I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Nehemiah 7-8.

When the wall around Jerusalem was rebuilt, Nehemiah delegated governing the city to his brother and another trusted subordinate.  Reading the instructions he gave them suggests that he wanted Jerusalem to be like a gated community.  No one to be allowed into the city without giving a valid reason for doing so.  Further, he set up what sounds an awful lot like a neighborhood watch for the entire city: “Appoint the residents of Jerusalem to act as guards, everyone on a regular watch. Some will serve at sentry posts and some in front of their own homes.”  This leads me further down my interpretation about the Returned Exiles having once before this rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.  The walls and gates had been destroyed because a criminal element had been coming in and out of Jerusalem, using its lack of secure governance as a way to launder stolen goods and bypass taxes.  Related to that, I think that was why Nehemiah registered who actually lived in the city.  I think when the walls were completed and everyone had to pass through a check point where they were identified that he was surprised to realize how few people actually lived in the city.  This made him realize that many of those who had seemed to fill the city were doing things for which they would prefer no one knew they were in the city. 

Once the project to restore security to Jerusalem was completed and the workers from outside of Jerusalem had had a chance to put their lives back in order, the Returned Exiles gathered once more in Jerusalem for a festival.  As part of the gathering, Ezra the priest read the Law of Moses to the people and explained what God commanded them to do in it.  The people responded in much the same way that King Josiah had before the Exile.  They mourned the failure of themselves and their ancestors to obey God’s Laws.  They did so to such an extent that their leaders needed to remind them that they had gathered, according to that same Law, to worship God and celebrate the great and wonderful things He had done for them.   The people responded to this command from their leaders because they realized what a wonderful thing it was to be able to hear and understand what God’s word for them was.  

We should encourage new believers to follow the example set here.  They should rejoice that they have learned God’s will for their lives and celebrate that He has offered them an opportunity to be transformed by His love.  Even the part where the following day the people discovered the Festival of Shelters offers a model.  It is good for new believers to spend some extended time away from their ordinary cares in fellowship with those who worship and obey God when they first come to know the Lord.