Nehemiah 8:2

And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation,.... Having a perfect copy of it, which the people knew, and therefore desired him to bring it; he brought it either out of his own case or

And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. No JFB commentary on these verses.

Ezra the priest came twelve or thirteen years before Nehemiah to Jerusalem; and either tarried there, or went back to Babylon, being forced to do so by the king’ s command, or indispensable occasions, and then returned again with Nehemiah. All that could hear with understanding, i.e. and such children as were come to years of understanding.

Nehemiah 8:2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.Ver. 2. And Ezra the priest brought the law] The commandment (he knew well) was a lamp, and the law a light; and reproofs of instruction the way of life, Proverbs 6:23. The Greeks call the law νομον, quasi θεουνοονμενοντα, the standing mind of God (Plato in Cratylo). And if Demosthenes could say of men’ s laws, that they were the invention of God; if Xenophon could say of the Persian laws, that they kept the people even from coveting any wickedness; if Cicero durst say of the Roman laws, that they far excelled and exceeded all the learned libraries of the philosophers, both in weight and worth; how much more may all this and more be said of this perfect law of God, the book whereof was here brought forth by Ezra, and read and expounded in the ears of all the people! μητοιουτουςεσεσθαιτουςπολιτας, ωστεπονηρουτινοςεργουεφιεσθαι.. Before the congregation both of men and women] Heb. From man to woman; for souls have no sexes; and in Christ there is no difference, Galatians 4:28. The Jews at this day little regard their women; not suffering them to come within their synagogue. And the Turkish women never go to their mosques; neither is there any heed taken or reckoning made of their religion at all. The Papists say that a distaff is fitter for a woman than a Bible. And all that can hear with understanding] i.e. Children also, that were of any growth. Little pitchers have ears, and little children will understand much, if well principled. Upon the first day of the seventh month] A month of more solemnities than any other. This first day was a double holy day, Leviticus 23:24. See Deuteronomy 31:11.

(2) Both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding.—Men, women, and children who had reached years of discretion. Upon the first day of the seventh month.—As the seventh was the most important month, in a religious sense, so the first day, the Feast of Trumpets, was the most important new moon (Leviticus 23:24).

Verse 2. All that could hear with understanding] Infants, idiots, and children not likely to receive instruction, were not permitted to attend this meeting; nor should any such, in any place, be ever brought to the house of God, if it can be avoided: yet, rather than a poor mother should be deprived of the ordinances of God, let her come with her child in her arms; and although it be inconvenient to the congregation, and to some ministers, to hear a child cry, it is cruel to exclude the mother on this account, who, having no person to take care of her child while absent, must bring it with her, or be totally deprived of the ordinances of the Christian Church. Upon the first day of the seventh month.] This was the first day of what was called the civil year; and on it was the feast of trumpets, the year being ushered in by the sound of these instruments.

2. Ezra the priest] cf. Ezra 7:1; Ezra 7:11. the law] i.e. the book of the law. Cf. 2 Corinthians 3:14 ‘the old covenant’ for ‘the book of the old covenant.’ The word ‘Torah’ is here used in the sense, which afterwards became universal, of the written ‘Law.’ all that could hear with understanding] lit. ‘every one of intelligence to hear and understand,’ i.e. all except quite children, cf. Nehemiah 10:28 ‘all …, their wives and their sons and their daughters, every one that had knowledge and understanding.’ The Vulgate ‘sapientium’ gives a wrong idea. upon the first day of the seventh month] In the Priestly Laws the first day of the month Tisri was ‘the Feast of Trumpets’ (see Leviticus 23:23-25; Numbers 29:1-6), a day of ‘holy convocation,’ cf. Nehemiah 8:9; see Ezra 3:1. Were the people assembled to celebrate this festival, or were the people summoned on the first day of the month, because the new-moon days were always regarded as sacred in Palestine? Considering that the people were even uninstructed how to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles according to the Law (Nehemiah 8:13-15), it is not likely that they would have been acquainted with the ‘feast of trumpets’ before the time of the reading of the Law. It is therefore most probable that the special holiness of the day lay in its being the new-moon day of the month in which occurred not only the change of year according to the autumn era but also the most popular of the Israelite festivals, ‘the feast of tabernacles.’ The observance of the new-moon seems to have been universal among Oriental nations in ancient times. Among the Israelites, it was at all times strictly maintained, cf. 1 Samuel 20:5; 2 Kings 4:23; Isaiah 1:13; Isaiah 66:23; Ezekiel 26:1; Ezekiel 46:1; Hosea 2:11; Amos 8:5; Haggai 1:1; Jdt 8:6; Colossians 2:16.

Upon the first day of the seventh month - The day of the “Feast of Trumpets” (see the margin reference note). The gathering together of the people, spoken of in Nehemiah 8:1, was probably to observe this feast.

2. Ezra the priest — He was descended from Aaron, and was therefore a priest, as well as a most distinguished scribe. See note on Ezra 7:1.