Synopsis of the Chapter
Ezra reads the law to the assembled people, Nehemiah and the Levites interpret it, and they celebrate the feast of Tabernacles with great rejoicing.
Verse 1: The Seventh Month Had Come ¶
1. AND THE SEVENTH MONTH HAD COME. — These events seem to have taken place in the seventh year of Artaxerxes under Ezra, who, having been sent by him, returned to Jerusalem. Hence, just as the catalogue of the preceding chapter of Nehemiah is the same as the catalogue of Ezra chapter II, so also what is said in this chapter VIII seems to be the same as what Ezra narrated in chapter III, as is clear to anyone comparing the two. For in both places the seventh month is mentioned, Ezra, the feast of Tabernacles, etc. And there is no doubt that Ezra the scribe, having fulfilled his office and duty, as soon as he returned to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, taught the law to the people who had forgotten it during the captivity. For he had been sent for this purpose by Artaxerxes, who said, "that he might freely teach the ignorant" (Ezra chapter VII, verse 15), just as Zerubbabel and Joshua were sent to rebuild the temple, while Nehemiah was sent to restore the walls and the city.
Add: It does not seem that Ezra lived until the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, when Nehemiah restored the walls; for in that case he would have been 147 years old (which in that age was unusual): for that many years elapsed from the last year of Zedekiah, when Seraiah the father of Ezra was killed, to the twentieth year of Artaxerxes. But this reasoning is not solid: for it is clear from chapter XII, verses 33 and 35, that Ezra was alive in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, where it is said that Ezra the scribe was present at the dedication of the city performed by Nehemiah; although Cajetan thinks that the Ezra mentioned there is a different person from our Ezra. For this reason some think that these events occurred under Nehemiah in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, so that Ezra returned a third time to Jerusalem with him, and was very aged, namely 147 years old.
Verse 4: Ezra Stood Upon a Wooden Step ¶
4. Ezra stood upon a wooden step — the Hebrew says, upon a wooden tower, that is, upon a platform which rose upward from the ground like a small tower.
Verse 5: All the People Stood ¶
5. All the people stood — both to show reverence to the law of God by standing, and so that, standing with attentive ears, they might more easily perceive the reading of Ezra. Hence also Christians rise for the Gospel out of reverence.
Verse 8: They Read in the Book of the Law ¶
8. AND THEY READ (both Ezra and his companions, who took turns with Ezra, who was old and tired, in the reading; but wherever any difficulty arose, Ezra explained it) IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW (in the Pentateuch, and especially in Deuteronomy, where the entire law is repeated and reiterated) DISTINCTLY (so that all could hear each word perfectly. The Septuagint translates: and he distinguished in the knowledge of the Lord, that is, he read the law distinctly and explained it through the knowledge received from the Lord. Therefore some wrongly twist this to refer to the restoration of books burned by the Chaldeans, as if Ezra had restored them from memory through knowledge infused by God): AND CLEARLY SO AS TO BE UNDERSTOOD. — The Hebrew says, placing (that is, giving) understanding: that is, Ezra while reading explained where necessary in Syriac or Chaldaic what was being read in Hebrew from Deuteronomy; and moreover he paraphrastically interpreted the sentences that occurred, as is said in verse 13. For the people in Babylon had corrupted their Hebrew language and mixed it with Chaldean: therefore they did not sufficiently understand pure Hebrew. Ezra therefore interpreted what was said in Hebrew in the Syriac language, which had by then become the native and proper language of the returning people.
Verse 9: Nehemiah the Athersatha ¶
AND NEHEMIAH SAID (HE IS THE ATHERSATHA). — Indeed, Nehemiah was called Athersatha from the root ירש iaras, that is, "he inherited," as if to say: Athersatha, that is, "a second time you inherited," because you alone above all possessed the inheritance of the fathers, who restored the destroyed city, encircled it with walls, and handed it over safe for your posterity to possess. So Vilalpandus. Or from תירש, that is, "must" (new wine), and שתח scata, that is, "he drank"; as if to say, "the taster of the king's wine"; for he was the cupbearer. So Marinus in his Lexicon. Thirdly, Athersatha agrees very well with Artaesatha, that is, Artaxerxes. For the king seems to have given Nehemiah the authority of his own name, or at least Nehemiah, being most dear to the king, was addressed by the courtiers with the king's own name. So Vilalpandus, Part I, On the Temple, Book III, Chapter IV.
Moreover, what Lyranus says seems fanciful, namely that "Athersatha" is the same in Hebrew as "one released": and that Nehemiah is so called because he was released by the wise men of the Hebrews, and given dispensation to drink the wine of the Gentile king, namely Artaxerxes, whose cupbearer Athersatha was; for Athersatha is not a Hebrew name, but a Chaldean one, given by the Chaldeans.
FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WEPT WHEN THEY HEARD THE WORDS OF THE LAW — because they saw that the threats of the law, namely calamities of every kind, had befallen them on account of their transgression of it, and that they still in great part continued from the beginning of the Babylonian captivity up to the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, which was a span of 147 years.
