After Celebrations: How shall we live? A study in Nehemiah 9 and 10

I.Introduction

Shalom! Thank you, Pastor Dave, and all here at St Marks, as you continue to celebrate Advent in your 63^rd year of public ministry.  I represent the organization Jews for Jesus for whom I’ve worked for 46 years, both in the US and the last 27 years here in Sydney. I grew up an Orthodox Jew in Kansas City and came to believe in Jesus in 1971, so many of the things I will speak about today are very personal and homegrown. And hopefully this will speak to you as well. Thank you, Dave, for this kind invitation to speak to you today in what many title The Silly Season. I want to speak with you about surviving this season and help us all get a heavenly perspective on it.

To watch and listen along with this: https://youtu.be/2USHlQ2afu4?si=9096ZD68eHuNBnOX 

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, they say, and certainly it is for retail businesses whether clothiers or JB Hi Fi and Kmart and those who run venues along the foreshore for New Years Eve celebrations. The term “Black Friday” was coined in the US as the day after Thanksgiving when all the sales at the department stores, like we have at David Jones and Myer, would finally assure the owners of those stores that their spreadsheets would turn from ‘in the red’ to ‘in the black.’ That is, a guarantee of profits that far exceeds their outlays and investments. 

But we here in Sadleir are keen to learn more than end-of-year sales events. We want to learn how to live as believers in Sydney and wherever else we travel in these darkening days.  Am I right?

And for that, we turn to Nehemiah chapters 9 and 10, my assigned texts for the day. Last week Chris taught from chapter 8 and set apart that chapter and the next two as an interlude between the historical narratives of the opening 7 chapters and the final three. After two full months of your investigation and discovery, this section tells us what happens after the glorious celebrations of chapter 8 and helps us here today to know how we should live after the final carol is sung in a few weeks, and the fireworks stop filling the skies above the bridge and the world. How shall we live after celebrations?

Let me give you the main elements of my talk today in case you are given to sleep during a sermon. At least then at morning tea or when you meet up with each other during the week, you can speak intelligently with one another. I’ll speak of four specific realities: the call to repentance, the poem of historical reflection, separation from wrongdoing, and commitment to live according to the Word of God, all the while praising the God of grace. To simplify this in one word each then: repent, remember, remove, renew, all the while rest.

Now the Lord watch between me and thee while we are apart from one another. 

II. The call to repentance

First is the call to repentance. This seems very different than what we saw in the last chapter. The Jewish people spent 7 decades in Babylon wishing to return to the Promised Land and after those 70 years, the new king under whom they now were sworn, the Persian King Cyrus, allowed them to leave. Most of them returned to the land. The Temple of Solomon was rebuilt, and holy worship was reestablished. Priests of proper rank and family are then set in place. Religion is back in order. Done and dusted. Now under Nehemiah the walls were established, producing safety and security. Done and dusted.  The organizers read from the Bible about setting up booths, and for the first time since Joshua’s days which is approximately 900 years before, the people set up booths. Done, dusted and Fireworks Fantastic!

By the way, in modern days, the Jewish people still celebrate the Feast of Booths in September or October with setting up these tabernacles at our homes and at synagogues and its nickname is Z’man Simchateinu, the Time of our Rejoicing. No wonder chapter 8 ends with such celebration. 

But then chapter nine startles us. Rather than continuing with the joys and pleasures of Tabernacle celebrations, the tone and mood shift immediately. Only 2 days after the holiday of Sukkot ended, verse one tells us, “The sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them.” What a dramatic turnaround. And what caused that 180-degree change?

I believe it was that to which they listened. The Word of God.  “They stood and read from the book of the law of the Lord for a fourth of the day.” (9.3) Now some of you might wonder what they heard that caused this. Listen, I’m not privy to a particular passage, but chapter nine is full of prayers in response that tells me they were listening to the Bible and that listening was deep and personal. It was also corporate and took the Jewish people by storm. It was-- God said it; I believe it; that settles it. We agree!

