When the seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up with his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. In spite of their fear because of the peoples of the surrounding lands, they set the altar on its base; and they offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh, even burnt offerings morning and evening. They kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required; and afterward the continual burnt offering, the offerings of the new moons, of all the set feasts of Yahweh that were consecrated, and of everyone who willingly offered a free will offering to Yahweh. From the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh; but the foundation of Yahweh’s temple was not yet laid.
Show the surrounding paragraph
Ezra 3:1-6 sits inside this longer paragraph.
When the seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up with his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. In spite of their fear because of the peoples of the surrounding lands, they set the altar on its base; and they offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh, even burnt offerings morning and evening. They kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required; and afterward the continual burnt offering, the offerings of the new moons, of all the set feasts of Yahweh that were consecrated, and of everyone who willingly offered a free will offering to Yahweh. From the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh; but the foundation of Yahweh’s temple was not yet laid. They also gave money to the masons, and to the carpenters. They also gave food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus King of Persia.
Parallel Translations
-
When the seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up with his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
In spite of their fear because of the peoples of the surrounding lands, they set the altar on its base; and they offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh, even burnt offerings morning and evening.
They kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required;
and afterward the continual burnt offering, the offerings of the new moons, of all the set feasts of Yahweh that were consecrated, and of everyone who willingly offered a free will offering to Yahweh.
From the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh; but the foundation of Yahweh’s temple was not yet laid.
-
And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
And they set the altar upon his bases; for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries: and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD, even burnt offerings morning and evening.
They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required;
And afterward offered the continual burnt offering, both of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of the LORD that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the LORD.
From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.
Show all 3 translations
-
And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt-offerings thereon, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.
And they set the altar upon its bases; for fear was upon them because of the people of the countries, and they offered burnt-offerings thereon unto the LORD, even burnt-offerings morning and evening.
And they kept the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt-offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required;
and afterward the continual burnt-offering, and the offerings of the new moons, and of all the appointed seasons of the LORD that were hallowed, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill-offering unto the LORD.
From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt-offerings unto the LORD; but the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (65)
- Haggai 1:1 (v2) In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came by Haggai, the prophet, to…
- Luke 3:27 (v2) the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,
- Exodus 23:16 (v4) And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field; and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the…
- Numbers 29:12-38 (v4) “ ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. You shall keep a feast to…
- 1 Chronicles 3:17 (v2) The sons of Jeconiah, the captive: Shealtiel his son,
Show all 64 cross-references
- Ezra 2:2 (v2) who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. The number of the men…
- Nehemiah 8:14-17 (v4) They found written in the law how Yahweh had commanded by Moses that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the…
- Acts 4:32 (v1) The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul. Not one of them claimed that anything of the things which he possessed was…
- Exodus 20:24-25 (v2) You shall make an altar of earth for me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your…
- Leviticus 23:24 (v1) “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, there shall be a solemn rest for you, a…
- 1 Corinthians 1:10 (v1) Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions…
- Numbers 28:2-8 (v3) “Command the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘See that you present my offering, my food for my offerings made by fire, as a pleasant…
- Numbers 29:39 (v5) “ ‘You shall offer these to Yahweh in your set feasts—in addition to your vows and your free will offerings—for your burnt offerings, your…
- Ezra 4:4 (v3) Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building.
- Nehemiah 7:73–8:2 (v1) So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel, lived in their cities.…
- Zechariah 14:16-19 (v4) It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King,…
- Matthew 1:12-13 (v2) After the exile to Babylon, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel became the father of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel became the…
- John 7:37 (v4) Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!
- Exodus 29:38-42 (vv3, 5) “Now this is that which you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually. The one lamb you shall offer in the…
- Exodus 5:13 (v4) The taskmasters were urgent saying, “Fulfill your work quota daily, as when there was straw!”
- Exodus 23:14-17 (v1) “You shall observe a feast to me three times a year. You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened…
- Exodus 29:38 (v4) “Now this is that which you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually.
- Leviticus 1:3 (v5) “ ‘If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without defect. He shall offer it at the door of the Tent of…
- Leviticus 16:29 (v1) “It shall be a statute to you forever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and shall do no…
- Leviticus 23:27-44 (v1) “However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall afflict…
- Leviticus 23:34-36 (v4) “Speak to the children of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of booths for seven days to Yahweh. On…
- Numbers 28:3-11 (v5) You shall tell them, ‘This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to Yahweh: male lambs a year old without defect, two day by…
- Numbers 28:3-31 (v2) You shall tell them, ‘This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to Yahweh: male lambs a year old without defect, two day by…
- Numbers 28:14 (v5) Their drink offerings shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, the third part of a hin for the ram, and the fourth part of a hin for a lamb.…
- Numbers 28:19 (v5) but you shall offer an offering made by fire, a burnt offering to Yahweh: two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old. They…
- Numbers 28:27 (v5) but you shall offer a burnt offering for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old;
- Numbers 29:1-40 (v1) “ ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no regular work. It is a day of…
- Numbers 29:2 (v5) You shall offer a burnt offering for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without defect;
- Numbers 29:8 (v5) but you shall offer a burnt offering to Yahweh for a pleasant aroma: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, all without…
- Numbers 29:13 (v5) You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male…
- Deuteronomy 12:5-7 (v2) But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, you shall seek his habitation, and you…
- Deuteronomy 12:6 (v5) You shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, your vows, your free will offerings,…
- Deuteronomy 12:17 (v5) You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your…
- Judges 20:1 (v1) Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of…
- 1 Chronicles 3:19 (v2) The sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel and Shimei. The sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam and Hananiah; and Shelomith was their sister;
- 2 Chronicles 4:1 (v3) Then he made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.
- 2 Chronicles 6:6 (v2) but now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
- Ezra 4:11-16 (v3) This is the copy of the letter that they sent: To King Artaxerxes, From your servants the men beyond the River. Be it known to the king…
- Ezra 8:21-22 (v3) Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a straight way for us,…
- Nehemiah 8:14 (v1) They found written in the law how Yahweh had commanded by Moses that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the…
- Nehemiah 12:1 (v2) Now these are the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,
- Nehemiah 12:8 (v2) Moreover the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who was over the thanksgiving, he and his brothers.
- Psalms 78:68 (v2) But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved.
- Jeremiah 52:34 (v4) For his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all…
- Zephaniah 3:9 (v1) For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on Yahweh’s name, to serve him shoulder to shoulder.
- Haggai 1:12 (v2) Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed…
- Haggai 1:14 (v2) Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the…
- Haggai 2:2-4 (v2) “Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant…
- Haggai 2:21 (v2) “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, ‘I will shake the heavens and the earth.
- Haggai 2:23 (v2) In that day, says Yahweh of Armies, I will take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says Yahweh, ‘and will make you as a…
- Zechariah 3:1 (v2) He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.
- Zechariah 3:8 (v2) Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you; for they are men who are a sign: for, behold, I will bring out…
- Zechariah 4:6-10 (v2) Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’…
- Zechariah 6:11 (v2) Yes, take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest;
- John 7:2 (v4) Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was at hand.
- Acts 2:46 (v1) Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and…
- 2 Chronicles 29:31-32 (v5) Then Hezekiah answered, “Now you have consecrated yourselves to Yahweh. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into Yahweh’s…
- Psalms 27:1-2 (v3) Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers came…
- Psalms 56:2-4 (v3) My enemies want to swallow me up all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me. When I am afraid, I will put my trust in…
64 distinct cross-references across this passage (65 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (26 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5 Called Tishri which answereth to part of September and…
Called Tishri which answereth to part of September and part of October.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–6 Ezr 3:1 And when the seventh month was come,…
Ezr 3:1 And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel [were] in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
Ver. 1. And when the seventh month was come] Heb. And the seventh month approached; a month of many festivities, Lev 23:24; Lev 23:27; Lev 23:34 1Ki 8:2, and so, to the good, a foretaste of eternal life, where it shall be holiday every day, where they have no rest, Rev 4:8 (and yet no unrest), praising the God of heaven, for heaven’s happiness, Psa 136:1-3; Psa 136:26 (the same that these good souls sang together, Ezr 3:11 of this chapter). God is praised five and twenty times for his mercies; but the conclusion is, "O give thanks unto the God of heaven," &c. Christ hath cast up such a causeway to it, that we may well travel thither from all coasts, as these Jews did to Jerusalem from all their cities.
Read full note →
As one man to Jerusalem] There to serve the Lord with one shoulder, Zep 3:9. Neither counted they it any trouble to travel thither, though they were scarce yet warm in their nests, as we say.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 6 When the seventh month was come
When the seventh month was come
, or rather, was coming, or drew near; for the altar was set up after this time, Ezr 3:3, which yet was employed the first day of this month, Ezr 3:6. This was a sacred kind of month, wherein there were divers festivals, as appears from Le 23 for which the people had been preparing themselves, and now came to Jerusalem to the celebration of them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Here is, I. A general assembly of the returned…
Here is, I. A general assembly of the returned Israelites at Jerusalem, in the seventh month, Ezr 3:1. We may suppose that they came from Babylon in the spring, and must allow at least four months for the journey, for so long Ezra and his company were in coming, Ezr 7:9. The seventh month therefore soon came, in which many of the feasts of the Lord were to be solemnized; and then they gathered themselves together by agreement among themselves, rather than by the command of authority, to Jerusalem. Though they had newly come to their cities, and had their hands full of business there, to provide necessaries for themselves and their families, which might have excused them from attending on God's altar till the hurry was a little over, as many foolishly put off their coming to the communion till they are settled in the world, yet such was their zeal for religion, now that they had newly come from under correction for their irreligion, that they left all their business in the country, to attend God's altar; and (which is strange) in this pious zeal they were all of a mind, they came as one man. Let worldly business be postponed to the business of religion and it will prosper the better.
II. The care which their leading men took to have an altar ready for them to attend upon.
Read full note →
1. Joshua and his brethren the priests, Zerubbabel and his brethren the princes, built the altar of the God of Israel (Ezr 3:2), in the same place (it is likely) where it had stood, upon the same bases, Ezr 3:3. Bishop Patrick, observing that before the temple was built there seems to have been a tabernacle pitched for the divine service, as was in David's time, not on Mount Moriah, but Mount Sion (Ch1 9:23), supposes that this altar was erected there, to be sued while the temple was in building. Let us learn hence, (1.) To begin with God. The more difficult and necessitous our case is the more concerned we are to take him along with us in all our ways. If we expect to be directed by his oracles, let him be honoured by our offerings. (2.) To do what we can in the worship of God when we cannot do what we would. They could not immediately have a temple, but they would not be without an altar. Abraham, wherever he came, built an altar; and wherever we come, though we may perhaps want the benefit of the candlestick of preaching, and the showbread of the eucharist, yet, if we bring not the sacrifices of prayer and praise, we are wanting in our duty, for we have an altar that sanctifies the gift ever ready.
2. Observe the reason here given why they hastened to set up the altar: Fear was upon them, because of the people of the land. They were in the midst of enemies that bore ill will to them and their religion, for whom they were an unequal match. And, (1.) Though they were so, yet they built the altar (so some read it); they would not be frightened from their religion by the opposition they were likely to meet with in it. Never let the fear of man bring us into this snare. (2.) Because they were so, therefore they set up the altar. Apprehension of danger should stir us up to our duty. Have we many enemies? Then it is good to have God our friend and to keep up our correspondence with him. This good use we should make of our fears, we should be driven by them to our knees. Even Saul would think himself undone if the enemy should come upon him before he had made his supplication to God, Sa1 13:12.
III. The sacrifices they offered upon the altar. The altar was reared to be used, and they used it accordingly. Let not those that have an altar starve it.
1. They began on the first day of the seventh month, Ezr 3:6. It does not appear that they had any fire from heaven to begin with, as Moses and Solomon had, but common fire served them, as it did the patriarchs.
2. Having begun, they kept up the continual burnt-offering (Ezr 3:5), morning and evening, Ezr 3:3. They had known by sad experience what it was to want the comfort of the daily sacrifice to plead in their daily prayers, and now that it was revived they resolved not to let it fall again. The daily lamb typified the Lamb of God, whose righteousness must be our confidence in all our prayers.
3. They observed all the set feasts of the Lord, and offered the sacrifices appointed for each, and particularly the feast of tabernacles, Ezr 3:4, Ezr 3:5. Now that they had received such great mercy from God that joyful feast was in a special manner seasonable. And now that they were beginning to settle in their cities it might serve well to remind them of their fathers dwelling in tents in the wilderness. That feast also which had a peculiar reference to gospel times (as appears, Zac 14:18) was brought, in a special manner, into reputation, now that those times drew on. Of the services of this feast, which continued seven days and had peculiar sacrifices appointed, it is said that they did as the duty of every day required (see Num 29:13, Num 29:17, etc.), Verbum die in die suo - the word, or matter, of the day in its day (so it is in the original) - a phrase that has become proverbial with those that have used themselves to scripture-language. If the feast of tabernacles was a figure of a gospel conversation, in respect of continual weanedness from the world and joy in God, we may infer that it concerns us all to do the work of the day in its day, according as the duty of the day requires, that is, (1.) We must improve time, by finding some business to do every day that will turn to a good account. (2.) We must improve opportunity, by accommodating ourselves to that which is the proper business of the present day. Every thing is beautiful in its season. The tenth day of this month was the day of atonement, a solemn day, and very seasonable now: it is very probable that they observed it, yet it is not mentioned, nor indeed in all the Old Testament do I remember the least mention of the observance of that day; as if it were enough that we have the law of it in Lev. 16, and the gospel of it, which was the chief intention of it, in the New Testament.
4. They offered every man's free-will offering, Ezr 3:5. The law required much, but they brought more; for, though they had little wealth to support the expense of their sacrifices, they had much zeal, and, we may suppose, spared at their own tables that they might plentifully supply God's altar. Happy are those that bring with them out of the furnace of affliction such a holy heat as this.
IV. The preparation they made for the building of the temple, Ezr 3:7. This they applied themselves immediately to; for, while we do what we can, we must still be aiming to do more and better. Tyre and Sidon must now, as of old, furnish them with workmen, and Lebanon with timber, orders for both which they had from Cyrus. What God calls us to we may depend upon his providence to furnish us for.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–6 And when the seventh month was come,.... The month…
And when the seventh month was come,.... The month Tisri, which answers to part of September and October; or when it "was approaching" (p), for before it was actually come some following things were done, the people met, and an altar was built; for on the first day of it sacrifices were offered, Ezr 3:6,
and the children of Israel were in the cities; their respective cities, settling their domestic affairs:
Read full note →
the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem; the thing was universal, and done with as much dispatch as if only one man was concerned; and it seems to denote as if they were under a divine impulse, and came together without any consultation, or knowledge of each other's designs, and without summons.
(p) "cum appropinquaret", Piscator.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–6 They set up the altar, offer sacrifices thereon, and…
They set up the altar, offer sacrifices thereon, and keep the feasts, ver. 1-6. They contribute, and lay the foundation of the temple, ver. 7-13.
Seventh month - This was a sacred kind of month wherein there were divers festivals, for which the people had been preparing themselves, and now came to Jerusalem to the celebration of them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–4 The altar of burnt-offerings is set up, 1-3.
CHAPTER III
The altar of burnt-offerings is set up, 1-3.
Read full note →
They keep the feast of tabernacles, 4-6.
They make provision for rebuilding the temple; and lay its
foundation in the second month of the second year, 7, 8.
Ceremonies observed in laying the foundation, 9-11.
Some weep aloud, and others shout for joy, 12-18.
NOTES ON CHAP. III
Verse 1. When the seventh month was come] The month Tisri, which answers to the latter part of our September, and beginning of October. It seems that the Israelites had left Babylon about the spring of the year; that on their arrival at Jerusalem they constructed themselves huts and sheds to lodge in among the ruins, in which they must have spent some months. After this they rebuilt the altar of burnt-offerings, and kept the feast of tabernacles, which happened about this time, and continued to offer sacrifices regularly, as if the temple were standing.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1–6 Ezr 3:1. When the seventh month was come —…
Ezr 3:1. When the seventh month was come — We may suppose they left Babylon in the spring, and were four months on their journey; for so long Ezra and his company were in coming, Ezr 7:9. The seventh month therefore commenced soon after their arrival in Judea, when, as many of the feasts of the Lord were then to be solemnized, the people gathered themselves together — By agreement among themselves, rather than by the command of authority; to Jerusalem — Though they were newly come to their cities, and had their hands full of business there, to provide necessaries for themselves and their families, which might have excused them from attending on God’s worship in public, till the hurry was a little over, as many with us foolishly put off their coming to the communion till they are settled in the world; yet, such was their zeal for religion, now they were newly come from under correction for their irreligion, that they left all their business in the country to attend God’s altar; and in this pious zeal they were all of a mind, they came as one man.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–3 The seventh month - i. e., the month Tisri…
The seventh month - i. e., the month Tisri (nearly our September), the most sacred month in the Jewish year Exo 23:16; Lev. 23:24-41.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Month. Tisri, famous for the feasts of trumpets, of…
Month. Tisri, famous for the feasts of trumpets, of expiation, and of tabernacles. (Du Hamel) --- The Israelites might spend four months on their journey, and two in making preparations for the feast of tabernacles, (Tirinus) and in erecting huts for themselves. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 The First Effort
SECOND SECTION
The First Effort
Read full note →
Chaps. 3-4
A—THE RE–ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ALTAR AND THE PREPARATION FOR BUILDING THE TEMPLE
Ezr_3:1-13
I. Building of the Altar, Feast of Tabernacles, and anxiety for the Building of the Temple. Ezr_3:1-7
1AND when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. 2Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. 3And they set the altar upon his bases; for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries: and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord, even burnt offerings morning and evening. 4They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custorn,5 as the duty of every day required; And afterward offered the continual burnt offering, both of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the Lord. 6From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. 7They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.
II. Laying of the Corner-stone of the New Temple. Ezr_3:8-13
8Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of the Lord. 9Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to set forward the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites. 10And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel. 11And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: 13So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The history itself now follows the historical foundations. The most prominent and interesting feature of the narrative is the readiness and zeal of the new congregation, with reference to the temple and its worship, the re-establishment of which was their proper work, and indeed first of all in Ezr_3:1-3 in the building of the altar.
Ezr_3:1. And when the seventh month was come.—The author calls attention to the zeal of all, without exception; especially also of those dwelling outside of Jerusalem. He means, of course, the seventh month of the same year in which the returning exiles arrived in Jerusalem, else he would have been obliged to define it more closely. Besides, it is clear from Ezr_3:8, that the following year was the second after their arrival. The seventh month was properly the festival month, and accordingly the time in which it must be shown how zealous the new congregation was with reference to the service of God. The new year’s day, the atonement day and feast of tabernacles fell on this month.—And the children of Israel were in the cities.—This clause is meant to indicate that they had already attained a certain degree of rest, but at the same time they had obtained a possession and a labor therein, which might have readily detained them; at any rate that they were again obliged to leave their own affairs and assemble together,—this, however, merely for the purpose of at once uniting in showing that they would not now allow themselves to be detained by anything from the celebration of the feasts of the law. It is clear from verse 6 that they did not wait until the feast of tabernacles, the 15th of the month, as it was prescribed in the law, but already on the day of the new moon came together, yea, in part already some days earlier, so that the building of the altar, which was for the first time undertaken on their coming together, might be ready for the day of the new moon.—The people gathered themselves together as one man.—This primarily means “as if inspired by one will,” thus, “with one spirit” (Keil) ὁμοθυμαδόν, 1Es_5:46, thence also as much as to say “entirely” (Berth.). For the verbal repetition of this verse in Neh_7:73, and Ezr_8:1, where an entirely different event was thereby to be introduced, and for the additional clause, which Esdras improperly has appended here, after Neh_8:1, see note on Neh_8:1.