Verse 10: Go, Eat Rich Foods ¶
10. Go, eat rich foods. — Thus Christian law forbids fasting on Sunday, on account of the joy of the feast. So St. Thomas, II-II, Question 147, article 5, ad 3. Do not be saddened — because although there is just reason for mourning and weeping, nevertheless on this feast day of the New Moon, when we recall the benefits of God, both ancient and new and continually bestowed upon us, we should rejoice, not mourn.
FOR THE JOY OF THE LORD IS OUR STRENGTH. — "The joy of the Lord" can be understood in two ways. First actively, as the joy with which the Lord rejoices when He sees us being of strong and great courage in adversity, not of a small and abject spirit. For this stimulus greatly spurs pious souls, so that in any adversity and tribulation whatsoever they do not lose heart, but strengthen it, so as to rejoice and exult in it, if they consider that this is pleasing to God, and that God rejoices and delights in our fortitude and joy in adversity: so Sanchez. Secondly, passively, the joy of the Lord is that which is conceived from the Lord, or from love, reverence, imitation, and obedience to the Lord; that is: God rejoices on feast days because on them He is more worshipped, adored, and invoked by the faithful: therefore He equally desires that the faithful imitate this His joy, and put on that joy, and rejoice on the feast day, and that, rejoicing, they might sacrifice peace offerings from which they may eat joyfully, and feast, as it were, together with God Himself. For by this joy is acquired strength of mind and body, both for fulfilling the law of God, and for bravely bearing whatever adversities (by which we are now oppressed); indeed, through this joy they are to be softened and dispelled, and removed by God. For if God sees us joyful and rejoicing, and therefore strong and constant in the law and in the worship of His feasts, He will remove from us the plagues which He sent upon us because of our sad and pusillanimous neglect of them. For just as sadness makes people gloomy, faint-hearted, and slow, so joy on the contrary makes them cheerful, magnanimous, and zealous worshippers of God and guardians of the law; hence Vatablus translates: The joy of the Lord is your strength, and explains: by divine joy you will become stronger and more eager in spirit. For joy multiplies, arouses, and sharpens the vital and animal spirits, and diffuses them throughout the whole body, so that they invigorate it, stimulate it, and make it eager for work; while sadness weakens, constricts, oppresses, and distracts those same spirits, so that the whole person becomes sorrowful, heavy, contracted, and unfit for every good. Therefore the Apostle exhorts the faithful to this perpetual joy, saying: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice" (Philippians IV). See what is said there.
Add that God continually supplies new grace, new strength, and new vigor to those who rejoice in Him and about Him, so that they may become generous, strong, and eager for all things, however sorrowful and difficult. For God, since He is the supreme, most generous, and most joyful Lord, wills that we, His servants, serve Him in joy, exultation, and jubilation, according to the saying: "Serve the Lord with gladness." And that: "Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, you righteous" (chapter XXXI, verse 11).
Verse 13: He Interpreted the Words of the Law ¶
13. THAT HE MIGHT INTERPRET (Ezra) THE WORDS OF THE LAW FOR THEM — that he might resolve the doubts that had arisen for them from the previous day's reading of the law, especially concerning the rites for celebrating the approaching feast of Scenopegia, or Tabernacles, which the law prescribes in Leviticus XXIII, where I treated these matters at length.
Verse 15: Spread the Word ¶
15. LET THEM SPREAD THE WORD — that is, let them proclaim everywhere by the voice of a herald, so that all may gather in Jerusalem for the approaching feast of Tabernacles, to be celebrated for eight days according to the law.
BRING BRANCHES OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TREE. — The Hebrew says, of the olive tree, that is, of a fat and oily tree, which the Septuagint interprets as cypress; Pagninus as pine; others more correctly as cedar. See what is said at Leviticus XXIII, 36.
Verse 16: They Made Tabernacles ¶
16. AND THEY MADE TABERNACLES ON THEIR ROOFTOP — that is, on the roof of their house. So the Hebrews; for roofs among the Hebrews were flat, so that they could walk, stand, sit, spend the night, and sleep on them in the open air. For the climate of Judea is hot and dry; hence its inhabitants at night seek the cool and clear air on their rooftops.
Verse 17: From the Days of Joshua ¶
17. FROM THE DAYS OF JOSHUA (that is, from the entrance of the Hebrews into Canaan, which God had promised them) THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL HAD NOT DONE SO — they had not celebrated such a feast of Tabernacles with such joy, such devotion in publicly reading the law and explaining it, with such a concourse of people flocking from all directions, that they even had to build tabernacles on their rooftops: so Cajetan and others.
Verse 18: The Eighth Day Assembly ¶
18. AND ON THE EIGHTH DAY THE ASSEMBLY — that is, the feast of the gathering of the people, the nature of which I explained at Leviticus XXIII, 40.