The celebration of the Lord’s Day, in which the Holy Scriptures are read and the community is united, is a very ancient tradition, before Christianity existed as such, and we will see this in Nehemiah 8:10.
Nehemiah 8:10 of the King James Bible KJV
“Then Nehemiah added, “You may go now. Eat well, drink sweet drinks, and share your food with those who have nothing, for this day has been consecrated to our Lord. Do not be sad, for the joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10 NIV).” (Nehemiah 8:10 NIV)
All practicing Christians reserve Sunday of each week to attend what is known by most as the Eucharist or, although some denominations also call it communion or holy supper.
Although there are differences in name and ceremony, they all agree on one thing: Sunday is the Lord’s Day and Christians gather to read the Bible and learn the Word of God.
At Nehemiah 8:10 of the Bible, we find the consecration of this holy day and the whole chapter to which it belongs is a reflection on its importance. So, today we are going to analyze this verse and learn more about Nehemiah.
We begin this introduction to Nehemiah 8:10 with this video, in which you can listen to the complete chapter. It is not an isolated fact that the Word of God is transmitted orally, since this is how it can be noted the strength of its message.
Here we don’t want to make it any different, so we’ll let you listen to it so that your body and soul can your body and soul get in touch with God and understand the meaning of His words. Don’t worry if you get lost at some point then you can read it all later!
Explanation and meaning of Nehemiah 8 10
With all this background on Nehemiah and Ezra that we have told you about, you will surely begin to fit the pieces together and understand more fully the verse and chapter we bring you today. Let’s take a closer look!
We see in this chapter an action that is well known to us: all the faithful gather in one place, where the priest reads the Word of God and then joyfully celebrate the grace of the Lord.
Of course, this act resembles the Christian Sunday where we all gather to listen and reflect on the Holy Scriptures in the temple, and many families then go home and eat to celebrate the joy of being children of God.
However, in the reading, the faithful do not gather in a temple. This is because his temple, the house of God, still had not been rebuilt after its destruction during the invasion that left Jerusalem in ruins.
Everything in this verse has a meaning that helps us understand the significance of dedicating a day to the Lord. We are talking about nourish and eat abundantly but not only physically, but also spiritually by listening to the Word.
It may seem an unimportant detail, it may be the most important part of the verse. It is useless to listen to the Word of God if we do not share it with those who do not know it.
It is useless to pray if we do not feed our neighbors who do not have access to food. And as always, both physically and as well as spiritually. This verse is a message to encourage us to share God’s Word!
Let us therefore dedicate the Lord’s Day to nourish ourselves with the teachings of the Bible and share all that we learn from it in order to spread its message to the whole world.
Nehemiah 8 in English and large print
The Bible KJV version you have just heard, is the most faithful to the original texts, although sometimes its language is not up-to-date. Now we leave you the same text of Nehemiah 8 written so that you can review the things that have not been clear to you.
1 And all the people gathered together as one man in the street that was before the water gate, and 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 congregation, both men and women, and all who could understand, on the first day of the seventh month.
3 And he read in the book before the street that is before the water gate from dawn to noon, in the presence of men and women and all who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.
4 And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which they had made for it, and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbadanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.
5 So Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for it was higher than all the people; and when he opened it, all the people were attentive.
6 Then Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen! Amen! lifting up their hands; and they humbled themselves and worshiped the LORD bowed down to the ground.
7 And the Levites Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah, made the people understand the law; and the people were attentive in their place.
8 And they read in the book of the law of God plainly, and put the sense, so that they understood the reading.
9 And Nehemiah the governor, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that instructed the people, said unto all the people, It is an holy day unto the LORD our God: be not grieved, neither weep: for all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.
10 Then said he unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink sweet wine, and send portions unto them that have nothing prepared: for it is an holy day unto our Lord: be not sorrowful; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
11 And the Levites caused all the people to keep silence, saying, Hold your peace, for it is an holy day, and be not grieved.
