The reading and expounding the law
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 honored, 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 therefore required of teachers that they explain the word, and give the sense of it. Reading is good, and preaching is good, but expounding makes reading the better understood, and preaching the more convincing. It has pleased God in almost every age of the church to raise up, not only those who have preached the gospel, but also those who have given their views of Divine truth in writing; and though many who have attempted to explain Scripture, have darkened counsel by words without knowledge, yet the labors of others are of excellencies use. All that we hear must, however, be brought to the test of Scripture. They heard readily, and minded every word. The word of God demands attention. If through carelessness we let much slip in hearing, there is danger that through forgetfulness we shall let all slip after hearing.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-8
1 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that [was] before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel. 2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read therein before the street that [was] before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people [were attentive] unto the book of the law. 4 And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, [and] Meshullam. 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: 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. 7 Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people [stood] in their place. 8 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused [them] to understand the reading.
 | Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source: Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry |
First, Introducing Ezra, the Scribe and Priest:
Ezra, came long before Nehemiah but was also a contemporary, he led a group of the people of Israel when he returned from Babylon to Jerusalem. He was called the priest and scribe. He wrote one book in the Old Testament (the book of Ezra), which preceded the book of Nehemiah. When Ezra found that Nehemiah had built the wall and organised everything especially the service of the tabernacle for the priests and Levites, he started to teach them the Law of Moses “The Torah”, which they had ignored for many years. Here appeared the harmony between a spiritual priest like Ezra and a layman like Nehemiah who was a leader and a faithful servant even though he was not a priest.
Ezra carried out very important work in the year 450BC, he collected together the books of the Old Testament (39 books) which were the first lawful chapters “Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth...” Long after Ezra, seven other chapters called the second lawful chapters were added; these are “Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Joshua son of Syrah, Baruch, Maccabeus I and Maccabeus II”. He also completed the book of Daniel and Esther. Thus, the Old Testament included the right number of books, which were 46 books. When Protestantinism appeared in the sixteenth century, the Protestant refused these last seven books and considered the Old Testament as consisting only of the 39 books collected by Ezra. This is not accurate historically or scientifically because the Jews, the Orthodox, the Catholics and many of the Protestant denominations accepted the second lawful books.
These books are definitely lawful because the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew but in the last centuries before Christ, the formal world language was Greek. The Roman emperor Ptolemy gathered seventy of the Jewish elderly who had a good command of Greek and Hebrew to translate the Old Testament (all 46 books) to the Greek language. This was called the translation of the seventies relating it to the seventy elders who translated it. Our Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles used verses from this translation.
This highlights the importance of the role of Ezra, the priest and scribe, not only because he wrote the book of Ezra, but because he compiled the books of the Old Testament (39 books) to which another seven books were added to make a total of 46 books.
The people gathered in a hall from morning till noon so that Ezra could read to them the book of the Law of Moses. It was the same as a spiritual meeting to discuss the Holy Book. The people asked Ezra, the priest and scribe to read the law to them (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) after all affairs were settled. He explained to them what God wanted to tell them. Everyone listened attentively as though it was all new to them. Although they were Jews, they were ignorant of the law, which they neglected. They did not celebrate the feasts, nor offered sacrifices, nor kept the Sabbath….etc. When the Church serves the poor in the poor areas and talks to them about Christ, Glory be to Him, God who took our flesh, died and rose, you find that they do not know anything about it.
Ezra, came long before Nehemiah but was also a contemporary, he led a group of the people of Israel when he returned from Babylon to Jerusalem. He was called the priest and scribe. He wrote one book in the Old Testament (the book of Ezra), which preceded the book of Nehemiah. When Ezra found that Nehemiah had built the wall and organised everything especially the service of the tabernacle for the priests and Levites, he started to teach them the Law of Moses “The Torah”, which they had ignored for many years. Here appeared the harmony between a spiritual priest like Ezra and a layman like Nehemiah who was a leader and a faithful servant even though he was not a priest.
Ezra carried out very important work in the year 450BC, he collected together the books of the Old Testament (39 books) which were the first lawful chapters “Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth...” Long after Ezra, seven other chapters called the second lawful chapters were added; these are “Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Joshua son of Syrah, Baruch, Maccabeus I and Maccabeus II”. He also completed the book of Daniel and Esther. Thus, the Old Testament included the right number of books, which were 46 books. When Protestantinism appeared in the sixteenth century, the Protestant refused these last seven books and considered the Old Testament as consisting only of the 39 books collected by Ezra. This is not accurate historically or scientifically because the Jews, the Orthodox, the Catholics and many of the Protestant denominations accepted the second lawful books.
These books are definitely lawful because the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew but in the last centuries before Christ, the formal world language was Greek. The Roman emperor Ptolemy gathered seventy of the Jewish elderly who had a good command of Greek and Hebrew to translate the Old Testament (all 46 books) to the Greek language. This was called the translation of the seventies relating it to the seventy elders who translated it. Our Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles used verses from this translation.
This highlights the importance of the role of Ezra, the priest and scribe, not only because he wrote the book of Ezra, but because he compiled the books of the Old Testament (39 books) to which another seven books were added to make a total of 46 books.
The people gathered in a hall from morning till noon so that Ezra could read to them the book of the Law of Moses. It was the same as a spiritual meeting to discuss the Holy Book. The people asked Ezra, the priest and scribe to read the law to them (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) after all affairs were settled. He explained to them what God wanted to tell them. Everyone listened attentively as though it was all new to them. Although they were Jews, they were ignorant of the law, which they neglected. They did not celebrate the feasts, nor offered sacrifices, nor kept the Sabbath….etc. When the Church serves the poor in the poor areas and talks to them about Christ, Glory be to Him, God who took our flesh, died and rose, you find that they do not know anything about it.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-3
1 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that [was] before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel. 2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read therein before the street that [was] before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people [were attentive] unto the book of the law.
 | Author: Daoud Lamei Rank: Priest Posted on: 2022-10-03 |
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.