Nehemiah 8 Study Notes

8:10-12 Rather than mourning, the people were commanded to go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet. The term rich translates a Hebrew word (mashmannim) found in the OT only here in this verse but clearly related to the verb “to make fat, to be fat.” It refers to choice foods appropriate for a celebration. The “sweet” drink (Hb mamtaqqim) mentioned here may have been wine mixed with honey, a popular drink long before the time of Christ. The people were to stop grieving because their strength came from the joy of the Lord. True security—then as now—was found in the Lord alone.

8:13 It is clear from the following context (v. 15) that most of the people returned to their homes after Ezra’s reading of the Law. It was harvest time, and there was much work to be done. However, many of the leaders remained in Jerusalem to study the words of the law and its implications.

8:14-15 The Festival of Shelters is mentioned in four books of the law (Ex 23:16; Lv 23:39-43; Nm 29:12-38; Dt 16:13-15). Also called the Festival of Ingathering (Hb chag-haqqatsir), it was an eight-day agricultural festival that began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, during the grain and grape harvest (Dt 16:13). The legislation in Lv 23:39-43 is unique in two respects: (1) only in this passage are the Israelites commanded to dwell in a booth for the seven days of the feast, and (2) only in this passage is their dwelling in shelters given a theological connection, “so that your generations may know that I made the Israelites live in shelters when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Lv 23:43).

Since the celebration of the Festival of Shelters required preparation, the leaders studying the law with Ezra spread this news throughout their towns and in Jerusalem. No passage in the OT expressly states the requirement to gather branches from olive and myrtle trees for the construction of shelters. This seems to be an explanation and application of the command of Lv 23:40 to gather from “majestic trees—palm fronds, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook.”

8:16 Those living in Jerusalem erected their shelters (Hb sukkoth) on . . . their rooftops because most homes had flat roofs. Those who came from outside Jerusalem used whatever space was available, such as the square by the Water Gate, where they had read the Law two weeks before, or in the square by the Ephraim Gate. The Ephraim Gate is not mentioned in the detailed description of the wall in chap. 3. However, its description in 2Kg 14:13 suggests it was on the north side of the wall. Thus, both locations provided easy access to the temple complex.

8:17 The celebration of the Festival of Shelters was even more significant because the people had not celebrated like this from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day. The phrase had not celebrated like this is literally “had not done (so).” The literal translation suggests that the festival had not been observed at all since Joshua’s time, but this statement is incorrect and would have been understood as incorrect in Nehemiah’s time because many people who were present for the festival had in fact celebrated the Festival of Booths soon after arriving in Jerusalem with Ezra (Ezr 3:4). Thus most commentators and some translations (including the CSB) regard the statement as describing the manner in which the festival was celebrated. What made the present celebration different was likely the spiritual and theological emphasis that pervaded it. While earlier celebrations may have focused on the harvest and thanksgiving aspects, this observance under Ezra returned to its theological underpinnings to recall God’s provision and care during their forefathers’ flight from Egypt— just as the people in Nehemiah’s time rejoiced in God’s care and provision for them in their flight from Babylon.

The author of Ezra-Nehemiah described well the experience of the people at the festival: there was tremendous joy. Critics have sometimes unfairly stigmatized Ezra-Nehemiah as banal, lifeless, or legalistic, but repeatedly this book emphasizes the joy that comes from living in covenant relationship with the God of Israel.