Part II. RELIGIOUS REFORM Ch. Nehemiah 7:73; Nehemiah 7:73; Nehemiah 8:12. The Public Reading of the Law. 13 18. The Celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. Ch. 9. The National Confession, preliminary to the Covenant. Ch. Nehemiah 10:1-29. The Sealing of the Covenant. 30 39. Certain Oblig... [ Continue Reading ]
_into the street_ R.V. INTO THE BROAD PLACE. The open space in front of -the water-gate" is probably the same as that mentioned in Ezra 10:9, -and all the people sat in the broad place before the house of God." Cf. Nehemiah 3:26, -the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, unto the place over against the water-ga... [ Continue Reading ]
Nehemiah 7:73; Nehemiah 7:73. The Reading of the Law This verse begins a new section in the work. The style alters. The use of the first pers. sing. is resumed in Nehemiah 12:31. The Compiler has recourse to other material for this narrative. The thread of Nehemiah's Memoir, which was broken off at... [ Continue Reading ]
_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_... [ Continue Reading ]
_before the street_ R.V. BEFORE THE BROAD PLACE. The -broad place" was _before_the water-gate; Ezra read _before_the broad place. In each case the preposition seems to mean on the W. side, i.e. _in front of_looking eastward. The Vulgate -in plateâ." The LXX. omits the reference to the locality in th... [ Continue Reading ]
_a pulpit of wood_ R.V. marg. Heb. _tower_. Literally -upon a tower of wood." LXX. ἐπὶ βήματος ξυλίνου, 1 Esdr. ἐπὶ τοῦ ξυλίνου βήματος. Vulg. -super gradum ligneum:" cf. -the stairs" on which the Levites stood in Nehemiah 9:4. The mention of the erection of a platform or tribune which the Jews had... [ Continue Reading ]
_opened_ i.e. unrolled, cf. Luke 4:17. _above all the people_ i.e. raised above them in his pulpit. _all the people stood up_ We need not conclude from these words that they stood during the whole time that the reading went on. Rather -they rose to their feet," signifying by this gesture their reve... [ Continue Reading ]
_the great God_ cf. Nehemiah 9:32; Ezra 5:8. In Nehemiah's own writing it occurs Nehemiah 1:5. _Amen, Amen_ The people's response: see note on Nehemiah 5:13; cf. 1 Chronicles 16:36. _with lifting up their hands_ See note on Ezra 9:5. Cf. Psalms 134:2, -Lift up your hands to the sanctuary (Marg. Or... [ Continue Reading ]
_Also Jeshua_&c. Of the 13 names here mentioned we find _four_, i.e. Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Hodiah, mentioned among the Levites in chap. Nehemiah 9:5, and _seven_, i.e. Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Kelita, Hanan, Pelaiah, among the Levites in chap. Nehemiah 10:9-14. Perhaps these _seven_were r... [ Continue Reading ]
_So they read_ R.V. AND THEY READ. The account does not make it clear, whether the Levites were reading at the same time as Ezra, groups being gathered round the different readers, or whether, as we should rather infer, there was one reader who at the first was Ezra himself, and afterward chosen Lev... [ Continue Reading ]
_Nehemiah, which_is _the Tirshatha_ R.V. N. WHICH WAS &c. On the title here used see note on Ezra 2:63. Nehemiah in his own -Memoirs" speaks of himself as -Pekhah" (cf. Nehemiah 5:14-15; Nehemiah 5:18); and in consequence some (e.g. Smend) suggest that the title applied here and in Nehemiah 10:2 to... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then he said_ Who issued the command, we are not told. Clearly either Nehemiah or Ezra. Some think Nehemiah because as governor he would be the person to issue authoritative directions. But more probably Ezra is intended; for (1) Ezra's name is most conspicuous throughout this whole episode; cf. Ne... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hold your peace_ This expression has been compared with the Latin -Favete linguis." It was ill-omened to make use of words or signs of lamentation on a holy day, cf. Habakkuk 2:20, -The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him;" Zephaniah 1:7, -Hold thy peace at the pre... [ Continue Reading ]
_send portions_ Cf. Nehemiah 8:10. _because they had understood the words that were declared unto them_ Literally, -the words which they had declared unto them." The LXX. ἐγνώρισεν, Vulg. -docuerat" make it probable that there was a reading -Which _he_had declared unto them." What are -the words" he... [ Continue Reading ]
The Feast of Tabernacles 13. _the second day_ i.e. of the month Tisri, cf. Nehemiah 8:2. _the chief of the fathers_ R.V. THE HEADS OF THE FATHERS" HOUSES. The leading men of the nation apply to Ezra for further instruction in -the law." It will be observed that -the priests and the Levites" join in... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they found written_ The passages in the Pentateuch relating to the Feast of Tabernacles are Exodus 23:16; Leviticus 23:39-43; Numbers 29:12-38; Deuteronomy 16:13; Deuteronomy 16:15. The reference here is to Leviticus 23: and Deuteronomy 16. For -found," cf. Nehemia [ Continue Reading ]
_and that they should publish and proclaim … saying_ In Leviticus 23:1; Leviticus 23:4 the children of Israel are commanded to -proclaim the set feasts of the Lord." The actual words of this verse are nowhere to be found in the Pentateuch. But there is no reason on that account to suppose a corrupti... [ Continue Reading ]
_So the people went forth_ There were 13 days before the feast, in which to make preparations. _upon the roof of his house_ For the use put to the flat roofs of houses in the East cf. Jos 2:6; 1 Samuel 9:25 (Deuteronomy 22:8). _in their courts_ Eastern houses were generally built in the form of a... [ Continue Reading ]
_that were come again out of the captivity_ Compare for this expression Ezra 6:21, -the children of Israel, which were come again out of the captivity" (_haggôlah_). Here the word for -captivity" is _sh'bhi_with a possible play on the word for -that were come again" (_hasshâbim_). The fullest descri... [ Continue Reading ]
_he read_ i.e. Ezra. This is the usual explanation, so also LXX. ἀνέγνω. Vulg. -legit." According to another interpretation the 3rd pers. sing. is impersonal = -and one read," -there was reading." _in the book of the law of God_ The command to read at the Feast of Tabernacles only applied to the spe... [ Continue Reading ]