1 Timothy 4:13

v. 13 "Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching."

Some people use this passage to support expository preaching. Paul, however, was referring to something even more specific: the Jewish practice in worship of reading the Scriptures aloud in public.

In watching one of the Ray Vanderlaan videos entitled "Footsteps of the Rabbi," I learned that one of the central parts of Jewish worship was bringing out the Scrolls to read aloud in the local synagogues. There was a special seat called the "bimah" where the person reading the Scriptures was to sit. Jesus would have occupied that seat on several occasions. Zodiahtes mentions that the Greek word for this Scripture reader was "aganostai," it was an actual position.

Jews would shout and sing and dance in excitement at the sight of the scrolls being brought out for a reading. They'd be excited about the Word of God, and I assume it was the same in early churches. We don't seem to get that excited these days.

Maybe it's because we can read the Word anytime we want to, whereas complete scrolls weren't widely available to the general public back then. It was truly possible for someone to come and hear a scripture that they hadn't heard before or had access to.

There's an implication in the verse, too. Timothy wasn't just to read aloud but to "exhort" and "teach" from the Scripture. I can see how the entire verse taken together could support expository preaching, or teaching from an entire passage read publicly.

I wonder how the believers in Ephesus danced when it was time to hear the Word read out loud.

"Until I come..." Clearly this was a specific command for Timothy, but I think most feel it's a role of an elder today to "devote yourself" (NIV) to reading, teaching, and exhorting from the Word.