The Hebrew word for ‘faith’ is ‘emunah’ and the root of that is the word Amen, which we could translate to “I believe it.” In fact, repentance without God initiating the call to repent is simply a religious good work and is NOT what happened here. Paul wrote the Romans and said, “The goodness of God leads to repentance.” (Rom. 2.4). This suggests that God's kindness, patience, and love are intended to draw people to change their hearts and minds. This is not a force that compels repentance, but a gentle, loving invitation for people to turn away from sin and return to a right relationship with God. 

That’s what got me to be a believer. It wasn’t messianic prophecies that all pointed to Jesus being the Messiah. It was the love of God manifest in Yeshua, and in his people, that was compelling to me as a 19-year-old hippie.

Maybe that’s why I love this book, Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund. I have plenty on the table in the hall if you haven’t bought your copy yet; so good in highlighting the character of God especially as the people of Nehemiah 9 evidence. Their prayer sings the praises of the Lord (as they had been doing during Sukkot) as in verse 8 “You are righteous”, in verse 17 “You are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.” And so much more. It’s the goodness of God that leads to repentance. That’s why I believe the 180 degrees took place. 

And it’s important for us as well, when the dust of opened packages and wadded up wrapping paper laminates our carpets on 25 December, after its full impact settles, may we hear the message of hope that the glory of God demonstrates, the message of a great God who loves and is willing to forgive our sins, even to the thousandth generation. (See Exodus 34.6,7)

The call is not so much from the Levites and priests, but rather from God through the agency of his word, what we call The Scriptures.

III. The poem of Historical Reflection

The first section key word then is ‘repent.’ I say this second section has a key word “remember.” The rest of chapter 9 features a very lengthy prayer that is a rehearsal of the history of the Jewish people, in our well doing and our not-so-good doings. Verse 6 is the summary of Genesis 1-11. Verse 7 introduces Abraham and verse 8 ends as Israel cries for a deliverer from Egyptian slavery. This fast-moving history of the Jewish people carries on as verses 9 and 10 get Israel out of Egypt and verse 11 splits the Red Sea. Verse 12-14 we receive Torah and all the laws. Verse 15 is about bread and water, that is God’s provision, hinting at the land of Promise. BUT we get our first interruption of failure in verse 16. And we hear the subject changing from THEM to US. Our fathers both acted wrong and had a wrong attitude. Refusing to obey, we in verse 17 ‘did not remember’ what God had done. 

Up to verse 25, God did more great things in the conquest of the land, over the 7 nations of the Hittites and Jebusites, etc, but again we bump up against wrongdoing in verse 26, with “they rebelled and became disobedient.”  This is historical review and remembering, not revisionism, not remembering with foggy or rose-coloured glasses. We committed blasphemies, it says. It’s raw and stark and painful to admit. But friends, without this admission, without this acknowledgement of our historical failures, we will not be able to win in this transitory life. 

Verse 28, “as soon as they had rest, again they did evil” says this pattern is likely fixed in our social and religious agenda. It’s almost as if Nehemiah and the people are admitting to a problem in our DNA; we are sinners. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because by nature we are sinners.

Stephen the deacon said as much in his final sermon recorded for us in Acts chapter 7.  Again and again, he repeated the history of our people, with its commensurate admissions.

Admit that in your poem. Admit that in your song. Admit that with one another and you are on the road to victory. Prayer might be understood in this section as remembering who God is and who you are not. That is, there is one God, and you are not he.

IV. Separation from Wrongdoing

With all that clarity about our own sinfulness, what is a man, what is a woman, what are we as God’s chosen people to do? We need to separate from wrongdoing. For this, the key word is remove, that is remove ourselves from all this misbehaviour and from those who do such. 

Look at these passages in our text. God chooses Abraham (.7-9) from among the peoples, Sabbath from among the other days (.14), separation from the peoples of the nations around them (10.28), and from those who break the Sabbath (10.31).

But this is not a new concept in Nehemiah’s days. The Hebrew word here for ‘separate’ is first used in early Genesis and is used in modern Hebrew for the ceremony that ends the Sabbath and begins the ordinary days.

