THE LAW PUBLICLY READ. 181 in them; the apparent discrepancies have been carefully examined and explained by commentators. Ezra was long engaged in the great work of collecting the Holy Scriptures, already described. The books of the law being now completed in the Chaldean character, were read to the people at the feast of trumpets, which took place on the first day of the seventh month, or Tisri, the beginning of the civil or common year, as the month Nisan, in which the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, was the beginning of their ecclesiastical year. The particulars relative to these festivals will be found in "The Rites and Worship of the Jews." The people having assembled from all parts of the land, called upon Ezra, that the law should be publicly read on this occasion. The circumstances are related Nehemiah viii. A wooden scaffold, or pulpit, being erected in the widest street of the city, Ezra stood thereon, with thirteen elders, and the congregation, both men and women, all that could hear with understanding, were assembled before him. He was engaged several hours in reading the Hebrew text, while the elders, who were instructed for the purpose, repeated it sentence by sentence in Chaldee, the language or dialect understood by the people, "So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." How important this brief remark! how fully it shows that the reading of the word of God should ever be accompanied by care to make it known to the people! Several hours having been thus occupied, the people were dismissed to partake of the feast they had prepared, with an exhortation, to be mindful of those who were destitute, verses 9, 10; And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he R 182 THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. A counsel which should be attended to at all times, not only in the literal sense, but in the spiritual one, for all who enjoy the sacred rites, the blessings of Divine ordinances, should send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. The next morning the people assembled again; the word was in like manner read to them. In Leviticus they found the directions concerning the feast of tabernacles, which excited an earnest desire to keep it at the time appointed, on the fifteenth day of the same month. Proclamation was accordingly made throughout the land, the booths were erected upon the flat roofs of the houses, and in the streets, of branches of olives, pines, myrtles, and other thick trees. The festival was kept with more solemnity and rejoicings than had been observed from the days of Joshua. Go forth to the mount-bring the olive branch home, Bring myrtle and palm-bring the boughs of each tree, With a light not their own, through the Jordan's deep Whose waters shrunk back as the ark glided on, Oh never had Judah an hour of such pride! Go forth to the mount-bring the olive branch home, Ezra improved the opportunity by causing portions of the law to be read on each day. By this they people perceived in how many things they had transgressed the Divine word; a fast was therefore appointed, to follow the conclusion of the festival. This solemn day of humiliation was observed on the twenty-fourth of the same month, at the appointment of Ezra and Nehemiah, when the congregation assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with earth upon their heads. They separated themselves from strangers, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. A public confession was made by the Levites in the name of the people, and in their hearing, and a solemn vow and covenant then was made, that these sins should be avoided in future, and God's laws observed. A number of the rulers, priests, and Levites, signed and sealed this covenant, while the people at large solemnly made oath to observe it. The principal conditions were-not to intermarry with the Gentiles; to observe the sabbaths and the sabbatical year; to provide for the service and work of the house of God, with the offerings, and the first fruits and tithes, for the support of the Levites. In this solemn engagement, reference evidently was made to those blessings which were typified by the sacrifices and offerings. Ignorance of the Divine law had led to much evil; arrangements, therefore, were from this time made for the regular reading and expounding of portions of the law and the prophets, in the public assemblies for religious worship. The institution of the synagogues has already been mentioned; it is supposed to have taken place about this period. Let it never be forgotten, that upon the due observance of public worship very much of the religious feeling of a community depends. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." This was the injunction by the apostle; and we well know that our blessed Lord, while upon earth, was constant in public religious services. Prideaux speaks in strong terms of the importance of regular weekly 184 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. public instruction in the truths of religion. He says, "It is not to be doubted but if this method were once dropped among us, the generality of the people, whatever else was done to obviate it, would in seven years relapse into as bad a state of barbarity, as was ever in practice among the worst of our Saxon and Danish ancestors." The synagogue services were not confined to once in a week: it is much to be lamented that the weekly services, lectures, and assembling for reading the word and prayer, are so scantily attended among us. This is one evil result of the excessive eagerness and increased exertion in matters of business at the present day; but it should be remembered, that although Martha was not blamed for active attention to her worldly duties, yet she carried this too far, aud Mary's preference for the one thing needful was commended. Nehemiah gave assistance to the great work of collecting the Holy Scriptures. He evidently aided, as far as was in his power, to make the Bible accessible to the people. In the second book of the Maccabees, it is stated, that "he, founding a library, gathered together the acts of the kings, and the prophets, and of David, and the epistles of the kings concerning the holy gifts." The latter probably refers to the decrees of the Persian kings, contained in Ezra and Nehemiah. This account also notices the writings and commentaries of Nehemiah. The attention of Ezra, in collecting the books of Scripture, with the arrangements made by himself and Nehemiah and others, that the people should be acquainted with their contents, under the Divine blessing, was one great means of preventing the Jews from relapsing into idolatry. Although their sufferings in captivity were so far forgotten, that they fell into many and grievous errors, it was not by idolatry, against which they were so plainly and constantly warned by the Holy Scriptures. Satan's most effectual plan to deceive the Jews, from this time, appears to have been, by inducing them to have an overweening opinion of the Divine preference for their nation, in appointing them the depositaries of his word, and to add vain traditions; in fact, making the word of God of none effect through their traditions, though they professed to venerate every jot and tittle of the Bible. Let this warn us to beware how we listen to those who teach for doctrines the commandments of men, and thus add to the Bible that which is not expressly set forth therein, as of equal or even greater authority than the full and plain precepts of Scripture. Even the pagan emperor, Julian the apostate, was so fully convinced of the importance of a people being thoroughly acquainted with the writings they receive as sacred, that he ordered his heathen philosophers to prepare a course of instruction from the best works of heathenism, that it might be taught instead of the Bible! His effort failed; he was cut off by a Divine judgment, as he expressly acknowledged, before his plan was brought into use; but let the Christian hence learn to value his Bible, and to seek to make others acquainted with its contents. There is not any farther account of Ezra recorded in Scripture. Josephus states that he died at Jerusalem; but the general tradition of the Jews is, that he died at Zamsuma on the Tigris, when on his way to Susa, to communicate to Artaxerxes on the affairs of the Jews. A building surrounded by walls, stated to be his tomb, is shown near the river Tigris, about twenty miles above its junction with the Euphrates. It was rebuilt by the Mohammedans about a century ago, on the site of a more extensive building, visited and described by Benjamin of Tudela in the twelfth century. A tribe of Arabs guard this tomb; they levy contributions from the pilgrims who visit it; these are numerous, chiefly Jews. |