Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nehemiah 8:15
And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as [it is] written.
15. and that they should publish and proclaim saying ] In Lev 23:1; Lev 23:4 the children of Israel are commanded to ‘proclaim the set feasts of the Lord.’ The actual words of this verse are nowhere to be found in the Pentateuch. But there is no reason on that account to suppose a corruption in the text, and to read as Houbigant, whom Rawlinson follows, ‘And when they heard it, they proclaimed &c.,’ a text for which only a slight emendation is necessary. The LXX. puts a full stop at ‘Jerusalem,’ and begins a new sentence, ‘And Ezra said, Go forth.’ The fact is that the writer only refers in a general way to the substance of the passage in Leviticus 23 relating to ‘the feast of tabernacles.’ The mention of ‘Jerusalem’ is alone sufficient to show the spirit of free adaptation in which the reference to ‘the law’ is made. Possibly Jerusalem is mentioned as embodying the Deuteronomic phrase ‘the place which the Lord shall choose’ in Deu 16:15.
the mount ] i.e. the mountain region or hill country of Judah. Not to be restricted to the Mt of Olives.
pine branches ] R.V. branches of wild olive. Cf. Isa 41:19, ‘the oil tree’ (Marg. Or, oleaster). Both the olive ( ) and the wild olive ( ) were conspicuous for their thick foliage; cf. Rom 11:17. For ‘palms’ near Jerusalem cf. Mar 11:8, and Jericho ‘the city of palms’ (Jdg 1:16; Jdg 3:13; 2Ch 28:15).
as it is written ] The reference is evidently to Lev 23:40, ‘And ye shall take you on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook.’ But the quotation only agrees in the general sense. The only words which are found in both passages are ‘palm’ and ‘thick trees’ (Eze 20:28). The ‘goodly trees’ ( ‘ec hadar) possibly include ‘the branches of myrtle’ ( ‘eley hdas). The myrtle (cf. Isa 55:13; Zec 1:8; Zec 1:10-11) is mentioned with ‘the wild olive’ in Isa 41:19.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The mount – The mount of Olives is probably intended.
Pine branches – Rather, branches of the wild olive. The actual trees named by the Law may have become scarce. It was probably considered that the spirit of the command was kept if branches of trees similar in general character to those named in Leviticus were employed.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Neh 8:15-18
So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths
The celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles
I.
We are reminded here that there is such a thing as buried truth. True reformations and revivals of religion have always consisted in peoples minds being directed to some portion of truth which, though contained in the Word of God, has for a time been lost sight of.
II. We observe that in this instance the Jews dared to follow God, apart prom and in spite of the traditions of a thousand years. It is not a valid argument against a view of truth that it has found no acceptance for long, or even that the testimony of successive generations is against it.
III. Weak and despised instrumentality is often used of God to recover lost truth. It was reserved for the feeble remnant that returned from the Babylonish captivity to do what had not been done even in the bright days of Solomon. The Waldenses bearing dogged testimony against Rome for centuries. The Gospellers of Wycliffes and other days in our own land. George Fox and his noble band of Friends.
IV. It was after bitter chastisement of captivity that the nation was thus made willing and obedient. (W. P. Lockhart.)
Religion in booths
It is a grand festival. It is the Feast of Tabernacles. The people celebrate the deliverance of their fathers from desert travel, where they lived in tents. And it is also typical of our march to heaven–pilgrims in a temporary booth on the way to Canaan. So that I say to you in a figurative sense what was said to the Jews in a literal sense, Go forth into the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths.
I. The olive branch is always used as a sign of peace. The olive-tree grows in warm climates to the height of about twenty-five feet, has an upright stem, and many out-shooting branches which can easily be stripped off. If a twig of this tree, in time of war, is handed from one general to another, it means the unsaddling of cavalry horses and the hanging up of the war knapsacks. After hostilities have ceased, these branches are placed over doorways, and they are built into triumphal arches, and they are waved in processions. They spell out in verdurous letters that heaven-born word of Peace! Now in this gospel arbour which God sends us to build we must have two of these olive branches.