Ezr_3:2. Jeshua,etc., stood up and built the altar, etc.—This clause indicates the zeal of the heads of the congregation at Jerusalem, which very well corresponded with that of the people as a whole, but which yet has something striking in it, if as is the most natural interpretation, the future, with ו consec, expresses chronological sequence. We are to suppose that they had not first caused the people to come together, but already before had gone to work in building the altar.
Ezr_3:3. This verse more closely defines the previous one, and in its first half is designed for an explanation of the hesitation of Jeshua and the rest, in its second half for an explanation of what was meant by offering offerings according to the law.—And they set the altar upon his base—that is, on the foundation that was present long before for it. The sense of על מכונתו is without doubt essentially the same as על מכונו in Ezr_2:68. The qeri of the punctators has the more usual plural of the masculine form, which occurs also in Psa_104:5; the plural, however, is unsuitable here, because there can be no reference to different foundations, and still less to different pedestals for the altar. Comp. מכונתן, Zec_5:11. It is manifest that there is here an indication that they made their work as easy as possible, and sought to finish it as soon as they could. For if it was also natural that they should re-erect the temple on its old foundations, partly because the place could not be arbitrarily changed, partly because the difficult substructures might still, without doubt, be very well made use of, yet with the altar it might easily have been entirely different. Under favorable circumstances they might have been obliged to re-establish it on an entirely new foundation, since the old foundation, probably, was no longer intact. Hence the explanatory clause is added: why they had not previously gone to work:—For (they did it) because fear was upon them, because of the people of those countries; properly fear or terror, which was on them. The בְּ here expresses the condition in which they were (comp. Ewald, § 217 f, and § 299 b), or more accurately, it states under what circumstances the action proceeded. At any rate it can also be explained with Ewald, § 295 f: in anxiety it was incumbent upon them (עֲלֵיהֶם) namely, to build. The conjecture of Ewald (Gesch. IV., S. 131), that the suffix of עֲלֵיהֶם refers to the people of the lands and the reference is to their coming together to Israel in a friendly spirit, in accordance with Esdras 5:49, is entirely inadmissible. Accordingly they had not ventured to undertake anything greater or more public, because they feared the hostility of the surrounding nations, so long as the congregation was not assembled in greater numbers, and they had even now to fear hostile interruption in a greater undertaking. The explanation of J. H. Mich. and Keil: They re-established altar and worship in order to secure for themselves the divine protection against the peoples, of whom they were afraid, not only requires us to supply too much, but also is opposed by the fact that we should expect, if this view were correct, that they already previously would have gone to work upon the erection of the altar, and have offered sacrifices, especially those of the daily sacrifice. The peoples are certainly the neighboring peoples, comp. Ezr_9:1; Ezr_10:2.—And offered thereon burnt offerings, etc.—They sought to act in accordance with the law before all in offering the daily sacrifices. The sing. וַיַּעַל is to be referred to the one upon whom the offering of the sacrifice was chiefly incumbent, the priest in service at the time,—it is the indefinite subject. Perhaps however the plural of the qeri is more appropriate. The burnt offerings for the morning and evening are those belonging to every morning and evening. Those on the weekly Sabbath and feast days were required to be offered in various numbers. Comp. Exo_29:38 sq.; Num_28:3 sq. The prominence given to the burnt offering alone is to be explained from the fact that these chiefly came into consideration, since the daily sacrifices, as well as those of the feasts, were chiefly burnt offerings, as then the burnt offering was regarded in general as the principal sacrifice. But at any rate they were entirely appropriate, in as much as they were the sacrifices of homage, through which the congregation might best express what they now above all had to confess, that they had Jehovah for their Lord, and prayed to Him as such.
In Ezr_3:4-5 the congregation attests its sacred zeal by the celebration of the feast of tabernacles, and by other ceremonies of worship. The burnt offering of the “day by day,” or “every day” is that prescribed for the various days of the feast of tabernacles. בְּמִסְפָּר = numbered, pro numero in singulos dies definite (J. H. Mich.), comp. 1Ch_9:28; 1Ch_23:31; Ezr_8:34. כְּמִשְׁפָּט = according to law; in Num_29:18; Num_29:21; Num_29:24; Num_29:27; Num_29:30; Num_29:33, to which passages there is a reference here, it is somewhat more definite, in their number, according to the law בְּמִסְפּרָם כַּמִּשְׁפָּט דְּבַר יוֹם בִּיוֹמוֹ is in apposition=the matter of the day in its day, opus dies in die suo (Vulg. and J. H. Michaelis), comp. Neh_11:23. Bertheau explains this expression as in accordance with יוֹם בְּיוֹם (Ezr_6:9) as the duty to be done day by day, but this is opposed by the fact that בְּיומוֹ has the suffix. Compare for these prescribed sacrifices Numbers 28, 29, in accordance with which there must be offered on the first day of the feast of tabernacles thirteen bullocks, on the second day twelve, and so on.
Ezr_3:5. And afterward (they offered) the daily burnt offering.—Here we must supply the verb, they offered. Since according to Ezr_3:6 they began to offer burnt offerings on the first day of the seventh month, the meaning cannot be that they did not begin with the daily burnt offerings until after the feast of tabernacles (against Berth.), as if on the first day they had merely offered the offerings of the new moon, and on the feast of tabernacles the offerings of the feast; but had not yet on the ordinary days offered the daily sacrifices. That is inconceivable, or at least highly improbable. Moreover, the words do not imply that until the feast of tabernacles only the chief offerings had been offered, but not the offerings of the new moon, and as little the offerings of the atonement day (against Keil). Rather it is merely said, that after the sacrifices of the feast of tabernacles the usual order of offerings was again continued, which included the daily offerings, and then also those of the new moon and other feasts.—And of the new moons, is briefly, what was proper for the new moons, etc.—And of every one that willingly offered a free-will offering unto the Lord.—These words refer to all the other freewill offerings brought by the people which were offered, especially on the feast-days (comp. Deu_16:2; Deu_16:10; Deu_16:16-17), but also on other occasions. Moreover, among these offerings the sin offering is certainly included, as it belonged to the new moons, etc., and was necessarily attached to the burnt offerings (comp. Num_28:15 sq.). We are to supply to לֶחֳדָשִׁים first of all עֹלָה, instead of עֹלַת תָּמִיד. Even the נְדָבָה might also be a burnt offering, Lev_22:18, and especially Eze_46:12; it only depended upon the form of the offering, namely, whether the gift was entirely consecrated to the Lord, or a festival meal was taken from it for the offerer and his family. Perhaps, however, we are to think finally of the offerings in general, instead of the burnt offering, also of the bloody offering, of which the נְדָבָה was usually a subordinate class (Lev_7:16).
Ezr_3:6-7. Here begins the anxiety for the building of the temple. From the first day of the seventh month on, they did not lack in zeal in offering burnt offerings, although the foundation of the temple had not yet been laid,—this for an introduction. They now, however, did their best (Ezr_3:7) henceforth towards laying the foundation of the temple. They gave money to the חֹצְבִים, who hewed stones, or even cut timber, and to the חָרָשִׁים, who prepared the stones and the timber, accordingly the workmen, without doubt, from the contributions mentioned in Ezr_2:68 sq. To the Sidonians and Tyrians, however, who are always referred to in connection with the products of Canaan, they gave in return for their cedar wood, food and drink, that is, grain, wine, and oil, just as Solomon also had paid them with the produce of the earth, 1 Kings 5:21–25; 2Ch_2:10-15. Accordingly they had already found or cultivated something in the land which they practically had taken possession of in the spring, from which they had been able to secure a harvest.—To bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa = to Joppa on the sea, as 1 Kings 5:23 and 2Ch_2:15. Bertheau understands by it not exactly Joppa itself, but merely the vicinity, but there certainly was nothing in the way of their landing at Joppa itself. The sand drifts which now render it impossible for ships to approach nearer the coast than half an hour’s sail, and the earthquake that seems to have occurred, were probably then not in the way, and by no means hindered the landing from rafts. At other points of that coast the difficulties would have been still greater.—According to the grant,etc. The permission given them by Cyrus, which to a certain extent rendered the work obligatory to them, was the general permission to build the temple; implicite it involved also special permission to put themselves in connection with the Phœnicians for the accomplishment of this purpose. רִשְׁיוֹן is an ἅπ. λεγ., whose meaning is derived from the Aramaic and Rabbinical רְשָׁי,רְשָׁא, facultatem habere, and רְשׁוּ, facultas.
Ezr_3:8-13. The sacred zeal of the congregation showed itself above all at the laying of the foundation of the temple. In the next year the preparation previously necessary had been so far completed, that now they could think of the building itself. When Theophilus (ad. Antol., Lib. III.), according to Berosus, designates this second year after the return as the second year of Cyrus, it is perhaps only in consequence of a sort of carelessness. Cyrus had, it is true, given the permission to return already in his first year, but before the return itself could have taken place the necessary consultations and preparations required a considerable time, during which Cyrus’ second year already approached. After that they had first allowed the passover feast to pass by, and perhaps also already the grain harvest had been quite well advanced; they proceeded in the second month to lay the foundation.—Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the remnant of their brethren. By these we must understand the entire congregation, at least so far as they were settled in Jerusalem; the remnant of their brethren are brethren in the wider sense, who are immediately more closely defined on the one side as priests and Levites, who at once follow after the high-priest Jeshua, and on the other side all who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, having joined Zerubbabel. Accordingly the entire congregation, as well in their leaders as in their multitude, took part in the work.—Began and appointed the Levites, who were twenty years old and upward. This might mean, they began to appoint, according to Gesen., § 142, 3 a. But according to the context the sense is: they began the building of the temple, in that they appointed the Levite. הֶעֱמִיד is used, especially by our author, in the sense of “appointing to an office.” Comp. 1Ch_15:17. etc. That they also appointed the Levites at the age of twenty years with the rest, was in accordance with the rule of David, 1Ch_23:24 sq., and after the example of Moses (Num_8:24). נִצֵּחַ, in the sense of “direct,” with עַל is, with the exception of the titles of the Psalms and Hab_3:19, peculiar to our author. Gusset improperly asserts, with reference to 1Ch_23:4, that נִצֵּחַ may also mean “unite with one in a work,” but it can only mean to preside over an affair, sometimes also accomplish it.
Ezr_3:9. The Levites at once gladly did their part in the work entrusted to them by the congregation. The sing. וַיַּעֲמֹד is here hardly to be explained from the fact that the verb, when it precedes, is not so strongly bound to the number of the subject. The sense is rather: Jeshua through his sons and brethren stood. בָּנָיו and also אֶחָיו are not merely used without connectives, which would here be unusual, but are in explanatory apposition with Jeshua. The names designating the fathers’ houses are the names of ancient, and, for the most part, fathers of the times before the exile, who now existed only in their sons and brethren; that is, as well in their own posterity as also in that of their younger brothers. Comp. notes on Ezr_2:3. Jeshua and also Kadmiel are, according to Ezr_2:40, two such names, comp. also Neh_10:10, according to which even in the time of Nehemiah, Jeshua and Kadmiel still existed. This view is not opposed by the fact that “and his sons” is connected by conjunction with Kadmiel. We may understand thereby the older men of this family and their sons. Instead of בְּנֵי יְהוּדָה we are to read, according to Ezr_2:40, without doubt, בְּנֵי ־הוֹדַוְיָה. Whether this is in apposition with the two families of Jeshua and Kadmiel, or merely refers to the latter, is as doubtful here as in Ezr_2:40. Probably it is the latter (with Keil against Bertheau). That both, however, had a common ancestor, who was not Hodaviah, but Henadad, may be regarded as resulting from the last words of our verse. It is highly improbable that the clause as one (so united and entirely one were they) to set forward the workman in the house of God should be followed by the last words of the verse: the sons of Henadad, their sons and their brethren, the Levites, with the intention of naming stilt another third additional family; for they would not have been added on here without connection and without any predicate. Probably they are in apposition to both, to Jeshua and Kadmiel, with their sons. The relationship and connection of both would thus be indicated. In favor of this view is the comprehensive conclusion: their sons and brethren, the Levites, which does not suit a third particular class, but only the Levites in question as a whole. This also explains the reason why in Ezr_2:40 Henadad is not mentioned among the returned exiles alongside of Jeshua and Kadmiel. That in Neh_3:24; Neh_10:10 Binnui is at once designated as a son of Henadad, may rest upon the fact that he belonged neither to Jeshua nor to Kadmiel, but to Henadad, constituting a family of his own, which was sufficiently well represented, and hence not especially named. That no force is to be given to Esdras 5:56 (against Bertheau), where the sons of Henadad are adduced as a special class and are placed before the predicate, is sufficiently clear from the fact that there the sons of Judah (Hodaviah) are likewise treated as a special class (ὑιοὶ ’Ιωδᾶ τοῦ ‘Ηλιαδοῦδ). Moreover עשֵֹׁה is a rare form, which is peculiar to our author for עשֵׁי. Comp. 1Ch_23:24, etc.
Ezr_3:10-11. The laying of the foundation was accomplished with solemnity and festivity. The perf. with the simple copula וְיִסְּדוּ does not in itself carry on the narrative, but serves, as if the subject preceded and the preterite followed, to give the circumstances of the subsequent statement, so that the sense is: And when the builders laid the foundations of the temple, they appointed the priests, etc.—The subjects of יַיַּעֲמִידוּ are Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the congregation with them. The Kal., the priests stood, which is in Esdras, Sept., and Vulg., instead of the Hiphil, would not be better (Bertheau), unless we should regard this verse a well as the ninth, as carrying on the eighth verse; in other words, if it were parallel with the ninth, which is not the case. Rather it is parallel with the eighth verse, and contains a new appointment, that of the priests and musicians, and then Ezr_3:11 parallel with Ezr_3:9 narrates the activity of those who had been appointed.—In their apparel.—We must supply בּוּץ (Byssus) with מְלֻבָּשִׁים; comp. 2Ch_5:12 : at any rate, the sense is: clothed with official robes. The following “with trumpets” does depend upon it. The trumpets, which do not properly have music in view, were entrusted to the priests (Num_10:10). The music proper was from the time of David incumbent upon particular families of the Levites, especially that of Asaph (1Ch_13:8; 1Ch_15:16; 1Ch_15:19).עַל־יְדֵי is, according to the appointment, institution, 1Ch_25:2.
Ezr_3:11. And they sang together by course in praising,etc.—We may take וַיַּעֲנוּ in the usual sense: they began with praising, etc.; but may likewise, with the older interpreters, as Clericus and J. H. Michaelis, explain: they responded to one another in responsive songs. Whilst the one choir sang: “Praise the Lord, for He is good,” the other answered: “For His mercy endureth forever.” They were songs of praise, as Psalms 106, 107, 118, 136, that they struck up, comp. 1Ch_16:34; 1Ch_16:41; 2Ch_5:13; 2Ch_7:3, etc. עַל הוּסַד, “over the being founded”=on account of the laying of the foundation. Comp. 2Ch_3:3.
Ezr_3:12-13. It is true that strong expressions of sorrow mingled with the joy, yet both sorrow and joy showed equally well the sacred zeal of the congregation in the worship of God. If the exile had begun in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and the temple had not been destroyed till eighteen years later in 588 B. C., there might now very well be old men present,—since only seventy-two years had passed since that beginning of the exile,—who had seen the old temple, and had still a lively remembrance of it. Even Haggai, in the second year of Darius, when some seventy years (more accurately sixty-six) had passed since the destruction of the temple itself presupposes that one and another had still a remembrance of the old temple. Comp. Hag_2:3. בְּיָסְדוֹ is attached by the accents to the previous words, as if יסד were a noun, which meant founding, then permanence. But this noun nowhere else occurs; besides, בְּיָסְדוֹ, as an infin., seems to be connected with the words that follow thus: When the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes.—With this interpretation, it is true, the suffix is pleonastic, but in other passages of this author the suffix anticipates with emphasis the subject following it in apposition, comp. Ezr_9:1; 2Ch_26:14, etc.; Ewald, § 209 c. [This is a late Hebrew usage, an Aramaism; so also זֶה without the article and before its noun is emphatic=this same, this very.—Tr.]—Many old people wept with a loud voice.—Not, as it were, tears of joy, because they could now again see the house of God arise; so also not merely with tears of emotion, because they on this occasion were again vividly reminded of the evils they had passed through. The relative clause: that had seen the first house gives the sense very decidedly: they wept tears of sorrow, because they could not conceal from themselves the fact that the new work, in accordance with all the prevailing circumstances, promised but little to attain unto the glory of the old. In favor of this is also Hag_2:3 and Zec_4:10. These tears were thus a proof that if only it had been in any way possible, they would gladly have made the new house as glorious as the old. The second clause is then antithetical: but many shouted aloud for joy—that is, were in such a joyful condition that they could not but be loud in their expression of joy.
Ezr_3:13. The meaning of the words: the people could not discern the noise of the shouts of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, can only be that both those who rejoiced and those who wept were alike zealous to express their feelings—so much so indeed that the words which were sung could not be understood.—For the people shouted with a loud shout and the noise was heard afar off.—תְּרוּעַת and קוֹל in this clause in distinction from תְּרוּעַת הַשִׂמְחָה in the first clause, can only mean the cry in general. This confused cry would be to the blame of the new congregation, if the confusion itself had not been the result of sacred enthusiasm for the cause of the Lord. עַד־לְסֵרָחוֹק stands for the more simple לְסֵרָחוֹק as in 2Ch_26:15.
THOUGHTS UPON THE HISTORY OF REDEMPTION
Our chapter presents a beautiful picture of the sacred enthusiasm of the new congregation for the glory of God, and especially of their commendable zeal for the restoration of the temple. In former times pious kings had provided in this way for the worthy worship of God; but now here for the first time we see the congregation as a whole of their own accord stepping forward in this manner. Such an inspiration of heart had without doubt from the first been rendered possible and brought about by the severe judgment which God had sent upon them, and by the hard oppression connected therewith. It was like the break of a lovely spring day, full of new life, after a storm. It did not by any means secure them a result that must be secured by them, without trials and hinderances; but yet they were finally to have a noble and great success, yea, they gained a great importance for the entire subsequent development of the congregation and of the kingdom of God.
Ezr_3:1-3. That the congregation, as soon as they could be assembled together as such, should feel above all impelled to build the Lord an altar and offer burnt-offerings, was in accordance with the command which Moses had once given to the people to set up on Ebal, the navel of the land, stones and inscribe thereon the law of the Lord (Deu_27:1-8), and even so with the other command to proclaim on this mountain the curse for the transgressor, and on Gerizim the blessing for the obedient, Deu_11:29-32; Deu_27:9-26. If the ancient congregation had by that act placed the land under the divine commandment, and marked it as under the Lord’s jurisdiction, and put it under the obligation to obey Him, so the new congregation consecrated themselves by this worship unto Him, as entirely belonging to Him, they confessed by the burnt-offering in a symbolical manner, that what they have, they from the Lord, and what they are, they are through Him, that thus they must be entirely devoted to Him. As offerings of homage, the burnt-offerings were better calculated than others to inaugurate the new beginning, the spring, which now broke forth for the congregation after the long night of winter.
