Nehemiah 8
DOYLYNehemiah 8:2
- — upon the first day of the seventh month.] The seventh month of the ecclesiastical year, which was the first month of the civil year used by the Hebrews. The ecclesiastical year began in the month Nisan, answering to the time of the vernal equinox; and the seventh month of this, which was the first of the civil year, took place about the time of the autumnal equinox. The first day therefore of this seventh month was, in a manner, their new year’s day, and was celebrated by a festival proclaimed by the sound of trumpets, and thence called the feast of trumpets, Levit. xxv. 9. It was when the people were assembled for this festival that the events now related took place. Dean Prideaux.
Nehemiah 8:6
- And Ezra blessed the Lord.] Ezra first began with offering up praises to God for the blessing of His revealed word, and for all His mercies to the Israelite nation, in which the whole assembly joined with strong expressions of devotion and reverence. Pyle.
Nehemiah 8:7
- — caused the people to understand the law.] The most probable meaning is, they translated or interpreted it out of the old Hebrew, in which it was first written, into the Chaldee, which was now the vulgar language of the people. Pyle.
Nehemiah 8:9
- — For all the people wept, &c.] The people bewailed the ignorance in which they had lived, and the many violations of the law of which they had been guilty; just as Josiah did when he heard the words of the law read out of a book which he found unexpectedly, 2 Kings xxii. Bp. Patrick.
The tears which the Jews shed, and their being sent-
up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
Nehemiah 8:10
- Then he said unto them, Go your way, &c.] It appears, ver. 3, that the holy scribe with his assistants continued from morning till midday to read and explain to the people the law of God in such a manner, as might best make them know and understand it; but at midday they dismissed them to eat and drink and rejoice before the Lord during the remainder of the day, because, being a festival, it was consecrated to be thus kept holy to Him. Dean Prideaux. He desires them to “eat the fat and drink the sweet;” that is, to make a feast, and provide as good cheer as they were able, ac-
The people are comforted. They keep the feast of tabernacles. Before CHRIST about 445. this day is holy unto our LORD: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:14
- And they found written in the law &c.] Ezra and his associates proceeding further to read and explain to the people the law of God, came to the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus, in which is written the law of the feast of tabernacles; and having explained to them from thence the obligation under which they were to observe this festival, and shewn that the fifteenth day of the month was the day appointed for the beginning of it, an eager desire was excited in all the people to fulfil the law of God in this particular. Dean Prideaux.
Nehemiah 8:15
- — fetch olive branches, &c.] Josephus calls the feast of tabernacles “the most holy of all.” In Lev. xxiii. 40, are mentioned “boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook.” We see by comparing these passages, that, though the general purport of them is the same, yet the particulars differ. Nehemiah was more attentive to the spirit and meaning of the precept, than to its strict verbal construction. Script. illustr. Expos. Ind. — branches of thick trees.] These words seem to include all handsome-looking trees, capable of forming a cool recess, or of casting a salutary and grateful shade. Script. illustr. Expos. Ind. 16. — made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, &c.] Dr. Russell, speaking of the religious ceremonies of the Jews at Aleppo, gives a description of the feast of tabernacles, which illustrates the narrative in the text. “The tabernacles are variously constructed, and disposed in different situations, according to the size and other circumstances of the house. They are placed sometimes upon the small terraces in front of the upper rooms; most commonly in the court yards; and, where several families live in the same house, after every other place is occupied below, they erect the tabernacles on the flat tops of the houses: for each family, however mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.
Nehemiah 8:17
- — for since the days of Jeshua &c.] It can hardly be thought that the feast of tabernacles had never been observed since the time of Joshua, because, in fact, we read in the book of Ezra that it was kept at the return of the Jews from Babylon; but the meaning is, that the joy with which it was celebrated had never since that time been so great as upon this occasion: for which the Jews assign this reason, that, in the days of Joshua, they rejoiced because they had got possession of the land of Canaan, and now they equally rejoiced, because they were restored and quietly settled in it, after they had been so long cast out. Bp. Patrick. We should remark, that the long captivity of the Jews, and the afflictions which attended it, did more towards effecting their reformation than all which their Prophets and priests could do for a long series of years. Bp. Wilson.
Nehemiah 8:18
- Also day by day, &c.] Although the law did not expressly appoint that the book of the law should be openly read on every day of this festival. Deut. xxxi. Before CHRIST about 445. restraint.