Truly, Truly! – Ezra and Nehemiah

Truly, Truly! – Ezra and Nehemiah.

“Ezra stood on the platform in full view of all the people. When they saw him open the Book, they all rose to their feet. Then Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people chanted, ‘Amen! Amen!’ as they lifted their hands. Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.” (Nehemiah 8:5-6).

There is a much-used Hebrew word in the Hebrew Bible that points to its root word “truth.” The Greek in the New Testament also picked it up and used it for “truth” as well. That common Hebrew word is “amen.”

Amen. This biblical word basically means: This is truth! I agree that this is true! Yes! We heartily accept and approve of what was said! We are assured that this is certainly true! So be it! We believe this is trustworthy and we take it to heart!

Amen! Amen! When this was exclaimed after a reading or a prayer, just take what is meant by Amen and double it in intensity. The double Amen means: We absolutely agree that this is the certain truth! These are without a doubt trustworthy words and can have authority in our lives! O Yes, most certainly Yes! May this be the absolute truth! We believe these words with all our heart, mind and soul! These words are without question God’s truth! These words we can most assuredly trust in! So be it, so be it! We see this double Amen fully on display in Nehemiah 8, when the people of Israel heard the Torah read and explained, and they were so struck to the heart that they cried out in unison, Amen! Amen! (Nehemiah 8:6).

After 70 years of exile in Babylon for their national punishment, the Hebrews were finally allowed to return to their homeland. They badly needed to reestablish the nation of Israel and their identity as the Chosen People of God. In the first few years of settling into the Promised Land of yesteryear, it was clear that the people of Israel had lost touch with their Jewish faith in Yahweh. They were like lost sheep as they tried to figure out how to return to their Israelite roots. Upon their return to Israel, it was obvious that it’s easier to get out of Babylon than it is to get the Babylon out of them. They had been living in a polytheistic culture, a pagan society, and the worship of their one true God was bit foreign to them. Eventually, after about twelve years or so, the people were successful in rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. They still needed leadership and spiritual direction, though, and two special men arrived to help. Ezra and Nehemiah had both risen to impressive posts in Babylon, but they were both called to return home to help in their people’s transition process. These two talented Jewish men were determined to follow God’s call on their lives. Ezra was well-suited for taking the religious leadership role. He was a trained Torah scholar, an interpreter of Torah, a lawyer and a trained teacher of the Teachings of Moses. Ezra was well-prepared in his training to provide what was needed to take the new Israel down the right path.

So we read in Nehemiah 8 how Ezra gathered all the Israelites together during the Jewish New Year in order to establish a new beginning for Israel. He had a special wooden platform built in the big public square so all the people could see him, or at least hear him. From early in the morning till midday, Ezra read aloud from the long-forgotten Law of Moses, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. Ezra’s plan was to rebuild Israel by rebuilding the hearts of the people, by reminding them of the Word of the Lord and how vital it is to find their identity in this Word of God. He must have read with authority as he recited portions of the Pentateuch, while all the people stood out of respect. Accompanying Ezra was a number of prepared elders who would not only interpret the Hebrew of the Scripture for all those who only understood the Persian Aramaic, but these elders would also explain and unpack the Scripture as it was being read so the people could understand.

Ezra said at the beginning of his readings that “This day is holy to the Lord!” And it certainly was. These teaching elders hand-picked by Ezra must have been-well-trained and very talented, because they were amazingly successful in helping the people to understand Ezra’s readings of the Word. Children who were old enough to understand were also included in this assembly, to complicate matters of comprehension for the elders. These elders were the unsung heroes of this powerful scene, for they could not only do language interpretation right on the spot, but also explain the Scripture in understandable terms to the adults, and they could reach the children in attendance as well! The people were said to be especially receptive during the readings, for “the ears of all the people were attentive to the Teachings of Moses.”

There is something powerful about reading the Word of God, in any setting, and the wind of the Holy Spirit certainly seemed to blow through this huge assembly of Israelites. The people shouted, “Amen! Amen!” during the reading. Yes! they exclaimed, O Yes! This is the truth! This is the truth! And their body language, which the Lord can of course understand perfectly well, was telling.

“Then Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people chanted, ‘Amen! Amen!’ as they lifted their hands. Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.” (Nehemiah 8:5-6).

