4 They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required;
Or rather let them learn of you, who are so well instructed in such histories, how that Jeshua the son of Josedek the priest, and his brother, and Zerubbabel the wise, the son of Salathiel, and Ezra the priest and scribe of the law, as the temple was being built after the captivity, the feast of tabernacles being at hand (which was a great feast and time of assembly and prayer in Israel), gathered the people together with one accord in the great court within the first gate, which is toward the east, and prepared the altar to God, and there offered their gifts and kept the feast. And so afterwards they brought hither their sacrifices, on the sabbaths and the new moons, and the people offered up their prayers. And yet the Scripture says expressly that when these things were done, the temple of God was not yet built; but rather while they thus prayed, the building of the house was advancing. So neither were their prayers deferred in expectation of the dedication, nor was the dedication prevented by the assemblies held for the sake of prayer. But the people thus continued to pray; and when the house was entirely finished, they celebrated the dedication, and brought their gifts for that purpose and all kept the feast for the completion of the work.
And they kept the feast of booths, etc. The Feast of Booths, which in the Gospel is called in Greek Skenopegia, that is, the pitching of booths, was a festival of seven days, beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, during which the Lord commanded all the people to make booths for themselves from leaves and branches of the most beautiful trees, and to leave their houses and stay in these booths for seven days, daily studying the decrees of the divine law, and offering burnt sacrifices to the Lord in fire. They were ordered to do all this in memory of the time when they had once come out of Egypt and dwelt in booths in the wilderness, with Moses preaching the law and the divine presence frequently appearing to them, looking forward for a long time to when they could enter the promised land, so that the grace of this great benefit would never fade from their minds. Therefore, those who had come up from Babylon to Jerusalem, with great devotion to carry out all the commands of the Lord, took care to celebrate this feast on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, performing every day of that week the things commanded by the law. All of which we ought to do spiritually with equal devotion. For we too have come out of Egyptian slavery through the blood of the Lamb, so that we might come to the promised land, having been baptized into the sacraments of the Lord’s passion, casting off the heavy yoke of trespasses, so that, having been adopted into the liberty of the glory of the children of God, we might be heirs of the heavenly kingdom. For we were dwelling in booths and tents, journeying for a long time through the desert, until we might come to our homeland, when in baptism renouncing not only Satan as the king of Egypt, that is, of darkness, but also all the pomps and works of this age, we promised to be like foreigners and pilgrims in this world, citizens of another life which we hoped for from the Lord. In memory of this hope and promise, we must dwell in booths in the seventh month, that is, being illuminated by the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is described as sevenfold, leaving this world with our whole mind as if it were alien and pressing on us, and fixing our intention on hastening to the unwithering joys of paradise; and we must do this for seven days, that is, during the whole time of the present life, which is circled by as many days, without ceasing, and every day of this week we must make a burnt offering and the work of the day in its day; a burnt offering, that is, a whole burnt sacrifice in things that properly pertain to divine service, such as prayers and fasts. And the work of the day in its day, in those things that pertain to the service of fraternal love; such as giving bread to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the cold, hospitality to the traveler, visitation to the sick, burial to the dead, teaching to the wandering, and comfort to the grieving. And it is well that he said they should make a burnt offering on each day according to the command of the law, and the work of the day in its day, he interposed, In order; because whatever is done in the service of divine or fraternal love out of order, loses the merit of its perfection. For "the honor of the king loves judgment" (Psalm 99); for whatever we do devoutly in honor of the highest king, it is necessary to distinguish with the discretion of judgment when or how much it should be done; lest if we do our proper work disorderly, we spoil the rule of its correctness. Paul implied these mystical feasts of booths, that is Skenopegia, when he was preaching and occupied in the work of tentmaking (Acts 28). For he was making tents, that is, booths, both to teach himself to be an inhabitant of the world and a pilgrim, and to teach those he instructed to be pilgrims in this life and hope for a future homeland. For we are accustomed to use booths and tents when traveling or making a journey; which the same Apostle testifies that the saints do in this life, when he says: "While we are in this body, we are pilgrims away from the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5). And to the Hebrews: "For we do not have here a lasting city, but we seek the future one" (Hebrews 13). Since he wanted those who perfectly alienate their minds from the world and faithfully confess themselves as citizens of the homeland which is above, to immediately open the entry to all virtues, it is rightly added:
[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on Ezra 3:2-7