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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Nehemiah 8:9 - 8:9
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The celebration of the feast of the new moon. - Neh 8:9 Then Nehemiah, the Tirshatha (see remarks on Ezr 2:63), and the priest Ezra the scribe, and the Levites who were teaching the people, said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord our God. Mourn not, nor weep; for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.” הַיֹּום is the new moon of the seventh month. The portion read made a powerful impression upon the assembled crowds. Undoubtedly it consisted of certain sections of Deuteronomy and other parts of the Thorah, which were adapted to convict the people of their sin in transgressing the commands of the Lord, and of the punishments to which they had thus exposed themselves. They were so moved thereby that they mourned and wept. This induced Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites, who had been applying what was read to the hearts of their hearers, to encourage them.
Neh 8:10
And he said to them (viz., Nehemiah as governor and head of the community, though the fact that his address is mentioned does not exclude the participation of Ezra and the Levites): “Go, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send gifts to them for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; neither be ye sorry, for joy in Jahve is your refuge.” מַשְׁמַנִּים, fatnesses (λιπάσματα, lxx), fat pieces of meat, not ”rich cakes” (Bertheau); comp. שְׁמָנִים מִשְׁתֵּה, Isa 25:6. מַמְתַּקִּים, sweetened drinks. The sense is: Make glad repasts on good feast-day food and drink; and send portions to the poor who have prepared nothing, that they too may rejoice on this festival. מָנֹות, gifts, are portions of food; Est 9:19, Est 9:22; 1Sa 1:4. Hence we see that it was customary with the Israelites to send portions of food and drink, on festivals, to the houses of the poor, that they too might share in the joy of the day. נָכֹון לְאֵן for נָכֹון אֵין לַאֲשֶׁר (see rem. on 1Ch 15:12), to them for whom nothing is prepared, who have not the means to prepare a feast-day meal. Because the day is holy to the Lord, they are to desire it with holy joy. יהוה חֶדְוַת is a joy founded on the feeling of communion with the Lord, on the consciousness that we have in the Lord a God long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth (Exo 34:6). This joy is to be to them מָעֹוז, a strong citadel or refuge, because the Almighty is their God; comp. Jer 16:19.
Neh 8:11
The Levites also strove to pacify the people, saying: “Hold your peace, i.e., give over weeping, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved.”
Neh 8:12
This address had its effect. The people went their way, some to their houses, some to their lodgings, to partake of festal repasts, and to keep the feast with joy; “for they gave heed to the words that were declared to them,” i.e., they took to heart the address of Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites.