They Read It Distinctly, and the People Understood the Reading

He has an idea about the Bible that nobody ever taught him on purpose.

The idea is that it is written above his head. Not deliberately hidden, exactly, but pitched at a level that assumes training he does not have, so that what he gets out of it on his own is a rough approximation and the real thing requires somebody who knows the background.

He did not invent that. It came from the shape of every encounter he has ever had with the text. Somebody stands up. They read three verses. Then they explain what the three verses mean, at length, using material that was not in the three verses, and everybody nods, and the clear implication is that the explanation was necessary.

So he reads a bit, gets something out of it, and then waits to find out whether what he got was right.

There is a day recorded in Nehemiah where a whole town stood in a square and heard the book read, and the record says what happened.

Who was standing there

Here is the setup, in the King James Version:

And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. (Nehemiah 8:3)

From the morning until midday. That is roughly six hours of reading, standing up, outdoors.

And look at who is there. The men and the women, and those that could understand. Not the priests. Not a trained class. The population, including, by the wording, everybody old enough to follow.

That is the audience, and the length of the reading tells you something about what was expected of them. Nobody reads for six hours to people who are not going to get it.

You are the audience this was written for and you were never a bystander at somebody else's material. Nehemiah 8:3 puts the men and the women and all who could understand in front of the book for six hours, and it is the Holy Spirit rather than a course of study who makes a man able to sit under it.

The verse about what the helpers did

Then the verse that matters most, and it needs reading carefully because it is often used to prove the opposite of what it says.

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. (Nehemiah 8:8)

So they read in the book distinctly. Clearly. Audibly. The first activity is reading, and the quality named is distinctness rather than cleverness.

And gave the sense. They helped. There were men in that crowd whose job it was to make the reading land, and the text names them earlier and says what they did.

That is worth stating plainly, because this site is not a case against teachers and never has been. Nehemiah 8 has helpers in it and they are doing something good and the text approves of it.

And caused them to understand the reading.

But read where the understanding lands. Not on the explanation. On the reading. The helpers' work is aimed at the people understanding the book, not at the people understanding the helpers.

That is the difference between a man who hands you a key and a man who holds the door. Both are in the room. Only one of them leaves you able to come back on your own.

You have understanding aimed at the reading itself and you were never meant to end up dependent on the explanation. Nehemiah 8:8 says they caused them to understand the reading, and it is His Spirit who is described in Scripture as the one who takes what is Christ's and shows it to a man.

What happened at the end of that day

The day does not end with a discussion. It ends with a party, and the reason given is specific.

And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. (Nehemiah 8:12)

Because they had understood the words.

That is the stated cause of the celebration. Not because the reading was impressive. Not because a teacher was good. Because they had understood, and understanding was, for that crowd, an occasion for food and mirth and sending portions to people who had none.

And earlier in the same day, when the crowd started weeping, the instruction they got was this:

Then he 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. (Nehemiah 8:10)

Neither be ye sorry. The response to finally understanding the book was not supposed to be grief over the years it had not been understood.

You are not required to grieve the years and you have not been kept out of anything permanently. Nehemiah 8:12 gives understanding as the reason for the celebration and Nehemiah 8:10 says neither be ye sorry, and it is the Holy Spirit rather than a season of regret who makes a first understanding a beginning.

What the Bible says about who it is pitched at

This is not one unusual day. The rest of Scripture keeps saying the same thing about its own accessibility.

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. (Psalm 19:7)

Making wise the simple. The simple is not an insult in Hebrew poetry; it means the untrained, the ordinary, the one with no background. And the claim is that the testimony does the making wise.

And the instruction Moses gives about the reading itself:

Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 31:12)

Men, and women, and children, and thy stranger. The stranger is somebody with no background at all, and he is on the list, by instruction, at the reading.

Which means the assumption that a man needs credentials before the text is properly available to him is not a modest assumption. It is an assumption the text itself contradicts twice, in two different books, in the plainest terms it has.

You have a book that names the untrained as its audience and you were never outside its reach. Psalm 19:7 says the testimony makes wise the simple and Deuteronomy 31:12 puts the stranger in the crowd by name, and it is His Spirit who does what those verses describe.