“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,…You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth!” (Ps 80:1).
What a glorious theme we have today—the dedication of the wall. As Ezra had prayed, “We were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem” (Ezra 9:9). The people had worked diligently to rebuild, but it was the Lord who arranged the whole project. Now it was time to rejoice in His goodness. We might do the same, celebrating the protections the Lord places around us and our families. The Levites, who led the singing, were marshalled from across the land (Neh 12:27-29) “to celebrate the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings and singing, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps” (v 27). “Then the priests and Levites purified themselves, and purified the people, the gates, and the wall” (v 30). Nehemiah also “appointed two large thanksgiving choirs” (v 31). One group ascended the ramparts along the south wall, moving anti-clockwise “toward the Refuse Gate,” led by Ezra (vv 31, 36). They then stood on the south and east, by “the Fountain Gate…as far as the Water Gate” (v 37). The other choir, led by Nehemiah, “went the opposite way…going…above the Old Gate, above the Fish Gate,… as far as the Sheep Gate” (vv 38-39), on the north and west. From these positions, “the singers sang loudly with Jezrahiah the director” (v 42). Would it surprise you to know the director’s name means “Jehovah will shine”? He certainly did that day, as “they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy…so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off” (v 43). I think I can still hear it, echoing in the hearts of His own today!