Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nehemiah 8:8
So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused [them] to understand the reading.
8. So they read ] R.V. And they read. The account does not make it clear, whether the Levites were reading at the same time as Ezra, groups being gathered round the different readers, or whether, as we should rather infer, there was one reader who at the first was Ezra himself, and afterward chosen Levites who in succession took his place and relieved him.
distinctly ] R.V. marg. ‘Or, with an interpretation ’. On the word see note on Ezr 4:18. The rendering of the R.V. marg. is sometimes based on the erroneous supposition that the Jews had returned from Babylon speaking Chaldee or Aramaic, and that in consequence the Hebrew of ‘the Law’ had to be ‘interpreted’ in the sense of ‘translated.’ This would have been necessary in much later times. But in the time of Nehemiah, if we may judge from the writings of Nehemiah and Malachi, the people’s dialect had not yet undergone the change, which may have begun very soon afterwards. The common misapprehension of our verse arises from the erroneous impression that Chaldee was the language of the ‘Chaldeans’ spoken in Babylon and there acquired by the Jews. But in Babylon and Babylonia the spoken language was ‘Assyrian,’ another branch of the Semitic family. The ‘Chaldee’ of the Bible is the Aramaic or North Semitic dialect. See Introduction, and cf. note on Neh 13:24.
The word in the original occurs in Num 15:34, ‘it had not been declared (i.e. made clear) what should be done unto him.’ The rendering ‘distinctly’ means with clearness and precision, for which careful study was required. Some understand ‘with an interpretation’ in the sense of ‘with exposition;’ while the possibility of this explanation may be admitted, it is open to the objection that it anticipates the substance of the clause which immediately follows.
distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand ] R.V. distinctly; and they gave the sense, so that they understood. Marg. as A.V. and caused, &c. The R.V. gives the right idea of the verse, which consists of two clauses, the one describing the clearness of the public reading, the other the parenthetic comment introduced for the sake of explaining the text.
‘gave the sense:’ a phrase occurring only here in the O.T. The clause ‘so that they understood’ is subordinate to, denoting the result of, the previous words ‘gave the sense.’
‘so that they understood the reading,’ so that they understood what was being read. The word for ‘the reading’ ‘hammiq’ra’ here used of the public reading, became in later times a technical Rabbinic word for ‘Scripture.’
The ancient versions treat the words as an independent clause, ‘And the people understood the reading,’ (LXX. . Vulg. ‘et intellexerunt cum legeretur,’) which gives a good sense, but misses the interdependence of the two sentences. It is a mistake to suppose that the R.V. rendering of the two clauses is tautological. The Levites ‘gave the sense,’ not mechanically, but so that the people grasped its meaning.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gave the sense – Either by rendering the Hebrew into the Aramaic dialect, or perhaps simply by explaining obscure words or passages.
Caused them to understand – Either they (the people) understood what was read; or, they (the Levites) expounded as they read.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Neh 8:8
So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense.
The Bible ought to be intelligently understood
It is to be feared that nowadays there are some Christians who, although they almost worship the Bible, care little for an intelligent understanding of its contents. The sacred Scriptures are useful to us in proportion as they help us to worship God more reverently, intelligently, and spiritually; and therefore we truly honour them by diligently seeking to understand their real sense, and to profit by their meaning. (T. Campbell Finlayson.)
The mission of the pulpit
The pulpit of Ezra was the place for the unfolding of the law of God. It was the place of a new religious departure. Formerly the temple had filled the whole religious horizon of the Jew. It was the Alpha and Omega of his faith. The temple was a place for sacrifice, not instruction. It was the home and sphere not of the scribe or prophet, but of the priest. Its chief object was not a pulpit or a desk, but an altar. In it the law was not unfolded, but the victim slain. But before us we have the introduction of a new element into the religious realm. The altar falls into the background, the pulpit comes to the front. The priest is shadowed by the scribe. It is the beginning of an order of things which has quietly gone forward ever since. The modern pulpit is connected by subtle, mental, and spiritual associations with that of Ezra. Our worship of instruction is the gradual outgrowth of that begun by this scribe of old. This desk is consecrated to a like purpose. It is the place where the law of God may be read and expounded; not of course within the narrow limits imposed upon Ezra. Before him lay only the scroll of the law. It was but the beginning of the sacred oracles. The hazy lamp of the olden time which Ezra held has grown clear and clearer until its light is as the sun in the perfect day. But it is still a law, not in the sense that it is one long list of commandments, but in the far higher sense–that it is the unfolding of the eternal mind to men. Gods thoughts ought to be mans law. There is a law higher than that of commandment. Commandment can only work in the lowest realm. I can bid my child to do or leave undone certain things, but higher than these are my thoughts of what he might be and my longings for what he should be. I cant put these into commandments, or into law. They are too high for that. And yet they ought to be my childs highest law, moving him far more strongly than my mere commands. Here we have the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The very centre of Gods purpose for us–His highest commandment. Such is our law. How has it to be treated?
