Nehemiah 8

1. Ezra the scribe. Ezra, having taken a journey to Babylon after his first coming to Judæa, had now returned.

2 on the first day of the seventh month. On this day of the ecclesiastical year (Tishri), or the new year’s day of the civil year, was the Feast of

Trumpets (Lev. xxiii. 24). In the seventh month, also, the Feast of Tabernacles was held; and it was commanded that at this feast, in every seventh year, the law should be publicly read (Deut. xxxi. 10, 11); which may have suggested the people’s request.

3 from the morning until midday. Heb., “from the light”; that is, from about six in the morning till noon.

4 a pulpit of wood. The Hebrew word is often used for a watch-tower: here it signifies a large platform, as it was capable of holding fourteen persons.

7 caused the people to understand. The Hebrew was translated for the benefit of the people who spoke Aramaic, and the meaning was also explained by Ezra and his helpers.

9 the Tirshatha. See note on Ezra ii. 63. Nehemiah never gives himself this name in the portion of the book which is written in the first person.

mourn not, nor weep. The Festivals of Trumpets and Tabernacles were to be observed with joy. One element of this joy, as the next verse shows, was that of doing good to others.

14 should dwell in booths. The Feast of Tabernacles was appointed to be held on the fifteenth day of this month: see Lev. xxiii. 34, 42; Deut. xvi. 13. The people, having heard the directions given respecting it in Lev. xxiii., were eager to commemorate it.

15 the mount. The hill-country.

pine branches. Rather, as R.V., “branches of wild olive.”

16 the gate of Ephraim. In the centre of the north wall of the city.

17 had not . . . done so. Although the sacred festivals had been greatly neglected during long portions of the Jewish history, instances are expressly recorded of the Feast of Tabernacles having been kept (2 Chron. viii. 13; Ezra iii. 4). This statement must refer, therefore, to the mode rather than the fact of celebration.

18 he read in the book. See note on Deut. xxxi. 12. This reading is supposed to have given rise to the regular public reading of the Scriptures every Sabbath day, and to the establishment of synagogues in all the cities of the Jews for that purpose; which was probably one principal means of keeping them from ever again relapsing into idolatry.