Nehemiah | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9:1-5 | 9:5-38 | 10 | 11-12 | 13:1-14 | 13:15-31 | PDF |

These free online Bible study guides of Nehemiah 8 contain cross-references, commentary, Bible study discussion questions, and applications.  Visit our library of inductive Bible studies for more in depth practical Bible studies on this and other books of the Bible you can use in your small group.

Nehemiah 8 Bible Study Commentary – A Grand Celebration

Outline

I. Ezra reads the Word to all the people (8:1-8)
II. The people rejoice and celebrate (9-12)
III. The people apply what they learn by celebrating the Feast of Booths (13-18)

I. Ezra reads the Word to all the people (8:1-8)

Discussion Questions

•  Who joined this gathering?
•  What was their “spirit” or “attitude?”
•  Why did they get together?
•  What did they want to do when they got together?
•  How long did Ezra read? What did he read about?
•  What was the people’s attitude like?
•  What did the people do when Ezra started reading?
•  How did the people respond to the reading?
•  What do we learn from verse 8? What was Ezra’s goal beyond just reading it?

Verse by Verse Commentary

Key theme – The people respect God’s Word. This is shown by them desiring to learn it and paying attention to it.

1. The people gathered as one – The work they had done unified them and they saw the tremendous result of what had happened when they worked together to rebuild the wall. Seeing what they could accomplish when working together in unity, encouraged them to continue working together. We learned at the beginning of chapter 7 that Nehemiah called the people together. His example had inspired them to the point that they all responded to his summons. Unity was important for the Jewish remnant. It is also important for us to be unified with other believers, to unite to work together and to unite to study God’s Word together, not allowing petty differences to distract us from the goal of building for God.

2. They asked Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses out – The people took initiative to ask Ezra to bring out the book of the law (Genesis to Deuteronomy). It shows real maturity that they wanted to learn about God’s Word. The focus of their get together was not partying. It was not drinking. It was not feasting. It was not having fun. It was not music. It was not chit-chat or catching up. The focus of their time together was God’s Word. Some of the other things came later, but God’s Word was the epicenter of everything else. God’s Word could help them grow. It could strengthen them. It could change their hearts and change their lives. God’s Word was their (and is ours) spiritual nourishment. (Verses on God’s Word: Hebrews 4:12, Matthew 24:35, Proverbs 4:20-22, Colossians 3:16, Isaiah 40:8, Psalm 119:103, Mark 13:31, 1 Peter 2:2). The Jews’ initiative to ask for the law to be read showed that they loved God’s Words. God’s Word was sweet to them like honeycomb.

Application: Do you desire God’s Word like this? If you have free time, will you choose to just open up and enjoy reading the Bible? Is God’s Word the center of your meetings with other believers?

3. Men and women and everyone who could understand joined – God’s Word is not just for some people. It is not just for men or women or old or young. It is for all. It can benefit everyone. Even children joined in.

Application: These days people are often in a hurry to send the children off. Some think children are a nuisance or a distraction. Others think that children cannot understand or are too young. Others may just let their children go and play because it is easier. We should not talk down to our children. We should teach them up. If you never teach your child something he doesn’t know he will never learn from you. We should help our children to improve their focus and improve their understanding by challenging them and stimulating them instead of taking the easy way out.

Illustration: I once was teaching a class for young children and mothers. During the class I asked the mothers to talk and communicate with their children and ask them questions. One mother said, “My kid doesn’t know how to talk.” Her reasoning was that since her child didn’t know how to talk she didn’t need to talk to him! In this case, how will any children learn something new!

4. Ezra read from early morning to midday – People were able to get up early to listen. The church I go to many of the people are late, often very late. It doesn’t even start until 10:00. There is no good excuse for this to happen week after week. If you desire God’s Word, get up early enough to be on time. You can also get up early to read it before going off to work.

People were able to listen (and pay attention) for a large chunk of the day – These days our attention span is shamefully short. If the speaker goes on for 40 minutes a lot of people in many churches will be sleeping, checking their watches, or messing with their smart phones. An hour and a half is considered an eternity. How many of us would enjoy joining a service that lasted most of the day? How many could focus and pay attention for that long? If you love God’s Word you need to exercise your mind by paying attention carefully and increasing your attention span. Do not be in a hurry to leave church or fellowship. Do not get bored and tired of listening to the Word easily. If you love the Word you will want more of it, not less.

5. Respecting the Word of God means preparing – The people prepared a wooden podium. This allowed everyone to see and hear Ezra. Building the podium and moving it into position was work, but it was work that was well spent. If we respect God’s Word we will want to find more ways to aid the spreading of it. What work can you do to aid the spread of God’s Word?

6. The people stood up to listen to the Word of God – Why? It showed their respect. They took it seriously. They realized it was direct revelation from God. It looks like they stayed standing for the entire time! This would have been exhausting. Try standing up in one place for an hour. It’s tiring. Doing that for hours and hours is very difficult. It requires a lot of energy. When you respect God’s Word you will make sacrifices for it. It will cost you energy. It will cost you time. It may inconvenience you. But it is worth it. We should take God’s Word seriously. We should make it a priority. If it is a priority, you will sacrifice for it. What can you sacrifice? Sleep, time, entertainment, etc.