Ezr_3:4. It was because of the season of the year in which the congregation had arrived in Canaan that the first feast which they could again celebrate in accordance with the law was the feast of tabernacles. At the same time, however, we may see therein a special providence of God, which was at once lovely and significant to the congregation. The booths adorned with foliage and fruits had previously represented as well the gracious help in the times of the wilderness as also the gracious blessings of harvest in the present (not the tent-life in the wilderness as such, comp. my Abh. in der deutschen Zeitschrift, 1857, and my Komm. zu V. Mos. XVI., and Keil’s Archäol. I., S. 412 sqq.); corresponding with this, the booths now gained of themselves a reference, on the one side, to the exhibition of grace during the new prolonged wilderness-time of the exile, which had entered with so much gloom into the midst of the history of Israel; so to speak to the booths of protection and defiance which had arisen for the people by the grace of the Lord even in the heathen world, and on the other side to the new regaining of Canaan, which, to a certain extent, was a security and a pledge of all the further blessings in store for them in this land. They expressed the thanks which they owed to the Lord for both of these blessings in an especially lively and internal manner. This feast of tabernacles was a festal and joyous conclusion of all the preservations, consolations and blessings that were behind them, connected with a joyous glance into the future; it was an evidence that a height had been reached upon which finally even the last height might be attained, an indication that some day, after all their struggles and all their labors, a still more glorious feast of tabernacles, the Messianic, the eternal and truly blessed one, would come. Comp. Zechariah 14.
Ezr_3:6-7. The celebration of the feast of tabernacles was followed by the preparation for building the temple in an especially appropriate and beautiful manner. If the Lord had provided His congregation with booths of preservation, of consolation, and of joy, not only now in Canaan, but even also in the times of the wilderness of the exile, how ought they now to have felt impelled from the heart to build Him a tabernacle also, in which His honor might dwell, a tabernacle of God with men, at least with and among His people! The communion with the Lord, which they had already enjoyed, would have been no true one, if it had not been connected with the desire that it should become strengthened and made more intimate, and if this desire had not now engaged in building the temple. That is the great end of all providential guidances, that communion between Himself and men, as it was prepared on His part by His condescension, should become established and enlivened more and more also on the part of men; for the most part naturally through the communion of the heart with Him, but also in order that it might be cherished in the heart, by the establishment, enlargement and completion of the external means and institutions which have been provided by God Himself for the purpose. The blessings and gifts with which He has blessed us should always be employed first and chiefly for this purpose. And how greatly are we shamed in this respect by this weak congregation of returned exiles, who were scarcely able to sow and reap, and who yet had so much left for the building of the temple.
Ezr_3:7. It was significant also that at this building of the temple again it was not Canaan proper, but the Phœnician Lebanon, that provided the building-material and that corresponding with this heathen workmen and artists also took part in erecting the house of God. It indicates that the rest of the earth also, and corresponding thereto, the rest of mankind, are to render their gifts and capacities, which are more and more to take part in the complete and true worship of the Lord, that the Lord by no means regards them as profane. The rest of the earth and mankind became thereby, to a certain extent, consecrated in advance and designated as one who, if now already in the Old Testament economy, yet still more some day in the fulness of time, would take part in the highest destiny of Israel. Comp. the beautiful remarks of Bähr on 1 Kings 5.
Ezr_3:8-9. It was not a single head, as once with Solomon, from whom now the building of the temple proceeded; with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, at the same time all the returned exiles equally took part, as it is expressly said. That the entire congregation should take part freely in the highest work of humanity is the great object in view in all the divine providential guidances. Connected with this, however, the congregation gave a Levitical family the charge of conducting the work of building, accordingly in their choice of officers fell in with the regulations made and sanctified by God already long before, and thus certainly took the best action, since indeed in the tribe of Levi the interest in the house of God was still cherished in the most lively manner, and the understanding of what was necessary or appropriate was most surely preserved. That is always the most salutary and beautiful when the free recognition or choice on the part of the congregation and the arrangements objectively present on the part of God harmoniously combine.
Ezr_3:12-13. With respect to the expressions of joy and sorrow at the laying of the foundation of the temple, every step by which we attempt to draw near to our highest end, the confirmation of our communion with God, should become a joyous feast. For the nearer we approach this end, the more there comes into view not only the true reverence of the Lord, but also the fulness of redemption and life, of righteousness, of peace, and of joy, involved therein. The farther off we remain therefrom, the more do unrighteousness, discord and mischief threaten to prevail. In fact nothing is so well calculated to exalt the hearts of the children of God from within outward, to fill them with sacred joy and attune them to festivity, as the coming of the kingdom of God. Ewald properly conjectures that at the time of the laying of the foundation (we must understand the times of the building of the temple and those that immediately followed as included therein), many a grand song resounded afresh, as the 118th Psalm, a song of festivity and sacrifice expressing the feelings of that period with such wonderful depth; and that they soon, as they again made pilgrimages to the ancient seat of true religion and the Davidic sovereignty, as well as the sanctuary itself (so Psalms 87), as also on the joyous pilgrim-march, sang a rich abundance of new songs of great power and enchanting inwardness, such as had hardly arisen since the time of David in such streaming fullness and creative life (so Psalms 120-134). Comp. Ewald, Gesch. IV., S. 131, 133. In the profound 116th Psalm: “I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications,” the voice of joy mingled with sorrow, then so general, has found an appropriate and particular expression, which is so beautiful, that the pious king Fred. William 4 of Prussia, in his last severe affliction, chose it for his prayer. In the 113. Psalm, however, “Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord—the Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens,” there is combined, in the same characteristic manner, the thought of the lowliness and poverty that they then so severely felt, and the praise for the exaltation which had now taken place. Especially, however, Psalms 107 belongs here with its remembrance of all the different afflictions and dangers through which they had passed with God’s help and with its constantly recurring refrain: “O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men;” and probably also Psalms 106, with its prayer that the Lord would still further gather them from among the heathen and redeem them from trouble. If we still so often, on our part, have a lack of joy and suffer from depression of spirits, and if even in better hours a pressure remains upon the soul, of which we are at times scarcely clearly conscious, then even this sadness may redound to the glory of God, that is, be a divine sorrow, which has its ground in the fact that we cannot serve God as we would wish, and as would be really worthy of Him. Under such circumstances we should not lack beams of hope, or rather of promise, that would be able to transfigure them.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Ezr_3:1-6. The feast of the redeemed: 1) They present their offerings to God; a) for the redemption for which they are thankful to the Lord, and for which they owe all to Him; b) notwithstanding the hostility of the world, which indeed grieves them and hinders them in many ways externally, but cannot hold them back from that which is essential; c) they consecrate themselves by a daily dedication of themselves. 2) They celebrate especially a feast of tabernacles; a) as preserved in the desert of the world and delivered therefrom; b) as richly blessed in the land of the Lord; c) as called to the eternal tabernacles of joy. 3) They advance the building of the house and kingdom of God; a) they consecrate for this purpose their possessions and gifts; b) they seek therefore also to add thereto that which is suitable in the world—all (1, 2 and 3) on the ground of and according to the prescriptions of the word of God.—Brentius: Nobis quotidie hoc festum celebrandum est, quod turn celebratur, dum docemus et sentimus, nos esse peregrinos in hoc mundo et in tabernaculis corporis nostri brevi durantibus, nostrum politeuma esse in cœlo. Starke: How lovely and necessary is brotherly love among the children of God! Especially in the building of the spiritual temple under Christ should there be one heart and one soul, and each one should stand as all and all as one man, Act_2:44; Act_4:32; Psa_133:2. If we would again properly reform and re-establish the worship of God, God’s word must be the law, rule, lamp, and guiding star, Psa_19:5; Psa_23:4; Psa_119:105. Although believers have the commandment and promise of God before them, yet the human heart is often so weak that it is easily frightened; but we should here be at the same time blind and dumb, and not look to the present state of affairs, but rely upon God’s word alone, Pro_18:10.
Ezr_3:6-10. How the house (kingdom) of God is built: 1) by the offerings of men; a) by the possessions and gifts of the congregation; b) by appropriating and using that which is useful in the world; c) under the protection of the civil authorities (“according to the permission of Cyrus”). 2) By the activity not only of the heads but also of the other members. The heads have their work to do as leaders, but the rest have freely to co-operate, they have to assist those who according to the divine arrangement have the charge of affairs, encourage them and strengthen them. 3) By the faithfulness of officers to their duties. God has ordained officers for the sake of order. There is not only the office of priests, but also that of their helpers, the teachers, and especially also fathers and mothers.—Starke: God distributes His gifts in many ways; to one He gives talents for one work, to another for another, 1Co_12:7 sq. The spiritual temple should also be urged on in all ranks of society with all energy, in order that the people may be built up into an holy temple in the Lord, Ezr_2:22 preachers and magistrates, instructors also, and parents, thus build a temple when they properly teach and preach, preserve discipline and honesty, and bring up the youth to piety.
Ezr_3:11-13. The joy of the congregation of the Lord: 1) Its ground—the laying of the foundation of the house of God; God on His part would have a dwelling among men, for this He has accomcomplished the work of redemption, especially the incarnation, the atonement, and the establishment of the Church; the congregation on their part constitute ever some part of the beginning of the house of God. 2) Its kind—it is a festive joy, and expresses itself accordingly in music and songs in praise of the Lord, but is still saddened, because the house of God still continues to lack the true glory. 3) Its significance,—its incompleteness of itself, points to its fulfilment.—Starke: Christ is the true foundation and corner-stone of His church (Psa_118:22; Isa_28:16; 1Co_3:11), in whom we highly rejoice, and on whose account we have to praise God. Experience of previous times often gives an impulse to correct judgment; sometimes however unbelief derives an evil example and support therefrom. The inward joy of the Spirit should suppress all temporal sorrows, so that we should not hear the weeping for the joy.
[Scott: The greater difficulties and the more formidable enemies we are exposed to, the more we need the friendship and assistance of God.—In this world joys and sorrows will be blended, for it is a mixed state; hereafter there will be a complete separation.—Henry: Let worldly business be postponed to the business of religion and it will prosper the better.—They that do not work themselves may yet do good service by quickening and encouraging those that do work.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Jeshua--the grandson of Seraiah, the high priest, put to…
Jeshua--the grandson of Seraiah, the high priest, put to death by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah (Kg2 25:18-21). His father, Josedech, had been carried captive to Babylon, and died there, some time before this.
Zerubbabel--was, according to the order of nature, son of Pedaiah (Ch1 3:17-19); but having been brought up by Salathiel, he was called his son.
Read full note →
builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon--This was of urgent and immediate necessity, in order, first, to make atonement for their sins; secondly, to obtain the divine blessing on their preparations for the temple, as well as animate their feelings of piety and patriotism for the prosecution of that national work.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–5 THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES KEPT IN THE SEVENTH MONTH,…
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES KEPT IN THE SEVENTH MONTH, Ezr_3:1-7.
1. The seventh month — Of the first year of the return from exile. The seventh month was called Ethanim, sometimes Tisri, and was fixed upon by Solomon for the dedication of his temple. See notes on 1Ki_8:2. As this month fell in our October, it is commonly thought that these Israelites left Babylon in the preceding spring, in March or April.
Read full note →
Were in the cities — That is, had become numbered and settled in their homes in the various towns and cities round about Jerusalem.
As one man — So promptly and with such accord did the entire new community assemble, that it was like the coming of a single individual.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–6 Ch. Ezr_3:1-3. The Building of the Altar
Ch. Ezr_3:1-3. The Building of the Altar
1. The first clause of this verse concludes the Register of the preceding section in Nehemiah (Neh_7:73).
Read full note →
the seventh month] Probably the 7th month in the first year of the Return, since the next recorded date (Ezr_3:8) is the 2nd month ‘in the second year of their coming unto the house of God’.
The 7th month—the month Tisri—was in some respects the most sacred in the Jewish Calendar. The 1st day was the Feast of Trumpets (Num_29:1): the 10th was the Great Day of Atonement (Num_29:7; Lev_16:29): the 15th was the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev_23:34-36; Lev_23:39-44; Num_29:12-38). It was therefore an appropriate season for the first religious act of the new community. ‘The holy convocation’ on the 1st day was to herald the new order of things.
Psalms 81. very possibly commemorates the festival of ‘the new moon’.
as one man] cf. Jdg_20:1; Neh_8:1.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–6 (1) The seventh month was come.—Rather, approached. Tisri, answering…
(1) The seventh month was come.—Rather, approached. Tisri, answering to our September, was the most solemn month of the year, including the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles, afterwards distinguished as “the feast” pre-eminently.
As one man.—Not all, but with one consent.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–5 RESTORATION OF THE ALTAR. (Ezr_3:1-3) On their arrival in…
CHAPTER 3:1-7
RESTORATION OF THE ALTAR OF BURNT SACRIFICE, AND CELEBRATION OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
Read full note →
RESTORATION OF THE ALTAR. (Ezr_3:1-3) On their arrival in their own land, the exiles, it would seem, proceeded first of all to their several cities, reconnoitring the ground, as it were, and at first taking no step that could arouse the hostility or jealousy of the previous inhabitants. After a while, however, "when the seventh month was come," they ventured with some misgivings to restore and rebuild the great altar of burnt sacrifice, which Solomon had formerly erected in the principal court of the temple, directly opposite to the porch (2Ki_16:14; 2Ch_4:1) and on which, until the destruction of the temple, the morning and evening sacrifice had been offered. We gather from Ezra"s narrative, that when the ruins were carefully examined, the site of the old altar was ascertained, and care was taken to put the new one in the old place. The restoration of the altar thus considerably preceded even the commencement of the temple; the one being essential to the Jewish service, which could not exist without sacrifice, while the other was only a convenient and desirable adjunct. The altar must have been completed by the last day of the sixth month (see ver. 6).
When the seventh month was come. The seventh month was Tisri, and corresponded nearly to our October. It was the most sacred month of the Jewish year, commencing with a blowing of trumpets and a holy convocation on the first day, (Lev_23:24) which was followed on the tenth day by the solemn day of atonement (ibid. ver. 27; Lev_16:29-34) and on the fifteenth day by the feast of tabernacles or "ingathering," one of the three great annual festivals, which lasted to the twenty-second day. Zerubbabel and Joshua determined to risk a disturbance rather than defer the restoration of the altar beyond the commencement of this sacred month. The people gathered themselves together. The people were bound to attend the feast of tabernacles (Exo_23:14-16) but something more than this seems to be intended. The restoration of the altar and the re-establishment of the daily sacrifice having been announced, there was a general influx of the country Israelites into Jerusalem to witness the proceedings. As one man. Very emphatic (Jud_1:20:1, 8; 2Sa_19:14)
Vers. 1-3.
The first sacrifice.
The third chapter begins much as the second chapter concluded, with a picture of the restored Israelites in their respective "cities" or homes. But they do not stay there very long. The temple and the temple worship, for which they had laid by (Ezr_2:68, Ezr_2:69) before dispersing, is still much on their minds. These verses tell us of the consequent action next taken in that direction
1. on the part of the people specially;
2. on the part of their leaders specially; and
3. on the part of them all collectively.
I THE PEOPLE SPECIALLY. They left their "cities" for the city of God; of their own consent (they "gathered themselves together"), with one consent ("as one man"). ojmoqumadon, RAPC 1Est 5:46. What stirred them all in this manner? The fact, apparently, that the "seventh month" was "come," or was "approaching" (Keil). Certainly, connected with that month there were many things which might well have this effect. How important this month ecclesiastically, and from the point of view of the temple worship. On the first day, besides the new moon, came the festival known as the feast of trumpets. (Num_29:1) On the tenth the great day of atonement, the great fast of the Jewish year. (Num_29:7) From the fifteenth to the twenty-second was celebrated the third of the three great annual feasts, viz., that of tabernacles or ingathering. No other month was equally distinguished. No subsequent month of the twelve was distinguished by any universal call to the temple precincts. The next such call would be five months afterwards, in the passover month. How important, again, this seventh month, as the first month of the civil year, the month from which the Sabbatical and Jubilee years were computed. (Lev_25:9) Its first day would answer exactly to our "New Year"s Day," a most natural time for instituting or recommencing a new order of things. Historically, also, as being a month in which one of the special captivity fasts (see Zec_7:5 Zec_8:19) had been observed, this was a marked month in these exiles" minds. How fit a month, therefore, in every way, for making a beginning of some kind. "Now, if ever;" almost "Now, or never," the occasion seemed to exclaim. It is by such conjunctions, perhaps, that God most frequently signifies his guiding will to his willing people. (comp. Act_16:6-10)
II THE LEADERS SPECIALLY. If the time for action was now so near, who should take the lead in regard to it? Who, of course, but the natural leaders. The leaders in the Church first ("Jeshua," etc.), the matter in hand being one so specially concerning them. But not the leaders in Church only; "Zerubbabel and his brethren," as laymen, also having their interest in it. Together they resolved to begin by rebuilding the sacrificial altar, that which had stood in the old temple before the holy place and in the court of the priests. Why did they begin in this way? Partly owing to the tenor of the "law of Moses," that being a law of sacrifices from beginning to end, (Heb_9:21, Heb_9:22) according to which there was no approach to the most holy place itself without the previous use of the altar. This consideration would probably tell especially on Jeshua and the priests; as the example of David, next, who desired to build the house, but was only permitted to "find out" its "place," and so far to begin it as to consecrate as it were its altar (1Ch_17:21 1Ch_22:1; Psa_132:5) would tell especially on Zerubbabel, David"s representative and descendant, and lead him also to wish to begin by erecting the altar upon the old "base" (ver. 3). There would also be a third reason to influence both sets of leaders alike. By this time the returned remnant would find the hostility of their new neighbours awakened. Only surprised at first to hear of their return, (comp. Psa_126:2) afterwards inclined to ridicule and despise them, (comp. Neh_4:2-4) when they saw them settling down in their old habitations as a distinct and separate people, (Num_23:9) these strangers would begin in various ways to show their dislike, and perhaps to murmur their threats. In this condition of danger how natural to follow the example of Samuel, (1Sa_7:10; comp. 1Sa_13:11, 1Sa_13:12) and sacrifice to Jehovah. A very instructive lesson, by the way, for these gospel times. Just so our need of an atonement is the very first of our needs. The nature of God"s law, the example of God"s servants, the enmity of the world and Satan (Rev_12:11) combine to teach us this truth.
III THE CONGREGATION EN MASSE. Representatives of all Israel having come to Jerusalem, and the leaders having erected the altar, what were they all to do next? The place of sacrifice was restored. Out of the many kinds of sacrifices connected with it in former days, which should they place on it first? That which God had appointed for sanctifying the beginning and end of each day (ver. 3). This quite in accordance with the very first use of the original altar itself, (Exo_29:38) and with the happy consequences thereby secured (ibid. 43-45). Also with the many remarkable successive injunctions of Nu 28 Nu 29, where we find it expressly commanded that whatever special sacrifices might be ordered on any day whether for the Sabbath (ver. 10), or new moon (ver. 15), or passover (ver. 23), or any day of it (ver. 24), or Pentecost (ver. 31), or feast of trumpets, (Num_29:6) or day of atonement (ver. 11), or feast of tabernacles, or any day of it (vers. 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, 38) these regular daily sacrifices were always to be offered "beside." Alsowith the prominence given to them in 1Ch_16:39, 1Ch_16:40; 2Ch_2:4 2Ch_13:11 2Ch_31:3. Also with the peculiarly grave character attached in Dan_8:11 Dan_9:27; and Dan_12:11 to their cessation and interruption. Indeed, from a spiritual point of view, and regarding this people of Israel as a "congregation" or living Church, these daily sacrifices seem always presented to us as the very pulse of its life. How fitting, therefore, in the endeavour to restore that Church"s suspended animation, to attend to them first. How important, also, under the new economy, the perpetual intercession of Christ. "He needeth not daily, as those high priests", (Heb_7:27) to offer for sin; "for this he did once for all when he offered himself." But there is a need that he himself should continually be pleading this one sacrifice on our behalf. On this depends our justification. (Rom_8:34) On this in every way our salvation. (Heb_7:25) Herein is the pulse of our life. So we seem to be taught by such passages as Col_3:3; Gal_2:20. And so, with regard especially to the restoration of that life when impaired or suspended (just as with Israel in the case before us) in what is said in 1Jn_2:1, 2 respecting this great Intercessor or "Advocate," and the effectual plea of his death. "If any man sin," as every man does, (1Jn_1:8-10) and so begins to die, as every sinner then does, here is his way of escape.
