Nehemiah 8:15

Ezra reads the law

When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the people assembled as one man in the square before 1 the Water Gate. 

They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the  Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel. 2  So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. 3  He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

4 Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion. Beside him on the right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.

5 Ezra opened the scroll All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. 

The celebration in the seventh month reminds us of the similar celebration at the time of Zerubbabel’s return one hundred years earlier. The first day of the seventh month was the civil New Year’s Day, the Feast of Trumpets. This celebration went back to the time of Moses: “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites: “On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts”’” (Leviticus 23:23,24; also Numbers 29:1-6).

The people assembled in the public square near the Water Gate on the east side of the city. Men, women, and children old enough to understand all listened attentively as Ezra read from the Law. “The Book of the Law” undoubtedly refers to parts of the five books of Moses (Genesis–Deuteronomy). Most likely Ezra read the passages in Exodus and Deuteronomy that describe God’s establishment of his covenant with Israel.

Ezra was assisted in this work by two groups of people. The role of the 13 men who stood beside him on the speaker’s platform is not specified. They may have been prominent priests or laymen who stood beside Ezra as a demonstration of support, much in the same way that dignitaries share the platform with a president or governor today. 

The second group, the Levites, assisted Ezra in the actual teaching of the Word. It is not clear whether they took turns with Ezra in the reading or simply reread and explained portions of the text to smaller groups of people after Ezra had read to the whole group. Part of their explanation of the Scriptures may have been translating them into Aramaic for those who no longer understood the biblical Hebrew well.