The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. – Nehemiah 8:7

Today's Scripture Reading (November 17, 2023): Nehemiah 8

My wife and I attended a worship service at a local Jewish synagogue a few years ago. We parked our car and walked into the building. An usher guided me to where the Kippahs or Yarmulkes were kept, so that I could appropriately cover my head before entering the sanctuary of the synagogue. I had phoned the Rabbi to let him know I was coming, and he greeted us at the door to the sanctuary. We had come for the whole service, which is about three hours long and includes several readings and traditional elements. Not all worshippers apparently attended the service for the full meal deal, so the sanctuary gradually got fuller as the morning went on.

We were brought into the sanctuary, and we were told that all the pews had names on them. That meant that certain families had purchased these pews, and this was where they would sit when they came for worship. If the particular family in whose pew we chose to sit that morning showed up, we might have to move. All of this was said in a rather matter-of-fact manner, but all I could think of was how horrified I would have been if someone ever did that to a visitor at the church that I lead on a Sunday morning. Admittedly, I have told the greeters that if someone sits in one of the member's seats, don't move them; put out extra seats rather than cause a scene.

And then the Worship service began. Readings were done from the hymnal, usually in Hebrew. It was an excellent chance to puzzle my way through the little Hebrew I knew. Like when I had attended a Catholic or Orthodox Christian service, we tried to stand when others stood and sit when others sat. And I found it all very interesting, but it was not worship because I understood little of what was happening. The one break was the teaching time, which was done in English so that we did understand. But not most of the rest of the service.

According to Nehemiah, the Levites had to take care to instruct the people in the Law. The reality is that the people who returned to Jerusalem were not the same people who left. That is both literally and figuratively true. The people who returned were the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the ones who left. And that was important. The people who returned had grown up in places like Babylon and Persia. They spoke different languages and came from a world where diverse gods and different ways of thinking dominated.

So, as the Mosaic Law was read, it had to be explained. A "Plain reading of the text" was not available or not understandable. We know that the same is true for us. Anyone who demands that we have a plain reading of the text is asking for something that is simply unavailable. We are separated from a plain reading of the text by language (Hebrew to English), time (around 2000 years or more), and place (the Middle East vs wherever you might live). And so, the Levites took the text and began to build a bridge between the text and the time and place of the text so that they could understand what had been written. It is still the task of biblical teachers to build a bridge between the biblical writers and the contemporary listener.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 9