The Book of Ezra-Nehemiah, as I suggested in an earlier article, is one of the most relevant biblical texts for today because it portrays the agonizing efforts of Church renewal. In this light, it’s far too little known that the Catechism of the Catholic Church states unequivocally that “the Remnant of the poor that returns from the [Babylonian] Exile is one of the most transparent prefigurations of the Church” (§ 710, emphasis added).
The Venerable Bede and Matthew Levering—commentators “both old and new” (cf. Matt 13:52)—each explore different ways in which the return of the Remnant community foreshadows the universal Church, but one must go to the rabbis to find one particularly timely “transparent prefiguration”: Namely, the first-ever “eucharistic procession.”
Nehemiah 12:27–43 recounts the “dedication” of the walls of Jerusalem as a culminating moment in the restoration of Jerusalem following the Babylonian Exile.
Solomon’s temple had previously been “dedicated” (cf. 1 Kgs 8:64)—a liturgical term of art that implies consecration to the Lord’s unique service—but, at least according to the books of Kings and Chronicles, the city walls were not. Nehemiah’s action accordingly appears unprecedented in Israel’s history.
The ancient rabbis, as well as contemporary scholar Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, recognize that this “dedication” extended some of the Second Temple’s holiness to the entire city of Jerusalem, and represented Nehemiah’s solemn consecration of Jerusalem as a “temple state”—one in which citizenship in the province of Judah corresponded largely to one’s standing in the temple community.
But one feature of this “dedication” stands out to us as we come to the final stages of our national Eucharistic revival. The Scripture tells us that Nehemiah celebrated “the dedication . . . with thanksgivings” (Neh 12:27).
Nehemiah himself recounts that “I appointed two large thanksgivings,” each to head a procession that went in opposite directions around the wall, meeting in the middle (12:31, author’s translation). One “thanksgiving” went to the right, and the other to the left (12:13, 38).
Now, the RSVCE translation renders the Hebrew word “thanksgiving” as “company which gave thanks” (Neh 12:31, 38; cf. NAB), but the rabbis did not read the passage this way. The Hebrew (Masoretic) text just says “thanksgivings”; thus, rather than interpreting the “thanksgivings” as companies of persons giving thanks, the rabbis understood the “thanksgivings” in light of the ancient todah offering.
A todah offering—in English, a “thanksgiving” offering; in Greek, a eucharistia—was made by ancient Israelites after being delivered from deadly peril. The todah offering took different forms, but it customarily involved bread and wine (cf. Gen 14:17–20).
Accordingly, reading the account of Nehemiah’s “dedication” of the wall, the ancient rabbis did not think Nehemiah appointed companies of thanksgiving singers. Rather, they understood Nehemiah to have commanded the priests to carry large “thanksgiving” breads at the head of the twin processions.
If this interpretation is correct, the “dedication” of the city wall of Jerusalem—which extended somewhat of the temple’s holiness to the entire city—was accomplished by way of a “eucharistic” procession.
The significance of this interpretation for our current day is plain enough. Putting the “source and summit” of our faith, first and foremost—at the head of our efforts at renewal—promises a renewal of holiness among God’s people.
Arguably, the extension of the temple’s holiness by way of the city wall’s “dedication” itself forms “one of the most transparent prefigurations of the Church.” For the Church shares in the holiness of Jesus Himself, the new Temple (cf. Jn 2:21), as members of His Body (cf. Rom 12:1–5). Christ’s redeeming sacrifice—in commemoration of which we offer the Eucharist, the Christian todah (cf. 1 Cor 11:26–28)—affected what Nehemiah’s dedication prefigured: The sharing of one common holiness among all God’s people.
But it may also be significant that Nehemiah’s dedication took place by way of the bread of the todah offering. In the Christian dispensation, as Sacrosanctum Concilium reminds us: “The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; [but] at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows” (§ 10).
The liturgy, according to the Council Fathers, “is the primary and indispensable source from which the faithful are to derive the true Christian spirit” (§ 14). The Eucharist is the ultimate source of our continuing and deepening consecration to the Lord.
Nehemiah appears to have grasped the same truth. Putting the todah breads foremost among the “dedication” processions was how he affected an unprecedented consecration of Jerusalem to the service of the Lord.
The lesson for us is obvious: “Go and do likewise” (cf. Lk 10:37).
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Jesus gives the Eucharist His Body and Blood. Taken too far it is misleading to throw the word eucharist as we now have it back into the OT. The thanksgivings of the OT were not this or even like this, they were acts of fidelity blessed by God in the promise of salvation or in the fore-shadowing of salvation. Jesus did not come to rebuild the Temple or carry forward the Old Covenant, as these served their purpose for the time in which they were given.
Another aspect to Ezra-Nehemiah is the “restoring” of things out of their desecrations and defilements -ritual purification. The thanksgiving had a definite context and meaning. Something I saw in these books comes not from the thanksgiving but from the word, restoration. This, in my view, was prophetic. This is the significance and true exegesis of the books. Restoration in this sense is matter adjudged by God that would “substitute” reparation and restitution for all that was sentenced forever as lost and could never retrieve /be retrieved.
In the post-exile era the Jews were at their most vulnerable and things could come to seem very hopeless and desperate by the time of the betrayals of the Maccabees; later the priestly class would be infiltrated and the New Temple would be built by a usurping dynasty. So that the pledge of faithfulness remained the most cherished act and “object”.
In the end God marks out His new initiative with the co-operation of the just man Joseph but through the Immaculate Conception entirely set apart for its own merit and for God’s glory.
Excellent exegesis of the Old Testament passage and their importance for the Eucharistic Renewal the Church MUST experience if She is to remain faithful to Christ.
Man is physical body as well as Spirit, which is why the most contemplative orders have liturgical worship interspersed throughout the day’s 24 hours. Insofar as the reclusive hermit, biblical and historical accounts have them turn to some physically active form of worship, as did John the Baptist who at the appointed time began to preach in witness to Christ, and baptize. Saint Benedict began as a solitary cave dweller in Subiaco and eventually formed a community at Monte Casino.
Budd’s account of procession in Nehemiah is convincing as a prefiguration of our Eucharistic procession. The bread of thanksgiving processed around Jerusalem’s walls is remarkably similar. Bread, Western man’s primary staple, referred in scripture as strengthening man’s heart, strengthens our hearts in Christ through the Holy Eucharist. Wherever a special effort is made to adore Our Lord, especially in his greatest gift the Holy Eucharist, the Spirit of all graces is poured upon us. The procession now occurring nationwide will have good effect. We can pray with hope for a direly needed nationwide conversion to the truth and goodness of Christ.
Furthermore, as adherents to the one God in Christ, we are a definitive body. The Body of Christ, a body that acts in unison depicting its definition as a distinctive body.
Thank you. I have to do a confession on this.
We just had one and it was so inspiring to see so many of our parishioners participate. Claremont, Ca.