Week 21 Nehemiah
If someone polled modern Albertans and asked what they thought about the OT a majority would likely say: boring, irrelevant, obnoxious, etc. Historical value? Some. Contemporary pertinence? None.
If someone had polled ancient Israel and asked the what-about-the-OT-question a high percentage would have agreed with boring, irrelevant, and obnoxious. Cultural interest? Maybe. Applicability? Don’t make me laugh.
That’s why chapter eight is kind of shocking. There’s a mass gathering in the public square by the Water Gate. The people: asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel. Why? To hear it read out loud. So it was read: from early morning to midday.
The audience was men and women: who could listen with understanding.
They were: attentive to the book of the law.
They all: stood up (except for when they: bowed low and worshiped the Lord).
At the tough passages the readers were stopping and: translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.
And as they listened: all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.
So something is going on here that doesn’t fit the popular view of OT religion.
Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers are affecting people.
This chapter is a reminder that I might be missing something when I’m in a what-good-is-the-OT-? frame of mind.
Note: quotes from Nehemiah 8:1 through 9 (NASB version)