And Nehemiah, that is, the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that explained to the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to Jehovah your God mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.
The law had just been read aloud and explained, and the whole crowd broke down in tears. Their leaders — Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the scribe, and the teaching Levites — stopped the weeping at once. Why would sorrow over God's word ever be the wrong response?
The tears were real. One writer points out which comes first when the word takes hold: the conscience, then the heart.
In the rest of the chapter we see what happens at once when the word gains its authority over the people. As always, it reaches the conscience and stirs the heart. But the work in the conscience comes first: "all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law" (9). As they listen to the word, conscience tells them how far they have departed from its commands.
Another writer says their tears were exactly right.
Verse 9 shows the first effect of this reading on the people – they were moved to tears. And well they might be. No one can face the demands of God's holy law without a sense of condemnation entering the conscience.
They had the law in exile too. One writer says their restored position is what made it cut home.
I do not say that no one in Babylon and Assyria read the law of the Lord. But everything was so far out of its proper course, and so opposed by circumstances that suited it so little, that in such a state the mind always glides over the word. The word does not make the same impression. The truths of Scripture do not reach the heart. When you are in a true position all becomes clear, according to the goodness and sovereignty of God. So, we find, it was here, and not before, that the law of God gets its full place.
The unusual title attached to Nehemiah's name is not a religious office but a civil one, borrowed from the empire that had held them captive.
Persian title given to Nehemiah... In Ezra 2:63 and Neh. 7:65, 70, the same title doubtless refers to Zerubbabel. In the margin it reads 'governor.'
The day itself decided the matter. It was the first day of the seventh month, the feast of trumpets, and its meaning ruled out mourning.
This special day, the first day of the seventh month, called for a holy gathering and a blowing of trumpets, as the rule about it required. It was the symbol of a time of revival after a long season of death and barrenness (see Lev. 23:23-25)... And at this the people wept — rightly so, for this is what the application of the law to a sinner does: convict him... But their teachers, on this occasion, at once restrain their tears, because that day was "holy to the Lord."
The tears came from what the people had learned about themselves. The joy came from what they learned about God.
They wept, for they knew how weak they were; but joy filled their hearts because God was their strength. It is well to feel our weakness, and to acknowledge it; but what cause for joy when we learn the strength of the Lord is ours! The joy of the Lord must be that which sustains us. Then we have strength that stands outside all our circumstances, and despite them.
That joy was not meant to stop with them. One writer points out the order in it.
They were therefore to be joyful on this day in communion with the mind of their God. But joy cannot be held in. It must overflow, and so they were to pass it on to others... This order is instructive — communion with the heart of God, and then communion with their brothers.
Commentators differ over the leaders' move. One writer questions how fast deep conviction gave way to celebration.
But we have wondered whether this switch was really of God — the people's emotions moving from conviction and sorrow to eating and drinking and making 'great mirth', because they had understood. Conviction of conscience is hard to reach, so repentance is shallow all too often. It is true, of course, that 'the joy of the Lord' gives strength.
- Understanding — the tears came only after the people heard the law explained; the word reaches the conscience before it stirs the heart.
- Position — in exile the mind glided over the same law; back in a true position before God, it reached their hearts.
- Timing — the day was the feast of trumpets, a symbol of revival after long barrenness. Mourning did not fit it.
- Exchange — they wept over their weakness; they rejoiced when they learned that the Lord's strength was theirs.
- Overflow — joy like that cannot stay in: communion with the heart of God first, then passing it on to others.
And he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared; for the day is holy to our Lord; and be not grieved, for the joy of Jehovah is your strength.
The people of Jerusalem had just heard the law of God read and explained, and they broke down in tears. Their leaders answer with a strange command: stop weeping and feast, because the joy of the LORD is their strength.
The tears were genuine, and there was real reason for them. But sorrow did not fit the character of that day. So the leaders held the people's grief back.
The time for showing their sorrow would soon come. But now they were to rejoice, in line with what God had in His heart for their future blessing. They did need to judge themselves and to grieve. The point is that this holy day was not the day for it. The Lord wanted them to rise above their own state and condition. For the moment they were to find their joy in His joy, and in His joy would be their strength.
Their weeping had an obvious cause. What they had been listening to was the law, and the law has only one verdict for people who have broken it.
We read of the joy of the Lord even before the Lord Jesus came into the world. Here the people who had come back from exile were weeping as they heard the words of the law. The law can only condemn the guilty. Their sorrow over the ways that had driven a wedge between them and the Lord was real. Even so, such weeping did not fit a day that was "holy to the LORD."
Notice whose joy is named. The people had discovered how weak they were. Looking harder at themselves would not give them the strength they needed.
They wept, for they knew how weak they were; but joy filled their hearts because God was their strength. It is good to feel our weakness and to admit it. But what cause for joy it is when we learn that the strength of the Lord is ours! The joy of the Lord must be what sustains us. Then we have strength that stands outside all circumstances, and despite them.
The joy did not arrive from nowhere. The people first understood the words read to them, and that understanding came as a gift.
Those who teach must be people of "the book." They must open the book, read the book clearly, make the people understand the book. It is God speaking to us. Then there will be lifting up of hands, and bowing of heads, and worshipping the Lord with faces to the ground. Yes, as the Tirshatha — the title of the governor, who here pictures the Holy Spirit — gives us understanding of the precious word, there will be a delight in the Lord that knows what it is delighting in. We rejoice in God.
And it was meant to survive the end of the gathering.
It should be noted that this was to continue after the meeting was over. It says in verse 12, "And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions." This enjoyment was not limited to the time of listening to the word. It was the practical result of that teaching.
Part of the verse looks outward. Those who ate the fat and drank the sweet were to make sure that those with nothing prepared received a share.
Scripture shows in many places that the more joy we have in God, the more open-hearted we will be towards one another. It is the very character of joy to enlarge the heart… A person who is happy himself can afford to look around and make others happy with him.
If this joy is His, then it does not rise and fall with what is happening around us.
To begin with, our joy must be in the Lord. "The joy of the Lord is your strength." Not rejoicing in our circumstances, but in the Lord. If we rejoice in our circumstances, we are leaning on something that will break. Circumstances change, but the Lord does not.
That is why joy is not a luxury added on after the serious work. It is the equipment for it.
To be filled with joy and praise by the Spirit is the only way of securing a bold and faithful testimony for Christ. The joy of the Lord is our strength, and it lasts. When the emergency comes, the strength is there, and the victory is certain.
- Word first. The joy began when teachers read the book clearly and explained it, so the people understood what God was saying to them.
- Tears next. The law exposed their guilt and weakness, and they wept. The sorrow was real, but its day came later, not this holy one.
- His joy. They were told to rise above their own condition and borrow God's gladness. The strength on offer was never in themselves.
- Joy holds. This joy rests on the Lord, not on circumstances. So it stands when circumstances collapse, and it makes bold testimony possible.
- Portions out. A full heart enlarges. Those who feast go and feed those with nothing prepared, and the gladness carries on after the meeting ends.