I am ever remembering the warning of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians after he cautions them in this separation and removal business. Listen to his warning: 

 “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; ¹⁰ I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. ¹¹ But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler — not even to eat with such a one. ¹² For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? ¹³ But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES. (1 Cor. 5.9-13)

Holiness is communal and we are to remember that our Father wants his children together in a holy life. At times, we must remove ourselves from those who influence us away from our God. Paul later wrote those same Corinthians “bad company corrupts good morals.” (1 Cor. 15.33)

A simple algorithm I use is this: I’m on fire for the Lord. I’ve got fire in my soul. If I meet some mates and they, like an iceberg, start to freeze me over, I need to walk away. If I can begin to melt them, I stay. Warning: this is a simple takeaway but may help some of you.

V. Commitment to live according to the Word of God

The renewal God expects from us and for us is so wonderful, I can hardly keep it inside. While the previous three issues involved repentance, remembering and removing ourselves from wrongdoing, issue #4 is renewal. And that renewal is according to the Word of God. Scripture, which was the highlight in chapter 8, spawned the repentance early in chapter 9. Listen to these passages, 9.13 “you gave them just ordinances and true laws; good statutes and commandments.”  And the inverse in 9.26 “they cast your law behind their backs.”

How then should they live? The avoidance of interaction with foreigners was all based on Scripture and with some extensions of it. Ex. 20.8–11; 23.12; 34.21, even Amos 8.5. The commitment to financial commitments again Lev 25.1–7, 2 Chr 36.21, and Deut. 15.1-8 draw from Scripture. Exod. 21.2-6. The use of the Land, and the rest of the Land are clear. 

Verse 34 says, “as it is written in the Law.” This, friends in Sadleir, is the key answer to the question, “How shall we live?” By living according to God’s Word.

Remember Yeshua said the same thing. It’s not the people who know the Word; it’s those who do what the Word says who are commended. Yeshua says, “everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Mt. 7.24)

His warning to the Jewish leadership was “you search the Scriptures thinking that in them you have eternal life, but they speak of me.” (John 5:39)

VII. All the while: Rest

Religion is a fascinating study in itself. No matter if it’s Islam in Indonesia or Malaysia, or Sikh or Buddhism, modern Judaism or any of the hundreds of Christian religions and knock-offs, religion is big business and significant philosophy wrapped as one. I grew up as an Orthodox Jew and we had massive amounts of practices associated with that religion, from what prayer to say on the beginning of a calendar’s new moon or on purchasing a new garment, when marital relations are allowed or disallowed, and how long we had to wait between eating dairy products and meat products. The list is endless and the operative word is ‘more.’ You can always do more and pray more, learn and study more, etc. 

But then Judaism is not alone in that, is it? You could be a good Anglican and perhaps better Anglican if you attend the Moore College course on offer in the next term or hand deliver the Toys and Tucker packages to the needy.  I'm pretty sure that God is ever interested in us as people, to rest in him, to know him, to love him, sincerely and honestly. 

The Word says so much about God's compassion in this prayer. We fail and God sustains. We turn away and he longs to draw us back. Perhaps you hear the phrase "and yet" throughout this prayer and throughout your own life. I make mistakes and yet God forgives. I will rest in all that he has done. And all he will continue to do. I will rest in his love. 

 

VIII. So What? The takeaways

1)     When you recognize your own sins, confess them to a loving God who delights to forgive us and bring us back into real relationship with him

2)     Learn the Scriptures and live them in community with others

3)     All these four summary words and thoughts would not be possible without the God of peace, the God who rests in his love for us and who calls us to rest in him. You will be able to read that in reflection this arvo, as you listen to the Scripture in your Bible app or read it to one another.

 

I’m very happy Ps Dave asked me to share from this text today. It’s Advent 2; next weekend begins Hanukkah; so many other themes we could find to address, but these shout to me and I hope to you as well.

