Fell upon my knees - In token of the deepest humility. Spread out my hands, as if to lay hold on the mercy of God. We have already had occasion to explain these significant acts.

heaviness. or, affliction. I fell

2 Chronicles 6:13 For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold of five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high...

Psalm 95:6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.

Luke 22:41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

Acts 21:5 And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way; and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children...

Ephesians 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

spread

Exodus 9:29,33 And Moses said to him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands to the LORD; and the thunder shall cease...

1 Kings 8:22,38,54 And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel...

Psalm 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before you as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Psalm 143:6 I stretch forth my hands to you: my soul thirsts after you, as a thirsty land. Selah.

Isaiah 1:15 And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you: yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear...

The Christian Struggling under Great and Heavy Affliction.
1. Here it is advised--that afflictions should only be expected.--2. That the righteous hand of God should be acknowledged in them when they come.--3. That they should be borne with patience.--4. That the divine conduct in them should be cordially approved.--5. That thankfulness should be maintained in the midst of trials.--6. That the design of afflictions should be diligently inquired into, and all proper assistance taken in discovering it.--7. That, when it is discovered, it should humbly be complied …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

Influences that Gave Rise to the Priestly Laws and Histories
[Sidenote: Influences in the exile that produced written ceremonial laws] The Babylonian exile gave a great opportunity and incentive to the further development of written law. While the temple stood, the ceremonial rites and customs received constant illustration, and were transmitted directly from father to son in the priestly families. Hence, there was little need of writing them down. But when most of the priests were carried captive to Babylonia, as in 597 B.C., and ten years later the temple …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

Ezra-Nehemiah
Some of the most complicated problems in Hebrew history as well as in the literary criticism of the Old Testament gather about the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Apart from these books, all that we know of the origin and early history of Judaism is inferential. They are our only historical sources for that period; and if in them we have, as we seem to have, authentic memoirs, fragmentary though they be, written by the two men who, more than any other, gave permanent shape and direction to Judaism, then …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament