Read God’s Word - Deuteronomy 29-31

Deuteronomy 31:9-13 (ESV Strong's)
The Reading of the Law
Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Read God’s Word

The above passage is the setting for Nehemiah 8.  After the people returning from exile rebuilt the Temple and the City (under Nehemiah, Haggai and Ezra) they became discouraged.   That is when Ezra and Nehemiah brought out the Book of the Law and read it in the hearing of the people.   The reading of the Law was supposed to give the people both pause (allow them to take a minute to compare their life vs the Law) and to give them encouragement as they read the blessings in the Law, for obedience.   The act of reading God’s Word is supposed to be a time of reflection and a time of correction and a time of inspiration.   Moses instructed the nation to read the law on a regular schedule so they would not forget God’s great work in their life, God demands for their life and God’s promises surrounding their life.   This is where the nation became lost.  They failed to read God’s word on a regular basis and this became their downfall.  They forgot God’s great work in the past.  They forgot God’s commands and demands.  They forgot God’s promises.  How do you live a productive life for God, forgetting all those things?   God established His Word to give us hope and life.   Failure to read it puts us in a place that it put the nation of Israel: In captivity and a need to rebuild the destruction of our past.