9 And Nehemiah, that is, the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that explained to the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to Jehovah your God: mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.
And some of the chief fathers gave to the work. The Tirshatha gave to the treasure a thousand darics of gold, fifty basons, five hundred and thirty priests' coats.
And the Tirshatha said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up the priest with Urim and Thummim.
And ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your bondmen, and your handmaids, and the Levite that is within your gates; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with you.
and ye shall eat there before Jehovah your God, and ye shall rejoice, ye and your households, in all the business of your hand, wherein Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee.
And at the head of those that sealed were Nehemiah the Tirshatha, the son of Hachaliah, and Zedekiah.
And the Tirshatha said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.
And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy bondman, and thy handmaid, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are in thy gates. Seven days shalt thou hold a feast to Jehovah thy God in the place which Jehovah will choose; for Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thy produce, and in all the work of thy hands, and thou shalt be wholly joyful.
and thou shalt rejoice before Jehovah thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy bondman, and thy handmaid, and the Levite that is in thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow that are in thy midst in the place that Jehovah thy God will choose to cause his name to dwell there.
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first of the month, shall ye have a rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.
Now I rejoice, not that ye have been grieved, but that ye have been grieved to repentance; for ye have been grieved according to God, that in nothing ye might be injured by us. For grief according to God works repentance to salvation, never to be regretted; but the grief of the world works death. For, behold, this same thing, your being grieved according to God, how much diligence it wrought in *you*, but [what] excusing [of yourselves], but [what] indignation, but [what] fear, but [what] ardent desire, but [what] zeal, but [what] vengeance: in every way ye have proved yourselves to be pure in the matter.
But *I* was alive without law once; but the commandment having come, sin revived, but *I* died.
And in the seventh month, on the first of the month, ye shall have a holy convocation: no manner of servile work shall ye do; a day of blowing the trumpets shall it be unto you. And ye shall offer a burnt-offering for a sweet odour to Jehovah: one young bullock, one ram, seven yearling lambs without blemish; and their oblation of fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for the bullock, two tenth parts for the ram, and one tenth part for each lamb of the seven lambs; and one buck of the goats for a sin-offering, to make atonement for you, -- besides the monthly burnt-offering and its oblation, and the continual burnt-offering and its oblation, and their drink-offerings, according to their ordinance, for a sweet odour, an offering by fire to Jehovah.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; for thou hast rejected knowledge, and I will reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me; seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.
to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, that beauty should be given unto them instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness: that they might be called terebinths of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified.
These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the scribe.
And Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law; and the people [stood] in their place. And they read in the law of God distinctly out of the book, and gave the sense, and caused [them] to understand the reading.
And he said to the Levites, that taught all Israel, [and] who were holy to Jehovah, Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built; ye have not to carry it upon your shoulders. Serve now Jehovah your God, and his people Israel;
Go, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book which is found; for great is the wrath of Jehovah that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of Jehovah, to do according to all that is written in this book.
And Hezekiah spoke consolingly to all the Levites that had understanding in the good knowledge of Jehovah; and they ate the feast-offerings the seven days, sacrificing peace-offerings, and extolling Jehovah the God of their fathers.
Now for a long while Israel [was] without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law;
Because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before Jehovah, when thou heardest what I spoke against this place and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and didst rend thy garments and weep before me, I also have heard [thee], saith Jehovah.
And it came to pass when the king heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his garments.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Nehemiah 8
Commentary on Nehemiah 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
Ezra came up out of Babylon thirteen years before Nehemiah came, yet we have here a piece of good work which he did, that might have been done before, but was not done till Nehemiah came, who, though he was not such a scholar nor such a divine as Ezra, nor such a scribe in the law of his God, yet was a man of a more lively active spirit. His zeal set Ezra's learning on work, and then great things were done, as we find here, where we have,
Neh 8:1-8
We have here an account of a solemn religious assembly, and the good work that was done in that assembly, to the honour of God and the edification of the church.
Neh 8:9-12
We may here observe,
Neh 8:13-18
We have here,