Men of Judah and Benjamin Gathered Themselves Together - Ezra 10:9.

In the book of Ezra, Ezra said, “they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem. And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away”, and in chapter ten and verse nine of Ezra, Ezra said, “the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together”, where we read,

Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.

The verse reads, “Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days.” Ezra began with the words, “then all the men” or “at that time each, every, the whole and everyone of the male human beings” “of Judah” or “belonging to Judah whose name means praised and was the kingdom comprised of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin which occupied the southern part of Canaan after the nation split upon the death of Solomon” “and Benjamin” which means “and Benjamin whose name means son of the right hand and was the tribe descended from Benjamin who was the son of Jacob” “gathered themselves together” or “assembled and collected their own selves” “unto Jerusalem” which means “to Jerusalem whose name means teaching of peace and is the chief city of Palestine and capital of the united kingdom and the nation of Judah after the split” “within three days” or “in three sunrises to sunsets”. Ezra shared how the male human beings who belonged to “Judah and Benjamin” were assembled in “Jerusalem” “within three days”.

The verse continues, “It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.” Ezra added the words, “it was the ninth month”which means “the timing was within the ninth month which was Kislev which corresponds to December”, “on the twentieth day” or “upon the twentieth which was actually the nineteenth sunrise to sunset” “of the month” which means “belonging to the lunar or new moon”; “and all the people” or “and each, every, the whole and everyone of the human beings both male and female” “sat in the street of the house of God” which means “were seated within the broad or open plaza pertaining to the habitation, abode and dwelling place belonging to the Supreme Deity”, “trembling” or “quaking, shuddering and shaking” “because of this matter” which means “since and on account of this, the gathering of the people of Israel's, speech, utterance and declaration”, “and for the great rain” or “and on behalf of the rain shower”. Ezra shared how the people of Israel assembled upon the nineteenth day of the December, and “all” the people of Israel were seated and shaking on account of their transgression and rain showers within the broad avenues before the dwelling place of Jehovah the Supreme Deity. 

When we meditate upon the words in this verse, we learn through Ezra how the people of Israel obeyed the declaration to gather together on the nineteenth day of December, and they were shaking and trembling because of their transgressions and a great rain shower that fell. God's desire was to have the people of Israel in alignment with Him, and because they sinned against Him and His ways again, they were quaking. There was also a rain shower that accompanied this event, and we can imagine the difficulty it presented with this amount of people gathering with these conditions. God calls all humanity to receive His Son Jesus who died on the cross for the sins of everyone, and when we receive Him as our personal “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and put within us a holy reverence for Him and His ways rather than our own. 

Next time Ezra says, “you have transgressed, and have taken strange wives”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".