The Reading of the Law
Ezra Reads Before the People (1-4)
The walls were completed in the sixth month, so in the seventh month, the whole nation was gathered before the Water Gate, including those living outside the city walls. Ezra’s leadership, which seems to have been silent and maybe even discarded for some 13 years, was restored. The people were revived by Yahweh, likely due to the miraculous speed at which the wall was completed, and turned to the old prophet to read and teach them the Law of Moses (1). Ezra, the keeper of the Book of the Law, upon invitation, brought the Book of the Law, the first five books of the Old Testament, before those gathered. The crowd is described as those who could comprehend and understand what Ezra was to read. There at the Water Gate, they gave themselves to be attentive (2). The emphasis was not so much on reading the first five books of the Bible but on understanding and comprehending what was read.
Ezra read the Book at the Water Square, or the square that had been cleared by the Water Gate; it was a large public meeting place within the city. From early in the morning to midday, Ezra read (3). So Ezra could be heard, they built a platform for him to read from. Ezra was surrounded by 13 men, likely leaders who helped with the five to six hours of reading and explaining what was being read (4).
The Detailed Account of Reading the Law (5-8)
When Ezra opened the book, the people all stood in reverence, then Ezra blessed the Lord, and the people shouted two heartfelt “Amens” with hands raised. Then they bowed to the ground and worshiped Yahweh. After their worship, it is assumed they returned to their standing position (5-6).
It would seem that after Ezra read a portion of Scripture, the 13 men divided those gathered in the court into 13 groups and explained a particular portion of the text to their respective groups. Then Ezra would read some more, followed by more explanation from the 13 men. While we do not know exactly how it happened, we do know the emphasis was not just on hearing God’s Law but also on understanding it. The 13 made sense of what was being read (7-8).
Calming the Grief of Those Taught God’s Word (9-12)
As the day continued and as those gathered considered what was being read, they began to weep, realizing they had not been following Yahweh nor comprehending His great love or His faithfulness to keep His word. The goodness of God’s Word was so overwhelming that it drove them to tears. Nehemiah and Ezra then sought to calm their grief by assuring them Yahweh wanted them to rejoice, for their tears were evidence that they had understood God’s Word (9). It was to be a day of rejoicing, fearing God, sharing with those who didn’t have enough, and strengthening their souls in Yahweh by expressing and experiencing their joy for Him (10). The Jews dried their eyes and began a huge celebration, not about the walls’ completion but because they had understood God’s Law (11-12).
The Feast of Booths Restored (13-18)
The next day, a group of select leaders from the nation returned to the Water Gate Square with the priests and Levites for more reading and study led by Ezra (13). As they read, they came across the passages dealing with what was known as the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, also called the Feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22). The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated at the end of the harvest season, kept in our September/October (14). Leviticus gives a more elaborate account of the Feast. It was not only a feast celebrating the end of the harvest season, but also a feast to commemorate Israel’s dependence upon Yahweh in the wilderness, where they had lived in tents and followed Yahweh’s leading into the land He promised them (Leviticus 23:39-44).
In God’s instructions about the feast, the Jews learned they were to advertise the coming feast for it was to be a national celebration. They were to go into the hills and find branches from leafy trees to construct temporary dwellings (15).
Those gathered at the Water Gate went and published the news concerning the Feast of Booths, which was scheduled to begin within less than two weeks. The Jews responded by building temporary booths everywhere—on the roofs of their homes, in the squares, at the temple courts, and around the gates of the city (16). The feast had not been celebrated since the children of Israel first entered the land under Joshua, so their rejoicing was great (17). Throughout the feast, revival meetings were held at the Water Gate, where Ezra continued to read from the Book of the Law and the 13 teachers continued to explain it, until the eighth day when a fast was called and a holy assembly was held (18).
Yahweh's Excellent Word
Psalm 119 is a “Wisdom Psalm” whose author is unknown, and yet there is reason to believe it was written by Ezra in the post-exilic times. It is an acrostic Psalm, constructed into twenty-two eight-verse stanzas corresponding to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
The Psalm is self outlined in the sense of the acrostic, so let me fill in the literary background of the Psalm to give it meaning in relationship to the time of its writing. Because the evidence of Ezra's authorship is most likely, I will assume throughout my review that Ezra is the author.
Ezra's main theme in the Psalm is Yahweh (appearing twenty-four times in the text). Ezra's main subject of the Psalm is the “word” which appears 175 times in 176 verses in some form, and it appears in every verse except verses 3, 37, 84, 90, 121, 122, and 132.
The basic words used for “word”:
“Law” 25 times,
“Testimonies” 23 times
“Precepts” 21 times
“Statutes” 22 times
“Commandments” 22 times
“Judgments”/“ordinances” 33 times
“Word” (Hebrew davar, ordevarim) 23 times
“Word” (imrah) 30 times
Ezra uses afflictions as the circumstantial backdrop for his Psalm, the word appearing in verses 8, 20, 22, 23, 25, 28, 39, 42, 50, 51, 53, 61, 67, 69, 71, 75, 78, 81–87, 92, 94, 95, 107, 110, 115, 121– 23, 134, 136, 141, 143, 145–47, 149, 150, 153, 154, 157, 161, 170, and 176.
The aim of Ezra is clear: he is calling upon Yahweh to deliver him, thus Judah, according to His word and for the sake of His lovingkindness, so that those who consider the act of honoring Yahweh and His word fruitless will have their insults buried beneath Yahweh's faithfulness. He further commits to bearing faithful witness to the world concerning Yahweh's promise-keeping nature, and further he is ready to surrender to wholehearted obedience to Yahweh's command.
Place this Psalm against the background of Judah’s returning from Babylon to rebuild the Wall of the City of Jerusalem on the basis of God's word. You can see Ezra writing this Psalm to imprint on the heart and minds of Yahweh's people the great faith they should have in Yahweh to fulfill what He had started, according to His promise.
Observation: This Psalm serves as a motivating song, reviving faith in Yahweh's word against the adversaries wishing to stop Judah's resettlement and rebuilding. After Judah had rebuilt the wall, the nation asked the scribe Ezra to come and read the law. He did so at the Water Gate (Nehemiah 8). A revival of God's word was sweeping the nation at this time. It is hard to imagine this Psalm not being written by Ezra at this time.
Purpose: To show us how to pray when we are partway through God’s completing and fulfilling a word Yahweh has spoken into our lives, restoring and renewing our faith in His promises.