Physical gestures can point to spiritual truth, or it could stimulate spiritual truth. Body movements often reflect the status of the heart. The posture of one’s body can be a sign that communicates a message. Physical movement can also stimulate an emotion or thought, and the muscle memory used is often a spiritual muscle. Do you want to signal to God that you submit to Him, that you adore Him, that you want to give your whole life to Him? There are gestures that can communicate these positions of the heart that don’t need words. Down through Judeo-Christian history, body language is vital to spiritual life and expression. The body can speak clearly without words.

LIFTING THE HANDS. We lift our hands to celebrate, to praise and adore, to acknowledge His lordship, to intercede for loved ones, to entreat the Lord in humility, and even to confess our sins to God. A survey of some of the Scriptures reveal that lifting up our hands is an important gesture and speaks volumes.

1. “In your Name I will lift up my hands.” (Ps. 63:4);
2. “May the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.” (Ps. 141:2);
3. “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord.” (Ps. 134:2)’
4. “Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift my hands toward your Most Holy Place.” (Ps. 28:2);
5. “I spread my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.” (Ps. 143:6);
6. “Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children.” (Lam. 2:19);
7. “In every place of worship, I want you to pray with holy hands lifted up to God…” (1 Tim. 2:8);
8. “Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say, ‘We have sinned and rebelled...” (Lam. 3:41).

PROSTRATE TO THE GROUND. When a defeated soldier is brought to a conquering king, the captured foe lays his body out, face down, fully on the ground. That physical act acknowledges the fact that he is in subjection to the king, tht he submits to his power and authority. To lie prostrate in worship is to acknowledge much the same thing, that the worshiper is humbly in full submission to God the King. To lie prostrate in prayerful worship is done out of reverence and a healthy fear of God’s might and authority over us. Interceding for the people of Israel after the Golden Calf debacle, Moses fell prostrate before the Lord for forty days and nights. He fasted the whole time he was prostrate, because he “feared the anger and wrath of the Lord.” (Deut. 9:18-19). Moses acknowledges his subservience to Yahweh by his physical gesture. Even more telling was the time when all the people on Mt. Carmel saw the fire of heaven come down at Elijah’s request, ‘When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord – He is God! The Lord – He is God!’ (1 Kings 19:39). Prostration is a rather radical, visual way to signal one’s submission and respect to God. It would be interesting to try this posture in private prayer, no less in community worship.

KNEEL. The Hebrew word most often translated as “bless” is barak, which means to kneel down, to adore with bended knees. It is an act of humbling oneself as we exalt the Lord and revere His Name. Kneeling is a sign of adoration and reverence, of humility and respect. We kneel low to raise God high.

1. “Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” (Ps. 95:6);
2. “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth derives its name.” (Eph. 3:14);
3. “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other… Before me every knee will bow.” (Is. 45:22-23);
4. “As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.” (Ro. 14:11);
5. “Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11).

At the end of this initial day of reading, the people responded with tears of grief at how far they had fallen from their heritage of faith and their knowledge of Yahweh their God. But the wisdom of the elders was on full display again as they told the mourning people to be still, to quiet down their mourning, and instead celebrate their renewed faith and knowledge, as well as God’s faithfulness to them through all of Israel’s ups and downs. So the people went their way rejoicing, ready to have a feast of celebration in their homes. The elders reminded them that they were to make sure to provide for any in their midst who were too poor to have a feast. The people went home rejoicing because “they understood the words that were declared to them.” (8:12).

After celebrating their new-found faith in Yahweh, the people soon realized that in order to follow God’s instructions to Moses, they needed to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths. So they made their makeshift booths, their sukkahs, and were filled with gladness once again as they were privileged to participate in their faith according to God’s Scripture.

“So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves booths, sukka, on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God… The whole company that had returned from exile built booths and lived in them. And their joy was very great.” (Nehemiah 8:16-17)

Sukka: Hebrew word for tabernacle, temporary dwelling, booth, makeshift hut; pronounced sookuh.

The Feast of Tabernacles, or Succoth (pronounced sookoth, plural of sukka): the most joyous Old Testament feast of the year; a seven-day celebration in the Temple and in the homes of Jewish believers; also called Feast of Ingathering, because it is the greatest harvest feast of the year. Refer to Deuteronomy 16:13-15. This feast is mentioned more than any other in Scripture, so is the most prominent feast in the Bible. The Pilgrims in Plymouth referred to this Feast when they began what is now our Thanksgiving celebration.

