The public reading of the Holy Scriptures is a Scriptural practice that we should jealously guard and preserve. The reading of the Word of God in a service should not be something that is quickly passed over as being of comparatively small importance, and merely a prelude to other more substantial and important parts of our worship. Worship in our churches is Divine Worship; and what more important part of that worship can there be, than to be listening, humbly, attentively, and prayerfully, to the Word of Almighty God? The Lord, whom we profess to worship, has said, ‘to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word’ (Isaiah 66.2).

The reverent and public reading of the Holy Scriptures, with those in the congregation each following the reading in their own Bibles, is one of the many spiritual privileges we continue to enjoy in our churches today. It was a practice restored to us by our Christian forebears at the time of the Protestant Reformation. However, like so much of our Scriptural heritage, it is a practice that is declining, and is one which the history of the church over the centuries teaches us could, by neglect and contempt, be so easily and quickly, completely lost, or taken from us.

The Bible speaks much about our hearing and reading the Word of God, and of the blessing that is associated with our prayerfully meditating upon its Divine truths. Throughout the Holy Scriptures, in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament, there are many instances given of men, women and children who gathered in their day and generation to hear the public reading of the Word of God. Many, of course, despised the great privilege, and no doubt did their utmost to shut their ears to the sound of Truth. Others, we know, rejoiced in the goodness and kindness of God in permitting rebellious sinners like themselves to hear the ‘good tidings of great joy’ (Luke 2.10), not from the lips of an angel as did the shepherds of Bethlehem at the proclamation of the birth of Christ, but from the very mouth of the holy, righteous and just God against Whom they had so grievously sinned! What a privilege they had! Equally, what a privilege we have too! Yet, to be the recipients of such a wondrous blessing is also a most solemn responsibility, and how careful we need to be that we do not despise ‘the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering’ (Romans 2.4)! What need there is for us continuously to humble ourselves before Him and the authority of His Word!

‘God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son … Therefore’ says the apostle in applying this truth, after speaking of the Divine glory of the Redeemer, ‘we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip’ (Hebrews 1.1,2; 2.1). Later in the same epistle, the apostle further exhorts those to whom he writes by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, ‘See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven’ (12.25).

The written Word of God is nothing less than the Divine medium the Lord is pleased to use to convey the voice of Christ to mankind in this world, from the glory of His Throne in Heaven. Wherever, among all the nations of the world, there is an open Bible, and the Word of God is either read or heard, there is the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man Mediator, speaking from the right hand of His Father in Heaven, making known the glory of His Divine majesty and the wonder of His gracious activity among the sons of men. ‘Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear; for I will speak of excellent things …’ (Proverbs 8.4–6). What an encouragement this should be to all of us involved in the work of the Society! Let us then continue to translate, publish and distribute this living, wondrous and all-powerful God-given book, the Holy Bible (in humble dependence upon the Lord for His indispensable blessing), knowing that through this inspired volume, Almighty God is addressing our fellow-sinners, and making known to them the truth that He is Just, and yet the Justifier ‘of him which believeth in Jesus’ (Romans 3.26).

One of the many examples in the Bible of a congregation gathered to hear the reading of the Holy Scriptures is to be found in the eighth chapter of Nehemiah. In this portion of the Sacred Scriptures there is much to be learnt which is directly relevant to us in our day, as to the place the reading of the Word of God should have in our worship, and the reverent manner in which we should assemble to hear it read and expounded.

In the closing words of the previous chapter (Nehemiah 7.73), we are told, ‘and when the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities’. Then, on the first day of this seventh month (as we are told in verses two and three of chapter eight), the men, women and children—the exiles of Israel, who had returned from their captivity in Babylon—had come from their cities to ‘the street that was before the water gate’ in Jerusalem. This particular street had been chosen, no doubt, because it was suitable to hold the large number of people who were present.

The first verse of chapter eight informs us that ‘all the people gathered themselves together as one man’, from which words we can glean that every one of those who assembled came together with a single aim and united purpose, and had come with a certain expectancy and anticipation. Their intent was soon evident. ‘They spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel’.

