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chapter 8:, in the "Pulpit erected with a purpose" and the "Opened Book", even as our
own experiences of 1943 converged in the opening of "The Chapel of the Opened Book".
"And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the
purpose . . . . . And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people" (Neh. 8: 4, 5).
The purpose of that pulpit was not to magnify Nehemiah the Tirshatha nor Ezra the
Scribe. Most certainly it was not erected to enable a priestly cast to establish an
ascendancy over the people, for its prime object was expressed in the words, "Ezra
opened the book".
Let us consider three aspects of this theme that must be true of the work now
inaugurated, as it was true in the days of Israel's return from captivity.
(1) The Opened Book must be read.
"So they read in the book in the law of God DISTINCTLY, and gave the SENSE, and
caused them to UNDERSTAND the reading" (Neh. 8: 8).
To the Ethiopian riding in his chariot, Philip the evangelist put the question,
"Understandest thou what thou readest?" (Acts 8: 30). To Timothy Paul wrote, "Till I
come give attendance to reading" (I Tim. 4: 13), and even our Saviour, Who spake as
never man spake, "stood up for to read" (Luke 4: 16).
It will therefore be the duty of all who minister in the Chapel of the Opened Book to
see that the reading of the Word finds a prominent place in its services. But "reading", to
be a service and not a soporific, must be clear for "If the trumpet give an uncertain sound,
who shall prepare himself for battle?" Reading therefore must be "distinct" and this
lowly feature of public ministry will not be forgotten in the training of students in the
days to come. Distinctness of enunciation, however, covers more than the emission of
the sounds of words: it also has a bearing upon the sense of the words read. We have
heard Luke 24: 25 so read as to make it seem that our Saviour rebuked the disciples
for being such fools as to believe all that the prophets have spoken! or Rom. 6: 17 so
read as to make the Apostle thank God that the Roman Christians were the servants of
sin!
The first lesson then that we learn is, that in the ministry of the Word the Book must
be "read", and so read that its message shall be given "distinctly" and its "sense"
preserved.
(2) The Opened Book must be "divided".
At the beginning of His ministry our Lord entered the synagogue at Nazareth and
stood up for to read, "And when He had opened the book" at Isa. 61: we find that He
read one verse and the one sentence following, and then closed the book, sat down and
said, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4: 21). A perusal of
Isa. 61: 1, 2 will show that the Lord put into operation that great principle of