Nehemiah 7-8
Nehemiah 7
is basically a repeat of Ezra 2, but Nehemiah 8 has some interesting bits.
First, Nehemiah and Ezra appear together. To my mind this resolves a number of
the chronological issues that Ezra presented.
More importantly,
Ezra reads out the Law. This fits a pattern we’ve seen repeatedly: the people
of Israel regularly forgot the Law. Now, in fairness, it’s not like everyone
had a Bible sitting around; we have an extraordinary advantage over them in
that regard. Still, it is remarkable how often Israel was disconnected from the
distinctive way of life that the Lord had commanded. It seems to me that is why
they people wept that day: they realized how much of God’s law they had neglected
from sheer ignorance.
There’s an
important development in this chapter, because verse 8 talks about the Levites
reading the law and making it clear so that the people understood. This may be
the historical beginning of two things. First, it may be the historical root of
the synagogue, a nearly universal institution in the Diaspora, the scattering
of the Jewish people, which took place after the exile. Any place that had 10
Jewish men was to have a synagogue, and in the synagogue there was reading of
the Law and explanation of it. (Christian worship from the earliest times to
today actually has a lot in common with the synagogue, especially the prevalence
of Scripture reading and teaching.) Second, some scholars see this event as the
genesis of what are called the Targums, a sort of free translation from Hebrew
into the more commonly spoken Aramaic. My study Bible points out that Aramaic
Targums exist for every book of the Old Testament except Ezra, Nehemiah, and
Daniel. It reminds us that the Bible’s original languages are not available to
all believers and faithful and competent translations are necessary. And for
that we can thank God for the era we live in, because we have English
translations that are simply excellent. (There will always be a place for those
who can read the original languages, and I am grateful to belong to a church that
requires her pastors to be able to do so.)
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