The second and third verses give in summary form what Ezra did, and the attention the people gave to the ‘Book’ that was before him. ‘And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding’ [margin: ‘Heb. that understood in hearing’] ‘upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law’.

In the fourth verse, we see that Ezra was standing ‘upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose’. This was not to exalt the servant of the Lord, Ezra, above the people, but, as we see from verse five, and most importantly, rather it was so that what Ezra was doing could be seen clearly by the people assembled before him.

In verse 5 we read ‘Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up’, which was probably a token of the reverence that they had for God, Whose voice they were about to hear. (This is a practice which continues to this day in some churches in certain parts of the world when the Holy Scriptures are read.)

We then find in verse 6, that Ezra, with the Holy Scriptures open before him, and the people standing looking on, ‘blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground’. Ezra thus rendered thanksgiving unto God for His Word and led the people in self-abasing worship (evidenced by the humbling posture they adopted)—and all this, it would appear, before he began to read the Word of God!

In the following two verses (verses seven and eight), we have the reading and the expounding of the Word of God, whilst the people continued to stand. We again have a summary given to us in verse eight of what was read, and what the Lord’s servants, who were with Ezra, did, ‘So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading’.

There was no question to either Ezra or the men who were assisting him, as to whether or not they had the Word of God! They knew that before them, and before the people, were the Divine Oracles of God. Together with the congregation, they bowed before the Lord, the Almighty God, whom they could not see, and before the authority of His Word—the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel (see verse one)—that they could see. ‘They read in the book in the law of God distinctly.’ Gill states regarding the word ‘distinctly’, ‘which they read plainly and intelligibly, so as to be heard and understood; this seems to respect the clear and distinct pronunciation of the words of it …’.¹

‘And gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.’ It is observed by Owen that, ‘Nehemiah records that the Levites understood, and zealously undertook, their duty of teaching the people, for God had placed them in charge of the great task of instructing the people in His law through the reading, preaching, and exposition of it…explaining its meaning, and instructing the people from it—all of which is a pretty fair description of preaching the Word’.²

A Scriptural definition of preaching? They ‘preached the word’, giving ‘the sense’ and ‘caused them to understand the reading’ or, as it is expressed in verse seven, ‘caused the people to understand the law’. Sadly, today, so often, the public reading of the Holy Scriptures is seen as something that must be hurried through or abbreviated to only a few verses, as it is considered to be no more than a preface to what is deemed the more important and necessary part of the service, the sermon. However, surely the great emphasis should be the other way around, and the sermon should be seen, primarily, as the expounding of the Word of our Great God and King, who is speaking with Divine Authority in the midst of His church, which blessed and Divine Activity should be at the very heart of all our worship! This is not in any way to relegate the Divinely commissioned role of preaching, but rather to place it in its proper context vis-à-vis the reading of the Word of God.

The rest of the passage in this chapter of Nehemiah speaks of the further unfolding of the effect and influence of the Word of God on that day and the following days. ‘And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law’ (verse 13). The practical impact on the people was very extensive. Verse fourteen tells us what ‘they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses’, and realising their neglect of obedience to His Word, how quickly they sought to rectify their omission. Evidently they were, by the grace of God, ‘doers of the word, and not hearers only’ (James 1.22).

May the Lord give us each (by the almighty workings of His Holy Spirit within us) a greater awe, reverence and love for His Word, grace to be prayerful and attentive hearers of His Word, and doers of the Word ourselves; and may we be granted a true burden to see the Holy Scriptures faithfully and accurately translated, published, distributed and greatly used of God, among the nations of the world!

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God [Hebrews 10.31]; but a blessed thing it is, and will bring us to everlasting blessedness in the end, when God speaks unto us, to hearken; when He sets His word before us, to read it; when He stretches out His hand and calleth, to answer, Here am I; here we are to do thy will, O God. The Lord work a care and conscience in us to know Him and serve Him, that we may be acknowledged of Him at the appearing of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, to whom with the Holy Ghost, be all praise and thanksgiving. Amen.³

First published in Quarterly Record 593. Edited 21 November 2024.