Nehemiah 8:15 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Nehemiah 8:15
And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
proclaim
וְיַעֲבִ֨ירוּve.ya.'a.Vi.ru
H5674
to cross over · conjunction + verb, hiphil, 3rd person masculine plural
cities
עָרֵיהֶם֮'a.rei.Hem
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Jerusalem
וּבִירוּשָׁלִַ֣םu.vi.ru.sha.Lim
H3389
Jerushalaim or Jerushalem · conjunction + preposition + proper noun, a place name
saying
לֵאמֹר֒le.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
forth
צְא֣וּtze.'U
H3318
to go (causatively · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
mount
הָהָ֗רha.Har
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
fetch
וְהָבִ֙יאוּ֙ve.ha.Vi.'u
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
olive
זַ֙יִת֙za.yit
H2132
an olive (as yielding illuminating oil) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
branches
עֲלֵי'a.lei-
H5929
a leaf (as coming up on a tree) · noun, common masculine plural construct
pine
שֶׁ֔מֶןShe.men
H8081
grease · noun, common masculine singular absolute
branches
עֵ֣ץ'etz
H6086
a tree (from its firmness) · noun, common masculine singular construct
myrtle
הֲדַס֙ha.Das
H1918
the myrtle · noun, common masculine singular absolute
branches
וַעֲלֵיva.'a.lei-
H5929
a leaf (as coming up on a tree) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct
palm
תְמָרִ֔יםte.ma.Rim
H8558
a palm tree · noun, common masculine plural absolute
branches
וַעֲלֵ֤יva.'a.Lei
H5929
a leaf (as coming up on a tree) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct
branches
וַעֲלֵ֣יva.'a.Lei
H5929
a leaf (as coming up on a tree) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct
thick
עָבֹ֑ת'a.Vot
H5687
intwined · adjective, masculine singular absolute
trees
עֵ֣ץ'etz
H6086
a tree (from its firmness) · noun, common masculine singular construct
make
לַעֲשֹׂ֥תla.'a.Sot
H6213
to do or make · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
booths
סֻכֹּ֖תsu.Kot
H5521
a hut or lair · noun, common feminine plural absolute
written
כַּכָּתֽוּבka.ka.Tuv
H3789
to grave · preposition with the article + verb, qal passive participle, 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 23:40 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…
Leviticus 23:4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened brea…
Genesis 8:11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated fro…
Judges 9:48-49 And Abimelech gat him up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people that were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bo…
Matthew 21:1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,
John 12:13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lo…
Revelation 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood bef…
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 8:15
Fetch olive branches - For every thing concerning this feast of tabernacles, see the notes on Leviticus 23 (note), and the other places there referred to.
John Gill on Nehemiah 8:15
And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem,.... That is, as Jarchi interprets it, by supplying it thus:
and they commanded that they should publish, &c. Ezra and those with him gave orders that heralds should proclaim in all cities where the Jews dwelt that the feast of tabernacles would be kept, and they should prepare for it; and which seems to be the true sense, since it is not written in the law that such a proclamation should be made; but this was an order of their own, thereby to give notice of it, that all might be provided:
go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches…
The Church Fathers
Go forth, he says, to the mountain, etc. And let us also go forth from a dwelling of general thoughts, to the height of the holy Scriptures to be frequently meditated upon; and let us bring from there, as if olive branches, the fruits of mercy, with which by refreshing the poor, we may simultaneously shade ourselves from the heat of tempting vices; and branches of the most beautiful wood, which the Jews call cedar, indeed, the fruits of charity, which is amongst all virtues the most beautiful and illustrious, through which our Lord ascended the wood of the cross for our salvation. As we imitate His passion to the extent that it is possible, we are certainly protected by the branches of the most beautiful wood. Let us also bring branches of myrtle, in the mortification of desires and all vices. For even the magi, offering myrrh to the Lord, taught typologically that those who belong to Jesus Christ ought to crucify their flesh with its vices and lusts. Likewise, whoever can say: 'For we are the good fragrance of Christ to God, in every place' (II Cor. II), brings myrtle branches to make a shelter for themselves. Let us also bring palm branches, the ornament of the victorious hand, so that we may always carry a mind victorious over gluttony, wrath, greed, and other vices, and always strive to be stronger than all enemies; so that in the future we may be worthy to be consorts of those about whom John speaks in his Apocalypse: 'They stood before the throne in the presence of the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and with palms in their hands' (Rev. VII). Also, branches of woody trees, that is, the adornments of other virtues; with all these we make mystic tabernacles for ourselves, as by being delighted with good works, we draw our entire mind away from worldly enticements.