1. Peace with God.
2. Peace with each other.
II. My text, in the next place, suggests that in this arbour for our soul, on the way toward glory, we ought to have a good many pine branches. Now, pine is healthful, aromatic, and an evergreen. It has often been the case that invalids have been sent into the regions where the pine grows, and they have come back thoroughly well. It is a frequent prescription, on the part of physicians, to say, Go for a few weeks amid the pines, and you will be better. Now we want in this gospel arbour pine branches. We want something that means health, aroma, and evergreen. This is a very healthy religion. I have known an old Christian, with no capital of physical health, and carrying about him all the respectable diseases that one can carry, and yet kept alive by nothing at all but his religion. But this gospel is evergreen. What does the pine forest care for the snow on its brow? It merely considers it a crown of glory. You cannot freeze out the pine forest, and this grace of God is just as good in the winter of trouble as it is in the summer of prosperity. It is the religion you want–not dependent upon weather or upon change.
III. My text suggests still further that this arbour of Christian grace ought to have in it a good many palm branches. You know that it is a favourite tree at the East. The ancients used to make it into three hundred and sixty uses. The fruit is conserved. The sap becomes a beverage. The stones are ground up as food for camels. The base of the leaves is twisted into rope. Baskets and mats are made out of it, and from the root to the tip-top of the palm it is all usefulness. It grows eighty-five feet in height, is columnar, its fringed leaves sometimes four or five yards long, and the ancients used to carry it in processions as a symbol of victory. Oh, for more palm branches in our gospel arbour! Usefulness and victory! Head, heart, tongue, pen, money, social position–all employed for God. Counsel is often given on worldly matters–about investments–that you must not put all the eggs in one basket; but in this matter of religion I wish that we might give all to God, and get in ourselves. Oh, says some man, my business is to sell silks and calicoes. Then sell silks and calicoes for the glory of God. Says another man, My business is to edit a newspaper. Then edit a newspaper for the glory of God. Anything that a man cannot do for the glory of God he has no right to do. The vast majority of professed Christians in this day do not amount to anything. You have to shovel them off the track before the chariot of Gods grace can advance. What we want in the Church now is not weeping willows, sighing and weeping by the Water-courses, admiring their long fringes in the glass of the stream; not hickories full of knots; not wild cherry, dropping bitter fruits; but palm-trees, adapted to three hundred and sixty purposes–root, trunk, branch, leaf, producing something for God and man and angels.
IV. My text demands that in the making of this gospel arbour we shall get branches of thick trees. You know that a booth or arbour is of little worth unless there be stout poles at the corners, or the wind will upset the booth; and you will be worse off than without shelter unless you have strong branches of thick trees. A gospel that is all mellowness and sweetness will have no strength to withstand the blast of temptation and trial and trouble. We want a brawny Christianity. We want a gospel with warnings as well as with invitations. While olive branches are good in their places, and the palm branches, and the myrtle branches, we want the stout branches of thick trees. The tempest of temptation will come down after a while; the hurricane of death will blow; and alas! for that man who has not his soul sheltered under the stout branches of the thick trees. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Also day by day . . . he read in the book of the law of God.
Daily Bible-reading
I. Why?
1. Because of its infinite preciousness and value.
2. Because of its tendency to build up the inner and spiritual life.
3. Because all great revivals of the power of religion have been associated with high reverence for the written Word.
4. Because by this Word you must be judged.
II. How?
1. With reverence.
2. With special affection and prayerfulness.
3. Take time.
4. Keep the end in view. (S. Thodey.)
.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. Fetch olive branches] For every thing concerning this feast of tabernacles, see the notes on Lev. xxiii., and the other places there referred to.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And that they should publish, i.e. and they found this also written, which is to be supplied out of the former verse, that they should, &c., which, though it be not particularly required, so as is expressed in the words here following, yet in the general is required by virtue of that precept, Lev 23:4; Num 10:10. And according to this translation, it must be understood in the close of this verse, that they did accordingly publish and proclaim, &c. But these words may be rendered, which (as this Hebrew word is rendered here, Neh 8:14, and most commonly) also (so the particle vau is used, Isa 6:1; Jer 1:3) they did publish, &c. For so they did, as is evident and acknowledged; and it seems fit that so much should be expressed; and these words being particular and proper to this special occasion, seem to intimate that this is rather an historical relation of what they now did, than a declaration of that which the law required them to do, which was but in very general terms, and not so exact and particular as this following precept is said to be. Unto the mount; the Mount of Olives, which was next Jerusalem, and stored with olive branches, and probably with the rest here mentioned; for these trees may seem to have been planted hereabouts principally for the use of this capital city in this very feast, which, though long neglected, should have been celebrated once every year. And therefore this place seems to be here designed as the most eminent place, but with a usual synecdoche, this place being put for any place nearest to the several cities of Judah, where these branches were to be procured.
