I’ve never experienced a homecoming like the one enjoyed by the Jewish exiles returning to Jerusalem. Seventy years in captivity, many knew of Jerusalem only from stories. They returned to a broken city, and only through great effort rebuilt the walls and restored the temple.

The priests called an open-air meeting and read from the Book of the Law atop a high wooden platform. They explained the text and helped people understand the meaning behind the words.

As people listened they began to weep.

The service turned profoundly emotional. This group had left their captors, endured dangerous travel, joined in a massive construction project, restored abandoned houses, and fed families in the midst of it all. When they finally took a moment to breathe, the reality of God’s restoration hit them hard.

Nehemiah stopped the reading and gave these instructions: This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep. Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

Homecoming turned into Thanksgiving. God’s goodness overwhelmed these former exiles, and the joy of the Lord indeed became their strength.

Wonderfully, God’s joy can become my strength as well. If I listen, understand and practice His Word I can learn to recognize God’s hand in my life. Then his joy might seep out in ways I’m not expecting, much like that homecoming in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 8 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Guillaume de Germain