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
Date — The fruit of a species of palm (q.v.), the Phoenix dactilifera. This was a common tree in Palestine (Joel 1:12; Neh. 8:15). Palm branches were carried by the Jews on festive occasions, and especially…
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…
Goodly trees — Boughs of, were to be carried in festive procession on the first day of the feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:40). This was probably the olive tree (Neh. 8:15), although no special tree is mentioned.
Myrtle — (Isa. 41:19; Neh. 8:15; Zech. 1:8), Hebrew hadas, known in the East by the name as, the Myrtus communis of the botanist. “Although no myrtles are now found on the mount (of Olives), excepting in the…
Oil Tree — (Heb. ets shemen). The Hebrew words occur in (Nehemiah 8:15) (Authorized Version “pine branches”), (1 Kings 6:23) (“olive tree”) and in (Isaiah 41:19) (“oil tree”). From the passage in Nehemiah,…
Oil-tree — (Isa. 41:19; R.V. marg., “oleaster”), Heb. ‘etz shemen, rendered “olive tree” in 1 Kings 6:23, 31, 32, 33 (R.V., “olive wood”) and “pine branches” in Neh. 8:15 (R.V., “branches of wild olive”), was…
Olives, Mount Of — “The Mount of Olives” occurs in the Old Testament in (Zechariah 14:4) only. In (2 Samuel 15:30) it is called “Olivet;” in other places simply “the mount,” (Nehemiah 8:15) “the mount facing Jerusalem”…
Olves, Mount of — So called from the olive trees with which its sides are clothed, is a mountain ridge on the east of Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:7; Ezek. 11:23; Zech. 14:4), from which it is separated by the valley of…
Pine tree — Heb. tidhar, mentioned along with the fir-tree in Isa. 41:19; 60:13. This is probably the cypress; or it may be the stone-pine, which is common on the northern slopes of Lebanon. Some suppose that…
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…
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…
make shelters in which they would live during the festival: The Festival of Shelters commemorated that the people of Israel had lived in tents during their wilderness journey (Lev 23:33-43; see also Num 29:12-39; Deut 16:13-15).
Rashi on Nehemiah 8:15
And that they should announce And they commanded that they announce that they celebrate the Festival of Sukkoth, and so it is customary for Scripture to speak in this manner, like (I Sam. 9: 27): “Tell the servant and he will go ahead of us.”
myrtle leaves It is explained in Tractate Succah (12a) that this is a wild myrtle which is unfit for the lulav and only fit to make a sukkah.
date palm leaves for a lulav.
and leaves of plaited trees This is the myrtle that is fit for the lulav as is explained in Tractate Succah (ad loc.).
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.
Tent — (1.) Heb. ‘ohel (Gen. 9:21, 27). This word is used also of a dwelling or habitation (1 Kings 8:66; Isa. 16:5; Jer. 4:20), and of the temple (Ezek. 41:1). When used of the tabernacle, as in 1 Kings…
Booth · Tabernacles, to celebrate their wan — Tabernacles, to celebrate their wan
Feast Of Tabernacles, The · The people dwelt in booths during — The people dwelt in booths during
Law Of Moses, The · A means of national reformation — A means of national reformation
Myrtle · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Olive · Branches of, used for booths (huts) — Branches of, used for booths (huts)
Olive Tree, The · Used for making: Booths at feast of tabernacles — Used for making: Booths at feast of tabernacles
Palm Tree, The · The branches of, were: Used for constructing booths — The branches of, were: Used for constructing booths
Pine · A tree — A tree
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).
