VIII. Nehemiah 7:73 — Nehemiah 8:12. — Ezra instructs the people in the law. Nehemiah 7:73. — AND WHEN THE SEVENTH MONTH CAME. — Here a new subject begins, as in Ezra, whom Nehemiah copies: adopting a sentence, just as Ezra adopted the last words of the Chronicles, and with similar slight changes.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS ONE MAN. — The unanimity rather than the number is emphatic here. AND THEY SPAKE UNTO EZRA. — Who appears in this book for the first time, having probably been at the court for twelve years.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 impo... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE MORNING. — _From daylight._ The Book of the Law must have been a comprehensive one. Out of it Ezra and his companions read hour after hour, selecting appropriate passages. AND THE EARS OF ALL THE PEOPLE... UNTO THE BOOK. — A general statement; the detail now follows.... [ Continue Reading ]
PULPIT OF WOOD. — Literally, a _tower of wood._ Fourteen persons, however, were on what is afterwards called a platform, or stair, by his side.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND EZRA BLESSED THE LORD. — The book was formally and solemnly opened in the sight of the people. At this request the multitude arose, and, after a doxology offered by Ezra, they all uttered a double Amen, “with lifting up of their hands,” in token of their most fervent assent; and then “with faces... [ Continue Reading ]
GAVE THE SENSE. — They expounded obscurer passages, and in doing so naturally translated into the vernacular Aramaic dialect. CAUSED THEM TO UNDERSTAND THE READING. — This simply explains the former: they _expounded as they read. _... [ Continue Reading ]
MOURN NOT, NOR WEEP. — The days of high festival were unsuitable for public and, as it were, objective sorrow. The Day of Atonement was coming for that; as also the special day of fasting and covenant, which was already in the plan of Nehemiah and Ezra.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH This beautiful sentence is, literally, _delight in Jehovah is a strong refuge._ It is capable of unlimited application in preaching and devotion.... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THE LEVITES. — As before, what Ezra said was repeated to the people in various directions by the Levites. But there was evidently an almost irrepressible emotion.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAD UNDERSTOOD. — They had caught the meaning of the command to rejoice.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHIEF OF THE FATHERS. — Not the vast multitude now, as the great feast was not yet. EVEN TO UNDERSTAND. — _To consider,_ or _give attention to:_ that is, to learn the full meaning of the almost forgotten festival. The dwelling in booths had fallen into disuse.... [ Continue Reading ]
(13-18) The Feast of Tabernacles.... [ Continue Reading ]
SAYING. — There is no such command in Leviticus; the Septuagint inserts, _“_And Ezra spake.” But it is better to adopt Houbigant’s slight emendation of the text, which thus runs: “And when they heard it, they proclaimed,” &c. The command, then, is to go out to the Mount of Olives, and gather, not pr... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THEIR COURTS. — Not only on the roofs, but in the internal courtyards. OF THE HOUSE OF GOD. — The ministers of the Temple made these; and strangers to Jerusalem made them in the streets or open spaces near the gates.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN OF THE CAPTIVITY. — The pathos of this designation is evident here. DONE SO. — Though the feast had been kept (1 Kings 8; Ezra 3), it had never thus been kept with universal dwelling in booths.... [ Continue Reading ]
ACCORDING UNTO THE MANNER. — For the Azereth, or supplementary feast day, see Leviticus 23:36.... [ Continue Reading ]