Nehemiah 8:4

Ezra stood upon a pulpit of wood To raise him higher than the people; that he might be better seen and heard by them all; whence, in the Hebrew, it is called a tower of wood: but it was not like our pulpits, made to contain only one or two persons, but large and long, that many might stand in it at once, as appears from so many as fourteen, here mentioned, standing in it. And beside him stood Mattithiah, &c. These stood with him, partly to declare their consent and concurrence with what he said and did; and partly that they, or some of them, might bear a part in the work.