And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel [were] in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
Ver. 1. And when the seventh month was come] Heb. And the seventh month approached; a month of many festivities, Leviticus 23:24; Leviticus 23:27; Lev 23:34 1 Kings 8:2, and so, to the good, a foretaste of eternal life, where it shall be holiday every day, where they have no rest, Revelation 4:8 (and yet no unrest), praising the God of heaven, for heaven's happiness, Psalms 136:1,3; Psalms 136:26 (the same that these good souls sang together, Ezr 3:11 of this chapter). God is praised five and twenty times for his mercies; but the conclusion is, "O give thanks unto the God of heaven," &c. Christ hath cast up such a causeway to it, that we may well travel thither from all coasts, as these Jews did to Jerusalem from all their cities.
As one man to Jerusalem] There to serve the Lord with one shoulder, Zephaniah 3:9. Neither counted they it any trouble to travel thither, though they were scarce yet warm in their nests, as we say.