Leviticus 23 · a question people ask
Nehemiah says Israel hadn't lived in shelters since Joshua. Had they forgotten the feast of booths?
After the return from exile, the people read in the law "that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month" (Nehemiah 8:14). They "made temporary shelters and lived in the temporary shelters, for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day the children of Israel had not done so" (Nehemiah 8:17). Yet the feast itself had been kept. Solomon offered sacrifices "during the feast of booths" (2 Chronicles 8:13), and those who first returned "kept the feast of booths, as it is written" (Ezra 3:4). Nehemiah 8:17 says the children of Israel "had not done so", without spelling out what "so" covers: the shelters, the whole assembly doing it together, or both. What it does say is how it ended: "There was very great gladness" (Nehemiah 8:17).
The verses
“Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the LORD’s altar which he had built before the porch, even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times per year, during the feast of unleavened bread, during the feast of weeks, and during the feast of booths.”
“They kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required;”
“You shall dwell in temporary shelters for seven days. All who are native-born in Israel shall dwell in temporary shelters,”