The entire assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them. The sons of Israel had indeed not done so from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day. And there was great rejoicing.There have been a couple times in the pre-exile time where the Law had been rediscovered, and they had turned back to following it. But in all that time, even back before David, before the Judges, back to when they were conquering the land under Joshua, they hadn't practiced this festival? That surprises me a lot, especially given how fervent some previous kings were for the Law once it was rediscovered.
I wonder if perhaps those rediscoveries were only made by Judah, not Israel, and therefore didn't count? If so, that would make a little more sense, since this is now a reunited Israel. However, what about David, or Solomon in his early days as king? They didn't see to it the festival was celebrated? Had it been so completely forgotten, even these devout men didn't know of it? And what about the priests? They were responsible for teaching the Law to the people, and they didn't see to it this festival was known.
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