Nehemiah 8 · a question people ask
Why did the people weep when they heard the law?
The chapter gives the moment, not the reason: "For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law" (8:9). It doesn't say what in the words brought the tears, and this study doesn't guess. What it does record is the answer they were given, three times over, and each time it names the day as holy: "Today is holy to the LORD your God. Don’t mourn, nor weep" (8:9); "for today is holy to our Lord. Don’t be grieved" (8:10); "Hold your peace, for the day is holy. Don’t be grieved" (8:11). Later there is a day of fasting: "the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them" (9:1), and they "confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers" (9:2). The book doesn't link that day back to the tears of 8:9.
The verses
“Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “Today is holy to the LORD your God. Don’t mourn, nor weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared, for today is holy to our Lord. Don’t be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Hold your peace, for the day is holy. Don’t be grieved.””
“Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them. The offspring of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.”