You know I also work with Jews for Jesus and have for over 40 years. We are relentlessly pursuing God’s plans for the salvation of the Jewish people, in Israel, the UK, here in Aus and around the world. Your financial support helps us get God’s message of hope out in Sydney and well beyond. Would you consider being generous to us in these holy days? On the screen is a QR code you can shoot that links your sign up to Sadleir, to St Marks, to Jews for Jesus and today. Some clever people work that out every week when I’m out and about from church to church, so use the QR code on screen or on my resource table where books on evangelism and my own testimony and much more are available. 

To give use this URL (no screen shot required)  

j4j.co/608050 

Thank you, Ps Dave, for this time in your pulpit and thank you to each of you who wants to partner with Jews for Jesus today or down the road, as we proclaim Yeshua Lord of all, 

Disaster Movies and Hanukkah

Do you remember your favourite disaster movie? Perhaps it’s your favourite due to how tense you felt through the entire 2^nd half. Disaster movies occupy a unique place in popular culture, blending spectacle, emotion, and existential dread into narratives that simultaneously unsettle and captivate audiences. Whether the threat is an asteroid hurtling toward Earth, a global pandemic, a super-volcano, or the collapse of civilisation, these films operate on a predictable but powerful formula: introduce catastrophic stakes, test the limits of human resilience, and ultimately reveal something about the human spirit. Although they often rely on grandiose visual effects and exaggerated scenarios, their emotional core rests on the notion that crises strip away illusion and reveal what truly matters.

In many disaster films, the chaos is not merely physical but also social. Systems fail, communication breaks down, and everyday norms evaporate. Without shared rituals and cultural anchors, characters lose a sense of continuity and meaning. 

This framework provides a surprising avenue to explore an entirely different idea: what might the world be like if Hanukkah did not exist? At first glance, the absence of a holiday seems trivial compared to an asteroid impact or global flood. Yet, when viewed through the thematic lens of disaster storytelling, the comparison becomes clearer and more revealing.

Hanukkah is not only a religious celebration for Jewish people, but also a major cultural and emotional touchstone. It functions as a seasonal pause—a moment in which people reset, reconnect, and reaffirm values such as generosity, hope, and unity. Even for those who do not celebrate it religiously, the season brings traditions, rituals, and communal rhythms that influence social life. Removing Hanukkah from the calendar would not cause physical destruction, but it would create a subtler form of cultural void, a loss of symbolic structure that shapes the emotional climate of society.

In many disaster movies, characters struggle not only with survival but also with the collapse of the familiar. The loss of Hanukkah would produce a similar, though gentler, disorientation. The absence of the menorah, the holiday lights, family gatherings, seasonal music, gift-giving, and charitable practices would create a quieter world, one in which winter up north felt longer, darker, and less punctuated by warmth. The emotional resilience displayed by characters in disaster films mirrors the resilience people might need to cultivate in a world stripped of its winter rituals.

Moreover, disaster films often explore the importance of community. When catastrophe strikes, characters’ differences become secondary to their shared humanity. In this way, the communal spirit that emerges in disaster scenarios mirrors the communal spirit that Hanukkah encourages in real life. Without Hanukkah, society might lose one of its most accessible avenues for collective empathy. The symbolic reset that occurs each year—when people reflect, give, forgive, and hope—would vanish. Disaster movies teach us that rituals and shared moments are essential not because they prevent catastrophe but because they provide meaning in the face of it.

Thus, while the absence of Hanukkah would not constitute a disaster in the cinematic sense, it would remove a stabilizing narrative from the cultural calendar. Disaster movies remind us that amid chaos, what keeps humanity intact is not survival alone but the stories, traditions, and connections that give our lives coherence. In that sense, a world without Hanukkah would echo the emotional landscape of disaster films: a world searching for light in the dark.

But by this I’m speaking only of the cultural values of Hanukkah. What about the reality, the historical narrative that we sing about, we tell about, and retell about, each 25 Kislev. What about the Maccabees and Antiochus Ephiphanes? Can we honestly separate the history, the story itself, from our cultural takeaways? If there were no Judah Maccabee and the Jewish people had indeed bowed to the Syrian Greeks in 168 BCE, what would be the disaster? 

