Day 344: Nehemiah 8-10 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hey Bible nerds, this is Dr. Manny
2. 0:02Orango. Welcome to the Bible department
3. 0:04podcast powered by Arma. We are walking
4. 0:08through the entire Bible in a year. You
5. 0:10can go to the description or the bible
6. 0:13department.com to download a reading
7. 0:15plan and join the journey
8. 0:24family. Welcome to day 344.
9. 0:27We are looking at Nehemiah chapters 8,
10. 0:309, and 10 today. I'm super, super
11. 0:33excited because guess what? THE WALLS
12. 0:35HAVE BEEN BUILT. THAT'S RIGHT. Nehemiah
13. 0:38was able to build the walls of Jerusalem
14. 0:41in 52 days. And today, we're going to
15. 0:45dive into the aftermath of rebuilding
16. 0:48that wall. Remember days ago I said that
17. 0:51our framework for the books of Ezra and
18. 0:54Nehemiah are that the people are going
19. 0:56to return. They're going to rebuild and
20. 0:59then they are going to repent. All
21. 1:02right. So uh today is actually a hinge
22. 1:05point because we're going to get to a
23. 1:07place in Nehemiah chapter 8 where the
24. 1:09people are going to repent. It's one
25. 1:11thing to rebuild. The walls needed to
26. 1:13get rebuilt. That's a practical need uh
27. 1:15that the people had. But that does not
28. 1:17mean that they have been spiritually
29. 1:19awakened, that they've been spiritually
30. 1:21renewed. And so we are going to look at
31. 1:23the spiritual renewal that happens. And
32. 1:26I am going to give you context clues,
33. 1:28nerdy nuggets, and a timeless truth like
34. 1:31every day. So if you haven't gotten the
35. 1:34reading done today, if you haven't read
36. 1:36Nehemiah chapters 8, 9, and 10, this is
37. 1:38where I want you to stop the video,
38. 1:40pause the audio, go get the reading
39. 1:43done. Go get the reading done. solid
40. 1:45reading, not hard. And uh come on back
41. 1:48when you got the reading done. All
42. 1:49right, I'm going to give two big pieces
43. 1:52of context. Okay, first on yesterday's
44. 1:55reading, we've got the completion of a
45. 1:58wall. So that means we're coming into
46. 1:59today's reading with a complete wall.
47. 2:01Now, there is a debate between scholars
48. 2:04on which wall was actually rebuilt. Now,
49. 2:08this may straddle the fence between a
50. 2:10nerdy nugget and a context truth.
51. 2:12Obviously, it's context because by the
52. 2:15time we're in Nehemiah chapter 8, the
53. 2:17the walls are rebuilt. So, the real
54. 2:19question is which walls. Now, the debate
55. 2:22on which like set of walls Nehemiah
56. 2:25rebuilt is whether or not he rebuilt the
57. 2:29inner original walls of David and
58. 2:31Solomon or did he rebuild the broad
59. 2:34outer walls of Hezekiah's time. Okay?
