Yet they wouldn't listen. Therefore, you gave them into the hands of the people of the lands. They just wouldn't listen. So you gave them over to the people of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great mercy, you didn't utterly consume them nor forsake them.

For you are God, gracious and merciful. You should always remember that God is patient with us, and thank Him for the mercy and the love and the kindness of the patience He shows all of us. Verse 32, Now therefore our God, the great, mighty, and awesome God, who keeps covenant and mercy, do not let all the trouble seem small before you that has come upon us, that has come upon us, our kings and our princes, our priests and our prophets, our fathers, and on all your people from the days of the kings of Assyria until this day. However, you are just in all that has befallen us. I acknowledge what you have given us we deserve. In another place in the Bible someone probably remembers the verse. I think it's in Psalm 103 that says, you haven't given us everything we deserve. We deserve much more punishment than God brings on us for the way that we don't obey Him the way we have. So the people are acknowledging here. We can't complain.

We brought this upon ourselves by the way that we've acted. You are just in all that has befallen us, for you have dealt faithfully, but we have done wickedly. He's praying for the whole people here, right? Not just themselves. The whole people. They're acknowledging your people have not done what you wanted them to do. Neither our kings, nor our princes, our priests, nor our fathers have kept your law. We haven't heeded your commandments and your testimonies with which you testified against them. For they haven't served you in their kingdom or in the many good things that you gave them, or in the large and rich land which you set before them, nor did they turn from their wicked works. You gave them everything. You kept up your end of the bargain. We as your people and the people before us haven't done what your will is. They're turning to God. They're recognizing and acknowledging him before, acknowledging before God the faults there.

Here we are, servants today, and the land that you gave to our fathers to eat his fruit and his bounty.

Here we are in servants in it, and it yields much increase to the kings you have set over us because of our sins. We're living here in the land of Persia. We do have these kings over us who have some pretty strict requirements of us, some pretty stiff taxes. We acknowledge it because those kings are over us because we have sinned against you and you have brought us under submission to them.

You have set these kings over us because of our sins. Also, they have dominion over our bodies and our cattle at their pleasure, and we are in great distress. People today don't understand monarchies and what kings can do. As we look ahead in the years ahead of us before the return of Jesus Christ, everyone will learn what it's like to be under a king that exacts great prices from people, great sacrifices from people, inflicts his will upon everyone, and causes trouble. Here, the people of Judah, even in Jerusalem where God has placed them, still feel that dominion over them. Because of all this, verse 38, we make our sure covenant and write it. Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it. They are turning to God. Then, in the next chapter, we will see them commit even further to walk in God's laws. Let's pause there for tonight and open it up for any comments or any discussion that anyone might want to engage in. Hey, Dale.

You're muted, Dale. Good evening, Mr. Shavey.

Hey, I think it's remarkable how all the people, it says in Nehemiah 9 and 1, that they all seem like they all assemble with fasting with sackcloth and earth upon them.

That seems to be a pretty remarkable example of unity and repentance there.

Everybody. It is. Everyone together, right? They all gather to pray that prayer.

Right. It seems no coincidence that it was at the Feast of Trumpets that the people heard God's word through Nehemiah. I think in the Book of Numbers where it talks about, of course, the trumpets are one purpose for the calling of assemblies. God does everything for a purpose.

Purpose? Exactly in the right way, right? Exactly how he works it out. Even that the wall got done just in time for that. So, yeah. Very good. Hey, Tracy, how are you doing tonight?

I'm doing well, thank you. Very fine. I'm sorry to hear the Bible study wasn't able to go on at your house last night. It had to be moved, so you're doing okay, though. Yes, I'm fine. I always seem to do away when these things break out. I've been in my room for a week, so I was completely away from everybody. Okay, good. I wanted to bring up, it's not about Jeremiah, though, but I was doing some Bible study there again. You know the one place in the Bible where they mentioned Easter instead of Passover? They mentioned what in Passover? Easter instead of Passover? Oh, yes.

Well, now when you look in the Concordance, it'll say, it'll say Passover, Easter, festivities. Can I say that in the Concordance? Yes, the one in Easter does. I can read you exactly what it says, but it says Passover, and like where it said Easter, and it says Passover and its festivities. So what the translators did was just put Easter in there, and it's actually Passover, right? Right, they put Easter and Passover as if they're one and the same. As if they're one and the same, yeah. They kind of combined the two in together, even though they're completely different, not even on the same day. Yeah, that's why you got to read the same book.