Branches of thick trees; of which See Poole “Lev 23:34“; See Poole “Deu 16:13“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem,…. That is, as Jarchi interprets it, by supplying it thus,
and they commanded that they should publish, c. Ezra and those with him gave orders that heralds should proclaim in all cities where the Jews dwelt that the feast of tabernacles would be kept, and they should prepare for it and which seems to be the true sense, since it is not written in the law that such a proclamation should be made; but this was an order of their own, thereby to give notice of it, that all might be provided:
go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written; in Le 23:40, where the first three of these seem to be called boughs of goodly trees; though the Jews r commonly understand them of pomecitrons, of which the Syriac version here interprets the myrtle branches; and by them are meant the citron branches, with the leaves and fruit, and which the Jews make absolutely necessary to the keeping of the feast, and for beautiful ones will give a large price; some of them go every year to Spain, and buy as many as they can, and dispose of them wherever Jews live s: and those branches were to be fetched, not properly speaking to make the booths of, which were made of boards and planks, but for the decoration of them; and it was not necessary, according to Aben Ezra, that some of each of these should be gathered for that purpose, but of any sort of them; for he interprets the words disjunctively olive branches, or pine branches, or myrtle branches, c. these, according to the common notion of the Jews, were tied up in little bundles, and carried in the hand, which they call “lulabs” and they observe t, the thick branches 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 mentioned in Le 23:39.
r T. Bab. Succah, fol. 35. 1. s Buxtorf. Synagog. Jud. c. 21. p. 454. t Succah, fol. 12. 1. u Misn. Saccah, c. 4. sect. 5.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(15) Saying.There is no such command in Leviticus; the Septuagint inserts, And Ezra spake. But it is better to adopt Houbigants slight emendation of the text, which thus runs: And when they heard it, they proclaimed, &c. The command, then, is to go out to the Mount of Olives, and gather, not precisely the branches which the ancient law required, but such as circumstances allowed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Unto the mount Where the branches of trees would be naturally sought.
Olive pine myrtle palm thick trees Leviticus xxiii, 40, mentions only palms, thick trees, and willows. No special stress seems to have been laid on the kind of trees, but any and all kinds of trees, whose boughs would serve for making booths, might be sought. The word for pine is literally tree of fatness, and is usually understood of the wild olive, or oleaster, but this is far from certain. The Hebrew word occurs but twice elsewhere; in 1Ki 6:23, where it is rendered olive tree, and in Isa 41:19, where it is rendered oil tree. The myrtle is here first mentioned in the Bible. Royle (in Kitto’s Cyclopaedia) speaks of its ancient and modern celebrity as “justly due to the rich colouring of its dark green and shining leaves, contrasted with the white starlike clusters of its flowers, affording in hot countries a pleasant shade under its branches, and diffusing an agreeable odour from its flowers or bruised leaves.” Thick trees denote any trees of thick foliage.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Neh 8:15. And that they should publish and proclaim Which when they heard, they sent preachers into all the cities, and into Jerusalem, saying, Go forth, &c. Houbigant.
Fetch olive-branches, &c. See Scheuchzer’s Physique Sacree, tom. 6: p. 6.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Neh 8:15 And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as [it is] written.
Ver. 15. And that they should publish and proclaim ] Heb. Make a voice to pass, viz. for better preparation and greater solemnity. God will not take up with a careless and slubbered service; he is a great King, and stands greatly upon his seniority, Mal 1:14 .
Go forth unto the mount
And fetch olive branches, and pine branches, &c.
And branches of thick trees
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
mount = hill country.
as it is written. See Lev 23:42.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And that: Lev 23:4
in Jerusalem: Deu 16:16
the mount: Jdg 9:48, Jdg 9:49, Mat 21:1
fetch: Lev 23:40
olive: Gen 8:11
palm: Joh 12:13, Rev 7:9
Reciprocal: 2Ki 22:10 – Shaphan Hos 12:9 – as in