The exiles have settled into Jerusalem. Chapter 7 ends with what translators view as a phrase (Nehemiah 7: 73),
When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns,
and then continues:
all the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel.
So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
The Book of the Law is now read to the people at a square that sits before the Water Gate. (City gates were a common place of assembly.) This reading is done by the priest Ezra, whom we have not seen before in the book of Nehemiah. In the Ezra-Nehemiah scroll, Ezra disappears at the end of Ezra 10 only to reappear here, much later. Some scholars see this as evidence that the scrolls are somewhat out of order. It is interesting that chapters 8-11 of Nehemiah interrupt our story on the building of the city walls, in order to describe this reading of the Law, prior to the dedication of the city walls in chapter 12. It is certainly likely that the author of Ezra-Nehemiah is not concerned about a linear storyline, as much he is concerned about covering the important details of this renewal of Israel.
Nehemiah 8: 4-8, Reading and worship
The scribe, Ezra, reads from a platform above the people. As Ezra praises YHWH, so too do the people. Note the need to translate and explain the text. Hints of this need already occur in verse 3. It is likely that the people, arriving out of Babylon, speak a Babylonian Aramaic while the Law is in proto-Hebrew. In addition to possibly needing to translate across languages, there were also issues about explaining rituals, festivals, regulations that had been abandoned long before.
Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion. Beside him on his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.
Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up.
Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, "Amen! Amen!" Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
The Levites--Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah--instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.
We see here (says Yamauchi) actions have since become traditions in Jewish synagogues. The people stand to hear Ezra read from the scroll of the Law. The phrase "Amen" ("so be it" or "that's right!") is still in use today in Christian churches.
The Hebrew word translated "read" is qara, from which we get the modern word Quran, meaning "recitation" (says Yamauchi.) Throughout Old Testament times, through the New Testament church and into the Middle Ages, the copies of sacred texts were rare, usually preserved by a few men and read aloud at meetings, whether in Jewish synagogues, Muslim mosques or Christian churches. It was not until the fifteenth century AD that the printing press slowly made copies of these books available to members of the community.
Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, "This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
The Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve."
Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
The people weep as they hear the Law. Surely there is a feeling of sadness that they have so long ignored these words from YHWH. There may also have been a longing for the glorious days of Israel long past. But Nehemiah and Ezra, appearing together here, make this a time of rejoicing and celebrating, not of grief!Yamauchi points out that the Hebrew word translated "choice food" in verse 10, is mashman, which just means "fat". The fat of the meat was the tastiest, most preferred food. If one is willing to creatively apply scripture (out of context) one could argue that here is a Biblical instruction to eat fat. (Is it coincidence that my first draft of this chapter blog was on Thanksgiving day, 2023?) But in addition to celebrating with fat and sweet, the people are also instructed to send portions of the food to those who have nothing.
Nehemiah 8: 13-15, An old festival
On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered around Ezra the scribe to give attention to the words of the Law. They found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in booths during the feast of the seventh month and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: "Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make booths"--as it is written.
The people discover that at this feast time they are to live in booths (tents.) The passage quotes from Leviticus 23:37-40.So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves booths on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim.
The whole company that had returned from exile built booths and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great.
Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an assembly.
Roofs in the ancient Near East were flat and were a place for people to gather. (See the instructions in Deuteronomy 22: 8.)
Learning of the Feast of Booths, the people celebrate it. (The Jewish people were still celebrating this festival five centuries later when Jesus is recorded as elebrating it in John 7.) Although this festival may have been celebrated at other times, the author says that it had not been celebrated "like this", that is, with such joy, since the times of Joshua.
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