were for them, which included the rest; now these
they were to fetch from the mount of Olives, and
other mountains about Jerusalem; near to which
also there was a place called Motza{u}; whither they
went, and gathered the willows of the brook men-
rioned in Lev. xxiii. 39.
Vet. 16. So the people went forth, and brought them,
&c.] Went out of Jerusalem to the mountains ad-
jacent, and fetched in branches of the said trees, one
or another: and made themselves booths, every one upon
the roof of his house; which were fiat, Dour. xxii. 8.
and they might be made anywhere, so be it they were
open to the air: and in their courts, and in the courts of
the house of God' the common people in the court-
yards belonging to their houses, and the priests and
Levites in the courts of the temple, the yards or open
places adjoining to them: and in the street of the water-
gate-; which led to that, and seems to have been a
very large street, in which many booths might be
built, ch. iii. 26. see ver. 3. and in the street of the gate
of Ephraim; which led to the gate through which the
road lay to the tribe of Ephraim, see 2 Kings xiv. 13.
none were erected without the walls of the city, for
fear of the enemy.
Ver. 17. And all the congregation of them that were
come again out of captivit!! made booths, &c.] These
came to Jerusalem, and made them booths there;
for there only was this feast kept, see John vii. 2, 10.

and sat under the booths; there they dwelt during the
seven days of it, in commemoration of their ancestors
dwelling in booths in the wiiderness, see Lev. xxiii.
42, 43. for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto
that day had not the chiidren of Israel done so; Jo-
shua observed it, when be had brought aud settled
the people of Israel in the land of Canaan; and it. had
been observed since, before this time, as appears from
I Kings viii. 2, 65, 66. Ezra iii. ,;. but not so, with
such exactness, with such zeal and affection, with
such a regard to the law of God, as to read it every
day of the feast, as in the next verse, and with such
joy and gladness; wherefore there is no reason to sus
pect a corruption in the text, as a learned man{w} does,
who supposes that Joshua is put for Josiah: and there
was very great gladness; that they were restored unto
and settled in their land, had the book of the law,
and the knowledge of it, and were directed and en-
abled to observe it.
Ver. 18. Also day by day, from the first day unto
the last day, he read in the book of the law of God, &c.]
That is, Ezra; this was done by him every day during
the feast, whereas only the first and last days were
the holy convocations on which it seems to have been
read: and they kept the feast seven days, and on the
eighth day was a solemn assembly, according to the
manner; prescribed in Lev. xxiii. 39.

In this chapter we have an account of a fast kept
by the Jews, which was observed, as by outward acts
of humiliation, so by confession of sin, reading the
law, and worshipping the Lord, vet. 1, 2, 3. and of
a long prayer that the Levites made, in which they
celebrate the divine perfections, take notice of various
instances of the goodness of God to the people of Israel,
acknowledge their manifold transgressions, observe the
Lord's correction of them for them, in which they own
he was righteous, vet. 4--38.
Vet. 1. Now in the 24th day of this month, &c.]
The seventh month, the month Tisri or September,
two days after the feast of tabernacles was ended:
the children of Israel were assembled with .fasting, and
with sackcloths, and earth upon them; which were all
outward tokens of mourning and humiliation, see Joel
i. 8, 14. 1 Sam. iv. I2. which they could not shew
during the festival; but that being over, they return
to it, see ch. viii. 9.
Vet. 2. And the seed of Israel separated themselves
.from all strangers, &c.] $uch as were genuine Israel-
ites, of the seed of Abraham, who had married wives
of the Gentiles, strangers to the commonwealth of
Israel, either before the reformation by Ezra, not
being then discovered, or had fallen .into this evil
since; but now, on the reading of the law, were con-
'vinced of it, and so separated themselves from such
wives, which was a proof of the truth of their repent-
ance: and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniqui-
ties of their fathers: particularly their taking of strange
wives, which their fathers had also done, and set them
a bad example, which they had ibllowed; of standing
and confessing, see Luke xviii. 13.
Ver. 3. And they stood up ia.their place, &c.] In
the outward court of the temple, where men used to
stand when they prayed and confessed their sins: and
read in the book of the law of the Lord their God; that
they might the better know the mind and will of God,
and do their duty: this they did one 4th part of the
day; the space of three hours, from sun-rising, or six
o'clock in the morning, to the time of the morning sa-
crilice, which was about nine o'clock: and another
dth part they confessed; the goodness of God to them,
and the sins they had been guilty of: and worshippeal
the .Lord their God; bowed down before him in prayer
and supplication, and so spent three hours more, which
reached to noon or 12 o'clock; and from thence to
3 o'clock, about the time of the evening sacrifice, and
from thence to sun-setting, or 6 o'clock, and so spent
the whole day in the above exercises alternately.
Ver. 4. Then stood up upon the stairs of the Levites,
&c.] On an ascent; an elevated place where the Le-
rites used to stand when they sang at the time of sa-
crifice, and where they might be seen and heard by the
people: Jeshua and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni,
Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; who seem to be all
Levites, see ch. viii. 7. and cried with a loud voice unto
the Lord their God; praying with great fervency, and


{u} Misn. Saccah, c. 4. sect. 5.
{w} Delancy's Life of King David, vol. 1. p. 395. marg.