On the three and twentieth day of the seventh month, he sent the people away They kept the feast of the dedication of the altar seven days, from the second to the ninth; the tenth day was the day of atonement, when they were to afflict their souls for sin, and that was not unseasonable in the midst of their rejoicings: then on the fifteenth began the feast of tabernacles, which continued to the twenty-second, and thus they continued to be employed in sacred services, and did not part till the twenty-third. We ought never to grudge the time that we spend in the worship of God, and in communion with him, nor think it long, or grow weary of it. Glad and merry in heart for the goodness, &c. That is, according to the Targum, “for the goodness of the Lord shown unto David, in opening the doors of the sanctuary; and unto Solomon, whose prayer God had accepted, and had honoured with his presence in the house which he had built; and unto his people Israel, in his acceptance of their sacrifices, and sending down fire from heaven to consume them.”

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