I can only imagine how Nehemiah must have felt. It seems as if he had worked his whole life just to witness this moment. Ever since the day he approached King Artaxerxes with his burden for rebuilding Jerusalem, he had dreamed of seeing the sight that was before him.

Nearly 50,000 of his people—men, women, and the older children—stood together in the square by the Water Gate, waiting anxiously to hear from Ezra and the Word of God. All of God’s people, united together for the purpose of seeking out and worshiping God. Nehemiah must have felt good to see that.

Actually, it would be pretty amazing for anyone to see. It sounds like the ultimate worship service. Everyone is present (v. 1). No one is off camping this weekend. No baseball tournaments or business trips. This service is the most important event anyone has ever seen.

And everyone is attentive the whole time, even as Ezra reads from the Book of the Law for nearly six hours (v. 3). Can you imagine remaining in church for a six-hour sermon? And consider the reverence the people show. As God’s Word is opened, all the people stand up (v. 5). They stand up? We are lucky today if people wake up! Then all the people raise their hands to God in worship, and bow down low to the ground. What a service it must have been!

God’s People, God’s Covenant
The whole affair reminds us of another important event in Israel’s history, recorded in Exodus 24. Moses had just returned from an incredible meeting with Almighty God, who had just saved the Israelites from slavery in a foreign nation. At this meeting God had given Moses a detailed description of the laws the Israelites were to follow. (This description is undoubtedly part of what Ezra reads from the Book of the Law.) All the people stood amazed and listened to Moses, and then “they responded with one voice, ‘Everything the Lord has said we will do.’” This was an important occasion as the Israelites entered into a covenant with their God.

The Israelites in Nehemiah’s time—who, incidentally, have also just been saved from slavery in a foreign nation—are restoring that covenant with God.

Actually, the more we look into it, the more it reminds us of yet another important event, but one that Nehemiah and Ezra can only dream of. This event is recorded in Matthew 5–7, where Jesus—God’s ultimate representative—stands on a mountain and proclaims God’s law to his people—who  are about to be eternally saved from slavery to sin. There Jesus proclaims a new covenant with God’s people, one that includes all people from all nations.

Put in this context, we can see that restoring the covenant in Nehemiah is more than just a random Old Testament church service. This is a pivotal time in the history of God’s story. The Israelites who gather in the square know that the exile they have just returned from was more than just an act of punishment from an angry God. It was the purification of his people, the culmination of centuries of sin and spiritual neglect. They are the remnant, and they are being given the chance to start again.

This is a special time. You can see it in their attitude. There is an excitement in the air (v. 17) and intensity in their worship (v. 6). But the most telling part is the comment in verse 17: “From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this.”

Yesterday, and Today
There is an interesting time factor here as well. This passage appears to cover a period of several weeks. Verse 2 says it is the first day of the seventh month. This, according to Leviticus 23:24, is a national day of rest, and an appropriate time for the gathering that takes place by the Water Gate. But the Feast of Booths, which they reinstitute as they look into the Word of God, is celebrated from the 15th to the 21st of the seventh month (Leviticus 23:34). Thus, despite what some translations may infer, there is likely a gap of a couple of weeks between the discovery of the feast in verses 13, 14, and its reenactment in verses 17, 18. This tells us the restoration of the covenant is not some flash-in-the-pan, hyped-up event that takes place in one day. It is a rediscovery of and recommitment to who they are and what they are supposed to do.

So what can we learn from these people? This is certainly a good time for the people of God. Not only do they restore the covenant God made with them in the beginning, but they commit to it with all of their hearts. This is real.

In today’s church, we are not unfamiliar with the concept of restoring the covenant God has made with us. We are aware that this new covenant is infinitely better than the one the Jews of Nehemiah’s day were under. We know the blood of Christ has covered over our sins and has negated the need for animal sacrifice. We come together every weekend to celebrate this and to reconnect with God.

But do we really do it with all the strength of our hearts? Does our reverence for the Word of God cause us to sit up and pay attention? When our pastors and preachers send up a blessing to our great God, does the cry of “Amen, Amen”—“Truly, truly”—arise from our souls?

I pray that it does. Because I believe when we approach our worship with the same understanding and passion as these recently rescued Israelites, then it will also be said of us what was said of them: “And their joy was very great” (v. 17).

* All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version, unless otherwise indicated.