1115
THE KING’S BUSINESS
EXPOSITION AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Jehovah who had commanded it, by Moses (v. 1, cf. v. 14). So Jehovah was the real author. So it is with the whole Bible: God is the real author. God is the real speaker, whoever is the human writer or recorder of God’s utterances. The fact that the peo ple did not observe the law, for so many years is no proof that the law did not exist. The fact that the people, even the leading people, did not obey the law is taken by the destructive critics as conclu sive proof that the law was not in exist ence. This is one of the favorite and strongest arguments against the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. But if any one will stop and think of the facts of history, he will see that the argument is absolutely without force. No one ques tions but that the Bible existed during the middle ages; nevertheless, the Bible was not obeyed during the middle ages, even by the men who were prominent' Christian leaders. In fact, though the Bible existed, f it was practically unknown by the over whelming majority of professedly Christian people. If the fact that the people of Israel did not obey the law, is proof that the law was not in existence, then the fact that professed Christians throughout the middle ages did not obey the Bible, is proof that the books of the Bible were not in existence during the middle ages. But, everybody knows that it is one of the his toric certainties that the Bible was in exist ence, but laid aside. And just so it is overwhelmingly proven that the Pentateuch was not composed in the days of Josiah, but that it was composed subsequently, as we have it now, by Moses. Not only did men and women gather together to hear the Word, but. the children also who “could hear with understanding.” v. 3. “A n d he read therein before the street ( broad place) that w as before the w ater gate fr o m the (early) m orning until m idday, before (in the presence o f) the m en and w om en, and (and o f) those w ho could understand; arid the ears o f . the people Were attentive unto the book o f the
vs. 1, 2. “And, all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street ( broad place) that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra thes scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel. 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.” We have in this chapter a picture of one of the most interesting revivals in all-history. We see ia whole people gathering “together as one man” for one purpose, namely, to hearken to what God had to say. Ezra did not need to urge the'people to listen to the Word of God: the people requested him “to bring the Book.” It was real hunger for God’s Word that brought -the crowds. There was ho need of rag-time music or vaudeville stunts to draw them. The .author of the Book of Nehemiah here calls the law, “The law of Moses, which the LORD had com manded to Israel.” In the fourteenth verse he called it, “The law which God had com manded by Moses (literally, by the hand of Moses).” Either the writer of this book believed that the law was given by Moses or else he did not b,elieve so himself but wished to deceive others into so believing. If the law as found in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy was not given as here stated, “by the hand of'Moses” then Nehemiah and Ezra (and Jesus Christ too) were either badly mistaken or else deliber ately deceived the people (cf. Luke 16:29- 31; John 5 :46, 47; Luke 24:44). The opin ion of Nehemiah and Ezra, who lived so much nearer the time and who probably edited the O. T. Canon, and the opinion of Jesus Christ who lived so much nearer God, is of vastly more weight, with any candid mind, .than that of these “modern scholars” with their fine spun theories about the authorship of the Pentateuch, theories that lead to no consistent conclu sions and which are so constantly changing. Though it was the “law of Moses,” it was
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter