This Sunday's Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) reading is Nehemiah 8: 1-3, 5-6, 8-10. You may note that verses 4 and 7 are left out. I have re-inserted them below (highlighted in blue). After reading them, I can guess why they were omitted.
1 all the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. 2 Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month. 3 He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.
4 The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand.
5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, ‘Amen, Amen’, lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their places.
8 So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. 10 Then he said to them, ‘Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’
I have sat and listened as readers struggled with Old Testament names, and I suspect the editors had as well. Not wishing to scare away potential lay readers, the editors of the RCL decided to remove the list of those assisting Ezra.
We pewsitters should not be deprived of the pleasure of watching our friends struggle at the lectern with all of those names!
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The BCP Lectionary still has them. I will enjoy this morning.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago, a man at our church volunteered to be among the lectors at the Sunday service. Obviously shy of public speaking, he struggled greatly, not only with names but with the entire lesson. We use the 1928 BCP, in which there is no response specified for "Here endeth the lesson." People who had previously used the 1979 book routinely say, "Thanks be to God," which struck me as hilarious, since I would spend my time while this man was reading saying to myself, "Come on, you can do it!" I honored his willingness to try, since it was agony for him.
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