Nehemiah 8:13-18--Feast of Booths Celebrated

Nehemiah 8:13-18
English Standard Version

Feast of Booths Celebrated
13 On the second day the heads of fathers' houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law. 14 And they found it written in the Law that the LORD had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, 15 and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and 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 And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. 18 And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

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When the people stood and heard the Law read to them, the people were celebrating the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the seventh month.  The Feast of Booths which we are talking about now is supposed to be celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh month, but when they read the Law the day before, they realized they had not been celebrating it at all since the time of Joshua (the time of the Conquest)--see verse 17.  This is one of the reasons that their hearts were grieved.  That was something they were going to fix this year by announcing the feast in all the towns and villages.  Everyone was to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Feast as required in the Law of Moses, for it was one of the three Pilgrimage Feasts of the Law and the only one in the Fall--the other two, Passover and Pentecost, are usually referred to as "Spring" feasts but I'd say Spring (March/April) and Summer (May/June) respectively.  The Feast of Tabernacles happens in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar (October/November) and is a time for them to celebrate the way in which the LORD protected them during their 40 years in the wilderness and brought them into the Promised Land so that they no longer live in temporary dwellings, and they no longer had to live on manna from heaven.  The Land would produce all the food they needed, and they can live in houses.  Everyone would have their own parcel of land that belonged to their family, but for this time the whole nation would gather together and dwell in close proximity in temporary shelters to remember what it was like for their ancestors, and to remember what it is they have to be thankful for.

The people were told to go out into the hills and find all kinds of branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written."  They did as they were commanded, and each made their temporary shelters on the roofs of their homes and in the courtyards of others and those who came from far away camped in the Courtyard of the Temple itself.  Some also camped in the city squares near the gates that were close to the Temple  While the city was a little crowded this time, imagine how crowded it would be during the time of Jesus when all the Jews not only from Judea and Galilee travelled to Jerusalem, but they came from all over the known world, because they had dispersed (look at the list of nations represented at Pentecost, and those are the same nations that would have people there at the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles and roughly the same number of people).  As a reminder, there were 3,000 people who heard the gospel and were saved on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached his sermon, but there were many, many more there in Jerusalem that day--likely hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Jews would gather in Jerusalem for these three pilgrimage feasts.

​Day by day the people listened to the Book of the Law as was prescribed for the Feast of Booths (even though they had just listened to it two weeks before, they wanted to listen to it every day during this feast as they were hungry to hear what it had to say and eager to try to obey all that was written in it).  For a full seven days they did so, and on the eighth day, they had a solemn assembly as the Law required.  This is the people not just recognizing their sin but repenting of it and immediately changing their actions to come into compliance with the Law they had heard and understood.  Even though generations before them had been disobedient, there was no choice but to obey the Word of the LORD once they heard and understood it.  Let our hearts be the same where we hear the Word of the LORD and respond in faith and obedience like this!