60. 2:37And and here's the reason that it's
61. 2:39important is because he either rebuilt
62. 2:42walls around 32 acres of of land or
63. 2:46around 125 acres of land. Okay? Uh now
64. 2:50you may not remember this but in the
65. 2:53reign of Hezekiah okay he extended the
66. 2:56walls of Jerusalem. Hezekiah extended
67. 2:58the walls of Jerusalem, creating what is
68. 3:00now known as the broad wall, which were
69. 3:03an impressive new set of walls outside
70. 3:06and extending David and Solomon's
71. 3:08original walls. He did this to prepare
72. 3:11for the coming Assyrian invasion, but
73. 3:13also to house the refugees from the fall
74. 3:16of Israel in the north. These new walls
75. 3:19extended Jerusalem to the east and
76. 3:21practically quadrupled the size of the
77. 3:24city to around 125 acres. This was the
78. 3:27size then of Jerusalem in the century
79. 3:30before its fall to the Babylonians. The
80. 3:32debate then is which set of walls
81. 3:35Nehemiah actually rebuilt. Did he
82. 3:38rebuild the original inner walls of
83. 3:40David and Solomon or did he rebuild the
84. 3:42broad outer walls that Hezekiah had
85. 3:46constructed? Okay. And obviously the
86. 3:50reason that debate is important is
87. 3:52because if he did rebuild the 125 acres
88. 3:57acres of wall that is insanely
89. 4:00impressive in 52 days. Okay. Not it's
90. 4:02not that it's not impressive if it's the
91. 4:05smaller inner wall of David Solomon's
92. 4:08time. It's just just different. And if
93. 4:11you start going down the nerdy trail of
94. 4:14trying to figure this one out, there's
95. 4:16scholars on both sides of this. Okay, so
96. 4:18that's a that's a nerdy nugget context
97. 4:21clue. All right, so let's move on. Let's
98. 4:24I'm going to give you a little bit more
99. 4:25context as we dive into chapter 8. Okay,
100. 4:28chapter 8 verse 2 says this. So on the
101. 4:30first day of the seventh month, Ezra So
102. 4:34here we go. Ezra's back. Okay. So now
103. 4:36Ezra and Nehemiah are teaming up for
104. 4:40leading a spiritual renewal for the
105. 4:44people. Okay. So on the first day of the
106. 4:46seventh month, Ezra the priest brought
107. 4:49the law before the assembly which was
108. 4:52made up of men and women and all who
109. 4:56were able to understand. He read it
110. 4:58aloud from daybreak till noon as he
111. 5:01faced the square before the Watergate in
112. 5:04the presence of the men, women, and
113. 5:07others who could understand. And all the
114. 5:09people listened attentively to the book
115. 5:12of the law. All right, let's get some
116. 5:14context. What is this seventh month?
117. 5:17Okay, it's easy for modern American,
118. 5:20Western readers to just kind of read
119. 5:22verse two and just brush past the fact
120. 5:25that it's the first day of the seventh
121. 5:27month. Now, for those of you who may not
122. 5:29know this, the seventh month is insanely
123. 5:33important in the Jewish calendar. Okay?
124. 5:35It's the month of Tish. Okay? Tish is
125. 5:38the seventh month. And it's actually
126. 5:42arguably the most important month on the
127. 5:44Jewish calendar. There are three big
128. 5:46things that happen in the month of the
129. 5:49seventh month. Okay. The first day of
130. 5:51tish is the feast of trumpets. This is
131. 5:54Rashana. This is outlined in Leviticus
132. 5:5723:es 23-2. Numbers chap 29:es 1-6. This
133. 6:02was considered a Sabbath and a day of
134. 6:04solemn assembly. Okay? So, they're
135. 6:06gathering on the first of the first day
136. 6:09of the seventh month because it's
137. 6:12Rashashana.
138. 6:13And of course, the text is not going to
139. 6:15tell you that. It's just going to tell
140. 6:17you the date. That would be like you're
141. 6:19reading something, you know, in in
142. 6:22popular American culture and it just
143. 6:23says, "Yep, and they were gathered on
144. 6:25the 4th of July." Now, someone from a
145. 6:29different culture or a different time
146. 6:30period, the 4th of July means nothing to
147. 6:33them, right? Or the fourth day of the
148. 6:35seventh month means nothing. We would
149. 6:38immediately realize the fourth day of
150. 6:39the seventh month is the Fourth of July.
151. 6:41That's a holiday. Okay? And you could do
152. 6:44the same with tons of holidays, right?
153. 6:47September is the ninth month. You know,
154. 6:49September 11th is a day that we
155. 6:52recognize in in our nation. I remember
156. 6:54exactly where I was on 911. So, imagine
157. 6:57if if somebody just wrote, you know, the
158. 6:5911th day of the 9th month. For someone
159. 7:01with no context, that means nothing. But
160. 7:03if you're an American and you were alive
161. 7:06during the the terrorist attacks of of
162. 7:109/11, then you remember exactly where
163. 7:12you were. That has tons of implications.
