And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.
Ver. 17. Made booths, and sat under the booths] See Nehemiah 8:14,16. They that turn this history into mystery make an allusion of it, 1. To Christ, as dwelling in our flesh. 2. To Christians, as travelling toward heaven, and having here no settled habitation, Hebrews 11:13 .
For since the days of Jeshua] Moses is not mentioned; because during his days, till Jeshua brought them into the promised land, they kept not this feast, likely.
Had not the children of Israel done so] Kept this feast they had, but not so kept it; viz, with that devotion, solemnity, and great gladness, being in so poor a case, and yet so unanimous in the work, as one man. But one would wonder that all along during the reign of David and Solomon (who gave the pattern of, and built the temple), and all those succeeding reformers, there should something be omitted about the feast of tabernacles (kept, as it is thought, by Solomon, 2Ch 7:8) till their return from Babylon; yet so it was.