Nehemiah 9:1

The twenty and fourth day. The 24th of the 7th month (Tishri) in the 21st year of Artaxerxes I was October 19, 444 B.C. (According to the Jewish reckoning his 20th year had ended with the close of the 6th month, see pp. 101-103.)

Were assembled with fasting. It would seem to have been appropriate that the occasion described in chapters 9 and 10 should have taken place on the 10th of the month when they observed the great Day of Atonement (PK 665), the day of national humiliation and self-investigation. On that day, according to the law, every man was to search his own heart; whoever neglected to do so was to be cut off from Israel (Leviticus 23:27-29). Certainly, under Ezra, the observance of the day would not be neglected. Whatever may have been the reason for postponing the event here described, the civil and ecclesiastical authorities appointed a day that had no traditional ritual of its own for the solemn act of penitence on which the heart of the nation was now set. The day chosen fell two days after the completion of the joyous Feast of Tabernacles, which closed on the 22nd of the 7th month.

With sackclothes. On the use of sackcloth in mourning, see Genesis 37:34; 2 Samuel 3:31; 21:10; 1 Kings 21:27; etc. Putting earth or dust on the head was less common (1 Samuel 4:12; 2 Samuel 1:2; and Job 2:12).