To me, those secularists who remove this true story from the holiday, those atheist Jews who only want the cultural story to win out, make this season into a morality play about survival based on theatre and not about truth. That’s not how I was raised. The purpose of telling the story is not that everyone should have religious freedom. The event, whether this one we celebrate tonight, the faithful defiant stance of the Maccabees against the governmental demands in Mod’in in what we call Israel, or the Passover story as we Jews withstood the slavery and polytheistic overlords in Egypt—all those events are real, historical and yes, have cultural takeaways. 

Without the real event with real Jewish characters standing up for God and His ways, and without God intervening and sparing the few Jewish rebels, then what’s the point of teaching this as history? And if it’s not an event in history, then our story becomes as meaningful as anyone else’s story against us. If our story is only an Aesop’s fable or a disaster movie, if Hollywood could tell it as accurately or remove from it the “Based on a true story” opening, then this fiction has no substance at all. Everyone can tell a story and draw from it whatever they want. That, I aver, would be a disaster.

The truth is Antiochus had demanded total honour from his people over whom he ruled. Some Hellenized Jewish people had acceded to his demands. Mattathias Maccabee, a Judean priest, and his sons withstood that demand and especially the bowing to the idol of Antiochus as it travelled into Mod’in. They even killed a Jew as well as a Seleucid overlord there. Over in Jerusalem, some Syrian Greeks had set up an idol in the Holy Temple and sacrificed to it, even a pig was slaughtered and its blood sprinkled on the altar. When his father died, Judah Maccabee stood up and continued the rebellion against such blasphemous and hostile desecration. Finally, after three years, on 25 Kislev in 165 BCE, they purged the Greeks from the Temple and cleansed and dedicated it to the Lord. The Hebrew word “Hanukkah” means “Dedication,” and it is that whole story, based on a true story, which is worth telling and retelling, and remembering in this season and any time. 

If you really want to carry this further, if that disaster had worked fully, and if there were no faithful Jews in 165 BCE, then I imagine it would have continued 200 more years. If God had not intervened and strengthened His people and caused them to repent of their idolatrous ways and turned back to Him… if God had been removed from the conversation in Greece or Rome or throughout the known world in say, -4 BCE, then there would be no Christmas story either. No wise men looking for the King of the Jews. No Jewish old people like Simeon or Anna waiting in the Temple in Jerusalem for the Hope of Israel. If there were no Hanukkah, there would be no birth of the Messiah, no shepherds in the field and angels singing “Gloria in Excelsis Deo.” Without Hanukkah there would be no Christmas. 

And without Christmas there would be no cultural takeaways like the holiday lights, family gatherings, seasonal music, gift-giving, and charitable practices. Without Christmas, society might lose one of its most accessible avenues for collective empathy. The symbolic reset that occurs each year—when people reflect, give, forgive, and hope—would vanish. Disaster movies teach us that rituals and shared moments are essential not because they prevent catastrophe but because they provide meaning in the face of it.

Yes, it would be a disaster to have a world without Hanukkah and Christmas. The Jewish people would be gone like so many other ancient peoples: the Seleucids, the Hittites, the Mesopotamians, the Amorites, and the like. But worse than that, we would not have the birth of the greatest Jew who ever lived, the Saviour of the World, who was born in a village as small as Mod’in, named Bethlehem. His birth and substantial life that followed brings hope to a waiting world. Not because of family gift-giving, but because God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Jesus laid down His life of his own volition 33 years later a cross there in Jerusalem within walking distance of the Holy Temple. That happened. It’s not a fable. It’s the true story. 

What you do with that story determines your takeaways. 

Do you believe it? If so, join Simeon and Anna. If you believe it, join the shepherds and angels singing. If so, join me and countless others in proclaiming “Jesus is Lord” to the glory of God the Father.  Then it will be a great Hanukkah and great Christmas. The real disaster is hearing the story and thinking this is only a movie plot. Dear friend, the truth is out there. Embrace it. Believe it. Celebrate Him.

 

 

Prime time and Carols

 Do we do that?

 

Yesterday I listened to a sermon from a couple of weeks ago, given by a minister in Sydney’s Southwest. He mentioned that a few of the ladies in his parish were nagging him. And then he explained their concern. I was a bit uncomfortable being given the choice to continue to hear the sermon. What was their complaint? What was his response? Why was I being forced to hear this controversial moment in a parish about which I knew so little? I’ll get back to that in a moment. 

 

Last week I attended another funeral of a friend. It was held in Kiama, about 2 hours south of Sydney, at least that’s how long it took me to travel there on the train. The service was beautiful and simple, pointed and peaceful. It was everything the widower and his heaven-bound wife would have wanted. Over afternoon tea in the hall, I met a man named Steve who helped lead the singing during the service. He told me that he regularly knocks on doors in his neighbourhood, and it has a purpose. 

 

What might surprise you in this retelling is that both of these congregations are Anglican, that is, part of the historic Church of England. Some call it the broad, historically rooted, national, sometimes conflicted, and culturally significant Christian institution that blends tradition with diversity. It’s a mainline denomination and some would say in its decline in England and here in Australia, it is evidencing the deterioration of what some see as a morally backward, boring, and pompous leftover of generations past. 

 

Why is this surprising? Because the pastor from St Marks Anglican, Sadleir was asked by five ladies from the parish for Bibles and Gospel tracts to distribute as they go door-knocking in their neighbourhood. The ladies nagged Pastor Dave until he agreed that he would supply those religious items for them. 

 

Steve down Kiama way is door-knocking with the same purpose, albeit in a different community. He also is hoping to speak with people about Jesus and the Gospel. Wow, in only a few days I encounter outreach being accomplished by Anglicans; I wonder how many Americans listening to me just now are surprised by this revelation. 

 

Look, wherever you are, this is prime time to share with mates the possibility of the Gospel. We have carols in the Domain, in the Myer Bowl, in the parks and in the car parks, carols everywhere, on the television and in the shopping centres. Carols are abounding. I wonder if anyone has a list of the lyrics of sacred songs that could be handed out to neighbours at this time? Or maybe your congregation is hosting a carols event and you could pass that around when you are out and about in your evening stroll? Letter boxing is legal here in Oz, (but don’t put it in the boxes that say “No junk mail” or “No advertising material.” We want good feelings when people think of the Gospel of Life. 

 

Let’s use this time of year, whether Yeshua was born on 25 December or not, to proclaim the Good News (The Gospel), far and wide, amen? 

Public Reading of Scripture... what is that about?

 Shema: Listening through the ages

Considerations for the Public Reading of Scripture

An introductory story

You’ve seen the scene. A father wants his child to be careful about a dangerous situation ahead. He will stoop down, look eye-to-eye, speak quietly about the scene and things to come, and clarify his intention to the child. He might start with, “Listen carefully…” and continue with his warnings. As a result, the child is and will be safe. Listening is intentional; hearing only happens. The father’s posture and quiet add to the importance of the action to follow. The warning works. Listening matters.

Creation is marked by The Word

The Bible begins with a word about the heavens and earth situations followed by words of God spoken. And heaven and earth are never the same again. What God says is done, and what we call Creation is accomplished.

For further explanation in the Gospel, we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” (John 1.1) Yeshua, as the Word later incarnate (John 1.14) is there as Creator and as the Eternal Promise of God. He gave us His Word. His promise is in His Word.

A Jewish perspective

Most who are familiar with the Jewish religion know that the watchword of Judaism is named “The Shema.” (Deuteronomy 6.4) It is a full paragraph, and begins with the words, “Shema Yisrael Adonai eloheinu, Adonai echad.” Being translated, “Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” 

This sentence from God through Moses to the people of God are instructive. God wants us to focus, like the child hearing from his father, to listen intently and to be safe as a direct result. To what will we listen? To God’s Words.

Continuing in the Shema, “and these words which I command you today shall be on your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them, when you are sitting or lying down, when you are rising up or lying down…” Obviously sharing God’s words is key to discipleship and to the family and to a civil society in God’s economy.