7. The result of respecting God’s Word is praise – Spending time learning and studying God’s Word brings about changes in the life of the person who does so. God’s Word will not return void. It is living and active. The person who loves to read and study the Bible is a person who will love to praise and worship God. The two go hand in hand. In the Bible we learn about God’s greatness and our sinfulness. After we look at God and see His greatness we will respond by worshiping God. They expressed this worship verbally, but also physically by bowing. Later they would express their changed hearts by obeying what they learned.

8. They read from the law – Ezra was not the only one reading. Other Levites also read and instructed the people. It seems that the large group split into smaller groups. The smaller groups were led by Levites. These Levites read the law. Then they explained it making it clear and understandable to the people. The goal of their speaking was to make God’s Words clear.

9. Biblical preaching – This is the same goal of biblical preaching. When we preach or teach our goal should not be to share our own opinions. It should simply be to make clear what the Bible already says. We can use illustrations or examples or stories to make it clear. Our job is not to make it relevant. It is already relevant. Our job is not to ask what “does it mean to you?” Our job is to ask “what does it mean?” Our job is to encourage people to obey what they learn. Albert Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

II. The people rejoice and celebrate (9-12)

Discussion Questions

•  Why had the people been weeping? What does this show about the attitude of the people? Was this good or bad?
•  Why did their leaders tell them not to weep?
•  What should they do instead of weeping?
•  What can we learn about fellowship?
•  What can you learn from the phrase “the joy of the Lord is your strength?”
•  What role did the Levites have in the teaching (they reinforced what the other leaders said?)
•  Why were the people so happy in verse 12?

Cross-References

Matthew 5:3-4 – Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

2 Corinthians 7:10 – Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

Revelation 21:4 – He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[a] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1. This day is holy to the Lord – We should make the Lord the priority in our lives every day. And yet some days we set aside as special days to focus completely on Him, His Word, and worshiping Him. One of the ten commandments was for the Israelites to dedicate the Sabbhath day to make it holy to the Lord. In addition, they were to regularly celebrate various feasts, the main purpose of which was to remember what God had done for them.

Application: We too must regularly set aside time as “holy to the Lord.” On those days or during those times we should rid ourselves of distractions and focus on God.

2. All the people were weeping – Why? From this we see their hearts. They had contrite hearts. When they heard the Law, they started weeping because they realized that they had been disobeying many commands. They realized how far short of God’s standards they fell. Is this good or bad? This is good. It shows that they understood who God was and they understood who they were. The people were unable to live up to God’s standards. Their failure was fresh in their minds. To their credit, they didn’t deny it. Others may have responded by being angry. Some may have responded by getting upset at the prophets or leaders. We know when Jeremiah gave the scroll to the king, the king burned it. Not everyone responds to God’s word the way that they should. In fact, most do not.

Application: When you listen to God’s Word and learn about the serious state of your sin, how do you respond? Do you ignore it? Do you try to push it away from your mind? Do you justify it or excuse it? Are you mildly disappointed in yourself for a short time? Or do you weep? Does it really bother you to the point where you are in tears? It should.

3. Do not mourn or weep – If their response was a good one, then why did the leaders tell them to stop mourning and weeping? See Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Mourning about sin is good. But it is not good to remain in the state of weeping forever. The weeping is good not because it is the end goal. Sorrow about sin is not the goal. Sorrow is a means to an end. Grief is a strong emotion that can motivate you to do something. The end goal is life change. The goal is changed action. The end goal is obedience. I don’t believe God desires for us to go through our whole lives crying on and on about our sin. Neither does He desire us to go through our lives complacently ignoring our sins. The right balance is to first weep/grieve and then channel that emotion into motivation for changing our lives. If we look at this passage, this is exactly what we will see happening.

4. Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet – Nehemiah and Ezra wanted the people to celebrate. Yes, they had sinned. Yes, they had been disobedient. But they also had a lot to be thankful for. They had a lot to rejoice about. What could they celebrate? Many had returned to the Promised Land. God had preserved a remnant and preserved their land. God had been with them as they rebuilt the wall and it was finished. God had protected them from their enemies. It was to be a day of celebration. There is a time to weep and a time to celebrate.

Application: We could be sad about our sin everyday or we could rejoice in God’s goodness everyday. How do we decide which to do when? The main thing to remember is that there is a balance. Don’t go too far in either direction.

5. Send portions to him who has nothing – In their feasting they were to remember the poor. Instead of keeping what they had to themselves, God wanted them to generously share what they had with others. Everyone had something to celebrate, poor or rich. The generosity and sharing displayed encouraged the people in unity and reminded everyone they were part of the same team.

Application: When good things happen to you, do you remember those who don’t have anything? When you are at a party and enjoying yourself, do you look around and reach out to the person who is lonely? Do you just think of making yourself happy or do you try to make others around you happy? The real key to true joy is to give it to others. The more joy you give to others, the more you will have yourself.

