13 Then on the second day the heads of fathers' households of all the people , the priests and the Levites were gathered to Ezra the scribe that they might gain insight into the words of the law . 14 They found written in the law how the Lord had commanded through Moses that the sons of Israel should live in booths during the feast of the seventh month . 15 So they proclaimed and circulated a proclamation in all their cities and in Jerusalem , saying , " Go out to the hills , and bring olive branches and wild e olive branches , myrtle branches , palm branches and branches of other leafy trees , to make booths , as it is written ." 16 So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof , and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God , and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim . 17 The entire assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them. The sons of Israel had indeed not done so from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day . And there was great rejoicing . 18 He read from the book of the law of God daily , from the first day to the last day . And they celebrated the feast seven days , and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the ordinance .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Nehemiah 8:13-18
Commentary on Nehemiah 8:13-18
(Read Nehemiah 8:13-18)
They found written in the law about the feast of tabernacles. Those who diligently search the Scriptures, find things written there which they have forgotten. This feast of tabernacles was a representation of the believer's tabernacle state in this world, and a type of the holy joy of the gospel church. The conversion of the nations to the faith of Christ, is foretold under the figure of this feast, Zechariah 14:16. True religion will render us strangers and pilgrims upon earth. We read and hear the word acceptably and profitably, when we do according to what is written therein; when what appears to be our duty is revived, after it has been neglected. They minded the substance; else the ceremony had been of no use. They did it, rejoicing in God and his goodness. These are the means which the Spirit of God crowns with success, in bringing the hearts of sinners to tremble and to become humbled before God. But those are enemies to their own growth in holiness, who always indulge sorrow, even for sin, and put away from them the consolations tendered by the word and Spirit of God.