164. 7:15Okay. So for most of us, we're just
165. 7:17reading on the first day of the seventh
166. 7:19month, Ezra. Like, okay, cool. First day
167. 7:22of the seventh month. Why is the text
168. 7:24telling me that? It's telling me that
169. 7:26because that has tons of implications.
170. 7:27Okay, so first day of the seventh month
171. 7:30is Rashashana. It was also considered
172. 7:33the beginning of the Jewish year. Later,
173. 7:36because of what Ezra did in chapter 8,
174. 7:38it also became a day when the Torah was
175. 7:40publicly read. Okay, so that wasn't the
176. 7:43tradition. That's what Ezra is doing on
177. 7:46Rashashana. And because Ezra does it
178. 7:49now, it becomes a tradition going
179. 7:51forward. Okay. But that's not the only
180. 7:54thing that's significant about the
181. 7:55seventh month. It's not just the feast
182. 7:58of trumpets or Rashashana. The 10th day
183. 8:01of Tishi. The seventh month is the day
184. 8:04of atonement. That's right. Yam Kapor.
185. 8:06So Yam Kapor and Rashashana are in the
186. 8:09same exact month. You can read all about
187. 8:11Yamapor in Exodus 30 9-10 and Leviticus
188. 8:1616:es 1-34
189. 8:18and Numbers 29 7-11 the most important
190. 8:22day of the Jewish calendar a day of
191. 8:25national atonement for Israel the
192. 8:27priesthood and the tabernacle the temple
193. 8:29itself this was the one day that the
194. 8:32high priest entered the holy of holies
195. 8:34to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat to
196. 8:36cleanse the temple priesthood and people
197. 8:39so the presence of Yahweh could stay in
198. 8:41the temple for another year as mentioned
199. 8:43above. This involved the sevenst step
200. 8:46ritual. Okay. And then from the 15th of
201. 8:50Tish to the 21st of Tish that's the
202. 8:53seventh month is the feast of
203. 8:55tabernacles known as Sukkot or the feast
204. 8:59of booths. You can read all about this
205. 9:01in Exodus 23 16-1 17, Leviticus 23:es
206. 9:0633-44,
207. 9:07or Deuteronomy 16:3-17.
208. 9:11The Feast of Tabernacles was to
209. 9:13commemorate or to celebrate God's
210. 9:16presence with the people in the
211. 9:18wilderness. This was a week-long
212. 9:20celebration where the people lived in
213. 9:22tents to remember the time their
214. 9:25ancestors camped around the tabernacle
215. 9:28in the wilderness. and how Yahweh
216. 9:31provided food for them to survive. The
217. 9:34festival coincided with the end of the
218. 9:36harvest season. And so this is a huge
219. 9:39month. Okay, number one, it's the
220. 9:41seventh month. And seven's a huge number
221. 9:45in the Jewish world, right? There's
222. 9:46seven days of creation. There's seven
223. 9:48instructions to build a tabernacle.
224. 9:50There's seven steps of atonement.
225. 9:51There's seven years to build the temple.
226. 9:54John's gospel, there's going to be seven
227. 9:56I ams, seven discourses, seven signs,
228. 9:58seven festivals. John's apocalypse, the
229. 10:01church becomes the eternal holy of
230. 10:03holies where heaven and earth become
231. 10:04one. Told through seven churches, seven
232. 10:07seals, seven trumpets, seven signs, and
233. 10:10seven BS. I mean, the number seven is
234. 10:13all over the entire Bible, old and new
235. 10:16testament. And so you get to re you you
236. 10:19understand pretty quickly that the
237. 10:22seventh month is going to be a big deal.
238. 10:24And the seventh month on the Jewish
239. 10:26calendar is the most important month.
240. 10:28And it's the only month that has three
241. 10:31holidays in one month. And like arguably
242. 10:35some of the most important holidays,
243. 10:37Rashashana, Yam Kapore, and the feast of
244. 10:40tabernacles. All right, that is going to
245. 10:42give context for everything we're going
246. 10:44to read in Nehemiah chapters 8-10. Okay,
247. 10:47so the revival, the spiritual awakening
248. 10:50that happens in Nehemiah chapters 8-10
249. 10:53aren't random. Okay, so that gives
250. 10:56context as we move into our nerdy
251. 10:57nuggets for this verse right here.
