Nehemiah 8:13-15

The people wanted to hear God’s law again the next day. This time the leaders of the families came to hear what was in the book of the law. Ezra and the priests and the *Levites helped the people to study God’s law. When they all studied God’s law, they found out about a special holiday. The holiday was in the 7th month of the year. It was called the holiday of the shelters.

Actually there should have been three special holidays during the 7th month of the year.

1. The first holiday was the special day of the *trumpets (Leviticus 23:23-25). God told his people to have a special day of rest on the first day of the month. He told them not to work. He told them to meet together when they heard the sound of the *trumpets.

2. The second special day was on the 10th day of the month (Leviticus 23:26-32). That was a day for the people to be sad because they had *sinned. They should be humble and they should confess their *sins to God. Then God would forgive their *sins.

3. The third special holiday was the holiday of the shelters (Leviticus 23:33-36). It started on the 15th day of the month and it lasted for 7 days. God wanted to remind the people about the time when he rescued their *ancestors from the country called Egypt. When the people left Egypt, they lived in shelters. God had looked after them until he led them into the country called *Israel. *Judah was the south part of the land that God had promised to give to his people. So, afterwards, God said that his people should make shelters during the 7th month of the year. The people must make the shelters from branches and they must live in the shelters for 7 days. On the 8th day, the people had to meet together. This 8th day was an extra holiday. On that day, people remembered how God gave them his law. God told the people to be happy during this whole holiday (Deuteronomy 16:13-15).

When the leaders of the people studied God’s law, they discovered about the holiday of the shelters. This was a good holiday for them to hear about. God had rescued their *ancestors from Egypt many centuries earlier. Now he had rescued them from *exile in Babylon.

v16 So the people went out and brought back branches. They used these to build shelters for themselves. They built them in these places:

• on the roofs of their houses

• in their yards

• in the yard by the *temple

• in the square by the gate called Water Gate

• in the square by the gate called Ephraim Gate.

v17 All the families who had returned from *exile built shelters. Then they lived in the shelters. The people of *Israel had not done this since the time when Joshua the son of Nun lived. They had very great joy. v18 Every day of the holiday, Ezra read aloud from the book of God’s Law. The holiday lasted for 7 days. On the 8th day, the people gathered for the final meeting, as the Law ordered.