1. It is the duty of the pulpit to give the sense of Scripture. It is no part of that duty to make nonsense of it, to wrest it, to handle it deceitfully. This has too often been done. Even by learned men–e.g., Augustine insisted that the Psalms ascribed in their titles to Korah are descriptions of the Passion, and that the sons of Korah are Christians because Korah in Hebrew and Calvary in Latin may be translated baldhead, and because Elisha was derided under that name. Gregory the Great saw the twelve apostles, and therefore the clergy in the seven sons of Job, and the lay worshippers of the Trinity in his three daughters. Scripture is not to be played with in that style. We must give the sense.
2. Not only was the sense given, but it was given in the language of the people, their common, every-day speech. It is our duty to set forth Gods law in language that will be intelligible to the people. It is possible to put it into English and yet be unintelligible. If the law be made known in the technical language of theology, or even of literature, it may utterly fail of its purpose. The law of God may be spoken in speech understood of the people, and yet not adapted to their needs. It must be spoken not only in the language of our time, but suited to its present wants. In his Aids to Reflection, S. T. Coleridge says that there is one sure way of giving freshness and importance to the most commonplace maxims, that of reflecting on them in direct reference to our own state and conduct, to our own past and future being. When you think of those whose high functions are discharged in the pulpit there is no prayer more necessary to be offered than this, that they may be men having understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do.
3. It may be still further worthy of remark that Ezra and his disciples spoke to the people the law of God. Printed will never take the place of spoken words. Christ said to the disciples, Go and preach the gospel to every creature. The word preach means to make known as a herald. The heralds voice is more powerful than a printed proclamation. The voice carries feeling better than the printed page. Life expresses itself more fully through the voice than by paper or book. The world has caught its highest inspiration through spoken words. Great changes, political, social, moral, religious, have been brought about by the speech of mighty men. The Corn Laws would never have been repealed by books on the subject. Slavery would never have been abolished by anti-slavery literature. (W. Garrett Horder.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. So they read in the book] For an explanation of this verse, see the observations at the end of the chapter. See Clarke on Ne 8:17.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They read, to wit, Ezra and his companions successively or severally.
Gave the sense; i.e. the meaning of the Hebrew words, which they expounded in the common language.
Caused them to understand the reading, i.e. that which they read, to wit, the Holy Scripture; the action being put for the object, as vision is oft put for the thing seen, and hearing for the thing heard, and fear for the thing feared. So they gave them both a translation of the Hebrew words into the Chaldee, and an exposition of the things contained in them, and of the duty incumbent upon the people by virtue of them, the declaration whereof was a great part of the priests work, Mal 2:7.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
So they read in the book,…. Ezra and those with him; he first began to read and expound, and when weary they relieved him, and did the same:
in the law of God distinctly; which was the book they read in, and which they read plainly and intelligibly, so as to be heard and understood; this seems to respect the clear and distinct pronunciation of the words of it, and not the explanation or meaning of it, which is after expressed; some think the sense is, that they first read it in Hebrew, and then translated it into Chaldee, that the people might better understand it, being just come out of Babylon, where they had been used to the Chaldee language; but though this was a practice in later times, it does not seem to have obtained so early, or that there was a necessity of it:
and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading; not hereby how to read it, but chiefly to understand what was read, that they might clearly know their duty to God and men: the Talmudists q give the meaning of the text thus; “by the law of God” they understand the Scripture; by the phrase “distinctly”, the Targum or translation of it into Chaldee; by “the sense”, the verses or the accents; and by “the reading”, the distinction of the accents: some think from hence came the practice of reading the law in the synagogues every sabbath day,
Ac 13:15.
q T. Bab. Nedarim, fol. 37. 2. & Megillah, fol. 3. 1. & Hieros. Megillah, fol. 74. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(8) Gave the sense.They expounded obscurer passages, and in doing so naturally translated into the vernacular Aramaic dialect.