252. 10:59Nehemiah 8:14
253. 11:03says, "They found written in the law
254. 11:05which the Lord had commanded through
255. 11:07Moses that the Israelites were to live
256. 11:10in temporary shelters during the
257. 11:13festival of the seventh month." That so
258. 11:16that they hadn't been practicing the
259. 11:18festival of of tab the feast of
260. 11:21tabernacles. they've been disobeying
261. 11:23Yahweh and that they should proclaim
262. 11:25this word and spread it throughout their
263. 11:28towns and in Jerusalem. Okay? And then I
264. 11:30want you to read verse 17. We're going
265. 11:33to skip to verse 17. Says this, "The
266. 11:36whole company that had returned from
267. 11:38exile built temporary shelters, tents,
268. 11:41tabernacles, booths, and lived in them
269. 11:44from the days of Joshua son of Nun until
270. 11:47that day. The Israelites had not
271. 11:49celebrated it like this and their joy
272. 11:53was very great. Okay, so it's hard to
273. 11:56even have context for that if you don't
274. 11:59know what should be happening in the
275. 12:03seventh month in the month of Tisher.
276. 12:05All right, that's a lot of I guess nerdy
277. 12:08just factual information. Let's get to
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301. 13:09to the episode. Nehemiah 8:es 2 and 5.
302. 13:12What is going to prompt this entire
303. 13:15spiritual renewal? Remember, the people
304. 13:17have returned. They have rebuilt and now
305. 13:20it's time for them to repent. Okay? It's
306. 13:22time for a revival. So on the first day
307. 13:25of the seventh month, Ezra the priest
308. 13:27brought the law before the assembly,
309. 13:30which was made up of men and women, and
310. 13:32all who were able to understand it. He
311. 13:34read it aloud from daybreak till noon as
312. 13:38he faced the square before the Watergate
313. 13:40in the presence of the men, women, and
314. 13:42others who could understand. And all the
315. 13:45people listened attentively to the book
316. 13:48of the law. And the people get to the
317. 13:51place of hearing the book of the law
318. 13:53read out loud and they decide we need to
319. 13:56repent. There are things we're not
320. 13:57doing. We haven't been celebrating the
321. 13:59feast of tabernacles. There's we haven't
322. 14:01been tithing. We haven't been
323. 14:03prioritizing the house of God. Literally
324. 14:05on and on and on and on and on. You read
325. 14:07through chapters 8 9 and 10. And the
326. 14:10people are moved towards repentance.
327. 14:14They are moved towards revival. And it
328. 14:16all starts with the reading of the book
329. 14:19of the law, reading God's word. So
330. 14:23something's happening there in chapter
331. 14:248. Ezra is reading God's word and then
332. 14:27the Levites are explaining
333. 14:30the word of God to all of the people. So
334. 14:33the entire nation is experiencing the
335. 14:36spoken or preached or taught word of the
336. 14:40Lord. It says this in verse four, Ezra
337. 14:42the teacher of the law stood on a high
338. 14:44wooden platform built for the occasion.
339. 14:47Okay. And then verse five, Ezra opened
340. 14:50the book. all the people could see him
341. 14:53because he was standing above them. And
342. 14:55as he opened it, the people all stood
343. 14:58up. Okay? And then it says in verse 9,
344. 15:00"Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the
345. 15:02priest, the teacher of the law, and the
346. 15:04Levites who were instructing the people
347. 15:06said to them all, "This day is holy to
348. 15:08the Lord your God, do not mourn or
349. 15:10weep." For all the people had been
350. 15:12weeping as they listened to the words of
351. 15:15the law. Okay? Why are they weeping?
352. 15:17because they are finally realizing their
353. 15:21sin, their rebellion, their
354. 15:23disobedience, and that breaks their
355. 15:25heart. And Nehemiah and Ezra essentially
356. 15:27saying, "Hey, hey, hey, don't don't just
357. 15:30mourn. Don't just be sad. Let's change."
