Nehemiah 8:1

And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the watergate,.... A large and commodious street for such a company of people, which led to the water gate,

And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.

CHAPTER 8 Ezra bringeth and expoundeth the law of Moses, and blesseth God with the people, . Nehemiah and Ezra comfort the people, . The people’ s forwardness to hear and to be instructed in the law, . They make themselves booths, ,17; and keep the feast seven days, . The street that was before the water-gate; of which See Poole "".

Nehemiah 8:1 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that [was] before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.Ver. 1. As one man] See Ezra 3:1, and remember that Omne simile non est idem; this is a distinct history from that. Into the street] Or, open place, the meeting place of the water gate. See Nehemiah 3:26. Right over against this gate was the court of the people, saith Lyra. See Ezra 10:9. And they spake unto Ezra the scribe] The people may, if need be, say to Archippus, Look to thy ministry, &c., Colossians 4:17. Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, all is theirs (the gifts and abilities of all good ministers), and they may call for them, 1 Corinthians 3:22. To bring the book of the law of Moses] Wherein he was no less able than apt to impart, 1 Timothy 3:2, διδακτικος. He knew that the best had need hear the law, he spiritum sessorem excutiant, that they might be kept within the bounds of obedience. Not the unruly colt only, but the horse that is broken, hath a bit and bridle also.

(1) As one man.—The unanimity rather than the number is emphatic here. And they spake unto Ezra.—Who appears in this book for the first time, having probably been at the court for twelve years.

CHAPTER VIII Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Levites, read and interpret the laws to the people, 1-7. The manner in which they do this important work, 8. The effect produced on the people's minds by hearing it, 9. The people are exhorted to be glad, and are told that the joy of the Lord is their strength, 10-12. On the second day they assemble, and find that they should keep the feast of tabernacles; which they accordingly religiously solemnize for seven days; and Ezra reads to them from the book of the law, 13-18. NOTES ON CHAP. VIII Verse 1. The street that was before the water gate] The gate which led from the temple to the brook Kidron.

1. into the street] R.V. into the broad place. The open space in front of ‘the water-gate’ is probably the same as that mentioned in Ezra 10:9, ‘and all the people sat in the broad place before the house of God.’ Cf. Nehemiah 3:26, ‘the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, unto the place over against the water-gate toward the east.’ It is generally supposed that this broad place lay between the S.E. precincts of the Temple and the Eastern wall. the water gate] Cf. Nehemiah 3:26, Nehemiah 12:37. they spake unto Ezra the scribe] ‘They spake;’ the impersonal plural implies that the whole community expressed the wish through their representative leaders. Ezra the scribe] Ezra’s name occurs here for the first time in our book of Nehemiah. It naturally calls for remark (1) that Ezra’s name was not mentioned by Nehemiah among his supporters in the work of rebuilding the walls, (2) that Nehemiah’s description of the condition of the people, the oppression of the poor by the rich (ch. 4) and the intermarriage with the heathen (Nehemiah 6:18; Nehemiah 10:30; Nehemiah 13:23-28) seems to conflict with the idea of the authority which Ezra obtained over the people, Ezra 9, Ezra 10. Two explanations have been put forward, (a) It is suggested that Ezra, after accomplishing the reforms described in Ezra 9, Ezra 10, returned to Babylon; that after an absence of 12 years, he revisited Jerusalem in time to witness the completion of the city walls by Nehemiah, and was requested by the people to renew his former practice of expounding the Law in public. (b) It is suggested that Ezra had never after his arrival in Jerusalem left the city for any prolonged period; but that after his protest against mixed marriages, he had failed to carry his religious reformation any further. The enemies of the Jews and their unpatriotic allies in Jerusalem had frustrated his attempts. The arrival of Nehemiah changed the aspect of affairs. The religious policy of Ezra was once more in the ascendant. The popular enthusiasm excited by the completion of the walls gave the wished for opportunity of publishing the Law to the people. The omission of Ezra’s name in Nehemiah 1-7 is still a difficulty. But Nehemiah’s memoirs, so far as they are excerpted, record only the events and people concerned with the rebuilding of the walls. If Ezra had been present while the work was in progress, we might naturally have expected to find his name among the repairers of the breaches in chap. 3. Perhaps Ezra, being devoted to the study and teaching of the Law, was not reckoned among those most influential for practical purposes. Being also of the high-priest’s kindred, he was very probably included among the repairers of the breach identified with the name of Eliashib (Nehemiah 3:1). to bring the book of the law, &c.] There is nothing in these words to lead us to suppose that Ezra had before been in the habit of reading the Law to the people.

The street - Rather, “the square” or “court.” So in Nehemiah 8:16 (compare Ezra 10:9). The court seems to have been one between the eastern gate of the temple and the watergate in the city-wall.

THE READING AND OF THE LAW, Nehemiah 8:1-8. 1. The people gathered — By command of the governor. The street… before the water gate — The broad open place in front of one of the gates of one of the inner walls of the city.