Nehemiah 8:6

_AND EZRA BLESSED THE LORD, THE GREAT GOD. AND ALL THE PEOPLE ANSWERED, AMEN, AMEN, WITH LIFTING UP THEIR HANDS: AND THEY BOWED THEIR HEADS, AND WORSHIPPED THE LORD WITH THEIR FACES TO THE GROUND._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

1-8 Sacrifices were to be offered only at the door of the temple; but praying and preaching were, and are, services of religion, as acceptably performed in one place as in another. Masters of families should bring their families with them to the public worship of God. Women and children have souls to save, and are therefore to acquaint themselves with the word of God, and to attend on the means of grace. Little ones, as they come to reason, must be trained up in religion. Ministers when they go to the pulpit, should take their Bibles with them; Ezra did so. Thence they must fetch their knowledge; according to that rule they must speak, and must show that they do so. Reading the Scriptures in religious assemblies is an ordinance of God, whereby he is honoured, and his church edified. Those who hear the word, should understand it, else it is to them but an empty sound of words. It is ther...

Verse Nehemiah 8:6. _EZRA BLESSED THE LORD_] In imitation of this, we say, when the gospel for the day is commenced, _Glory be to God for his_ _holy Gospel_! and conclude this thanksgiving with, _Amen_....

PART II. ACCOUNT OF THE STATE OF RELIGION AMONG THE JEWS UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION OF NEHEMIAH. EXPOSITION RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF THE PEOPLE BY EZRA, AND CELEBRATION OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES (Nehemiah 8:1.). It can scarcely be imagined that Ezra had been present in Jerusalem during the exciting scenes which have been enacted in the first part of this Book, an

II. THE SPIRITUAL REVIVAL CHAPTER 8 _ 1. The reading of the law before the water gate (Nehemiah 8:1)_ 2. A day of joy and not of mourning (Nehemiah 8:9) 3. The keeping of the feast of tabernacles (Nehemiah 8:13) Nehemiah 8:1. This interesting chapter gives the record of a gracious revival through the reading of the law. All the people gathered themselves together as one man in the street that was before the water gate, the place which suggests the cleansing and refreshing power of the Word. And as a united people they had but one desire, to hear the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded, to I

PART IV (Nehemiah 7:73_ b_ - Nehemiah 10:39). EZRA AND THE LAW. Nehemiah 7:73 b - Nehemiah 8:12. The Reading of the Law. Nehemiah 7:73 b. These words are repeated by mistake from Ezra 3:1. NEHEMIAH 8:1. _Cf._ Ezra 7:6. It is clear that we have here only part of the ori

EZRA BLESSED THE LORD.... THE PEOPLE ANSWERED, AMEN. The description of the solemn devotion before engaging in the sacred study, is full of interest. First, Ezra asked the Divine blessing. The people did not sit in silence, but responded, "Amen, Amen," lifting their hands in supplication. In the Hebrew worship the people took an active part, by response. It was not the custom for one to pray and the rest to be as silent as stones. Nor was it the custom of the early Christians, as we learn from Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Those who join in prayer should make the prayer their own by an audible response to its petitions. Even "the unlearned" can say "Amen," when the person who prays does not use an unknown tongue....

GOD. Hebrew. _Elohim._ (with Art.). the [true]God. App-4. AMEN, AMEN. Figure of speech _Epizeuxis_, emphasizing the great solemnity. LIFTING UP. Hebrew. _mo'al._ Occurs only here. Compare 1 Timothy 2:8....

Nehemiah 7:73; Nehemiah 7:73. The Reading of the Law This verse begins a new section in the work. The style alters. The use of the first pers. sing. is resumed in Nehemiah 12:31. The Compiler has recourse to other material for this narrative. The thread of Nehemiah's Memoir, which was broken off at Nehemiah 7:5, is therefore not resumed. _and when the seventh month came_ R.V. AND WHEN THE SEVENTH MONTH WAS COME. The R.V. gives the right division of the verse. The second clause introduces a new section. Very similar words occur in Ezra 3:1 aft

DISCOURSE: 445 EFFECT OF EZRA’S PREACHING Nehemiah 8:5. _And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up: and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground_. THOUGH in the time of our Lord it was the custom to read the law of God in the synagogues, it does not appear to have been any regular part of the priest’s office to preach unto the people. On some occasions however we find persons sent through the land of Israel to make known the law; and here we behold Ezra, on a pulpit of wood, elevated above the people, and surrounded by an immense congregation, who had come together on purpose to hear the word of God expounded to them. Since the i