Nehemiah 8:15

15 and that they (should) preach, and publish a voice in all their cities, and in Jerusalem; and say, Go ye out into the hill(s), and bring ye (back) boughs of the olive tree, and boughs of the fairest tree, the boughs of a myrtle tree, and the branches of a palm tree, and the boughs of a tree full of wood, that tabernacles be made of the boughs, as it is written (so that booths, or shelters, can be made out of the boughs, as it is written).

Nehemiah 8:15 Meaning and Commentary

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
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 of thick trees,
to make booths, as it is written;
in ( Leviticus 23:40 ) , where the first three of these seem to be called boughs of goodly trees; though the Jews ^F18 commonly understand them of pomecitrons, of which the Syriac version here interprets the myrtle branches; and by them are meant the citron branches, with the leaves and fruit, and which the Jews make absolutely necessary to the keeping of the feast, and for beautiful ones will give a large price; some of them go every year to Spain, and buy as many as they can, and dispose of them wherever Jews live ^F19: and those branches were to be fetched, not properly speaking to make the booths of, which were made of boards and planks, but for the decoration of them; and it was not necessary, according to Aben Ezra, that some of each of these should be gathered for that purpose, but of any sort of them; for he interprets the words disjunctively olive branches, or pine branches, or myrtle branches these, according to the common notion of the Jews, were tied up in little bundles, and carried in the hand, which they call "lulabs"; and they observe ^F20, the thick branches were for them, which included the rest; now these they were to fetch from the mount of Olives, and other mountains about Jerusalem; near to which also there was a place called Motza ^F21; whither they went, and gathered the willows of the brook mentioned in ( Leviticus 23:39 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 T. Bab. Succah, fol. 35. 1.
F19 Buxtorf. Synagog. Jud. c. 21. p. 454.
F20 Succah, fol. 12. 1.
F21 Misn. Saccah, c. 4. sect. 5.

Nehemiah 8:15 In-Context

13 And in the second day, the princes of families, and all the peoples, priests, and deacons, were gathered to Ezra, the writer, that he should expound to them the words of the law. (And on the second day, the leaders of the families, and all the people, and the priests, and the Levites, were gathered before Ezra, the writer/the teacher of the Law, so that he could expound to them the words of the Law.)

14 And they found written in the law, that the Lord commanded in the hand of Moses, that the sons of Israel dwell in tabernacles in the solemn day(s), in the seventh month; (And they found written in the Law, that the Lord had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites should live in booths, or shelters, during the Feast of Tabernacles, that is, the Harvest Festival, in the seventh month;)

15 and that they (should) preach, and publish a voice in all their cities, and in Jerusalem; and say, Go ye out into the hill(s), and bring ye (back) boughs of the olive tree, and boughs of the fairest tree, the boughs of a myrtle tree, and the branches of a palm tree, and the boughs of a tree full of wood, that tabernacles be made of the boughs, as it is written (so that booths, or shelters, can be made out of the boughs, as it is written).

16 And all the people went out, and they brought (back) with them boughs, and they made to themselves tabernacles, each man in his house roof, and in their streets, either foreyards, and in the large places of God's house, and in the street of the gate of waters, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim. (And all the people went out, and they brought back some branches, and made booths, or shelters, for themselves, yea, each person on the flat roof of his house, or in their yard, or in the courtyards of the House of God, or in the public squares by the Water Gate, and the Ephraim Gate.)

17 Therefore all the church, or congregation, of them, that is, (all) the gathering together (of them), that came again from [the] captivity, made tabernacles, and they dwelled in those tabernacles. Certainly the sons of Israel had not done such things from the days of Joshua, the son of Nun, unto that day; and full great gladness was there among them. (And so all the congregation, or the community, of them, who had returned from the captivity, made booths, or shelters, and they lived in those shelters. And truly the Israelites had not done such things from the days of Joshua, the son of Nun, until that day; and so there was much gladness among them.)