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD. Vers. 1-3.
The altar rebuilt.
The return from Babylon is supposed to have been in the spring. The first employment of the people would be to construct for themselves huts, or so to repair dilapidated buildings as to make them fit for habitation. This accomplished, no time was lost in setting about the great work of reestablishing their ancient worship. So "when the seventh month was come," the month Tisri, corresponding to portions of our September and October, they repaired to Jerusalem to encourage and witness,
I THE REBUILDING OF THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERINGS.
1. They saw it placed upon its old bases.
(1) They regarded it as the same altar. No ceremonies of consecration needed wanted no novelties in religion. Here is a useful lesson to Christians. The religion of their fathers was Divine, and was associated with a wonderful history.
(2) Antiquity should be tested by appeal to Scripture.
2. They saw it rise to its completion.
(1) They had hostile neighbours. (see Ezr_4:1, Ezr_4:9, Ezr_4:10) Idolaters of all sorts will ever oppose true worship.
(2) These were overawed by the multitude. The wicked are cowards at heart.
(3) The hands of the elders were encouraged. This is the force of the particle, "Then stood up," etc. Learn the great value of witnessing for Christ.
II THE OFFERING OF THE DAILY SACRIFICES. These are described Num_28:1-8.
1. The offerings. These were
(1) The burnt offering a lamb of the first year, type of Christ, consumed in fire, and so called the "food of God.
(2) The meat offering fine flower mingled with oil, consumed by the worshipper or his representatives.
(3) The drink offering wine like the meat, partaken of by God and man. (see Jud_1:9:13) This feasting the symbol of friendship.
2. These were continual.
(1) Morning, evening, day by "day the year round, so forward "year by year continually". (see Heb_10:1)
(2) Kept up a continual remembrance of sin.
(3) Continually procured the "forbearance of God" until his justice should be satisfied in the perfect sacrifice and offering of Calvary.
3. But there was no sacred fire.
(1) The Jews confess the absence of this after the captivity. No account of any in the more recent Scriptures.
(2) Strange fire would scarcely be used. No account of its authorisation. Without this would it be accepted? (see Lev_10:1, Lev_10:2)
(3) Burnt offerings without fire! Significant of the waning of the dispensation. Designed to wean the Jews from Moses in favour of Jesus. Strength of prejudice! Strong tendencies even in Christians to ritual rather than to the spiritual in worship. (see Gal_3:1-3) We witness here
III A UNITED NATION OF WORSHIPPERS,
1. There was concert among the priests.
(1) The high priest was there. Joshua is not here expressly so styled; implied in the words, "Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brethren." Thus distinguished elsewhere. (see Hag_1:1 Hag_2:2; Zec_3:1) He was the grandson of Seraiah, the high priest who was slain by Nebuchadnezzar. (see 2Ki_25:18-21) He was a type of Christ not only in virtue of his office, but also in his name, which is the same as Jesus, and in his leading the captivity out of Babylon.
(2) The "brethren" of Jeshua were with him. The sons of Aaron in general.
2. There was concert among the nobles.
(1) Zerubbabel was there. He heads the roll of names (Ezr_2:2) as a principal leader of the restoration. He was the representative of the royal family, and now a worthy successor of his ancestors, David and Solomon, who were so gloriously concerned with the first temple.
(2) His "brethren" were with him.
3. The people were there as one man.
(1) Responsive to the summons of the chiefs. They assembled fifteen days earlier than the feast of tabernacles, when all the males should appear (see ver. 6).
(2) They came with exemplary unanimity; their heart was in it; they were the noblest of the nation, under 50, 000, leaving the indifferent ones in Babylon. Such unanimity could never have been secured by coercion. Value of the voluntary principle. J.A.M.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON. Vers. 1-7.
Acceptable service.
When the 42, 000 Israelites arrived in the land whither they went forth, they took peaceable and glad possession of their old homes; many, if not most, of them returning to the very fields and homesteads from which their fathers had been led away. They then showed a piety which was partly the fruit of the long discipline they had passed through in Persia. Their service of Jehovah, on this their return, was characterised by
I SPONTANEITY (vers. 1, 5). They must have had much to do to bring into good condition the long-forsaken fields; agriculture must have been neglected, and there must have been a strong demand for the most active and unremitting labour. Nevertheless, without any edict or decree from any spiritual or secular authority, "the people gathered themselves together as one man at Jerusalem" (ver. 1). A common impulse urged them all to leave business employments and household duties and repair to the sacred city for the worship of God. And when there, they "willingly offered a freewill offering unto the Lord" (ver. 5). Their service was, as ours will be, the more acceptable because unconstrained, spontaneous, the prompting of individual piety. Not the mandate of an earthly master, but the will of our Divine Lord, the love of Christ, should constrain us to activity and liberality.
II RIGHTNESS OF PLACE (vers. 1, 3). They gathered at Jerusalem (ver. 1), and built an altar on the very same basis as that on which the old altar had stood (ver. 3). They were right in this. For it had been very specially enjoined that only on that one site should sacrifices be offered unto God. They had regard to a precise injunction in thus confining their offerings to one place. No such restrictions limit our worship. The hour has come when neither on one mountain nor another shall men worship the Father. (Joh_4:21) Wherever the people of God meet in sincerity and earnestness, there they "behold his mercy-seat." "Every place is hallowed ground" to the devout heart. Yet there is such a thing as propriety of place. Still "the Lord loveth the gates of Zion," and to worship him regularly at his house, to unite regularly with his people at the table of the Lord, is a useful and acceptable service.
III UNITY (ver. 2). Jeshua and Zerubbabel stood together to build the altar of the Lord. It is a most excellent thing for any society when those who are influential in the Church and those highly placed in the State unite and do not divide their influence, strengthen and do not weaken one another"s hands, in the promotion of morality and religion.
IV READINESS THROUGH EAGERNESS (vers. 3, 6). After using Solomon"s temple as their sacred edifice wherein to worship, it was natural that the people should desire something more than a rude altar reared under the skies. But so eager were they to return to the old sacrifices, which had so long ceased to be offered, that they could not wait for the erection of a building; before the foundation of the temple was laid (ver. 6) they began to present burnt offerings unto the Lord. The apathetic soul will be ready enough to find an excuse for irreligion, for leaving unoffered the sacrifice that is due; but the eager-hearted will be prompt to substitute one instrument for another, that the service may not be unrendered. A feeble piety will yield to the first check. Spiritual earnestness will be ingenious to devise means, and will anticipate the hour when all outside circumstances compel to devotion. Do not let God"s praise remain unsung because a fulltoned organ is not at hand for accompaniment, nor let his truth be unspoken because there are no fine walls to echo its proclamation. Godly zeal will find utterance whether art be present or absent.
V REGULARITY (ver. 4). "They offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required" (ver. 4). There must be room left for some play of spontaneity, or our spiritual life will become mechanical and lose its animation and elasticity and beauty. But there must be also regularity: constant services, daily devotion, morning and evening prayer. Liberty and law must be reconciled and dwell harmoniously together, not only in every home, but in every heart.
VI COMPREHENSIVENESS (vers. 3, 4). Opposite feelings led them to the mercy-seat: their fear led them to seek God they set up the altar for fear of the people by whom they were surrounded (ver. 3); and their joy also led to devotion they kept the joyous feast of tabernacles, and united in the service in which gladness of heart prevailed (ver. 4). The truly devout man is he with whom all paths lead to the throne of grace; to whom all things, however varied and unlike one another, suggest the thought of God; who brings his burden of grief and fear, as well as his treasure of joy and hope, to the feet of his Master. C.
HOMILIES BY J.S. EXELL. Vers. 1-7.
Aspects of worship.
I The HUMAN in WORSHIP. "Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak," etc. (ver. 2). These men were the leaders in this movement of worship; they gathered the people thereto. There is a human side to Divine worship; the altar looks toward earth as well as toward heaven; man builds, if God consecrates it; man appoints the time of worship, arranges its method, gathers the people, stimulates the conscience by faithful words, and enforces the law. A few good men can awaken the devotional in the multitude, can give the impulse of altar building.
II The ESSENTIAL in WORSHIP. "And builded the altar" (ver. 2). The altar was built first because it was of primary importance; because it was essential to their sacrificial offerings. The altar first.
1. Then it is important to begin early the altar before the city; early in life; in the day; in the enterprise.
2. Then it is important to begin aright to commence with the essential rather than with the incidental. There are devotional, doctrinal, social, domestic altars; begin with them in any work of restoration; well begun is half done. Love before worship, pardon before works, Christ before civilization; commence with the altar.
3. Then it is important to begin under good leadership.
4. There is acceptance in a rude moral beginning. It was only an altar, but its offerings were accepted by God. When we have not all that is needful to ornate worship, heaven will accept a sacrifice from a rude altar; the heart is more than the structure. God will accept worship from the rude altar in the forest as well as from the stately altar in the temple.
5. Then there is a great power in a feeble but devout beginning. The flower is in the seed; the temple is in the altar.
III The ADDITIONAL in WORSHIP. "And they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord," etc. (ver. 3). A true worship will not rest content when the altar is built; the altar is only a commencement; we must go on to perfection. There is a binding influence in the erected altar; we cannot cast down what we have built. It is an inspiration; to what service will it lead. Faith and worship have numerous addenda. A man who begins with the altar to God can only end by working it out in all loving possibility; in fact, by placing himself upon it. We must put large offerings on our altars; Christ gave himself for us.
IV The TIMOROUS in WORSHIP. They built the altar, all the while in fear of the people who perhaps had little sympathy with the edict of Cyrus (ver. 3). The people erected the altar at once because they feared interruption; an altar erected is a power against the adversaries. In these days of quietude we can build our altar without fear of the persecuting enemy. What fears often animate the soul of the devout worshipper!
V The SECULAR in WORSHIP. "They gave money also unto the masons," etc. (ver. 7). Worship combines the sentiment of the soul and temporal aid; the bread of life which God gives us and the bread we give him. It combines
1. Prayer.
2. Gifts.
3. Work.
The temple of God is built by a variety of gifts and by a variety of men; it provides a service for all. Many have to do with it mechanically who have nothing to do with it morally; a man may be a "mason" without being a minister. E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 6 And when the seventh month was come.
Ezr_3:1-13
And when the seventh month was come.
Read full note →
Rebuilding the temple
I. They began by re-establishing the worship and service of the holy place. They set up an altar, and offered the daily sacrifice. A wise beginning. Their task was hard, and they did well to begin with God. They made the right use of fear. It stirred them up to religious duty.
II. Before setting themselves to their tasks they kept the feast of tabernacles. The full repression of our religious joy, even though it be prolonged, will not delay the performance of lifes severer tasks. It is a suitable preparation for them.
III. They used their treasures in securing the best materials and the most skilled labour.
IV. The foundations were laid amidst acclamations of joy. Many of the psalms which fill the Psalter with joyous strains were doubtless sung or composed on this occasion.
V. It was, however, a joy mingled with sorrow. (Willard G. Sperry.)
Rebuilding the temple
I. The first thing they did was to rebuild the altar. This was a right beginning. The altar of sacrifice was the centre of the Jewish religion; just as its antitype, the Cross, is the centre of Christianity. The Cross is our altar; it stands at the centre of our religion.
1. The altar of burnt-offering in this instance was intended as a safeguard. There is no security like that which a timid soul finds under the shadow of the altar (Psa_84:3). A man is never so safe from adverse influences as when upon his knees.
2. This altar was set upon its bases--that is, it was restored upon its former foundations. There is virtue in observing old landmarks. Some things never grow obsolete. Air and water and sunlight are just what they always were, nor is human ingenuity likely to improve them in any way. There are some truths which bear to our spiritual constitution the same relation that light does to the eyes and water to the lungs. Nothing can amend or improve them. There may be new formulations, new modes of presentation; but the altar of the Christian religion will stand on its old bases as long as time endures.
3. The ceremonies of this restored altar were conducted after the prescribed form.
II. They next prepared for the rebuilding of their temple.
1. The altar meanwhile was kept in constant use. Its fires never went out. There was no lack of offerings upon it. The people had learned by sad experience their dependence upon God.
2. There was little difficulty in collecting the necessary funds.
3. The workmen were secured by generous outlay and paid promptly when the wages fell due.
4. The materials for the temple were collected from every quarter. Tyre and Sidon and the forests of Lebanon were put under contribution. Thus God ever utilises the nations. The Caesars built highways for the propagation of the gospel. Soulless corporations in our time are binding the far corners of the earth together with iron bands and cables, not knowing nor caring that Gods kingdom is thus being ushered in. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)
Rebuilding the temple
I. Religion is; or should be, a uniting force.
II. We need not, and should not, walt before we worship God.
III. There should be some regularity in our devotion.
IV. Our offering must come from the heart as well as from the hand.
V. The cause of christ must have the rest service we can secure.
VI. Some take a higher, some a humbler post in the service of god.
VII. We do well to rejoice when we lay the foundation of a useful work.
VIII. Joy is safe and wise when it passes into praise.
IX. Sorrow and joy blend strangely in the events of life. (W. Clarkson, B. A.)
The benefits of the captivity
Notice--
I. The people are again heartily united in action. They gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. These cheering words sound like a reminiscence of the best days of David, Hezekiah, and Josiah. A revival of union was sorely needed. The last three reigns before the captivity had been marked by unnatural discords. The providential cure of this evil was captivity. Two generations at least must pass away, and their feuds be buried with them; the worth of a temple and the blessing of a pure worship must be learned by their loss. This method of cementing nations was not new, and it has been exemplified since in almost countless instances. Every forward movement in society seems to be preceded by seasons of trial, whose hot fires are needed to fuse the heart and will of the people into one.
II. They made a right beginning of their work. They began with an altar. Can this be the same people whose closing record seventy years before had been that they polluted the house of the Lord? Reverence as well as union had been developed by captivity. They might have begun by clearing away the ruins, but that would have been a second step before the first; not even the rubbish of an unhallowed past may be touched without the blessing of God; they might have held a council to determine what they would do, but this would have been taking their own advice first and afterwards seeking the endorsement of Jehovah; they might have raised the walls around the spot before building the altar upon it, but that would have been asking God to own what He had been allowed no share in directing. On the contrary, with a reverence chastened by long exile they began with the altar itself. Where else would they have begun and not blundered? This order of building has always prospered. Ambitions, plans, hopes even, waited upon praise and supplication, and more than half the first year was devoted to continuous sacrifice and petition. What years of bitter deprival had taught them this dependence! But bitter sweetness let it be called, blessed bondage, to produce this wholesome fruit of reverence.
III. In the form of their worship they returned scrupulously to the pattern on the mount. They not only offered burnt-offerings, but they offered them as it is written. They kept feasts by name not only, but in the way prescribed by the law of Moses. Their new moons and free-will offerings were those only that the Lord had consecrated in days past. This exact respect for the letter of the law shows how truly they appreciated the real cause of the national calamities. Every disaster since the days of Josiah had come from departing from the way of the Lord. A careless liberalism in worship had begotten a wicked license in the court and home life. It is one sign, therefore, that Judahs captivity was not in vain, that the first inquiry of the people after setting up the new altar was this, How is it written to worship? and a better sign, that they conformed to the Divine pattern as scrupulously as if it had come but yesterday from the flaming Mount. Many are the evils suspected of a too rigid adherence to the Divine command. But where has a nation or an individual been ruined by a too scrupulous obedience? Not too much conscience, but too little; not strictness, but license is the national danger. Hence great reforms sweeping over the land always drive the people back to the simpler living, the holier thinking, and the minuter obedience of the fathers. The despised writing of the past is reopened, the neglected pattern of the Mount is clothed with a new authority, and so men returning unto God find God returned to them.
IV. The worship of the people was accompanied with their gifts. They gave money also unto the masons and to the carpenters, and their meat and drink and oil they exchanged for the sacred cedars of Lebanon. Surely, if any people might have found excuse for building on credit, they were these poor colonists, who had their burned cities to revive. They were building, too, for the future. Why should not the future share the cost? But these modern apologies for debt were then unknown. They remembered the story of the first tabernacle, the free-will offerings of their fathers and mothers. Something richer than cedar and brick must compose every true temple of worship. If the heart of the people, their love and devotion, are not built into the rising walls, they go up in vain; captivities are not in vain which thus revive the grace of self-sacrifice.
V. The holy joy with which they finally lay the first stone. With that stone an undisciplined people would have gone months before, but not these children of the captivity. There are spiritual foundations lower than the cornerstone of any temple, and these we have seen the people had been seven months in laying and seventy years in learning to lay--unity, reverence, obedience, and self-sacrifice. With a just and well-earned joy, therefore, they might lay on these settled foundations their first visible stone. It was not the joy of pride, for to themselves they took no praise. It was a tuneful joy, for they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks to God. It was a hearty joy, for all the people shouted with a great shout. This holy jubilee marked the break of a new day in the history of Israel. Weeping had endured for a long night of seventy years. This was the joy of the morning, and the happy dawn was all the brighter for the shadows that lay behind it. The joy that follows discipline and is earned by repentance and obedience is perhaps the sweetest joy known to men in this world.
VI. The healthful sorrow and regrets that tempered these outbursts of joy. Undisciplined joy is sure to be giddy, but the joy of these returning exiles has in its sweet a dash of bitter, which saves it from hurtful excess. Many of the old men of the nation had seen the first house. They could not forget its glory. They remembered also, it may be, the impiety of their own days, and possibly of their own hearts, which hastened the nations shame. Something of self-reproach must mingle with that regret. The new house bids fair to stand, for it is founded for use. No foolish display taints the plan. A mighty hunger after Jehovah impels them to make Him a dwelling-place in their midst. A Church thus rooted in real spiritual want comes near indeed to the true ideal of a spiritual home. Every attitude of the builders also is a propitiation of Jehovah. He will certainly accept their work, for their union is perfect; their reverence is simple, sincere; their obedience unforced; their self-sacrifice ungrudging. Here are the materials of all acceptable sacrifice. An altar built in this spirit will never want fire. (Monday Club Sermons.)
A working Church
1. All at work: The people gathered themselves together.
2. All working in unison: As one man. A massed force is a winning force.
3. All working obediently: As it is written in the law. Christian activity not a sentiment but a duty. To the law and the testimony.
4. All working unceasingly: As the duty of every day required. The daily performance of Christian duty leaves no arrears. (Willis S. Hinman.)
And they set the altar upon his bases.
The altar set up
I. In a new home the first thing they should do who fear God is to set up an altar there.
II. The service of those who are of one heart is what He takes pleasure in (Act_2:1; Act_4:32).
III. The best of defences is the favour of God, and so an altar may be a stronger bulwark than a fortress. (E. Day.)
The rebuilding of the altar: exemplary features of Divine worship
I. Unanimity and zeal in divine worship.
II. Sacrifice in divine worship. This suggests--
1. Mans need of atonement with God.
2. Mans duty of consecration to God.
III. Respect for precedent in divine worship. There are memories and associations clinging around certain ancient forms and places hallowed by holy uses which greatly stimulate and enrich the devout heart.
