Why Did Nehemiah Charge Ezra to Read God's Law to the People in Nehemiah 8:1-8?

     Reading the Bible changes us.  If you don't think so, try it for six months or a year. I'm sure you'll find out that something happens to us when God's word becomes the compass for our living.   And for sure God knows this, and that's probably why He put it in Nehemiah's heart to have Ezra read the law of Moses to all of God's people (Neh. 8:1-8). 

     In chapter 3 of the Life-Study of Ezra and Nehemiah Witness Lee uses the term reconstitution to help his readers understand what God was doing during the time within the hearts of His people.  God knew that because they had been in Babylonian captivity for 70 years, they spontaneously had a Babylonian constitution.  I saw why this mattered when I read this statement on page 18:  

 "The constitution of a person provides the foundation for the constitution of a nation."

     In order for God to regain His testimony on the earth again, God's people had to be reconstituted with the word of God.  I highlighted a lot of parts of this chapter because Witness Lee shares so much about why we need to read the Bible.  I found these excerpts on pages 17-18 very helpful and inspiring: 
 

God's word reconstitutes us.  We all have our own kind of disposition and habitual behavior, but God is able to reconstitute us through His word.  This is why we need to read the Bible.  God's word gradually changes our mind and our way of thinking.  The word of God is one with the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). When the word of God works within us, the Spirit, through the word, spontaneously dispenses God's nature with God's element into our being. We may not even be aware that such a dispensing is taking place within us. By this way we are reconstituted.....In order for God's people to be His testimony, they had to be reconstituted with the word of God. Under Ezra and Nehemiah the returned people of Israel were collectively constituted by and with God through His word to be a nation as God's testimony (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Nehemiah. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1995, Print). 

I hope this encourages you to continue reading the Bible no matter what you're going through. It's changing who we are from the inside out.

 You can listen to excerpts of Witness Lee's speaking the Life-Study of 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, & Esther on Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.   You can also read the online Life-Studies of these books and check out other resources available to enhance your study of the Bible on Living Stream Ministry's website.

Other Posts from the Life-Study of 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, & Esther:

From the Life-Study of 1 & 2 Chronicles - How did Watchman Nee & Witness Lee Take a Stand For the Truth?
From the Life-Study of 1 & 2 Chronicles - Why Did God Make Man in His Image?
From the Life-Study of Ezra - How God Used a Gentile King to Fulfill His Purpose
From the Life-Study of Ezra - Why Did Ezra Return to Jerusalem?
How Did God Use Nehemiah's Aggressiveness in Nehemiah 2:20?
Why Did Nehemiah Charge Ezra to Read the Bible to the People in Nehemiah 8:1-8?
What's Really Happening in the Story of Esther?

How Did God Use Nehemiah's Aggressiveness in Nehemiah 2:20?

     Although the temple was rebuilt and God's people were hearing God's word, the walls and gates around Jerusalem were still not repaired.  This is where the book of Nehemiah comes in.  He was a cupbearer to the king. When he heard about the situation at Jerusalem, it both shocked and saddened him.  One day the king noticed it and asked him what was going on.  Nehemiah took this opportunity to ask the king to send him back to Jerusalem to build the walls so his city would not be in peril and shame.

 

My ornamental cherry tree

     In  Nehemiah 2:17-20 it talks about how the neighboring Ammonites and Moabites were not too happy with this turn of events.  These people harassed the Israelites continually by slandering them and instigating false witnesses to give an evil report (Neh. 2:10; 3:7-8; 6:1-14) of what was going on in Jerusalem. 

     Why was this such a big deal to Israelites anyway? I've learned from my reading the Life-Study of Nehemiah that the city of Jerusalem with its wall represents the kingdom of God which protects the house of God and allows God to carry out His interests on the earth.  So it mattered a lot that the wall got rebuilt! 

     In chapter one and two Witness Lee points out how over and over we see Nehemiah's aggressiveness in this book. He didn't let things happen, he made them happen: You can see that in this verse: The God of heaven Himself will make us prosper; therefore we His servants will rise up and build. Nehemiah 2:20

On page 12 of chapter 2 Witness Lee talks about how Nehemiah had a bold and strong character and had the virtue of aggressiveness:

 

"All who have been used by God through history have been aggressive persons.  For example, both Paul and Martin Luther were very aggressive.  Brother Nee also, even though he was a gentleman, was very aggressive.  Nehemiah surely was an aggressive person....He had a burden to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. His aggressiveness was very much used by God....In our reading of the book of Nehemiah, we need to pay attention to Nehemiah's aggressiveness.  Although he was  a common man, a servant of the king, he was aggressive to volunteer himself to God and to his burden concerning the building up  of the city.  He was also aggressive in making his requests known to the king.  When the king asked him about his sad face, he spoke to the king in a bold, aggressive way about his burden for the city of Jerusalem" (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra & Nehemiah. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry. 1995, Print). 
 

     You can also see Nehemiah's aggressiveness in the way he worked on the wall.  He and other Israelites were stationed on the wall 24/7 until the wall was built.Some of them even held a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other. At the end of chapter two Witness Lee closes by saying that it's important to see that because Nehemiah was an aggressive person who trusted and loved God, the holy land, the holy temple, and Jerusalem he even became the representative of God on earth.

 You can listen to excerpts of Witness Lee's speaking the Life-Study of 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, & Esther on Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee.   You can also read the online Life-Studies of these books and check out other resources available to enhance your study of the Bible on Living Stream Ministry's website.

Other Posts from the Life-Study of 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, & Esther:

From the Life-Study of 1 & 2 Chronicles - How did Watchman Nee & Witness Lee Take a Stand For the Truth?

From the Life-Study of 1 & 2 Chronicles - Why Did God Make Man in His Image?
From the Life-Study of Ezra - How God Used a Gentile King to Fulfill His Purpose?
From the Life-Study of Ezra - Why Did Ezra Return to Jerusalem?
How Did God Use Nehemiah's Aggressiveness in Nehemiah 2:20?
Why Did Nehemiah Charge Ezra to Read the Bible to the People in Nehemiah 8:1-8?
What's Really Happening in the Story of Esther?