Nehemiah 8:14
And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month: And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:
Nehemiah 8:14 belongs to the account of the law being read in Ezra's time, at the Feast of Trumpets when the children of the covenant had assembled at Jerusalem from all the surrounding country. At that time the wall of Jerusalem had been rebuilt and the gates set up, but a large part of the city still lay in ruins as reminders of Judah's departed glory. In one of the broadest streets a wooden platform had been erected where Ezra, now an aged man, stood with his fellow Levites at his right and left before a great multitude, and as he blessed the Lord, the great God, all the people answered Amen and bowed with their faces to the ground.
The chapter shows that reading God's requirements influenced the people, giving the particulars of that influence. Its setting represents the kind of response expected from John's preaching, a deep work of repentance and a return to the Lord. The feast is the Feast of Tabernacles, which commemorated Israel's years living in tents during the wilderness journey and sojourn.
For the festival the people left their houses and lived in booths made of leafy branches. They lived in the booths for a week, setting them on rooftops, in streets, or outside the city on slopes and in valleys.