People, people, yeah, the translators just kind of put their beliefs in there, and you got to kind of watch some of those words and see what's going on to go back to the original and see what the real, real purbage is. Yeah. Yep.

Okay, very good. Tracy, hey Reggie. Hey Mr. Shady. It's interesting how you're during the times of the apostles, everything, whenever the Catholic Church started up and they're saying anyway, people were being deceived by Satan, and it's that way all the way through history. We are fails. We're subject to their deception also, which is already learned. Yep.

And there will be greater deception, right? That's why Christ said, don't be deceived. You got to be close to God's word. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Cute dog there, Bill.

I thought I saw another hand. Where did I see a hand? Oh, Jim. Jim Peterson, yes. Yes, I don't know how to put that yellow one up there. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you so much for your YouTube videos that are on across there. I wasn't aware of that. And especially the ones on the world current events. I think it would be really good if you could maybe upload them to some other platforms and get a following. Because people are asking questions about world news. And I thought the ones you did were excellent. And perhaps should even be played as sermonettes in those places where there are no available manpower out in the underlying areas. Because this is the part of the work that will do what Nehemiah, where we're seeing in Nehemiah, where the people willingly are going to throw themselves into it. It's one thing to have Christian living principles and stuff with the bareness, but you need work and you need people inspired by that, you know. So the other thing is, make a comment about Nehemiah here. I don't want to take your time. But it was interesting that Nehemiah knew his place. Because when the people came down to tempt him and to trap him, and they said, oh, well, you know, you're going to kill you, you better go up into the temple. He said, huh, should such a man like I should flee? So what did he mean?

Man such as I? Well, he was a cupbearer, like we mentioned, and he served when the queen was present. That's what cupbearers did. And they were circumcised, or they were not sorry, they were eunuchs. And so he says, should a man like I enter the temple? Because you see, commoner, for one thing, had a eunuch, so he couldn't do that. So he knew his place and he kept it. And he didn't overstep his authority. Just a comment. No, he did. He knew what to do, and he hailed his own. Yeah, very good. Galaxy, I don't know your name, but Galaxy. Yeah, ma'am, you're... Yes, you, yes.

You're muted. You'll need to turn your mic on.

Yeah, I'm not sure. Is that... Yeah, we can hear you. We can hear you.

Sorry, Rick. Anyway, first of all, I want to thank you for the private study. I've missed...

and this is off the subject, so forgive me. I was trying to request... get your attention earlier. I'm not very computer savvy. Okay, so I was trying...

I want to thank you, first of all, for another great Bible study. I've missed the past few weeks my brother, and I think you remember him, Jonathan Milliner. Oh, yes. Yeah, I thought you were Angie. Okay, how are you doing? He passed suddenly. Oh, okay. Sorry to hear that.

It's been very difficult, and then I got COVID. So I've been able to be with the Bible studies.

This is the first time I've been able to join you guys every, you know, again, and I thank you so much. But I would like to... sorry. See, I told you I'm not computer savvy. I would like to request everyone's prayers. There's a lot of attacks going on within the family, and it's very difficult to find.

Like I said, I know that you remember Jonathan. He graduated from the ambassador, even though, sadly, he wasn't a part of us, you know, in the last few years. But I love everyone so much, and I've missed so much by not being able to be here in the Bible studies. But I thank you so much for your work and everything you've done. And I love the Bible studies. It's just right now I need everyone's prayers for myself and my family. Okay, you got it, Angie. It's great to have you with us.

You take care. It's good to see you, so. Thank you. Sorry. That's okay. Okay. What was her name again?

Angie Milliner. Angie. Hendrix. Yeah. Okay. Hey, Bill, did you have a comment?

No? Okay. Okay. Your hand is up. Okay. Anything else? Anyone?

Yeah, I have something. Okay. I was listening to another guy. Oh, Bill. Okay. And this guy, oh, it was a stuff they had finished. And he was openly saying the pope is the one, you know, the pope is the central figure. He's going to become more prominent in what days ahead, I'm sure. So. Okay. Then we will go ahead and sign off for tonight.

Okay. Okay. So thank you, everyone. Great to be with you tonight.

Thank you. Have a good rest of the week and Sabbath, and we will look forward to seeing you.

We'll see you next Wednesday. Thank you very much.

Good night. Good night, everybody. Good night. See you Saturday. Good night.