Nehemiah 8:14 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Nehemiah 8:14
And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:
the new moon · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Leviticus 23:34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the…
Leviticus 23:40-43 And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the…
Deuteronomy 16:13-15 Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:
Zechariah 14:16-19 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to…
Genesis 33:17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.
John 7:2 Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 8:13–end
We have here,
I. The people's renewed attendance upon the word. They had spent the greatest part of one day in praying and hearing, and yet were so far from being weary of that new moon and sabbath that the next day after, though it was no festival, the chief of them came together again to hear Ezra expound (Neh 8:13), which they found more delightful and gainful than any worldly pleasure or profit whatsoever. Note, The more we converse with the word of God, if we rightly understand it and be affected with it, the more we shall covet to converse with it, and to increase in our acquaintance with it, saying, How sweet are thy words unto my mouth! Those that understand the scriptures well will…
THE PEOPLE COMFORTED. (Neh 8:9-15)
This day is holy unto the Lord . . . mourn not, nor weep--A deep sense of their national sins, impressively brought to their remembrance by the reading of the law and its denunciations, affected the hearts of the people with penitential sorrow. But notwithstanding the painful remembrances of their national sins which the reading of the law awakened, the people were exhorted to cherish the feelings of joy and thankfulness associated with a sacred festival (see on Lev 23:24). By sending portions of it to their poorer brethren (Deu 16:11, Deu 16:14; Est 9:19), they would also enable them to participate in the public rejoicings.
Adam Clarke on Nehemiah 8:14
In the feast of the seventh month - That is, the feast of tabernacles, which was held in commemoration of the sojourning of their fathers in the wilderness after they had been delivered from the Egyptian bondage. Now, having been delivered from the Babylonish captivity, and the proper time of the year occurring, it was their especial duty to keep the same feast.
John Gill on Nehemiah 8:14
And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses,.... The children of Israel, to be observed by them; either by hearing it read the day before, or by conversation with Ezra, they perceived it was enjoined in the law, particularly in Leviticus 23:39
that the children of Israel should dwell in booths, in the feast of the seventh month: which was the same month, and this the second day of it, and therefore the time drew near for keeping it; for it was to begin the fifteenth.
The Church Fathers
And they found written in the law that the Lord commanded, etc. These things are more fully written in Leviticus, and that they were ordered to be remembered for that long journey during which the Lord, bringing His people out of Egypt, made them dwell in tabernacles in the desert for forty years, daily teaching them the precepts of His law through Moses (Leviticus 23). The erection of tabernacles was commanded, which in Greek is called Scenopegia, for seven days every year, that is, from the fifteenth day of the same seventh month to the twenty-second. The sacrament of this observance must be diligently examined by us with spiritual inquiry, especially since the Lord deigned to be present at this feast in the Gospel (John 7) and dedicated it with His sacrosanct words while addressing the gathered people. Therefore, our fathers were also freed from Egyptian servitude by the blood of the Lamb, and led through the desert for forty years to reach the promised land, just as through the Lord's passion, the world was freed from servitude to the devil, and the early Church was gathered by the apostles, which, as if led through a desert for forty years, was brought to the promised heavenly country. Imitating the forty-day fast, which Moses, Elijah, and the Lord Himself completed, it used to lead a life in great continence, always thirsting for the eternal homeland; and fully separated from all the allurements of this world, it conducted a nearly secluded life in daily meditation on the divine law. For remembrance of this, at the same time, we must also dwell in tabernacles, leaving our dwellings, that is, abandoning secular delights, confessing that we are pilgrims in this life and that our homeland is in heaven; and to desire to reach it sooner. And this on the solemn day in the seventh month, that is, in the light of heavenly joy, when our heart is filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, which the prophet praised as sevenfold. In these tabernacles, indeed, we are commanded to stay for seven days; for throughout the duration of our lives, which revolves through so many days, we must keep in mind that we are sojourners with God on earth and strangers like all our fathers.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Ezra — Help. (1.) A priest among those that returned to Jerusalem under Zerubabel (Neh. 12:1). (2.) The “scribe” who led the second body of exiles that returned from Babylon to Jerusalem B.C. 459, and…
Tabernacles, Feast of — The third of the great annual festivals of the Jews (Lev. 23:33-43). It is also called the “feast of ingathering” (Ex. 23:16; Deut. 16:13). It was celebrated immediately after the harvest, in the…
Tabernacles, The Feast Of — (Exodus 23:16) (“the feast of ingathering”), the third of the three great festivals: of the Hebrews, which lasted from the 15th till the 22d of Tisri.
Law Of Moses, The · A means of national reformation — A means of national reformation
Tabernacles, Feast Of · Observance of, after the — Observance of, after the
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on Nehemiah 8:13–end
Celebration of the feast of tabernacles. - Neh 8:13 On the second day were gathered together the heads of the houses of all the people, of the priests, and of the Levites to Ezra the scribe, to attend to the words of the law. The infinitive להשׂכּיל may indeed be taken (as by Bertheau) as the continuation of the finite verb, instead of as infinitive absolute (Ewald, 352, c); this is, however, admissible only in cases where the second verb either states what must be done, or further describes the condition of affairs, while להשׂכּיל here states the purpose for which the heads of the people, etc. assembled themselves unto Ezra. Hence we take להשׂכּיל in its usual meaning, and the w before it a…
Rich foods such as meat were eaten only on a special occasion. • Sweet drinks referred to unfermented juice, in contrast to the vinegar of the common laborer (see Ruth 2:14). • It is right to share with those who have need (see Deut 15:11; Job 29:16; Prov 31:20; Matt 6:2-3; Acts 4:34-35).