What is Public Reading of Scripture

The phrase “public reading of Scripture” is found in Paul’s letter to his disciple Timothy. “Until I come devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.” (1 Timothy 4.13). We in the Body of Christ are pretty good at listening to preaching and teaching. We hear it in church or watch YouTube videos of sermons and Bible information. We watch Christian Television. But the “public reading of Scripture”… do we do that? 

The phrase indicates three things. 1) The words we hear need to be Bible, to be Scripture, whether from the first or second part of the Bible. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3.16-17) 2) The reading is to be in public. People need to hear it and be given a chance to interact with it. And being public the setting also allows for mutual accountability and support.  3) It’s the reading of Scripture, not the preaching or teaching of it. 

Certainly in some churches a portion of Bible is read, usually just before a sermon, and some folks are pretty good at Bible reading at home on their own, but that’s not what the apostle Paul meant.

First Public Reading of Scripture

Moses and the people had gained a military victory early on in their wilderness wandering, and in Exodus 17, we read that Moses was instructed to write down what happened and to communicate it to Joshua.

The first public reading of Scripture is in the Torah, also in Exodus when God instructs Moses who “Then took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” (Ex. 24.7)

The reading went beyond individual hearing as in the encounters with Adam or Noah, with Abraham and the Patriarchs, this is now public.

The 613 commandments were not intended for Moses alone; they were carefully recorded to be proclaimed repeatedly to the entire community. The expectation was clear: God’s words were to be heard, obeyed, and lived out, forming the foundation of Israel’s covenant life with Him. To make that happen, the people had to hear the Scriptures. These were given orally. It was a public reading of Scripture which was the method of transmission of the Torah. Remember, the ordinary Jewish people didn’t know how to read.

Every seven years with hope for results

Not only was this done at the time of the Giving of the Torah, but Deuteronomy reminds us that this should be ongoing.

“Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law. Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.” (Dt 31.9-13)

What results did Moses want? For the people to hear so that they would learn, and fear God and observe carefully what God said. And for their grandchildren to understand and fear God as well.

Not only Torah

Joshua declared the Torah to the Jewish people after the conquest of Ai, and again it was heard by all the people, even the foreigners who were with Israel. In Joshua 8, we read. ^“He wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel. All Israel with their elders and officers and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the stranger as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had given command at first to bless the people of Israel. Then afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them.” (Josh. 8.32-35)

Jeremiah prophesied for decades and had a scribe named Baruch to whom he gave the oracles of God. Not only once, but twice, due to the loss of the first scroll. As regards the words from heaven, Jeremiah made sure that this also was read to the people, so that results would take place.

“So you go and read from the scroll which you have written at my dictation the words of the LORD to the people in the LORD’S house on a fast day. And also you shall read them to all the people of Judah who come from their cities. Perhaps their supplication will come before the LORD, and everyone will turn from his evil way, … Baruch the son of Neriah did … reading from the book the words of the LORD in the LORD’S house.” (Jer. 36.6-8)

After the Temple was rebuilt

The return of some Israelites to Canaan marked a significant renewal of their commitment to hearing and obeying God’s word, leading to a profound spiritual revival. Under Ezra’s leadership, a major public reading of Scripture took place in the public square of the city, as recorded in Nehemiah 8, inspiring widespread grief at what Israel had lost but also joy and renewed devotion among the assembled people. This event signalled a pivotal moment for those who returned from exile and reflected the renewed commitments of both Jews who returned to Canaan and those spread around the world. In exile, Jews adapted traditional temple practices to the synagogue context, integrating Scripture reading and teaching into communal life. These adaptations profoundly shaped their spiritual identity, enabling a transition to localized worship practices beyond Jerusalem

 