6. The joy of the Lord is your strength – What does this phrase mean? Joy in the Lord could give them strength. Rejoicing in God’s goodness would re-energize them. After building the wall and also being reminded of their sins, they needed to be recharged spiritually. They needed to be re-energized. Connecting with the Lord by joyfully worshiping Him and celebrating His goodness and remembering what He had done for them could help them be re-energized.

Application: We need both nutrition coming in (through the Word) and praise going out to be a healthy believer strengthened by God.

7. They understood the words – It is a simple point, but an important one. When they understood the words, they became excited. Everything became clear, who they were, what they needed to do. This too should be our goal. It will not help someone if you share with them one hundred deep doctrinal points, but if they are confused the whole time. Our goal is to help people understand. It is not about looking smart. It is not about sounding professional. It is simply about helping people understand. If using an illustration or example when sharing with others helps them understand, use it. If it doesn’t help them understand, chuck it.

III. The people apply what they learn by celebrating the Feast of Booths (13-18)

Discussion Questions

•  In verse 12 we learned that the people understood the words. What did they do as a result?
•  What did the people do on the second day of their grand assembly? What do you think it means to “give attention to the law?” What was their purpose in giving attention to the law? What can we learn from this?
•  What does the word “found” suggest in verse 14?
•  What did they find out?
•  What did they do about it? What can we learn from them? Specifically, what can we learn about application and obedience?
•  What did their obedience cost them? Was this convenient?
•  What was the purpose of this festival?
•  Can we do anything similar to remember what God has done for us?
•  Who joined this celebration? What was unique about this event?
•  What was their focus during this festival? What does this show us about their hearts?

Cross-References

Leviticus 23:33-44 – In this passage we can learn the background of the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles)
1 John 3:18 – Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

James 4:17 –If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

Psalm 119:60 – I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1. On the second day – On the second day of the assembly, the people got together to… study the law… again. Studying God’s Word is not something you can do once and then finish. It is not something you can finish in a day, even if you listen to an all day sermon. To really understand God’s Word we need to come back to it again and again. It seems like this second assembly, they studied God’s law with the purpose that they wanted to find out what they should DO. It seems they were looking specifically for commands which had been given which they were not following. They weren’t getting together to feel good about themselves. They weren’t looking for commands which they were already obeying so that they could say, “Yes, I am doing a good job already.” Rather they wanted to find out if there were any commands which they were not yet obeying. If so, then they needed to change. Wow! Wouldn’t it be great if we too looked at the Scriptures with this same goal!

They found written in the law – Seek and you will find. When they looked with an eye for learning and obeying, they found something which they needed to obey.

2. Feast of Booths – See Leviticus 23:33-44. The Israelites were commanded to celebrate this feast annually. But they hadn’t done it in around eight hundred years! Even godly kings like David, Hezekiah, and Josiah hadn’t been obeying this command. Why? What was the matter?

Application: There is always room for growth. None of us obeys all of God’s commands. But this should be our goal. We should always be looking for those areas we are not obeying and then start obeying. Don’t be satisfied with an 80% or 90% or 99% obedience rate. Even many heroes in the Old Testament stopped short of complete obedience. Let us keep moving onward and upward in growth to be more like Christ every day.

3. God’s Word is the authority. Don’t look to tradition for the answer of what you should do. Just because everybody is doing something or no one is doing something, doesn’t make it right. In the case of this festival, every person (even the prophets) had been disobeying. Some did so out of ignorance. Others perhaps because it was not convenient. We must seek to obey every command even if we are the only one. What would have happened in previous years if one faithful Jew pitched his tent in his yard every year to celebrate this feast?

4. Obeying this festival was not very convenient – It meant living on a roof or in the yard under a temporary shelter built from leavers and branches gathered from wherever they could find them. If this was the preferred living environment people would have done that all the time. It also required setting aside time from people’s normal business and career to focus on God. They had to take time out from their busy schedule, which was not convenient. But perhaps this was exactly God’s point. Perhaps God did not want them to be so busy all the time making money. Perhaps God wanted them to set aside time just for remembering what He had done for them, sharing and talking about it together, praying, worshiping, studying the law, etc.

Application: How can we apply this? It is not always convenient for us to obey God. We have busy lives. We have comfortable lives. Maybe it is time we stopped being so busy. Maybe it is time we set aside time just for God.

5. There was great rejoicing – Do you want the secret formula for being joyful? Do you want to be happy? This is what most people search their whole lives for. I will give you the “secret” formula. It is tried and true. It is guaranteed to work or your money back. Obeying God results in joy. Try it. It works.

6. He read from the book of the law of God daily – The festival was not just a seven day camping break. It had a purpose. The purpose was to draw close to God. Therefore God’s Word was at the center. God’s Word should be at the center of our gatherings. Next time you get together with other believers, find a way to get the Bible into it. It could be reading a Psalm or Proverb before dinner. It could be a one minute Bible testimony. You can start with, “This morning I read in the Bible about…” It could be asking a question from the Bible to get people thinking.

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