IV. Conformity to scripture in divine worship.
V. Fear of enemies in divine worship.
1. The fear of enemies should not intimidate us from the worship of God.
2. The fear of enemies should impel us to worship God.
VI. Regularity in divine worship. The offering of the daffy sacrifice suggests--
1. Our daily need of atonement with God.
2. Our daily need of renewed consecration.
3. Our daily need of renewed blessings. (William Jones.)
Sacred to Jehovah
When a British vessel comes to an uninhabited country, or one inhabited only by savages, the captain goes on shore with a boats crew, and, after landing, he unfurls the Union Jack and takes possession of the whole country in the name of Queen Victoria and his native land. He plants the flagstaff, and no foreign nation dare come and knock it down, or pull down the ensign of the power of Britain. So the priest built first the altar of sacrifice to show that the place was sacred to Jehovah, and that they and all the people were His servants. (Sunday School.)
They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written.--
Preparations for building
I. It is only ignorant, self-sufficient people who despise the experience of the past treasured up in history.
II. If we cannot have for Gods worship all the external proprieties we desire, we are not to wait till we can get them. Iii. The externals of worship are nothing to God, except so far as they influence us or are expressive of something in us. (E. Day.)
The celebration of the sacred festivals resumed
I. The commemoration in divine. Worship of national experiences and blessings.
1. It was a memorial of the emancipation of Israel from Egypt, teaching us that we should cherish the memory of former mercies (Lev_23:43).
2. It was a memorial of their life in the wilderness, reminding us that our present condition is that of strangers and pilgrims (Lev_23:40-43; Heb_13:14).
3. It was a thanksgiving for rest and a settled abode in the promised land, suggesting the certainty and blessedness of the rest which remains for the people of God (Lev_23:40; Rev_7:9).
4. It was a thanksgiving for the completed harvest, teaching us to receive the precious fruits of the earth as the kind gifts of a bountiful Providence (Exo_23:16; Lev_23:39; Deu_16:13-15).
II. The celebration in religious worship of the natural divisions of time. And of the new moons. What was the design of this religious celebration of the beginning of their months?
1. To impress them with the value of time.
2. To assist them to form a correct estimate of their life upon earth.
3. To arouse them to make a wise use of the time which remained to them.
III. The presentation in divine worship of personal voluntary offerings. (William Jones.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.] This chapter contains—
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.] This chapter contains—
1. The rebuilding of the altar (Ezr_3:1-3 a).
Read full note →
2. The renewal of the sacrificial worship and of the observance of the religious festivals (Ezr_3:3 b–6a).
3. The preparations for rebuilding the Temple (Ezr_3:6 b, 7).
4. The laying of the foundation-stone of the new Temple, the religious celebration of the occasion, and the mingled feelings of the people (Ezr_3:8-13).
Ezr_3:1. The seventh month] i.e. of the year in which they arrived at Jerusalem. The seventh month was Tisri, “the month of the full streams,” or “floods,” which corresponded with the latter part of our September and the greater part of October. (For further notes of time, see notes on Ezr_3:8). As one man] The expression does not signify every man; but, with great unanimity, “as if inspired by one will.”
Ezr_3:2. As it is written in the law of Moses] (See Lev_17:2-6; Deu_12:5-11).
Ezr_3:3. They set the altar upon his bases] i.e. they built it in its former position and on the old foundations. For fear was upon them] &c. They were afraid of the hostility of the neighbouring nations. The people of those countries] are the surrounding peoples, which are mentioned in chap. Ezr_9:1. Burnt offerings morning-and evening] as commanded in Exo_29:38-42; Num_28:3-8.
Ezr_3:4. The feast of Tabernacles, as it is written] (See Lev_23:33-43). And offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required] The last clause is in the margin: “The matter of the day in his day.” Vulg.: “Opus dies in die suo.” The offerings for each day of the feast of Tabernacles are carefully prescribed in detail in Num_29:12-38. “The offerings required at this feast were the largest of all. They amounted to fourteen rams, ninety-eight lambs, and no less than seventy bullocks, being twice as many lambs and four times as many bullocks as were enjoined for the Passover. The feast of Tabernacles was especially one of thankfulness to God for the gifts of the fruit of the earth, and the quantity and nature of the offerings were determined accordingly.”—Speaker’s Com.
Ezr_3:5. After the feast of tabernacles the prescribed order of sacrifices was regularly observed, viz. The continual burnt offering] i.e. the daily morning and evening sacrifice (Num_28:3-8). Both of the new moons] Rather, “And (the offerings) of the new moons” (Num_28:11-15). And of every one that willingly offered] &c. (Lev_7:11-17; Num_29:39; Deu_16:10; Deu_16:16-17).
Ezr_3:6. From the first day of the seventh month] &c. “The altar service, with the daily morning and evening sacrifice, began on the first day of the seventh month; this daily sacrifice was regularly offered, according to the law, from then till the fifteenth day of the seventh month, i.e. till the beginning of the feast of Tabernacles. All the offerings commanded in the law for the separate days of this feast were then offered according to the numbers prescribed; and after this festival the sacrifices ordered at the new moon and other holydays of the year were offered, as well as the daily burnt offerings,—none but these, neither the sacrifice on the new moon (the first day of the seventh month), nor the sin-offering on the tenth day of the same month, i.e. the day of atonement, having been offered before this feast of Tabernacles.”—Keil. This interpretation is, however, opposed by Schultz, who says: “It is merely said (Ezr_3:5) that after the sacrifices of the feast of Tabernacles the usual order of offerings was again continued, which included the daily offerings, and then also those of the new moon and other feasts.”
Ezr_3:7. Meat and drink] i.e. corn and wine. Unto them of Zidon] &c. (Comp. 1Ch_22:4; 1Ki_5:6-18; 2Ch_2:3-18.) According to the grant] &c. This probably refers to the permission to rebuild the Temple, which would involve permission to negotiate with the Phœnicians for such assistance as they needed; for we do not read anywhere that Cyrus made them a grant of Phœnician timber.
Ezr_3:8. Now in the second year of their coming] &c. “Whether this second year of the return coincides with the second year of the rule of Cyrus” (over Babylon), “so that the foundations of the Temple were laid, as Theophil. Antioch. ad Antolic., lib. 3, according to Berosus, relates, in the second year of Cyrus, cannot be determined; for nothing more is said in this book than that Cyrus, in the first year of his reign, issued the decree concerning the return of the Jews from Babylon, whereupon those named in the list (chap. 2) set out and returned, without any further notice as to whether this also took place in the first year of Cyrus, or whether the many necessary preparations delayed the departure of the first band till the following year. The former view is certainly a possible though not a probable one, since it is obvious from iii.], that they arrived at Jerusalem and betook themselves to their cities as early as the seventh month of the year. Now the period between the beginning of the year and the seventh month, i.e. at most six months, seems too short for the publication of the edict, the departure, and the arrival at Jerusalem, even supposing that the first year of Cyrus entirely coincided with a year of the Jewish calendar. The second view, however, would not make the difference between the year of the rule of Cyrus and the year of the return to Jerusalem a great one, since it would scarcely amount to half a year.”—Keil. In the second month] i.e. Zif (1Ki_6:1), “the month of ‘blossom;’ or, more fully, ‘the bloom of flowers,’ ” corresponding to our May. Appointed the Levites … to set forward the work] i.e. to preside over or superintend the rebuilding of the Temple.
Ezr_3:9. Jeshua] not the high priest, but the head of an order of Levites (chap. Ezr_2:40). Judah] is an error of a copyist. It should be Hodaviah, as in the margin, and chap. Ezr_2:40. In Neh_7:43, it is written Hodevah. Together] Margin: “Heb. as one,” i.e. “all, without exception.” The sons of Henadad] &c. Keil suggests, as an explanation of the striking position of the record of “the sons of Henadad,” “that the two classes Jeshua with his sons and brethren, and Kadmiel with his sons, were more closely connected with each other than with the sons of Henadad, who formed a third class.” The authority of the clause, however, is doubtful.
Ezr_3:10. They (Zerubbabel and Jeshua) set the priests in their apparel] i.e. in their robes of office (Exo_28:40; Exo_39:27-29; Exo_39:41, and chap. Ezr_2:69). With trumpets] (Num_10:8; Num_31:6; 1Ch_15:24; 1Ch_16:6; 2Ch_5:12). After the ordinance] &c. (1Ch_15:16; 1Ch_25:1).
Ezr_3:11. And they sang together by course] Or, “And they sang antiphonally.” Fuerst gives the meaning: “to sing an alternate song, or in alternate choir (1Sa_18:7; Ezr_3:11), … but always to sing in reply, not to sing merely.” The singing was responsive. One choir sang, “Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good;” and the other responded, “For His mercy endureth for ever.” Shouted with a great shout] for joy that the foundation of the Temple was laid.
Ezr_3:12. But many of the priests and Levites] &c. “Solomon’s Temple was destroyed B.C. 588, and the foundation of the subsequent Temple laid B.C. 535 or 534; hence the older men among those present at the latter event might possibly have seen the former house; indeed, some (according to Hag_2:3) were still living in the second year of Darius Hystaspes, who had beheld the glory of the earlier building. Upon these aged men, the miserable circumstances under which the foundations of the new Temple were laid produced so overwhelming an impression, that they broke into loud weeping.”—Keil.
THE REBUILDING OF THE ALTAR: EXEMPLARY FEATURES OF DIVINE WORSHIP
(Ezr_3:1-3)
We discover here—
I. Unanimity and zeal in Divine worship.
Notice:
1. The evidences of unanimity in worship. “The people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. Then stood up Jeshua,” &c. The movement seems to have been a spontaneous one on the part of the people. They were not summoned to Jerusalem either by Zerubbabel the prince or by Jeshua the high priest, but went there of their own accord, urged by the religious impulses of their own souls. And they assembled “as one man,” i.e. as with one heart and will. And the authorities were not tardy in taking up the matter and leading it onward. “Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak,” &c. Jeshua with the priests, and Zerubbabel with the princes, entered heartily into the movement. Priests and Levites, prince and people, high and low, cordially united in the preparation for the restoration of their national worship.
2. The evidences of zeal in worship. This great gathering at Jerusalem took place “when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities.” They had only recently returned from Babylon; their country was to a great extent desolate, and would need much cleansing and cultivation; their houses would need renovation, or new ones would have to be built by them; many private interests urgently claimed their attention; but all these were freely and resolutely set aside until they had rebuilt the altar of Jehovah, and restored His worship, and made ready to celebrate the sacred festivals of this seventh month. Such unanimity and zeal for the worship of God are worthy of imitation by both individuals and communities in this age.
II. Sacrifice in Divine worship. “And builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon.” The altar and the burnt offerings suggest—
1. Man’s need of atonement with God. The consciousness of guilt, and the desire to propitiate God, or the craving of the heart for fellowship with Him, are the experiences which give rise to sacrificial offerings. The altar is an answer to the deep cry of man, “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God?” Burnt offerings were intended, in some cases at least, to express the idea of expiation, as well as that of self-consecration; hence they are said “to make atonement for him” who offered them (Lev_1:4; Lev_14:20; Lev_14:31). The tendency of sin is to estrange man from God; the tendency of the love of God in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is to destroy the power of sin in man, and to bind him to God in loving loyalty. We do not now need the altar and the expiatory victim; but we do need the Cross and the influence of the great Sacrifice, which once for all was offered thereon to put away sin. (a).
2. Man’s duty of self-consecration to God. The chief significance of the burnt offering was that it expressed the self-consecration of the offerer to God. Without this, such offerings were worthless in the sight of Heaven. The moral or spiritual element was the essential thing in all the sacrifices. Without penitence the sin offering was offensive to God. Without gratitude the peace or thank offerings were rejected by Him. And without the self-dedication of the worshipper the burnt offerings were an abomination unto Him (comp. Psa_50:8-15; Isa_1:11-15). Our richest gifts are accepted by God only as they express our self-devotion to Him. “And He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.” (b).
III. Respect for precedent in Divine worship. This was manifested by the Jews at this time in two particulars—
(1.) In assembling at the old place. “The people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.” They congregated at the place where the Temple had once stood, and where their fathers were wont to worship.
(2.) In erecting the altar upon the old foundation, and thus, as it were, associating it with its distinguished predecessor. There is much that is commendable in the feelings which led them to act thus. It is well to be willing to adopt changes in our modes and accessories of worship, when really enlightened judgment, and cultured taste, and sincere religious feeling unite in recommending them. It is also well to cling tenaciously to what is suitable and seemly in existing methods and arrangements of religious worship. The site of the former Temple and the bases of the ancient altar possessed for the Jews a sanctity and an inspiration to which no other spots in this wide world could lay claim. There are memories and associations clinging around certain ancient forms and places hallowed by holy uses which greatly stimulate and enrich the worship of the devout heart.
IV. Conformity to Scripture in Divine worship. In building the altar and in offering their sacrifices, the Jews did “as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.” We must take heed that in our worship, whether clinging to precedent, or accepting suggestions of change, we do not depart from the principles and spirit of worship, as revealed in or fairly deduced from the holy Book. There are certain directions which are unmistakable and imperative: e.g., “God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,” &c.
V. Fear of enemies in Divine worship. “Fear was upon them because of the people of those countries.”
1. The fear of enemies should not intimidate us from the worship of God. The Jews built the altar notwithstanding their dread of their enemies. The history of religious persecutions supplies many splendid examples of perseverance in worship despite the threats and cruelties of foes. (c).
2. The fear of enemies should impel us to worship God. The Jews were the more eager to build the altar because of the hostility of neighbouring peoples. The opposition of man led them the more earnestly to seek the protection of God. They were not in a position to join battle with their enemies, if they had been attacked by them; but in placing themselves under the guardianship of the Lord God they did that which was far wiser and better. The persecutions of men should cause us to be more earnest in prayer to God.
VI. Regularity in Divine worship. “And they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord, even burnt offerings morning and evening.” The offering of the daily sacrifice suggests—
1. Our daily need of atonement with God. There are daily temptations, omissions, and transgressions, which tend to alienate the heart from God; hence we need daily to realise the reconciling influences of the Cross of Christ. (d).
2. Our daily need of renewed consecration. Every morning we require a renewal of our purpose and endeavour to live to God. The reception of new mercies also summons us to fresh dedication of ourselves to the bounteous Giver of all our mercies.
3. Our daily need of renewed blessings. Forgiveness and grace, guidance and guardianship, are blessings which we need every day, therefore we should seek them in prayer; they are, moreover, blessings which we receive every day, therefore we should acknowledge them in praise to God.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) I do not think any one ever knows the preciousness of the blood of Christ till he has had a full sight and sense of his sin, his uncleanliness, and his ill-desert. Is there any such thing as really and truly coming to the cross of Christ until you first of all have seen what your sin really deserves! A little light into that dark cellar, sir; a little light into that hole within the soul; a little light cast into that infernal den of your humanity, and you would soon discern what sin is, and, seeing it, you would discover that there was no hope of being washed from it, except by a sacrifice far greater than you could ever render. Then the atonement of Christ would become fair and lustrous in your eyes, and you would rejoice with joy unspeakable in that boundless love which led the Saviour to give Himself a ransom, the Just for the unjust, that. He might bring us to God. May the Lord teach us, thundering at us, if need be, what sin means. May He teach it to us so that the lesson shall be burned into our souls, and we shall never forget it. I could fain wish that you were all burden-carriers till you grew weary. I could fain wish that you all laboured after eternal life until your strength failed, and that you might then rejoice in Him who has finished the work, and who promises to be to you all in all when you believe in Him and trust in Him with your whole heart.—C. H. Spurgeon.
(b) It is not the greatness of Christ’s sufferings on the cross which is to move our whole souls, but the greatness of the spirit with which He suffered. There, in death, He proved His entire consecration of Himself to the cause of God and mankind. There, His love flowed forth towards His friends, His enemies, and the human race. It is moral greatness, it is victorious love, it is the energy of principle, which gives such interest to the cross of Christ. We are to look through the darkness which hung over Him, through His wounds and pains, to His unbroken, disinterested, confiding spirit. To approach the cross for the purpose of weeping over a bleeding, dying Friend, is to lose the chief influence of the crucifixion. We are to visit the cross, not to indulge a natural softness, but to acquire firmness of spirit, to fortify our minds for hardship and suffering in the cause of duty and of human happiness. To live as Christ lived, to die as Christ died, to give up ourselves as sacrifices to God, to conscience, to whatever good interest we can advance—these are the lessons written with the blood of Jesus. His cross is to inspire us with a calm courage, resolution, and superiority to all temptation.—W. E. Channing, D.D.
Mercy, love, is more acceptable worship to God, than all sacrifices or outward offerings. The most celestial worship ever paid on earth was rendered by Christ, when He approached man, and the most sinful man, as a child of God, when He toiled and bled to awaken what was Divine in the human soul, to regenerate a fallen world. Be such the worship which you shall carry from this place. Go forth to do good with every power which God bestows, to make every place you enter happier by your presence, to espouse all human interests, to throw your whole weight into the scale of human freedom and improvement, to withstand all wrong, to uphold all right, and especially to give light, life, strength to the immortal soul. He who rears up one child in Christian virtue, or recovers one fellow-creature to God, builds a temple more precious than Solomon’s or St. Peter’s, more enduring than earth or heaven.—Ibid.
(c) Lord Macaulay, writing of the persecutions of the Protestant dissenters in the reign of James II., says:—The number of the rebels whom Jeffreys banged on this (the Western) circuit was three hundred and twenty. Such havoc must have excited disgust even if the sufferers had been generally odious. But they were, for the most part, men of blameless life, and of high religious profession. They were regarded by themselves, and by a large proportion of their neighbours, not as wrong-doers, but as martyrs who sealed with blood the truth of the Protestant religion. Very few of the convicts professed any repentance for what they had done. Many, animated by the old Puritan spirit, met death, not merely with fortitude, but with exultation. It was in vain that the ministers of the Established Church lectured them on the guilt of rebellion and on the importance of priestly absolution. The claim of the king to unbounded authority in things temporal, and the claim of the clergy to the spiritual power of binding and loosing, moved the bitter scorn of the intrepid sectaries. Some of them composed hymns in the dungeon, and chanted them on the fatal sledge. Christ, they sang while they were undressing for the butchery, would soon come to rescue Zion and to make war on Babylon, would set up His standard, would blow His trumpet, and would requite His foes tenfold for all the evil which had been inflicted on His servants. The dying words of these men were noted down; their farewell letters were kept as treasures; and in this way, with the help of some invention and exaggeration, was formed a copious supplement to the Marian Martyrology.
Never, not even under the tyranny of Laud, had the condition of the Puritans been so deplorable as at that time (autumn 1685). Never had spies been so actively employed in detecting congregations. Never had magistrates, grand jurors, rectors, and churchwardens been so much on the alert. Many dissenters were cited before the ecclesiastical courts. Others found it necessary to purchase the connivance of the agents of the government by presents of hogsheads of wine and of gloves stuffed with guineas. It was impossible for the separatists to pray together without precautions, such as are employed by coiners and receivers of stolen goods. The places of meeting were frequently changed. Worship was performed sometimes just before break of day and sometimes at dead of night. Round the building where the little flock was gathered sentinels were posted to give the alarm if a stranger drew near. The minister in disguise was introduced through the garden and the back yard. In some houses there were trap doors through which, in case of danger, he might descend. Where Nonconformists lived next door to each other, the walls were often broken open, and secret passages were made from dwelling to dwelling. No psalm was sung; and many contrivances were used to prevent the voice of the preacher, in his moments of fervour, from being heard beyond the walls.… Dissenting ministers, however blameless in life, however eminent for learning and abilities, could not venture to walk the streets for fear of outrages, which were not only not repressed, but encouraged, by those whose duty it was to preserve the peace. Some divines of great fame were in prison. Among these was Richard Baxter. Others, who had, during a quarter of a century, borne up against oppression, now lost heart, and quitted the kingdom. Among these was John Howe.—History of England, chap. v.
