III.—The Preachers.
There was a pulpit, but not the tub-like thing that we see in some places—it held more than a dozen. It would be high enough for all the people to hear and see. But Ezra had more sense than to have it so high that he and his helpers were separated from their hearers. Pulpits should help, not hinder the preacher.
The Preacher spoke plainly,
verse 8. They read “distinctly.” We sometimes listen to a man whom we cannot hear, and it is a pain and grief to us to see his lips move, but because he drops his voice
when he has anything extra good to say, we lose the best. Such Preachers forget that “faith comes by hearing.”
The Preachers made the people understand,
verse 8.
This is one of the duties of Preachers, to make their hearers understand the Bible, so that the man who does not teach as well as preach has not done all that he has been called to do. That is the best kind of Preacher, who not only stirs up the people like a poker, but puts fuel on at the same time.