When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem.
The exiles have finished the long road home and settled into their own towns. Then, at a set time, they all leave home again and travel to one city. Why that month, why that city, and why does the whole crowd move like a single person?
The month that set the date
This was not a burst of enthusiasm. The calendar explains it. The day named here was already fixed in the law as a summons:
Edward DennettIn the book of Numbers we read, "On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, and it shall be a day for you to blow the trumpets." (Num. 29:1) This feast of trumpets pictured in advance the restoration of Israel in the last days. So the people showed true spiritual perception when they gathered in Jerusalem at this time. That perception, together with their perfect unity, showed that both they and their leaders had been taught by God, and were under the power of His word.
The same date carried a second picture. The month opened with a new moon, and one writer sees the returned people in that thin crescent:
H. L. RossierIsrael had lost divine blessing through their own fault. The people should have reflected the light of the glory of the Lord, just as the moon reflects the sun, but that light had disappeared. Now the new moon, an image of the restored people, had begun to reappear. The full splendour of this light was not yet visible. But this first quarter moon pointed forward to the future showing of the glory of the people of God. What feast could have suited the moment better?
As one man
The phrase means more than a large crowd. Commentators trace this oneness back to a single cause:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThis gathering "as one man to Jerusalem" reminds us of that other gathering in Jerusalem centuries later "when they were all with one accord in one place" (Acts 2:1)... Whenever God's people let the Spirit of God work His power unhindered among them, He always brings them together. The Spirit of God never divides, but unites.
Such oneness is rare, and no one can manufacture it:
Edward DennettOnly seldom in the history of God's people has such oneness appeared. No general agreement can produce it. It comes only when all alike submit together to the power of the Spirit through the truth.
To Jerusalem — and nowhere else
They had just settled in their cities, yet they travelled. Worship had one appointed place:
F. G. PattersonThe remnant gathered "as one man" in the only city in the world that God had chosen. It was the only place where they could take up their long silent, unstrung harps again and worship Israel's God! In Babylon they might pray with the window open toward Jerusalem, and confess their sins. But they could not worship Him there.
Unity meant a shared journey, not just a shared opinion:
H. L. RossierThe distance of their cities does not stop them from coming to the altar at Jerusalem, and nowhere else, to show this unity.
The altar before the wall
What they did on arrival showed what they valued. Enemies were near, yet they built no wall first:
The Bible TreasuryHere it was the harvest month, the final one of the Lord's feasts, but it was only a little witness... Had the God of Israel not been before their eyes, they would not have gathered in this way. Human prudence would have hurried to put up a wall against their enemies. Faith and reverence led them to build the God of Israel's altar.
The pattern for small companies
Writers apply the scene to gatherings today, and to any group that feels too few to count:
H. L. RossierIt is the same today at the Lord's table. Like the altar of the remnant, it shows the unity of the people of God, expressed in "one loaf" in which all share. It mattered little that the Jews were few in number. It matters little if we are only two or three. The altar set up in the middle of the court expressed the unity of all the people. For them, the question was not whether others would follow their example. They had the will of God, announced by Moses, as the basis for their action. The Word bound them; their gathering was an act of obedience. Is it not the same when the saints gather around the memorial of the cross of Christ, the blessed place where the Lamb of God was offered up: the Lamb that was slain, whom we worship, as such, in glory?
Summary
- Summoned. The seventh month opened with God's appointed day of trumpets, a picture of Israel's restoration. The gathering began with His calendar, not their planning.
- Gathered. "As one man" is the work of the Spirit, as at Pentecost. Such unity comes when all alike bow to the truth. Agreement alone never produces it.
- Centred. They could pray in Babylon but not worship there. One place drew them, and distance was no excuse to stay away.
- Worshipping. Prudence would have built a wall first. Faith built the altar first. A small, weak company put God's claim ahead of its own safety.
- Repeatable. Being few is no barrier. Two or three bound by God's Word, gathered around the memorial of the cross, express the same unity as the whole restored people.