“On the second day the heads of fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law. And they found it written in the Law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, ‘Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.’”
Nehemiah 8:13-15 ESV
Last time we watched the Levites both calm and hush the people, helping them take the sense they’d been given from Holy Writ and obey the command to party with marvelous mirth. Today we see the next step of leadership in reading and obeying Torah.
The second day of people celebrating, the leadership (rosh – head, chief) of the folk gathered (asaph – gather, remove, rear guard) with the priests and Levites and met with Ezra the scribe (saphar – recount, proclaim) in order to be prudent and wise (sakal – to be prudent, expert, skillful, success, wisdom) in studying the words of Torah.
What a good idea. Heads of families coming together under leadership established by Yahweh, seeking how to be successful and skillful in handling Holy Writ. What they found is the charge (tsavah – appointed command) laid upon the people of Israel by (yad – hand) Moses is they should dwell (yashab – abide, sit, remain) in booths (sukkah – temporary shelter) during the feast of the seventh month.
We have recently revisited the Feast of Booths together on here, remembering how after fasting and corporate confession of sin, God’s commands were to celebrate with joy. And while putting together a temporary shelter may sound tiring to those of us at a certain age, it would sound like the ultimate fort for those with childlike happiness. I was interested to find out the Hebrew word for booth comes from sakak which means “to weave together.”
Isn’t that just what He does? Taking those of us from all ages, various backgrounds and stories, weaving us together to form a rich tapestry of Love. Being weaved is painful – much easier to remain a single strand or do our own thing. But the collective good brought forth from letting Him work on our hearts outweighs the inconvenience. The knowledge we gain of our blind spots and shortcomings is worth more than any independence we may think we desire. The heartache that comes from caring about others’ concerns that would be easier to ignore is proof we have let Him in. And He was weaving together this grieving community’s collective purpose in obeying Torah and relearning how to live as His.
Not only were the people to do this, they were to proclaim (abar – pass on) and announce (shama – listen with intent to obey) a proclamation (qol– a report) in their cities (iyr – towns, excitement) saying (amar – advise), “Go out and gather branches to make booths as it is written.”
You may have seen that word qol written as kol, as in Kol Yahweh, the voice of God. In our text it is being used as a noun, like a report or announcement one would pin on a bulletin board. This is possibly one of the reasons the ESV renders it, “publish it in all their towns.” They were all to pass on a report in their cities, their excitement, advising all the folk to gather branches as written in the Holy Scriptures. Again with a charge to listen with intent to obey. After all, the Word is His Word. Kol Yahweh. Obedience is the only acceptable response.
If you were to pin something on a bulletin board, virtual or otherwise, in which to advise others how to obey God’s Word, what would you hang for all in your city to see? Would it have to do with joy and building? Celebration and beauty? Would you seek to scare or seek to draw others in? Do you picture color or a design? Something soothing or more electric? I hope whatever comes to mind, love is at the forefront.
Because all we do to love those immediately in front of us is obeying Kol Yahweh. The more we seek to draw others into this joyful dance of selfless giving, the more we find obeying what is written isn’t a burden but a blessing. Let’s celebrate with childlike happiness and love with life-giving abandon.
Obeying His voice yields present and eternal beauty.