Caused them to understand the reading.This simply explains the former: they expounded as they read.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. In the book in the law An emphatic intimation that the book from which they read was no other than the law of God. From the form of words here used we may infer that there were then extant other sacred books besides the book of the law.
Distinctly , the word thus rendered is the Pual participle of , to spread out, and by most interpreters is understood to designate the clear and distinct manner the audible voice in which the law was read. Bertheau explains it as a distinct recitation which followed certain appointed rules, and accordingly required very special discipline. This thought may be partly involved, since to read intelligibly before so large and uncultivated an audience would require peculiar care and tact; but the reference is rather to the open, easily-apprehended style of the reading, “opposite (says Furst) to quick, hasty, indistinct, unintelligible.” Others (Pfeiffer, Keil) understand a running exposition or paraphrase of the reading, made by the readers themselves in the Hebrew language. But this would make what immediately follows superfluous and tautological. The Rabbins and some others understand a translation of the law into Aramaean, or the vulgar tongue. But the word seems not to be used in Hebrew in this sense, and were this the meaning, we should certainly have had the thought more clearly and fully expressed. Comp. Ezr 4:7. It is very probable that some of the auditors needed the law translated for them in order to comprehend its import, and this is implied in the next words, and gave the sense, which words would, as urged against the preceding exposition of Pfeiffer and Keil, be superfluous, if here meant to translate or interpret. We accordingly adopt the rendering of the English version, which follows the Vulgate and Syriac.
Gave the sense Set forth the meaning; made it intelligible to all the people. To do this it might often have been necessary to explain the Hebrew Scriptures in the Chaldee language, which had so far come into use among the Jews at Babylon as to make it difficult for many of the people to understand the Hebrew.
Caused them to understand the reading This is but another way of expressing again what has been said in the previous sentence, and it is, therefore, better, with the Vulgate, Septuagint, Bertheau, Keil, and others, to render, and they (the people, the hearers) gave heed to the reading. They paid careful and reverent attention and understood the reading.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Neh 8:8 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused [them] to understand the reading.
Ver. 8. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly ] Exposite, clare, vel cum expositione (Explanate, Junius). They read aloud, and so treatably and plainly, that all might know what they read. Some stumble over the chapter so fast that few are little the better.
And gave the sense
Causing the people to understand the reading
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
read in the book: i.e. the Hebrew text of the Pentateuch. See App-47.
distinctly = a distinct [reading], i.e. (according to the Talmud) translating and interpreting it in the Chaldee paraphrase.
and. Note the Figure of speech Polysyndeton (App-6), to emphasize each clause.
gave the sense: i.e. divided the sentences, &c, according to sense.
caused them to understand the reading: i.e. gave the traditional pronunciation of the words (which were then without the vowel points).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
and gave the sense: Hab 2:2, Mat 5:21, Mat 5:22, Mat 5:27, Mat 5:28, Luk 24:27, Luk 24:32, Luk 24:45, Act 8:30-35, Act 17:2, Act 17:3, Act 28:23
Reciprocal: Lev 10:11 – General Deu 27:14 – General 2Ki 22:13 – great 2Ch 17:7 – to teach 2Ch 30:22 – taught 2Ch 35:3 – the Levites Ezr 7:25 – teach ye Neh 8:9 – the Levites Neh 8:12 – because Neh 8:13 – to understand the words of the law Neh 9:3 – they stood Isa 32:4 – heart Eze 46:10 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Neh 8:8. So they read in the book of the law To wit, Ezra and his companions, successively. And gave the sense The meaning of the Hebrew words, which they expounded in the common language And caused them to understand the reading Or that which they read, namely, the Holy Scriptures; the action being put for the object, as hearing for the thing heard, and fearing for the thing feared. So they gave them both a translation of the Hebrew words, into the Chaldee or Syriac, and an exposition of the things contained in them, and of the duty incumbent upon the people by virtue thereof; to declare which things was a great part of the priests work, Mal 2:7.