358. 15:33Okay? So, the people are going to
359. 15:35covenant together to obey the Torah, to
360. 15:39obey the word of the law. Okay? We could
361. 15:41go to chapter 9, go to verse 38. In view
362. 15:45of all this, we are making a binding
363. 15:47agreement, putting it in writing, and
364. 15:49our leaders, our Levites and our priests
365. 15:52are affixing their seals to it. Okay?
366. 15:55So, they are going to reassert
367. 15:58themselves as a covenant community. God,
368. 16:01we're sorry that we haven't been walking
369. 16:03in covenant obedience. We want to walk
370. 16:05in covenant obedience. Let's repent so
371. 16:08that we could see spiritual awakening,
372. 16:10spiritual revival. Okay. A big theme of
373. 16:14all of chapter 9, I read 9 uh chapter
374. 16:179:33, is that God is faithful even when
375. 16:21his people are unfaithful. It says this
376. 16:24in chapter 9:33, "In all that has
377. 16:28happened to us, you have remained
378. 16:31righteous. You have acted faithfully
379. 16:33while we acted wickedly." Okay, big big
380. 16:37theme. In Nehemiah chapter 10:39,
381. 16:40the people are going to realize they've
382. 16:43neglected the house of the Lord. So that
383. 16:46the end of chapter 10 is all about
384. 16:47tithes and offerings. Okay? And then
385. 16:5010:39, it's going to or 10:38, a priest
386. 16:54descended from Aaron is to accompany the
387. 16:56Levites when they receive the tithes.
388. 16:59and the Levites are to bring a tenth of
389. 17:03the tithes up to the house of our God to
390. 17:06the storooms of the treasury. Verse 39,
391. 17:09the people of Israel included the
392. 17:11Levites are to bring their contributions
393. 17:14of grain, new wine, olive oil to the
394. 17:17store rooms where the articles for the
395. 17:20sanctuary and for ministering priests,
396. 17:22the gatekeepers and the musicians are
397. 17:24also kept. We will not neglect the house
398. 17:27of our God is what they say. That's what
399. 17:30they commit to. We will not neglect the
400. 17:33house of our God. So, renewal,
401. 17:36repentance, revival. It's amazing. Okay.
402. 17:39Now, you know, heads up, not going to
403. 17:42last long, but we're on the right track.
404. 17:46Okay, which leads us into our timeless
405. 17:48truth for the day. And our timeless
406. 17:50truth is pretty simple. There is no
407. 17:52revival without a return to the written
408. 17:57word of God. What starts this entire
409. 18:01emotional spiritual re renewal revival?
410. 18:06It's Ezra reading the book of the law.
411. 18:09Just reading the Bible. Someone asked me
412. 18:12recently, why did you start the Bible
413. 18:14department? Why did you start Arma?
414. 18:16What? like why why are you dedicating so
415. 18:19much of your life and so much of your
416. 18:22energy and so much of your time and so
417. 18:24much of your team's resources just to
418. 18:27biblical literacy or the reading of the
419. 18:30Bible or engaging with the Bible. And I
420. 18:32said because I think that a return to
421. 18:34the scriptures always pre prepares the
422. 18:39way for revival and I believe God for
423. 18:43revival. I want to see revival. I want
424. 18:47to see limbs grow back, man. I I want to
425. 18:49see dead people come to life. And
426. 18:52there's a bit of this, I don't know, in
427. 18:54the Pentecostal space. I won't name
428. 18:56names, but there's this like undertone
429. 19:00that as long as we have the Holy Spirit,
430. 19:02that's all we need. And I would say, no,
431. 19:04no, no, no, no. We need the Holy
432. 19:05Scriptures. Wait, wait, wait, wait,
433. 19:07wait. Hey, a return to the scriptures is
434. 19:10what precedes revival, not just at an
435. 19:12outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It it's
436. 19:15not just God pour out your spirit. You
437. 19:17know, there's this kind of line of
438. 19:19reasoning that can kind of go as
439. 19:23follows. You know, the New Testament
440. 19:24church, they didn't have scriptures, but
441. 19:27they had the Holy Spirit. And because
442. 19:28they had the Holy Spirit, they were
443. 19:30fine. And I hear that. Uh but we do have
444. 19:33the scriptures. And why are we acting
445. 19:36like we have to choose between the
446. 19:37scriptures and the spirit? We have the
447. 19:40scriptures that are inspired by the Holy
448. 19:42Spirit. And we have the outpouring of
449. 19:44the Holy Spirit as New Testament
450. 19:45believers. And everything starts with
451. 19:49returning to the scriptures. People
452. 19:51falling in love with the scriptures.
453. 19:52People falling in love with truth, with
454. 19:54what God has to say, with the words of
455. 19:57God, which point to the author of the
456. 20:00scriptures, which is God himself. So
457. 20:03this pattern is true all throughout the
458. 20:05Hebrew Bible. In Josiah's time, this
459. 20:07story can be found in 2 Kings chapter
460. 20:0922-23 or 2 Chronicles chapter 34-35.
461. 20:13They find the book of the law. Same
462. 20:15thing happens in Josiah's age. And what
463. 20:18does it do? It leads to revival. It
464. 20:20leads to spiritual renewal. Why? Because
465. 20:24returning to the book always leads to
466. 20:27the reviving of the soul. Returning to
467. 20:30the book always leads to the reviving of
468. 20:32the soul. Maybe you're a young leader.
469. 20:35You want to see revival? Me, too. You
470. 20:37want to see college campuses turned
471. 20:39upside down for the glory of God? Me,
472. 20:40too. You want to see churches full of
473. 20:43people every Sunday. We don't have
474. 20:45enough seats for people. Me, too. You
475. 20:47want to see mission missionaries
476. 20:49deployed all around the world to flood
477. 20:52the 1040 window to go into Muslim
478. 20:54countries with the gospel. Me, too. I
479. 20:57want to see revival. And I've just
480. 21:00studied enough church history and a
481. 21:02pattern in scripture to know that if we
482. 21:04want to see revival, then we have to
483. 21:07have a radical return to the scriptures.
484. 21:10There is no revival without the Bible.
485. 21:13It's not possible because what happens?
486. 21:16There's a return then to the scriptures
487. 21:19which brings repentance and it's the
488. 21:22confession of sin and the turning away
489. 21:24from sin and the in the
490. 21:28love of what God loves and the hate of
491. 21:30what God hates that actually is the
492. 21:33seedbed for revival. All right, that's
493. 21:36our timeless truth for the day. That's
494. 21:38not just true in esra and Nehemiah's
495. 21:41time. That's not just true in Josiah's
496. 21:43time. That's not just true for these
497. 21:45biblical characters. That is true today.
498. 21:48If we want to see revival, then man, we
499. 21:52better return to the scriptures because
500. 21:55that is a like foolproof way to actually
501. 22:00begin to see spiritual awakening in our
502. 22:02nation, on our college campuses, in our
503. 22:05cities, and all across the country. Love
504. 22:08you guys. So proud of you, especially if
505. 22:10you're on a streak. I'll see you
506. 22:11tomorrow as we end the book of Nehemiah.
507. 22:14Tomorrow we end the book of Nehemiah on
508. 22:16day 3:45. I'm super super excited.
509. 22:20Tomorrow we're going to dive into
510. 22:21Nehemiah chapters 11, 12, and 13. Can't
511. 22:25wait to see you. I'll be right here same
512. 22:27time, same place. Love you. Peace.
513. 22:30Thanks so much for joining us on the
514. 22:31Bible department podcast. If this
515. 22:33episode was helpful, how about you leave
516. 22:35a comment, share with a friend, and
517. 22:37subscribe so that you never miss an
518. 22:39[music] episode. To learn more about the
519. 22:41show, head to the bible department.com.
520. 22:44We'll see you right back here tomorrow.