(d) Is it not said in Scripture, “If any man sin, we have an Advocate”? Why is Christ an advocate to-day? Only because we want an advocate every day. Does He not constantly intercede yonder before the eternal throne? Why does He do that? Because we want daily intercession. And it is because we are constantly sinning that He is constantly an advocate—constantly an intercessor. He Himself has beautifully set forth this in the case of Peter: after supper the Lord took a towel and girded Himself, and then, taking His basin and His ewer, He went to Peter, and Peter said, “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” But Jesus told him, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in Me.” He had been washed once; Peter was free from sin in the high sense of justification, but he needs the washing of purification. When Peter said, “Lord, wash not my feet only, but also my head and my hands,” then Jesus replied, “He that is washed”—that is, he who is pardoned—“needeth not save to wash his feet, for he is clean every whit.” The feet want constant washing. The daily defilement of our daily walk through an ungodly world brings upon us the daily necessity of being cleansed from fresh sin, and that the mighty Master supplies to us.—C. H. Spurgeon.
THE CELEBRATION OF THE SACRED FESTIVALS RESUMED
(Ezr_3:4-6 a)
In these verses we have the record of the observance of the religious feasts of the nation. “The continual burnt offering,” which we noticed in our exposition of the preceding section, is again mentioned. The feast of Tabernacles, the observance of the new moons, and the presentation of freewill offerings, are also distinctly mentioned. To these, therefore, let us direct our attention. They present to us the following homiletic topics:—
I. The commemoration in Divine worship of national experiences and blessings. Such was the feast of Tabernacles.
1. It was a memorial of the emancipation of Israel from Egypt, teaching us that we should cherish the memory of former mercies. (See Lev_23:43.)
2. It was a memorial of their life in the wilderness, reminding us that our present condition is that of strangers and pilgrims. (See Lev_23:40-43; Heb_13:14.)
3. It was a thanksgiving for rest and a settled abode in the promised land, suggesting the certainty and blessedness of the rest which remains for the people of God. (Comp. Lev_23:40 with Rev_7:9.)
4. It was a thanksgiving for the completed harvest, teaching us to receive the precious fruits of the earth as the kind gifts of a bountiful Providence. (See Exo_23:16 b; Lev_23:39; Deu_16:13-15.[2] But this festival was specially appropriate and significant at this time. “It was,” as Schultz remarks, “because of the season of the year in which the congregation had arrived in Canaan that the first feast which they could again celebrate in accordance with the law was the feast of Tabernacles. At the same time, however, we may see therein a special providence of God, which was at once lovely and significant to the congregation. The booths adorned with foliage and fruits had previously represented as well the gracious help in the times of the wilderness, as also the gracious blessings of harvest in the present; corresponding with this, the booths now gained of themselves a reference, on the one side, to the exhibition of grace during the new prolonged wilderness-time of the exile which had entered with so much gloom into the midst of the history of Israel; so to speak to the booths of protection and defiance which had arisen for the people, by the grace of the Lord, even in the heathen world; and, on the other side, to the new regaining of Canaan, which, to a certain extent, was a security and a pledge of all the further blessings in store for them in this land. They expressed the thanks which they owed to the Lord for both of these blessings in an especially lively and internal manner. This feast of tabernacles was a festal and joyous conclusion of all the preservations, consolations, and blessings that were behind them, connected with a joyous glance into the future; it was an evidence that a height had been reached upon which finally even the last height might be attained, an indication that some day, after all their struggles and all their labours, a still more glorious feast of Tabernacles, the Messianic, the eternal and truly blessed one, would come. (Comp. Zechariah 14)” The text distinctly mentions one feature of this celebration of the feast, viz., the fidelity with which the original directions for its observance were carried out: “They kept also the feast of Tabernacles as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number,” &c. The directions are given in Num_29:13-39. (See The Preacher’s Commentary on Numbers, p. 528.) For a people in their straitened circumstances the offerings required were very numerous; but they were fully and cheerfully provided by them. If their means were small, their zeal was great. (a).
[2] For remarks and illustrations on these points see The Preacher’s Commentary on Numbers, pp. 529, 530.
II. The celebration in religious worship of the natural divisions of time. “And of the new moons.” They presented the offerings appropriate to those occasions. “The first day of the lunar month was observed as a holyday. In addition to the daily sacrifice there were offered two young bullocks, a ram, and seven lambs of the first year as a burnt offering, with the proper meat offerings and drink offerings, and a kid as a sin offering (Num_28:11-15). It was not a day of holy convocation, and was not therefore of the same dignity as the Sabbath. But, as on the Sabbath, trade and handicraft work were stopped (Amo_8:5), the Temple was opened for public worship (Eze_46:3; Isa_66:23), and, in the kingdom of Israel at least, the people seem to have resorted to the prophets for religious instruction (2Ki_4:23). The trumpets were blown at the offering of the special sacrifices for the day, as on the solemn festivals (Num_10:10; Psa_81:3).… The seventh new moon of the religious year, being that of Tisri, commenced the civil year, and had a significance and rites of its own. It was a day of holy convocation” (Num_29:1-6). What was the design of this religious celebration of “the beginnings of their months”?
We suggest:
1. To impress them with the value of time. Its irrevocableness should suggest its invaluableness. The religious observance of the new moons was calculated to emphasise the facts that one month more had passed away for ever, with all its possibilities and opportunities, and that another had commenced its course, and its opportunities must be promptly seized and diligently employed ere they also departed. (b).
2. To assist them to form a correct estimate of their life upon earth. “All men think all men mortal but themselves.” Man needs frequent and forcible reminders of the swift flight of time, and of the brevity of his life upon earth. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” The religious observance of the natural divisions of time may be regarded as an answer to this request, inasmuch as it helps to impart and to impress the lesson desired. (c).
3. To arouse them to make a wise use of the time which remained to them. As we realise the fact that one month of our allotted time upon earth quickly follows another into the everlasting past, we should also realise with imperial force the solemn conviction, “I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day, the night cometh when no man can work.” “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might,” &c.
III. The presentation in Divine worship of personal voluntary offerings. “And of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the Lord.” These offerings were in addition to those required by the law, and were purely spontaneous on the part of the worshipper. The law required much, but in their zeal the returned exiles gave more. And in Christianity there is ample room for the expression of the grateful and reverent emotions of the soul. “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart; not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver.” “In all thy gifts,” says the Son of Sirach, “show a cheerful countenance, and dedicate thy tithes with gladness. Give unto the Most High according as He hath enriched thee; and as thou hast gotten give with a cheerful eye. For the Lord recompenseth, and will give thee seven times as much.” (d)
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) The end of the festival days among the Jews was to revive the memory of those signal acts wherein His power for them, and His goodness to them, had been extraordinarily evident; it is no more but our months to praise Him, and our hand to obey Him, that He exacts at our hands. He commands us not to expend what He allows us in the erecting stately temples to His honour; all the coin He requires to be paid with for His expense is the “offering of thanksgiving,” (Psa_50:14); and this we ought to do as much as we can, since we cannot do it as much as He merits, for “who can show forth all His praise?” (Psa_106:2). If we have the fruit of His goodness, it is fit He should have “the fruit of our lips” (Heb_13:15); the least kindness should inflame our souls with a kindly resentment. Though some of His benefits have a brighter, some a darker, aspect towards us, yet they all come from this common spring; His goodness shines in all; there are the footsteps of goodness in the least, as well as the smiles of goodness in the greatest; the meanest therefore is not to pass without a regard of the Author. As the glory of God is more illustrious in some creatures than in others, yet it glitters in all, and the lowest as well as the highest administers matter of praise; but they are not only little things, but the choicer favours He hath bestowed upon us. How much doth it deserve our acknowledgment, that He should contrive our recovery, when we had plotted our ruin! that when He did from eternity behold the crimes wherewith we would incense Him, He should not, according to the rights of justice, cast us into hell, but prize us at the rate of the blood and life of His only Son, in value above the blood of men and lives of angels! How should we bless that God, that we have yet a Gospel among us, that we are not driven into the utmost regions, that we can attend upon Him in the face of the sun, and not forced to the secret obscurities of the night! Whatsoever we enjoy, whatsoever we receive, we must own Him as the Donor, and read His hand in it.—S. Charnocke, B. D.
(b) Suppose that God had so cast the arrangements of our system as never to give notice, at all, of the passage of time, by the distinction of days, seasons, and years. In that case, we should all be living on together, but how fast or how slow we could scarcely guess. One year of men’s childhood seems as long to them, they say, as two, or perhaps even ten years, later in life. This shows you how they would mistake if there were no measure of time save that of their inward judgment. They would never realise how fast they are living. They would take the period equal to ten years, in the later portion of life, to be the same period which constituted only its tenth part in their childhood; and so, when drawing on towards the close of their days,—the very time when they ought most of all to be awake to the shortness of their stay,—then would they be, most of all, insensible to the flight of time, and the swift approach of eternity.
Observe, then, the faithfulness of God. He has made the very universe to be the clock of the universe, and admonish every mortal heart of the sure and constant passage of time. We are not left to our inward judgments. Time has its measures without, in the most palpable and impressive visitations of the senses. Every twilight tells us that a day is gone, and that by a sign as impressive as the blotting out of the sun! It is as if we had a clock, so adjusted as to give notice of the hour, by displacing, at a stroke, the light of heaven, suspending the labours of the world, quenching the fevers of its earthly schemes and passions, and diffusing an opiate spell of oblivion over all human consciousness. The impalpable odours of spring penetrate our secret sense as monitors of time. The summer heat is the heat of time, the winter’s cold is the cold of time—both forcing their way into our experience by a visitation that we cannot resist. One season tells us that another is gone; and, when the whole circle of seasons is completed and returned into itself, the new year tells us that the old is gone. And a certain number of these years, we know, is the utmost bound of life. How sure is the reckoning! It is even compulsory—none can escape it.—H. Bushnell, D.D.
(c) A thousand years is a long time, but how soon it flies! One almost seems, in reading English history, to go back and shake hands with William the Conqueror; a few lives bring us even to the flood. You who are getting on to be forty years old, and especially you who are sixty or seventy, must feel how fast time flies. I only seem to preach a sermon one Sunday in time to get ready for the next. Time flies with such a whirl that no express train can overtake it, and even the lightning flash seems to lag behind it. We shall soon be at the great white throne; we shall soon be at the judgment bar of God. Oh! let us make ready for it. Let us not live so much in this present, which is but a dream, an empty show, but let us live in the real, substantial future.—C. H. Spurgeon.
(d) Who, with the Word of God in his hand, but must feel that an era of enlarged Christian liberality is hastening on?…
Now, the Christian professor too commonly allows his regular contribution to check his liberality, to prevent his giving more than the stipulated sum, though there are times when his benevolent impulses would prompt him to exceed that sum; then, he will regard his subscription only as a pledge that he will not give less, but as leaving his liberality open to all the impulses of an unrestricted benevolence. Now, he is too often disposed to shun the applications for charity, and if he is overlooked and passed by, to view it as a fortunate escape; but then he will do good as he hath opportunity—creating the opportunity which he cannot find already made to his hands. Now, his ability exceeds his inclination; but then his inclination will be greater than his ability; like the Macedonian Christians of whom the Apostle testifies, “I bear them record that to their power, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves.” Instead of being charitable only on comparative distraint, he will often anticipate application, and surprise the agents of beneficence by unexpected gifts; thus strengthening their faith in God, and inciting them to enlarge their designs for the kingdom of Christ: like the same believers of whom the Apostle records, that, instead of needing to be solicited, they entreated him to accept their contributions—“praying us with much entreaty to accept the gift.” Like the happy parent of a happy family, he will hail every new-born claim on his resources, and cheerfully deny himself in order to support it. And, instead of giving as he now does, as scantily as if he only aimed to keep the Christian cause from famishing, he will then act on the persuasion that his own enjoyment is identified with its growth and prosperity.—John Harris, D.D.
Works of piety and charity should, like water from a fountain, flow spontaneously from the gratitude and benevolence of a believing heart, and not require to be extorted with importunity, like the toil and trouble of drawing water from a deep well.—Anon.
THE WORK OF THE DAY DONE IN THE DAY
(Ezr_3:4 : “As the duty of every day required”)
The pious Jews returned from Babylon having erected an altar, kept also the feast of Tabernacles as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, “as the duty of every day required.” It is in the margin, “the matter of the day in his day.” This has grown into a proverbial saying among those who love Scripture phraseology, and teaches us that we should do the work of the day in the day.
I. We may apply this to life in general. This is called a “day,” and it is a single day, a short day, a day which it is impossible to lengthen. And what is the language of reason, of Scripture? “To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.” “Behold now … is the day of salvation.” And what will be your language if the same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus? “I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh, wherein no man can work.”
II. It will apply to prosperity. This is called a “day;” and Solomon tells us what is the duty of it. “In the day of prosperity be joyful.” He cannot intend to encourage extravagance and excess. We are to “use this world as not abusing it.” The wise man would teach us to enjoy the comforts our circumstances afford, in opposition to that self-denial that arises not from religious motive, but from anxiety; from a disposition to live comparatively poor and destitute at present in order to hoard up for the future; whereas the Apostle tells us that “God gives us all things richly to enjoy.” God, like a generous friend, is pleased to see His presents enjoyed—“to enjoy is to obey.” But let us be always joyful in Him; let us enjoy all in God, and God in all. Behold another thing that the duty of this day requires. It is gratitude. Compare your circumstances with those of others, whose plans are equally wise, and whose dependencies seemed equally sure. Compare your present with your former condition; the “two bands” with the “staff.” Compare your indulgences with your deserts, and how can you be unthankful? And surely the duty of this day requires liberality. He has made you stewards, and not proprietors; and He will soon call you to give up your account. “Charge them that are rich in this world that they do good,” &c.
III. It will apply to adversity. This is also called a “day;” and it is said, “In the day of adversity, consider.” This is the grand duty of the season. Whatever be your affliction, it is a solemn call to consider your ways, to examine your hearts and lives, to inquire wherefore He contends with you, and what He would have you to do. You are also to consider the alleviations of your suffering; how much worse it might have been; and to compare your resources with your difficulties. Another part of the duty this “day” requires is submission. “Submit yourselves under the mighty hand of God,” &c. This subjection does not exclude feeling, but regulates it; keeping us, while sensible of the affliction, from quarrelling with Providence, from charging Him foolishly or unkindly, and leading us to say, “It is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good.” The duty of this day also requires prayer. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble,” &c. “Is any afflicted? Let him pray.” The very exercise of it will soothe him, while the answer of it will deliver him.
IV. We may apply it to the Sabbath. This is called “the Lord’s-day” because it is consecrated to the memory of His resurrection, and is employed in His service. But as to advantage, it is our day. It “was made for man.” We are commanded to “sanctify it, calling the Sabbath a delight,” &c. A Christian will say, “How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!” &c. He will take heed what he hears, and how he hears. But this is not all. He will retire. He will indulge in private reflection.
V. It will apply to every day. No day comes without its appropriate duty. We are to do everything in its season; to do the work of the day in the day; and not leave it till to-morrow.
1. Because we may not live till to-morrow. “We know not what a day may bring forth.”
2. Each day will have its own engagements, and it is wrong to surcharge one period with the additional work of another. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” It is unlawful to encumber to-day with the care of to-morrow; and to encumber to-morrow with the work of to-day.
3. Because by this temporary negligence, we have nothing to do, or too much; whereas by doing the work OF the day IN the day, we are never unoccupied, never oppressed.
4. Because by this means the mind is kept cool, and tranquil, and cheerful; and we shall know nothing of the perplexities and ill-temper of those who are always in confusion and haste.
To verify this important maxim, let me lay down three rules—
(1.) Rise early.
(2.) Grasp not so much business as to “entangle yourselves in the affairs of this life.”
(3.) Arrange a plan of life, and firmly adhere to it.—William Jay.
THE PREPARATIONS FOR REBUILDING THE TEMPLE
(Ezr_3:6 b, 7: “But the foundation of the Temple of the Lord was not yet laid. They gave money also,” &c.)
Two chief points are here presented to our notice—
I. The great work yet to be accomplished. Mingled with the joy of the Jews in their restored worship was the recollection of the great work which as yet was not even commenced. “The foundation of the Temple of the Lord was not yet laid.” We regard this as an illustration of—
1. The incompleteness of human joys. The gladness of the returned exiles in celebrating the feast of Tabernacles was tempered by the fact that they had only an altar; they had no temple. The brightest day of our life here has its cloud and its shadow. Our most serene seasons are not entirely free from disturbance. Our joys are incomplete. Our gladness is often checked by sadness. “There is a cross in every lot.” The victorious and calm eventide of the life of king David was darkened by trials in his family. “Although my house be not so with God” (2Sa_23:5). St. Paul “was caught up into Paradise” and there received “abundance of revelations;” but there was given to him “a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet” him. This incompleteness of our joys here is a wise and kind arrangement. We need the shadow as well as the sunshine. We are reminded by vicissitude that this is not our rest, and urged to set our affections on spiritual and eternal things. (a).
2. The incompleteness of human works. The altar was built, but the Temple was not begun. The work of these patriotic and pious Jews was only just commenced. It would be long before it was completed. The work of the earnest man is never accomplished. Ere one task is completed another summons him to effort. If he were tempted to settle down to repose, his rest would soon be broken by the demands of unfinished enterprises, or by challenges to new endeavours.
“Labour with what zeal we will,
Something still remains undone,
Something uncompleted still
Waits the rising of the sun.”
—Longfellow.
Even when death approaches, most men have much which they desire to accomplish. The statesman is summoned hence devising new measures for his country’s good, which he will not assist in passing into laws. The author dies leaving his book unfinished. The Christian minister lays down his charge, leaving many plans for the welfare of his people not yet carried out; and the parent, while he longs still to do much for the welfare of his children. Doubtless the good man is not called to leave this world until his work here is finished; but to us it often seems that life closes here in incompleteness. This incompleteness of our human works is also ordered wisely and well. It tends to prevent stagnation; to rouse to earnest activities, &c. (b).
3. The obligation of the Church of God. The Jews at Jerusalem felt themselves bound not to rest content with the joys and blessings of the altar, but to proceed to the more arduous task of rebuilding the Temple. In seasons of religious worship the Church must not forget the work which it is called to accomplish. Our holiest delights should not detain us from our arduous duties. The Church should not entertain the idea of any pause or decrease in its labours until the spiritual temple of our God is raised into utmost and beautiful completeness out of the ruins of our fallen humanity. Let Christians labour on until the head stone of this temple shall be brought forth “with shoutings of, Grace, grace unto it.” (c).
II. The prompt preparations for the accomplishment of this work. “They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters,” &c. (Ezr_3:7). Two points claim attention—
1. The variety of service and the unity of design. See the various ways in which different persons contributed to the preparations for rebuilding the sacred edifice.
(1.) Certain Jews gave of their possessions to pay the workmen. “They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre.”
(2.) Other Jews laboured in the work of preparation. “The masons and the carpenters.”