God told His people to build sukka’s during this Feast in order to remember not only their liberation from Egypt, but also His care and protection of them during their long wilderness journey. (Leviticus 23:33-43).

For a rabbinic look at the sukka, consider the words of Rabbi Jonathon Sacks: “When we sit in the sukka, we recall Jewish history – not just the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, but also the entire experience of exile. The sukka is the most powerful symbol of Jewish history. No other nation could see its home not as a castle, a fortress, or a triumphal arch, but as a fragile tabernacle. No other nation was born, not in its land, but in the desert. Sukkot is a festival of a people like no other, whose only protection was its faith in the sheltering wings of the Divine Presence. The sukka itself, the tabernacle, represents the singular character of Jewish history with its repeated experiences of exile and homecoming and its long journey across the wilderness of time. As Jews, we are heirs to a history unlike that of any other people: small, vulnerable, suffering exile after exile, yet surviving. Hence the sukka.” (Jonathon Sacks, Covenant and Conversation: Leviticus)

As Christians, building a sukka enables us to identify with our rootage in the Jewish faith and experience. It helps us to celebrate God’s faithfulness during our journey now, keeping His promise to be our true security, our only permanent dwelling place as we walk with Him in faith and obedience. “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. (2 Corinthians 5:1).

Isn’t it wonderful and amazing that all during the seven days of the Feast, Ezra continued reading to the people from the Word? What better foundation for the rebuilt Israel can there be but the Scripture?

About a week after the Feast of Booths, the people assembled once again, this time to participate in public confession of their sins, as well as the sin of their fathers. For about three hours during this sacred assembly, Ezra continued reading from the Teachings of Moses in Torah, and then for another three hours they engaged in public confession and community worship of Yahweh their God. They were unafraid to share their confessions with their neighbors. They confessed in the presence of other believers, and of course this pointed to what became commonplace in early Christian life.

Confess your sins to each other.” (James 5:16).

Confess: to acknowledge openly; to freely admit to wrongdoing; to announce one’s guilt; to concede one’s shortcomings; to repent of sins; to agree with God that the sin is a sin.

Mutual Confession in Community. The research of the Orthodox Church states that the ancient Christian custom was to confess sins mutually, to one another, as an act of repentance. As the church grew, though, this practice became more difficult as they had to consider confessing to strangers. So the priest of the Body would represent the people of the Church and hear the confession. The Orthodox Church believes that a mere private confession to God alone was not supported in scripture. We need to somehow acknowledge our sin to the community, whether privately or publicly. Early Christians believed that 1 John 1:9 is in the context of mutual confession, in community: “If we confess our sins to Him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

Don’t keep your sins a secret, the early Christians seem to say to us. When we are hiding our wrongdoings from one another, there’s a good chance we are keeping our sin from God, and even from ourselves. Confession is good for the soul, it clears the conscience and gives us peace, it strengthens our emotions, and stabilizes the mind. If our sin has harmed the community in some way, we need to consider a more public confession. If we have sinfully offended an individual, we need to seek out that person and confess privately. If we are on intimate terms with a small group and want them to support us as we seek to overcome a troublesome sin, confess to the small group. If we have a spiritual director or a deep friend who understands our life journey, confess to him/her. If we want a spiritual authority to represent us to God, and who thus will reassure us of God’s forgiveness and mercy, confess to our priest, pastor, or other minister. Confess our sins to one another, and be forgiven by the Lord of Love.

“People who conceal their sins will not prosper; but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13, NLT).

After the mass confession and community worship, the people listened to an astounding and lengthy prayer by the elders. Their prayer referred to their history with God, their spiritual heritage, and God’s faithfulness throughout. The prayer had much to say about the all-important Covenant that was established between them and their God Yahweh. At the conclusion of the prayer, the people sealed the Covenant, they bound themselves to an oath… In the spirit of their renewed covenant, the people promised “to do all the commandments of Yahweh.”

Taken from the beginning of this story, with Ezra climbing that huge wooden scaffold to read the Scripture to the people, and concluding with a renewal of the Covenant, this is a narrative worthy of a novel. An amazing and inspiring story. God is good. Great is His faithfulness.