12 And all the people went their way to eat and drink, and to give portions, and to rejoice with great joy, because they had understood the words which they had been taught.
13 The next day the heads of the fathers’ [houses] of all the people, the priests and the Levites, gathered themselves together to Ezra the scribe, to understand the words of the law.
14 And they found written in the law that the LORD had commanded by the hand of Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in tabernacles in the feast of the seventh month;
15 And that they should make known, and send a proclamation throughout all their cities and Jerusalem, saying, Go out to the mountain, and bring olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle, and palm, and of every green tree, to make tabernacles, as it is written.
16 So the people went out, and brought boughs, and made tabernacles, every man upon his housetop, in their courts, in the courts of the house of God, in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.
17 And all the congregation that returned from the captivity made tabernacles, and dwelt in tabernacles: for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was great joy.
18 And Ezra read in the book of the law of God every day from the first day until the last day; and they kept the feast solemnly seven days, and the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.
Historical context of Nehemiah 8:10
To understand the biblical character of Nehemiah, his mission and also his work, it is necessary to know the historical context in which historical context the events he narrates took place and why the Lord urged him to do all that he did.
At that time, the Jews had returned to their homes in Jerusalem after their liberation by the Persian king Cyrus II the Great from the captivity they had been suffering for decades in Babylon.
This king was magnanimous to the Israelites and let them return to their beloved and sacred land; and also rebuild Jerusalem, which had been destroyed after the invasion of the Babylonian empire.
All this history should be placed around the 6th century B.C. The area was already a Roman province some 500 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, when the whole region was already a Roman province. In that century few civilizations had arisen in the world, Rome being a small city very different from the empire we all know.
Thus, the main events of world history at that time took place in the lands of the fertile crescent, where Assyria and Babylon were located; in Canaan where there was Jerusalem and other peoples such as the Phoenicians; and also in the Egypt of the Pharaohs.
The Bible gives many data of that time and explains all the hardships and glories that the Jews lived through; all of this is collected in the books of the Old Testament, which apart from this great historical value also have great spiritual value.
Who was Ezra-Nehemiah in the Bible?
Now that you know his context, you will be able to understand much better who Nehemiah was and his importance in our religion.
In the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, two characters were the most important that we know of: Ezra and Nehemiah. Both have their own book in the Old Testament narrating their actions.
The first was a priest who dedicated himself to making the religious reforms necessary for his people to recover their faith and thus reestablish the law that Moses received at the top of Mount Sinai in the Exodus and that had been quite forgotten by many.
Nehemiah, on the other hand, was a governor of the region who felt the need to go there given the disastrous state of Jerusalem and the lack of success of Ezra’s reforms.
So Nehemiah set about making further social reforms, always in accordance with those that Ezra had already made, and he also rebuilt the walls of the great city of the great city, although it was by no means an easy task.
It also continued with religious reforms of Ezra and, as you can see in this chapter, he attempted to institute the Lord’s Day, the Sabbath Jewish Sabbath, which later became the Christian Sunday for us.
However, all these changes clashed with the inhabitants who had remained in Jerusalem while the others went into exile, and on numerous occasions they boycotted them or minimized the effect of their reforms.
Book of Nehemiah
Nehemiah’s entire life and reforms are recorded in the Old Testament Book of Nehemiah, which you will find after Ezra in the final part of this volume.
It is a memoir written by Nehemiah himself, relating everything that was happening in his life and with a part in which Ezra reads the Law of Moses to the people, between chapters 8 and 12 and, therefore, where we find today’s verse.
Since it was a book written at the end of his life and by his own hand, it is granted a high reliability in all that is told; for it is not a book by a later author who has adapted a story to his pleasure.
In addition, Ezra and Nehemiah formerly formed a single volume, given the obvious links between the two biblical characters. If you want to know his story well, we recommend you read both books in a row, and you will understand much better what happened.
And that concludes today’s article! We hope you now understand more about why we need the Lord’s day and the importance of sharing His love with others. See you in the next article!