Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.
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Bede
AD 735
The literal sense is clear to this extent: the Feast of Tabernacles itself was customarily celebrated for seven days (i.e., from the fifteenth moon of the seventh month to the twentyfirst); then, on the eighth day (i.e., the twentysecond day of the month), a second assembly of the people was held, an assembly notable for its greater festivity. For it is written in Leviticus, “From the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in all the crops of your land, you shall celebrate a festival of the Lord for seven days; on the first day and on the eighth there will be a sabbath, that is, a day of rest. And on the first day you shall take for yourselves the fruits of the most beautiful tree,” and so on. Therefore, for the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, Ezra read to the people from the Book of the Law of God, doubtless because this is our true feast of the mind in this life—that each day (i.e., through all the good works by which we are illuminated by the Lord), we sh...
Assembly. Literally, "the collect. "(Haydock)
Hebrew, "the day of retention "the people being kept at the temple. (Calmet)
Septuagint, "the dismiss ion "as they were afterwards permitted to depart. (Haydock) See Leviticus xxiii. 26.
It was probably on this occasion, that the sacred fire was found again; (2 Machabees i. 18.; Calmet) and also the ark, the tabernacle, and the altar of incense, which had been hidden by Jeremias, 2 Machabees ii. 4. (Torniel, the year of the world 3610.) (Cano)
But this is not so certain. (Haydock) (Calmet, Diss.)
