The people have left Babylon, but they have come back to Jerusalem and they have not got homes to live in. They are living in booths. What a staggering way, what a breath-taking way to remind the people of God that they are pilgrims! God has sent them into exile for two generations, and the first thing they do when they come back is to live in tents to remind themselves that they are pilgrims; that they are just passing through; that here they have no continuing city, but they seek one which is to come, whose builder and maker is God.1
Derek W. H. Thomas
4 And they kept the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required,