(3.) Zidonian and Tyrian workmen also laboured in this work. “Them of Zidon and them of Tyre brought cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa.” And
(4) Cyrus assisted by his patronage and by his gifts. “According to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.” And others might be mentioned who otherwise promoted the great object; such as the Levites who acted as overseers of the work. All these, each in his own way and in his own sphere, helped to accomplish the end which was so eagerly desired by most of them. And in building the spiritual temple, there should be the individual effort of every Christian for the attainment of the great object which they all have in common: each one, in some form or other, should contribute his share in the glorious work, and all should keep in view the one grand end. (d).
2. The co-operation of Jews and Gentiles. “It was significant also,” says Schultz, “that at this building of the Temple again it was not Canaan proper, but the Phœnician Lebanon, that provided the building material, and that corresponding with this, heathen workmen and artists also took part in erecting the house of God. It indicates that the rest of the earth also, and corresponding thereto, the rest of mankind, are to render their gifts and capacities, which are more and more to take part in the complete and true worship of the Lord, that the Lord by no means regards them as profane. The rest of the earth and mankind become thereby, to a certain extent, consecrated in advance and designated as one who, if now already in the Old Testament economy, yet still more some day in the fulness of time, would take part in the highest destiny of Israel.” (e). In the Church of Christ “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all and in all.”
CONCLUSION:
1. Are we “as living stones built up” in the spiritual temple of God? (Comp. 1Pe_2:4-6.)
2. Are we also assisting to build this glorious temple? (Comp. 1Co_3:10-15.) It is paradoxical yet true, that we should be both stones in the edifice and toilers for its completion. But are we?
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) Mark the same people that usually have the highest joys, and see whether at other times they have not the greatest troubles. This week they are as at the gates of heaven, and the next as at the doors of hell: I am sure with many it is so. Yet it need not be so, if Christians would but look at these high joys as duties to be endeavoured, and mercies to be valued; but when they will needs judge of their state by them, and think that God is gone from or forsaken them when they have not such joys, then it leaves them in terror and amazement. Like men after a flash of lightning, they are left more sensible of the darkness. For no wise man can expect that such joys should be a Christian’s ordinary state; or God should so diet us with a continual feast. It would neither suit with our health nor the condition of this pilgrimage. Live, therefore, on your peace of conscience as your ordinary diet; when this is wanting know that God appointeth you a fast for your health; and when you have a feast of high joys, feed on it and be thankful; but when they are taken from you, gape not after them as the disciples did after Christ at His ascension, but return thankfully to your ordinary diet of peace. And remember that these joys which are now taken from you may so return again. However, there is a place preparing for you, where your joys may be full.—Richard Baxter.
(b) Human life is short; God’s work is complex and prolonged, and steadily flowing on. Hence we are continually beginning, and passing away, and leaving what we begin for others to finish. Every generation is beginning, and every generation is passing away without having finished what it has begun. But that which we begin is not going to stop because we cease to go forward with it. One worker dies; the loom goes on, and another worker takes up the thread that he has laid down. We pass away, and another man, somewhere, is prepared to step into our place. We commence a work, and perform a part of it; when we are gone, others perform another part; when they are gone, still others perform another part; and so that which we undertake is by others carried along to its bright consummation.—H. W. Beecher.
(c) I ask you to remember that every child whose heart is touched by the love of Christ, every worker for God who is ready to sacrifice his time, his comfort, his luxury, his life, for Christ, whose sympathy with the advance of God’s kingdom is produced by an intelligent understanding of the magnitude of the interests that are at stake; every bedridden, poverty-stricken Christian, who is daily wrestling with God in prayer; every Sunday-school teacher who identifies himself with this great enterprise, not simply by giving money (that is sometimes an easy way of putting aside a pressing claim), but by earnest thought, honest speech, and loyal feeling; every one of us who, appreciating the magnitude, sublimity, and consecration of Christian missions, does devote himself to this work, rises up for God against the evil-doers, enlists in the great battle which can only terminate when death and hell, the beast and the false prophet, are cast into the lake of fire.—H. R. Reynolds, D.D.
(d) I would stir you all up to help in this work—old men, young men, and you, my sisters, and all of you, according to your gifts and experience, help. I want to make you feel, “I cannot do much, but I can help; I cannot preach, but I can help; I cannot pray in public, but I can help; I cannot give much away, but I can help; I cannot officiate as an elder or a deacon, but I can help; I cannot shine as ‘a bright particular star,’ but I can help; I cannot stand alone to serve my Master, but I can help.” There is a text from which an old Puritan once preached a very singular sermon. There were only two words in the text, and they were, “And Bartholomew.” The reason he took the text was, that Bartholomew’s name is never mentioned alone, but he is always spoken of as doing some good thing with somebody else. He is never the principal actor, but always second. Well, let this be your feeling, that if you cannot do all yourself, you will help to do what you can.—C. H. Spurgeon.
(e) There are those in the Church who believe that God’s express aim in Judaism was to keep the Jewish people as separate from the world as possible; to keep them, like Noah, in an ark, while He plagued and punished the world at His will. But I maintain, on the contrary, that Judaism was always genial and benignant to the stranger who would adopt its belief and accept its blessings. From the evil which was in the world God was minded to keep the Jewish people free at any cost. From idolatry and its attendant pollutions He sought to deliver them, inasmuch as idolatry in the long run inevitably leads to national decline and death. To the stranger, the foreign person or nation, who would dishonour its beliefs and trample on its blessings, Judaism was stern as fate and pitiless as death. The nations which had filled up the measure of their iniquity, whose influence must be corrupting, were ruthlessly exterminated.… The Jews were simply God’s executioners here, and the same doom, they are plainly warned, awaited them if they suffered themselves to be tempted into the same sins. The nations, of whose pollutions the very land was weary, were swept off as the stubble before the flame. But this was the accident and not the essential character of the dispensation. The law here in England is merciful, though it has often to deal out terrible judgments on flagrant sins. And I am persuaded that the more carefully the spirit of the dispensation is studied, the more plainly will it appear that … from Moses to Zechariah, it is a cry to the nations not to rot in their own corruption, “Come with us and we will do you good.” How benignantly, in the closing verses of the eighth chapter of the book of Joshua, the “strangers which were conversant among them” are included in the benediction! How earnestly Daniel and his coadjutors sought to diffuse the blessings of Judaism among the nations which had enslaved them, and to make the Oriental despots sharers in the knowledge of the living God, which by revelation they had gained! How emphatically the prophets take up and echo the invitation with growing clearness and earnestness through the ages, until it breaks out into full utterance in the great Successor of Moses, the great Fulfiller of the Law, the Son of David, the King of Zion, “And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.” Judaism in all ages was a witness for God to the nations, and a means of drawing all that would be drawn unto Himself.—J. B. Brown, B.A.
LAYING THE FOUNDATION OF THE TEMPLE
(Ezr_3:8-13)
Notice:
I. The work already done.
1. Something was already accomplished. Several months had passed away since the arrangements mentioned in Ezr_3:7 were made; and during those months the masons and carpenters, and the Tyrian and the Sidonian workmen, had not been idle. Considerable labour must have been expended on the site of the Temple before it was ready for laying the foundation thereof.
2. Arrangements were made for carrying on the work. “Now in the second year of their coming into the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel,” &c. (Ezr_3:8-9). And in these arrangements there was a unanimity which augured well for the success of the enterprise. “Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of the brethren, the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem,” were united in their arrangements and efforts for prosecuting the work to a successful issue.
II. The worship offered. “And when the builders laid the foundation of the Temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets,” &c. (Ezr_3:10-11). Notice:
1. The manner of their worship. “They set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel. And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord.” Their worship was orderly and seemly in manner. It was conducted by those who were qualified for the work and called to it by the command of God, and in accordance with the arrangements made by king David (1Ch_6:31; 1Ch_16:4-6; 1Ch_16:42; 1Ch_25:1; Neh_12:24).
2. The character of their worship. “Praising and giving thanks unto the Lord,” &c. Their worship consisted of grateful and joyful praise; because of—
(1.) The goodness of God. “Praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because He is good.”
(2.) The perpetuity of His goodness. “For His mercy endureth for ever.”
(3.) Their perpetual interest in His goodness. “His mercy endureth for ever toward Israel.” Reverent and grateful praise is the highest form of worship which we present to the Father of spirits. (a).
3. The occasion of their worship. “When the builders laid the foundation of the Temple of the Lord.” We call attention to the occasion in this place, because it illustrated and stimulated their thankful praise. God had vouchsafed to them unmistakable manifestations of His goodness and mercy, in preserving and blessing them in Babylon, in granting them so favourable a return to their own land, and in helping them thus far with their work of restoration and renewal. Their own experiences would give force and fervour to their worship-song.
4. The spirit of their worship. This was hearty and enthusiastic. “And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.” Worship which is not hearty, or which is cold or lukewarm, does not meet with Divine acceptance.
III. The emotions excited. “And all the people shouted with a great shout,” &c.
1. Great joy. “And many shouted aloud for joy.” This joy probably arose from—
(1.) The consideration of what was accomplished. “Those that only knew the misery of having no temple at all,” says M. Henry, “praised the Lord with shouts of joy when they saw but the foundation of one laid. To them even this foundation seemed great, and was as life from the dead; to their hungry souls even this was sweet. They shouted so that ‘the noise was heard afar off.’ Note.—We ought to be thankful for the beginnings of mercy, though we have not yet come to the perfection of it; and the foundations of a temple, after long desolations, cannot but be fountains of joy to every faithful Israelite.” Every step in the progress of our communion with God should be a matter of great joy to us.
(2.) The anticipation of what would yet be accomplished. They looked forward with confident and exultant hope to the completion of the sacred edifice.
2. Great sorrow. “But many of the priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers, ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice.” Their grief arose chiefly from memories of the past, with which the present contrasted unfavourably.
(1.) Recollections of the former Temple. They “had seen the first house,” and they knew well that they could not hope to build one which would be at all comparable with it in magnificence and splendour. “Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?” (Hag_2:3). Moreover, they might have wept because of the sins which had led to the destruction of the former Temple, and the manifold miseries which had resulted from those sins.
(2.) Recollections of their own lives. The joyful acclamations of the young generation probably recalled to these “ancient men” the brightness and hopefulness and enthusiasm of their own youth, and the recollection awakened sad thoughts. The contrast between the purpose of early life and the performance of after days, and the sad disparity between the hopes of youth and the attainments of manhood, are generally sufficient to subdue and sadden the hearts of the aged. The difference between the ideal entertained at twenty years of age and the actual realised at fifty or sixty is often a mournful thing. And even if a man is able to carry out his purposes, and achieves what is commonly called “success in life,” how different the objects gained appear in possession from what they appeared in anticipation, and how disappointing! Much, very much, after which men aspire and for which they labour, cannot satisfy them; and having obtained their chief aims, they may cry mournfully—
“Years have gone by! and life’s lowlands are past,
And I stand on the hill which I sighed for, at last:
But I turn from the summit that once was my star,
To the vale of my childhood, seen dimly and far;—
Each blight on its beauty seems softened and gone,
Like a land that we love, in the light of the morn.”—T. K. Hervey. (b).
3. Great joy and great sorrow mingled. “The people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people.” We may regard this scene as—
(1.) An illustration of our personal experiences in this world. All our joys are tinged with sadness; all our sorrows have their mitigations, and if they do not yield rich compensations the blame will be our own. (c).
(2.) An illustration of the experiences of mankind in this world. The shouts of those who rejoice and the cries of those who mourn are ever mingled in this world. The exultations of the victors and the lamentations of the vanquished rise together from earth to heaven.
(3.) A feature which distinguishes the present from the future state. These mingled experiences belong only to this present life and world. In hell no one “shouts aloud for joy.” And in heaven “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (d).
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) Praise is the very highest mood and exercise of the religious soul; it is the expression towards God of the holiest emotions of which we are capable—reverence, obligation, gratitude, love, adoration. Whenever these are uplifted to God in admiration and homage, there is the worship of praise—the highest and most perfect expression of all that is purest and noblest in our religious nature. As contrasted with the worship of prayer, the worship of praise is manifestly transcendent. Prayer is the pleading of our human indigence and helplessness; praise is the laudation of Divine excellency and sufficiency. Prayer supplicates the good that God may have to bestow; praise is the adoration of the good that there is in God Himself. When we pray we are urged by necessities, fears, and sorrows,—it is the cry of our troubled helplessness, often of our pain or our terror; we are impelled by feelings of unworthiness, memories of sin, yearnings for forgiveness and renewal. Praise brings, not a cry, but a song,—it does not ask, it proffers,—it lifts, not its hands, but its heart,—it is the voice, not of our woe, but of our love, not of beseeching, but of blessing. It comes before God not clothed in sackcloth, but with its “singing robes” about it, not wailing litanies, but shouting hosannas. Prayer expresses only our lower religious moods of necessity and sorrow; praise expresses our higher religious moods of satisfaction and joy. Prayer asks God to come down to us; praise assays to go up to God. The soul that prays falls prostrate with its face to the ground, often being in an agony; the soul that praises stands with uplifted brow and transfigured countenance ready to soar away to heaven. Moreover, the instinct of praise is deeper in the religious heart than that of prayer; song in the human soul is earlier, and will be later, than supplication. Prayer is the accident of our present sinful necessity; praise is the essence of all religious life and joy. The birthplace and home of prayer is on earth. The birthplace and home of praise is in heaven.”—H. Allon, D.D.
(b) I used to think a slight illness was a luxurious thing; … it is different in the latter stages; the old postchaise gets more shattered at every turn, windows will not pull up, doors refuse to open, or, being open, will not shut again. There is some new subject of complaint every moment; your sickness comes thicker and thicker, your sympathising friends fewer and fewer. The recollection of youth, health, and uninterrupted powers of activity, neither improved nor enjoyed, is a poor strain of comfort.… Death has closed the long dark avenue upon loves and friendships; and I look at them as through the grated doors of a burial place filled with monuments of those who were once dear to me, with no insincere wish that it may open for me at no distant period, provided such be the will of God. I shall never see the threescore and ten, and shall be summed up at a discount; no help for it, and no matter either.—Sir Walter Scott.
(c)
There is no joy unmixed with grief—
Each garden has more weeds than flowers—
Care rides upon the winged hours,
And doubt for ever haunts belief.
We stop to pluck some beauteous flower,
And cold precaution idly scorn,
To find some sharp and hidden thorn
Exacts a forfeit for the dower.
There have been tears of wormwood shed,
For every pleasure life can bring;
The joys of earth are flowers that spring
From out the ashes of the dead—E. H. Dewart.
In the bitterest grief, in the sharpest period of agony, in the dullest, most hopeless prospect, there is a source of joy which none but the spirit of Jesus can find or use. St. Paul calls it rejoicing in the Lord. Then we go out of ourselves, as it were, and leave the last trial like a cloak that is thrown off. We pass from the sharpest and most disappointing trouble into the presence of the Spirit of the Lord. We move in by a mental flash, as it were, and there see the source of life unshaken, undimmed, steady, like the shining of the moon above a battlefield; calm and quiet, as the sunlight amid the shrieks and tumult of a pillaged town.—Harry Jones, M.A.
There is great joy of prosperity, of love, of victory, but there is a joy that belongs to the experience of suffering and sorrow which is more divine and exquisite than any joy the heart ever knows outside of trouble. When a soul is afflicted till it is driven into the very pavilion of God, till Christ, as it were, wraps His arms about it and says, “Rest here till the storm be overpast,” that soul experiences an exquisiteness of joy which only those who have felt it can understand.—H. W. Beecher.
Then happy those, since each must drain
His share of pleasure, share of pain;
Then happy those, beloved of Heaven,
To whom the mingled cup is given,
Whose lenient sorrows find relief,
Whose joys are chastened by their grief.
—Sir W. Scott.
(d) This is a world of weeping—a vale of tears. Who is there that has not wept over the grave of a friend; over his own losses and cares; over his disappointments, over the treatment he has received from others; over his sins; over the follies, vices, and woes of his fellow-men? And what a change would it make in our world if it could be said that henceforward not another tear would be shed; not a head would ever be bowed again in grief! Yet this is to be the condition of heaven. In that world there is to be no pain, no disappointment, no bereavement. No friend is to lie in dreadful agony on a sick-bed, no grave is to be opened to receive a parent, a wife, a child; no gloomy prospect of death is to draw tears of sorrow from the eyes. To that blessed world, when our eyes run down with tears, are we permitted to look forward; and the prospect of such a world should contribute to wipe away our tears here—for all our sorrows will soon be over.—A. Barnes, D.D.
THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE
(Ezr_3:11-13)
That an exuberance of joy and of sorrow should be excited at once by the same event, is undoubtedly a curious fact; and it will be profitable to show you—
I. What there was at that time to call forth such strong and widely-different emotions. The Jews, after their return from Babylon, had just laid the foundation of the second Temple, and this was—
1. To some an occasion of exalted joy. It was not the mere circumstance that a magnificent building was about to be raised, but the thought of the use to which that building was to be appropriated, that proved to them a source of joy. The erection of it was justly regarded by them as a restoration of God’s favour to them after the heavy judgments which He had inflicted on them during their captivity in Babylon. This event opened to them a prospect of again worshipping Jehovah according to all the forms prescribed to them by the Mosaic ritual. Nor could they fail to view it as tending to advance the honour of their God; in which view pre-eminently it must of necessity fill them with most exalted joy. With such views of the event before them the people could not but shout for joy; and “if they had been silent, the very stones would have cried out against them.”
2. To others an occasion of the deepest sorrow. The persons who manifested such pungent grief were “the priests, and Levites, and the chief of the fathers who were ancient men, that had seen the former Temple.” They wept because they well knew how infinitely this structure must fall below the former in point of magnificence. Of necessity it must want many things which constituted the glory of that edifice, and could never be replaced. The Shechinah, the bright cloud, the emblem of the Deity Himself, was for ever removed. The ark was lost, and the copy of the law which had been preserved in it. The Urim and Thummim too, by which God had been wont to communicate to His people the knowledge of His will, was irrecoverably gone; and the fire which had descended from heaven was extinct, so that they must henceforth use in all their sacrifices nothing but common fire. And what but their sins had brought upon them all these calamities? Would it have been right, then, in these persons to lose all recollection of their former mercies, and of the sins through which they had been bereaved of them; and to be so transported with their present blessings as not to bewail their former iniquities? No! I think that the mixture of feeling was precisely such as the occasion called for.
II. How far similar emotions become us at the present day.
1. There is at this time great occasion for joy. We are not, indeed, constructing a material temple for the Lord; but the whole nation is engaged in endeavours to erect a spiritual temple to Him throughout the world. Never was there a period since the apostolic age, when the exertions were so general, so diversified, so diffusive. And is this no ground of joy? Is there no reason to rejoice in what, we trust, is going on amongst us? If the Gospel be “glad tidings of great joy unto all people,” is it no cause for joy that it is brought to our ears; and that it is effectual amongst us to convert men to God? Are there not amongst you some at least who have been “turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God”? Surely we have reason to rejoice.
2. Yet is there amongst us abundant occasion for grief also. If we suppose the Apostle Paul, who witnessed the state of God’s Church in its primitive and purest age, to come down in the midst of us, what would be his feelings at the present hour? Would his joy be unmixed with sorrow? Would he be satisfied with what he saw? It was with “weeping” that St. Paul contemplated many of the Philippian converts; and for many of the Galatian Church he “agonised as in the pangs of childbirth till Christ should be more perfectly formed in them.” And was this from a want of charity, or from a contempt of piety in its lower stages of existence? No; but from love, and from a desire that God should be honoured to the uttermost wherever His Gospel came, and wherever its blessings were experienced in the soul.
