For since the time of Solomon... there was not the like. — The chronicler himself thus compares this great festival with the twofold Feast of the Dedication of the Temple (2 Chronicles 7:1). That festival, like this one, had been prolonged seven days, because the Feast of Tabernacles immediately followed upon it; and “there had been no other since the time of Solomon that could compare with this in respect of duration, or abundance of sacrifices, or number of participants, or the joy that distinguished it” (Bertheau).

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