Today I read Nehemiah 8-9.
Nehemiah and Ezra knew each other. Ezra had gone to Jerusalem, and Nehemiah soon heard that the walls had been destroyed, and he followed to rebuild the walls.
At this point, Ezra is God's priest, and Nehemiah has been chosen as the governor.
Nehemiah and Ezra, along with the priests with Ezra gather together before the people, and Ezra reads the law of Moses to the people.
The people begin weeping when they hear the law, but Nehemiah tells them not to weep, but to celebrate, for the day is holy. They are to go and feast and celebrate, giving to their neighbors who do not have enough.
There is a specific feast (the feast of booths) mentioned next, and the people celebrated it. I think I'm going to do a special series on the feasts in the Bible. That, and I'm going to do a comparison of the months.
When it says they celebrated in the seventh month, when does that fall in our calendar? Because the calendars are different. If it says the seventh month, it doesn't mean July.
So, that's going to happen at some point.
On with today's reading.
The people confess their sin, and the priests pray for them, calling to God and glorifying Him, praising Him for His goodness and all He did for them. This also served as a reminder for the people who heard the prayer.
I won't write the whole thing, but I enjoyed reading it. It reminded me of some things.
God is faithful.
Even when the Israelites kept turning from Him, He never left them in the wilderness.
He rescued them from slavery.
Just as God rescued the Israelites from Egypt, God rescues us from sin.
God speaks with us.
It may not happen as with Moses, through a burning bush, but God does speak with us.
God provides.
Just as He provided for the Israelites in the wilderness, God always provides all that we need.
God is slow to anger.
Just as the Israelites grumbled and complained, and sinned, so do we. But God is slow to anger, and His mercy is abundant.
God prospers His people.
Just as He gave the Israelites their promised land, so too, will He give us our promised land. It may not be what we expect, just as the Israelites weren't expecting what they got. It may require work on our part, and we may have to put a lot of trust in Him, but He will deliver us from our wilderness and bring us into our promised land.
I hope you'll join me tomorrow when I read Nehemiah 10-11.
x
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