Note that the spiritually revived people had an insatiable appetite to learn more about God's Word. This is a normal outcome of true revival.
Apparently part of what Ezra and his associates read to the people, or at least to the leaders, included Leviticus 23 (v. 13). In Leviticus 23, God called on the Jews to observe the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths) on the fifteenth through the twenty-first days of the seventh month (Lev. 23:34-36). This was a happy celebration that looked back to the Israelites' years of wandering in the wilderness when they lived in booths that they made out of branches. It also looked forward to their entrance into and permanent residence in the Promised Land. Consequently it would have had special significance for the returned exiles who now again had entered into the Promised Land after being absent from it for years. They had come through a kind of wilderness experience themselves. They even had to travel through a literal wilderness to get back to their land.
Nehemiah did not record whether the people also observed the Day of Atonement that fell on the tenth of the same month. Probably they did since they were restoring the other Israelite institutions. Perhaps he passed over mentioning it because the Day of Atonement was a sad day in the Jewish year. It was the only fast of Israel's festivals wherein the people afflicted themselves in repentance for their sins. Nehemiah seems to have wanted in this chapter, and in the whole book, to emphasize the positive aspects of the restoration, namely, God's faithfulness and the people's joy.
The restoration community had observed the Feast of Tabernacles previously (Ezra 3:4). However the present celebration was the most festive one since Joshua had brought the Israelites into the Promised Land for the first time (v. 17). This reflects growing joy and spiritual strength among the Jews who returned from exile.
"Let it be stressed, however, that it is joy in God. What we witness here is not the tacking on of vacuous festivity to an act of worship which is itself kept drab. The rejoicing isworship. What must be cultivated is a rejoicing together in the goodness of God."64
The Law also prescribed the solemn assembly on the twenty-second of the month (Lev. 23:36). Probably this was the day when the people would have normally renewed their commitment to God formally. It was customary in the ancient Near East for citizens to make such a commitment to their lord (suzerain) in such a fashion regularly.
"Today, even more, not just the pastors and experts' but all believers should do theology,' reflecting together on the application of biblical, ethical principles to every area of life. To do theology or theologize is to apply biblical principles to every aspect of life."65
"The sequence in chapter 8 is striking: intellectual response to the Word (vv. 1-8), emotional response to the Word (vv. 9-12), and volitional response to the Word (vv. 13-18)."66
"The Word of God had a tremendous impact on the Restoration community. It pointed the people to their sin (8:9), led them to worship (8:12, 14), and gave them great joy (8:17)."67