In modern days

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in his book Covenant and Conversation, writes: “Every seven years, the king was commanded to ‘read aloud [tikra] this Torah before them in their hearing,’ in the ceremony of Hakhel that called together man, woman, and child. In the historic gathering of those who had returned from Babylon, Ezra ‘read [the Torah] aloud from daybreak till noon, in the presence of the men, women, and others who could understand, and all the people listened attentively [literally, the ears of all the people were directed] to the book of the Torah.’(Nehemiah 8:3) Keriat haTorah means not [only] reading but proclaiming the Torah, reading it aloud. The one who reads it has the written Word in front of him, but for the rest of the gathering, it is an experience not of the eye but of the ear. The divine Word is something heard rather than seen...To this day, the primary experience of keriat haTorah involves listening to the reader declaim the words from the Torah scroll rather than following them in a printed book. We miss some of the most subtle effects of Torah if we think of it as the text seen, rather than the Word heard.”^[1]

Closed Captioning and subtitles have made so many things easier for people, not only as they have more trouble hearing. The NY Metropolitan Opera House now shows lines of the singers and most movies and television shows that we watch at home have subtitles which makes the actors’ whispers ‘hearable.’ Reading and listening often go together and help significantly.

Synagogue

We see Yeshua in synagogue in the Galilee reading the Scripture, albeit from the prophet Isaiah. (Luke 4.16-17) The apostles wrestled with the associated problems of Gentiles coming to faith in Yeshua, and what to do with them and their lack of law or covenantal understanding. We read they released some of their own fears by reminding themselves, “For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”(Acts 15.21)

This is still true in our days. I regularly attend synagogue as I have since my youth and each week on Saturdays, and on a couple other days of the week, the Torah is removed from the ark (cabinet), unwrapped from its cover, and read publicly. Each of us in the gathering hears the Word publicly read. Usually it’s several chapters of Bible.

Perhaps that is what informed Paul in his writing to Timothy. “Until I come devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture…” (1 Tim. 4.13)

Even John the Revelator included this enterprise in these opening words of assurance, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.” (Rev. 1.3)

Significant in Worship

On a personal note in 1982, God led me and my family away from the church formulas and style we had known since 1971, and we found Anglican worship. First in the Episcopal Church in New York City’s Upper West Side, then in 1998, in Australia’s standard-bearer, in the Diocese of Sydney. I remember my first rector, Carol Anderson telling me that no matter what else is happening at church, due to the fixed nature of the service, the Word of God will be central. The opening call to worship is a Bible text; the lectionary is standardized and includes readings from both the Older and Newer Testament. Then a psalm and a Gospel reading are also included. That’s a lot of Bible! 

Often the readings are from pulpit to the ears of the congregants, but sometimes, especially the Psalms are read antiphonally, from side to side. The Gospel is usually read after the people stand. Giving attention to the Word is key to an Episcopal service. Carol told me that even if the preacher is very weak, the people will still have significant time in the Word alone, and if they are listening, the liturgy contains much by way of the Bible also. 

Final takeaways

We use the word hear for the natural function of sounds that come to us, without any personal response. In contrast listen is used to describe an action we employ, paying attention to those same sounds. When Paul wrote Timothy to devote himself to the public reading of Scripture, he used a word that meant more than ‘hear’ but rather devotion. The Greek verb proséchō carries a meaning far stronger than casual encouragement. It means “to apply oneself to,” “to be devoted to,” or “to give careful attention to.” 

Though I’ve been a believer since 1971, it wasn’t until April 2024 when I first encountered this idea of public reading of Scripture and have given myself to it ever since. As in all parts of spiritual disciplines, we often fail when we isolate and demand of ourselves a solo response to the discipline. It’s now not me alone in a discipleship program of Bible reading. It’s beyond my own use of the book. Rather, I listen to the Bible read, sometimes in dramatized audio versions online, and sometimes, with others as we gather at tables, in regular sessions, with the accountability and support that brings, as we hear and listen to the Word. 

Either online on MSTeams or in person, we meet to listen together

For more information, please email or write me here

To join PRS from wherever you are, on MSTeams, you must register once only at https://bit.ly/PRSJoin 

If you are in Sydney, join us at LCM Church St Andrews on Rosenthal Avenue in Lane Cove at 8 AM on Thursday mornings. 

 

^[1] Sacks, Jonathan. Genesis: The Book of Beginnings (Covenant & Conversation (pp. 203-204). (Function). Kindle Edition.