Nehemiah 8-9
Chapter Summary
A week after the walls around Jerusalem are completed, the people reassemble in Jerusalem (8:1). Ezra brings out the Book of the Law and reads it aloud to all the people. He interprets the Hebrew text in Aramaic, then spoken by ordinary people (vv. 2-12). The next day the people scatter to gather branches so they can build booths and keep the Festival of Tabernacles (vv. 13-17). Each day of the festival is spent listening to the Scriptures (v. 18). Many have been convicted by the reading of God’s Law. They keep on gathering, spending part of the day studying the Law and part in confession and worship (9:1-5). Nehemiah records a typical prayer (vv. 6-37): It expresses the people’s renewed awe of God (v. 6), their awareness of Israel’s historic rebelliousness (vv. 16-18), God’s continuing compassion (vv. 13-31), and a fervent appeal that God would relieve their distress (vv. 32-37). The spiritual revival has a practical impact. The community is ready to make a fresh commitment to the Lord (v. 38).
Key Verse
9:33: God remains faithful in His commitment to us.
Personal Application
History teaches us about God and about ourselves and reminds us to keep close to the Lord.
Key Concepts
Separation. Revival. Law. Tabernacles. Praise. Covenant (1). Covenant (2). 
Insight
Where does this passage fit? Some scholars suggest that Neh. 8-11 fits better following Ezra’s arrival in Judea, or after Ezra 10. But then the naming of Nehemiah would be a later addition.
The sad fact is that history shows God’s people are in constant need of revival. It is not surprising that enthusiasm first awakened by Ezra would lag or that a fresh infusion of commitment would be associated with finishing the walls.
“The Book of the Law of Moses” (8:1). The exact writings intended are much debated, but there is no reason to doubt this included the entire Pentateuch (the first five books of the O.T.).
“Giving the meaning” (8:8). Rabbinic tradition understands “making clear” as translating the O.T. Heb. text into the Aramaic language then spoken by the people of Judea.

Conviction and joy (8:9-10). The association of these two may seem strange, but only on the surface. The more we are aware of the extent of our sin, the greater our joy in God’s forgiveness.
Tabernacles (8:13-18). This harvesttime festival was typically a time of rejoicing. This particular Feast of Tabernacles, however, was marked with exceptional joy. God had defeated the Jews’ enemies. Jerusalem was again a city with walls.
Revival (9:1-3). The revival that followed was marked by: (1) self-humbling, expressed in fasting, sackcloth, and dust on one’s head; (2) exclusion of foreigners; (3) confession of sins; and (4) eager study of God’s Word. The pattern fits well with both biblical and modern revivals.
The prayer (9:6-37). This prayer mentions 20 sins of Israel, but 74 facts about God! God’s marvelous grace is, as the hymn says, “greater than all our sin.”
“In all that has happened . . . You have been just” (9:16-35). This prayer review of history notes the Jew’s persistent sins, acknowledges God’s judgments, and asserts His mercy. The little community admits that in “all that has happened” in judgment, and in forgiveness, God has been “just.”
Both testaments affirm God’s justice—His commitment to doing what is right. Both also see two aspects of justice. God is just in punishing the wicked, for as ruler of the universe the Lord is responsible to maintain its moral balance. But God is also just in exercising compassion. It is the right thing for God to punish, and it is also the right thing for Him to forgive.
The N.T. harmonizes these two aspects of justice in the Cross. God did not just overlook His moral obligation and dismiss sin as if it were nothing. In Christ, God took the full punishment sin deserves upon Himself. With sin paid for, God is perfectly free to offer human beings forgiveness and perfectly just to forgive those who respond to the Gospel’s good news.