See, then—
(1.) What, above all things, should interest our souls. Nothing under heaven should transport us with joy like the establishment of Christ’s kingdom in the world and in the soul. Nothing should produce in us such acute sensations of grief as a consciousness that God is not glorified in the midst of us as He ought to be.
(2.) What use we should make of our knowledge and experience. It is not so much an unqualified effusion of joy that is pleasing to the Most High, as that which is moderated with shame, and tempered with contrition.—Charles Simeon, M.A.
THE ALTAR AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE TEMPLE
Notes for Scripture Lesson (Whole Chapter)
Our lesson contains the account of the beginning of the great work of rebuilding the Temple. It is sad to find that through delays and indifference twenty years passed before it was finished, and then only on the arousing preaching of Haggai and Zechariah. They, however, began well, collecting material and laying the foundations by the fourteenth month after their return. Of this great and rejoicing day our lesson contains the brief account.
Looking carefully at the chapter, it will be seen that it contains two things, which, though related, are quite distinct—
1. The beginning of Worship.
2. The beginning of the Temple for Worship.
It will also be observed that the people very properly thought more of the spiritual worship than of the material building, and found that they could have the worship at once, though the Temple to worship in might be long unbuilt. The things we give to God, buildings, &c., must always come second, and have no value before Him until we have given Him ourselves. The true worshippers worship “in spirit and in truth;” but they properly accept all the helps of buildings and services. The key to the lesson may therefore be the sentence of praise spoken by Paul concerning the Macedonians (2Co_8:5). They “first gave their ownselves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.”
We have then this to set forth and illustrate, and we call it—
I. The true order. First the burnt offering, then the Temple. First the self-surrender, then the doing of duty. First the worship of the soul, then the work of the hands. The burnt offering was designed to represent the entire yielding of the worshipper to God. How suitable such an act was for the newly-restored people, just beginning their national life! They properly began with a very solemn consecration of the whole nation to God by burnt offering. Though we do not bring representative sacrifices now, we follow the example of these earnest-hearted men. Tell of the youth, going out into life from a country town, not knowing what temptations might befall him, and solemnly consecrating himself to God, and using David’s resolve, “I will go in the strength of the Lord God, I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only.” That was his offering of himself on the altar of burnt offering, and the right and noble beginning for his life. That youth lived to work at building in the world the great Temple of God. But in the second part of the lesson we have another event introduced—laying the foundations of the second Temple, and this brings before us—
II. The mingled feelings. In the worship all feelings were absorbed in solemn joy; but when the foundations were laid, such memories blended with hope, that tears fell plentifully, and the wail of sorrow almost drowned the shout of triumph. Laying foundations of a new temple or church is the occasion for joy; show how we decorate with flags, &c., and have music and song. And yet now-a-days, when a new church replaces an old one, we cannot wonder that very touching memories should crowd round the elder people, making them sorrow in the very midst of other joys. So it is through our life, songs and tears are blended. Joys and sorrows go hand in hand continually. And so it must be in a sin-stricken world until “God Himself shall wipe all tears from our eyes.” Impress the duty which surely comes to all who give themselves to the Lord “a living sacrifice.” They have work to do for God in the world, and whatever forms that work may take, it is really a part of the work of building a great temple in the earth for the glory of God; a great spiritual temple that needs all sorts of workers and work; and, when one day complete, will win from the universe triumphant songs, with which shall blend no sorrow and no tears. “The Temple of God shall be with men, and He shall dwell among them.” God’s temple among men we must help to build.—R. Tuck, B.A.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Notice four marks or features in the book of…
Ezr 3:11
Notice four marks or features in the book of Ezra.
Read full note →
I. The faithful people of God set up the altar on its bases. The foundation of the Temple was not yet laid; the walls were all down, the houses in confusion: that was the condition of Jerusalem. There was the altar standing solitary, there the Israelites offered the daily sacrifice, and thus they began on their return to build up the Church of God.
II. Having secured the altar and the daily sacrifice, they proposed to build the Temple, but not without great opposition, not without great misrepresentation as to what their intentions were.
For twenty years they laboured on, sometimes stopped, sometimes returning, but at last it was accomplished and finished, and the prophets who had encouraged them, Zechariah and Haggai, knew that though the Temple looked outwardly less glorious than the Temple of Solomon, it was really in the sight of God to be marked with a more precious glory, for that He who is the glory of all temples would come Himself to dwell in it.
III. Though there was an altar restored and a temple built, yet Ezra was miserable because the Israelites were not pure in heart themselves. He told the people that they must cut off their false alliances if they were to have God for their Friend. The third mark is the great moral reformation which Ezra wrought.
IV. Some thirteen years after, we find Ezra entering on another work: that of teaching the people. We find him with the Law, in a pulpit of wood with others, expounding, and reading, and giving the sense. It was a great doctrinal instruction to the people which he gave.
Bishop King, Two Sermons at Oxford, 1872.
Reference: Ezr 3:11-13.—J. Menzies, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 260.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v1 Ezr 3:1 - Ezr 3:13.
Ezra
ALTAR AND TEMPLE
Read full note →
Ezr 3:1 - Ezr 3:13.
What an opportunity of ‘picturesque’ writing the author of this book has missed by his silence about the incidents of the march across the dreary levels from Babylon to the verge of Syria! But the very silence is eloquent. It reveals the purpose of the book, which is to tell of the re-establishment of the Temple and its worship. No doubt the tone of the whole is somewhat prosaic, and indicative of an age in which the externals of worship bulked largely; but still the central point of the narrative was really the centre-point of the events. The austere simplicity of biblical history shows the real points of importance better than more artistic elaboration would do.
This passage has two main incidents-the renewal of the sacrifices, and the beginning of rebuilding the Temple.
The date given in Ezr 2:1 is significant. The first day of the seventh month was the commencement of the great festival of tabernacles, the most joyous feast of the year, crowded with reminiscences from the remote antiquity of the Exodus, and from the dedication of Solomon’s Temple. How long had passed since Cyrus’ decree had been issued we do not know, nor whether his ‘first year’ was reckoned by the same chronology as the Jewish year, of which we here arrive at the seventh month. But the journey across the desert must have taken some months, and the previous preparations could not have been suddenly got through, so that there can have been but a short time between the arrival in Judea and the gathering together ‘as one man to Jerusalem.’
There was barely interval enough for the returning exiles to take possession of their ancestral fields before they were called to leave them unguarded and hasten to the desolate city. Surely their glad and unanimous obedience to the summons, or, as it may even have been, their spontaneous assemblage unsummoned, is no small token of their ardour of devotion, even if they were somewhat slavishly tied to externals. It would take a good deal to draw a band of new settlers in our days to leave their lots and set to putting up a church before they had built themselves houses.
The leaders of the band of returned exiles demand a brief notice. They are Jeshua, or Joshua, and Zerubbabel. In Ezr 3:2 the ecclesiastical dignitary comes first, but in Ezr 3:8 the civil. Similarly in Ezr 2:2, Zerubbabel precedes Jeshua. In Haggai, the priest is pre-eminent; in Zechariah the prince. The truth seems to be that each was supreme in his own department, and that they understood each other cordially, or, Zechariah says, ‘the counsel of peace’ was ‘between them both.’ It is sometimes bad for the people when priests and rulers lay their heads together; but it is even worse when they pull different ways, and subjects are torn in two by conflicting obligations.
Jeshua was the grandson of Seraiah, the unfortunate high-priest whose eyes Nebuchadnezzar put out after the fall of Jerusalem. His son Jozadak succeeded to the dignity, though there could be no sacrifices in Babylon, and after him his son Jeshua. He cannot have been a young man at the date of the return; but age had not dimmed his enthusiasm, and the high-priest was where he ought to have been, in the forefront of the returning exiles. His name recalls the other Joshua, likewise a leader from captivity and the desert; and, if we appreciate the significance attached to names in Scripture, we shall scarcely suppose it accidental that these two, who had similar work to do, bore the same name as the solitary third, of whom they were pale shadows, the greater Joshua, who brings His people from bondage into His own land of peace, and builds the Temple.
Zerubbabel {‘Sown in Babylon’} belonged to a collateral branch of the royal family. The direct Davidic line through Solomon died with the wretched Zedekiah and Jeconiah, but the descendants of another son of David’ s, Nathan, still survived. Their representative was one Salathiel, who, on the failure of the direct line, was regarded as the ‘son of Jeconiah’ {1Ch 3:17}. He seems to have had no son, and Zerubbabel, who was really his nephew {1Ch 3:19}, was legally adopted as his son. In this makeshift fashion, some shadow of the ancient royalty still presided over the restored people. We see Zerubbabel better in Haggai and Zechariah than in Ezra, and can discern the outline of a strong, bold, prompt nature. He had a hard task, and he did it like a man. Patient, yet vigorous, glowing with enthusiasm, yet clear-eyed, self-forgetful, and brave, he has had scant justice done him, and ought to be a very much more familiar and honoured figure than he is. ‘Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.’ Great mountains only become plains before men of strong wills and fixed faith.
There is something very pathetic in the picture of the assembled people groping amid the ruins on the Temple hill, to find ‘the bases,’ the half-obliterated outlines, of the foundations of the old altar of burnt offerings. What memories of Araunah’s threshing-floor, and of the hovering angel of destruction, and of the glories of Solomon’s dedication, and of the long centuries during which the column of smoke had gone up continually from that spot, and of the tragical day when the fire was quenched, and of the fifty years of extinction, must have filled their hearts! What a conflict of gladness and sorrow must have troubled their spirits as the flame again shot upwards from the hearth of God, cold for so long!
But the reason for their so quickly rearing the altar is noteworthy. It was because ‘fear was upon them because of the people of the countries.’ The state of the Holy Land at the return must be clearly comprehended. Samaria and the central district were in the hands of bitter enemies. Across Jordan in the east, down on the Philistine plain in the west, and in the south where Edom bore sway, eager enemies sulkily watched the small beginnings of a movement which they were interested in thwarting. There was only the territory of Judah and Benjamin left free for the exiles, and they had reason for their fears; for their neighbours knew that if restitution was to be the order of the day, they would have to disgorge a good deal. What was the defence against such foes which these frightened men thought most impregnable? That altar!
No doubt, much superstition mingled with their religion. Haggai leaves us under no illusions as to their moral and spiritual condition. They were no patterns of devoutness or of morality. But still, what they did carries an eternal truth; and they were reverting to the original terms of Israel’s tenure of their land when they acted on the conviction that their worship of Jehovah according to His commandment was their surest way of finding shelter from all their enemies. There are differences plain enough between their condition and ours; but it is as true for us as ever it was for them, that our safety is in God, and that, if we want to find shelter from impending dangers, we shall be wiser to betake ourselves to the altar and sit suppliant there than to make defences for ourselves. The ruined Jerusalem was better guarded by that altar than if its fallen walls had been rebuilt.
The whole ritual was restored, as the narrative tells with obvious satisfaction in the enumeration. To us this punctilious attention to the minutiae of sacrificial worship sounds trivial. But we equally err if we try to bring such externalities into the worship of the Christian Church, and if we are blind to their worth at an earlier stage.
There cannot be a temple without an altar, but there may be an altar without a temple. God meets men at the place of sacrifice, even though there be no house for His name. The order of events here teaches us what is essential for communion with God. It is the altar. Sacrifice laid there is accepted, whether it stand on a bare hill-top, or have round it the courts of the Lord’s house.
The second part of the passage narrates the laying of the foundations of the Temple. There had been contracts entered into with masons and carpenters, and arrangements made with the Phoenicians for timber, as soon as the exiles had returned; but of course some time elapsed before the stone and timber were sufficient to make a beginning with. Note in Ezr 3:7 the reference to Cyrus’ grant as enabling the people to get these stores together. Whether the whole preparations, or only the transport of cedar wood, is intended to be traced to the influence of that decree, there seems to be a tacit contrast, in the writer’s mind, with the glorious days when no heathen king had to be consulted, and Hiram and Solomon worked together like brothers. Now, so fallen are we, that Tyre and Sidon will not look at us unless we bring Cyru’s rescript in our hands!
If the ‘years’ in Ezr 3:1 and Ezr 3:8 are calculated from the same beginning, some seven months were spent in preparation, and then the foundation was laid. Two things are noted-the humble attempt at making some kind of a display on the occasion, and the conflict of feeling in the onlookers. They had managed to get some copies of the prescribed vestments; and the narrator emphasises the fact that the priests were ‘in their apparel,’ and that the Levites had cymbals, so that some approach to the pomp of Solomon’s dedication was possible. They did their best to adhere to the ancient prescriptions, and it was no mere narrow love of ritual that influenced them. However we may breathe a freer air of worship, we cannot but sympathise with that earnest attempt to do everything ‘according to the order of David king of Israel.’ Not only punctiliousness as to ritual, but the magnetism of glorious memories, prescribed the reproduction of that past. Rites long proscribed become very sacred, and the downtrodden successors of mighty men will cling with firm grasp to what the greater fathers did.
The ancient strain which still rings from Christian lips, and bids fair to be as eternal as the mercies which it hymns, rose with strange pathos from the lips of the crowd on the desolate Temple mountain, ringed about by the waste solitudes of the city: ‘For He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever toward Israel.’ It needed some faith to sing that song then, even with the glow of return upon them. What of all the weary years? What of the empty homesteads, and the surrounding enemies, and the brethren still in Babylon? No doubt some at least of the rejoicing multitude had learned what the captivity was meant to teach, and had come to bless God, both for the long years of exile, which had burned away much dross, and for the incomplete work of restoration, surrounded though they were with foes, and little as was their strength to fight. The trustful heart finds occasion for unmingled praise in the most mingled cup of joy and sorrow.
There can have been very few in that crowd who had seen the former Temple, and their memories of its splendour must have been very dim. But partly remembrance and partly hearsay made the contrast of the past glories and the present poverty painful. Hence that pathetic and profoundly significant incident of the blended shouts of the young and tears of the old. One can fancy that each sound jarred on the ears of those who uttered the other. But each was wholly natural to the years of the two classes. Sad memories gather, like evening mists, round aged lives, and the temptation of the old is unduly to exalt the past, and unduly to depreciate the present. Welcoming shouts for the new befit young lips, and they care little about the ruins that have to be carted off the ground for the foundations of the temple which they are to have a hand in building. However imperfect, it is better to them than the old house where the fathers worshipped.
But each class should try to understand the other’s feelings. The friends of the old should not give a churlish welcome to the new, nor those of the new forget the old. It is hard to blend the two, either in individual life or in a wider sphere of thought or act. The seniors think the juniors revolutionary and irreverent; the juniors think the seniors fossils. It is possible to unite the shout of joy and the weeping. Unless a spirit of reverent regard for the past presides over the progressive movements of this or any day, they will not lay a solid foundation for the temple of the future. We want the old and the young to work side by side, if the work is to last and the sanctuary is to be ample enough to embrace all shades of character and tendencies of thought. If either the grey beards of Solomon’s court or the hot heads of Rehoboam’s get the reins in their hands, they will upset the chariot. That mingled sound of weeping and joy from the Temple hill tells a more excellent way.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Refounding of the Temple
The Refounding of the Temple
1. The seventh month] i.e. Sept.-Oct. of (probably) 537 b.c.
Read full note →
2. Jeshua] called in Hag_1:1; 'Joshua.' His father Jozadak had been carried into exile by Nebuchadnezzar (1Ch_6:15). Son of Shealtiel] In 1Ch_3:19; Zerubbabel is called the son of Pedaiah, the brother of Shealtiel (Salathiel). The discrepancy may be explained by the suppositions (a) that he was the real son of Pedaiah and the legal son of Shealtiel (Pedaiah having married Shealtiel's widow, according to the law of Deu_25:5.), (b) that he was grandson of Shealtiel and son of Pedaiah, (c) that he was grandson of both. But LXX of 1Ch_3:19 makes him the son of Shealtiel (Salathiel), in agreement with the evidence of this passage and of Hag_1:1.
Builded the altar] Possibly an effort had for a time been made to continue the worship of the Lord on the site of the Temple after its destruction (see Jer_41:5); but the altar erected had apparently been overthrown. The Jews now proceeded to restore it, in order to have the privilege of public worship whilst the Temple was in course of reconstruction. As it is.. Moses] Special sacrifices were enjoined for the 1st day of the 7th month (Num_29:1-6).
3. Fear] i.e. of interruption from the enemy.
4. The feast of tabernacles] This began on the 15th day of the 7th month, and lasted 7 days, followed by a solemn assembly on the 8th day: Num_29:12.
5. Both of] better, 'and the offerings of,: see Numbers 28, 29.
7. And meat and drink, etc] cp. 1Ki_5:6-11 regarding Solomon's Temple. To the sea of Joppa] RV 'to the sea, unto Joppa': cp. 2Ch_2:16.
8. In the second year] probably 536 b.c. The second month would correspond to April-May.
9. Jeshua] not the 'Jeshua' of Ezr_3:8 (who was high priest), but a Levite (Ezr_2:40).
10. The ordinance of David] This is set forth in 1Ch_25:1; 1Ch_16:4-6.
11. Together] RV 'one to another': i. e. antiphonally.
12. Wept] Though the younger among the people were filled with hope, now that the house of the Lord was once more established in their midst, the older, who could remember the earlier Temple, destroyed about 50 years before, wept at the contrast to it which was presented by the meanness of the new building, and the inadequate resources available for its completion: cp. Hag_2:3; Zec_4:10.
Some scholars have questioned whether the foundations of the Temple were really laid by Zerubbabel in the second year after the Return, as related in Ezr_3:8-10, on the ground that Haggai and Zechariah seem to imply that it was not begun until the 2nd year of Darius Hystaspis (520 b.c.): see Hag_2:15; Zec_8:9. But the language of the prophets is sufficiently explained if it is assumed that only a commencement was made in 536, that the progress of the work was very soon suspended, and that the renewal of it in 520 was practically a fresh start, as indeed the book of Ezra itself declares it to have been (Ezr_5:2).
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 6 seventh month
seventh month
i.e. October; also Ezr 3:6.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The altar set up (Ezr 3:1-3)
CHAPTER 3
1. The altar set up (Ezr 3:1-3)
Read full note →
2. The feast of tabernacles celebrated (Ezr 3:4)
3. The sacrifices brought (Ezr 3:5-7)
4. The foundation of the temple laid (Ezr 3:8-13)
Ezr 3:1-3. How long the journey lasted is not stated. The previous chapter in its close states that all dwelt in their cities--”and all Israel in their cities.” The significant seventh month (Tishri) with its holy convocation (feast of trumpets, day of atonement and feast of tabernacles) having come, the remnant gathered “as one man to Jerusalem.” It was the time for such a general gathering, for the feast of trumpets is typical of the restoration of Israel, a restoration which was not fulfilled in the return of this remnant; only foreshadowing it. This gathering “as one man to Jerusalem” reminds us of that other gathering in Jerusalem centuries later “when they were all with one accord in one place” (Act 2:1) and the Holy Spirit came down from heaven and all were baptized into one body, the Church. There is only one body, and all true believers are put into that body by the same Spirit. This oneness was manifested in the beginning of the church on earth (Act 2:41-47; Act 4:23; Act 4:32). While its outward expression is lost, yet still the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace can be kept. (Sectarianism is a denial of that unity.) Whenever the Spirit of God is permitted to manifest His power unhindered among God’s people, the result is always in bringing them together. The Spirit of God never divides, but unites.
Then Jeshua the high priest with his brethren priests, also Zerubbabel and his brethren, built the altar of the God of Israel, to be enabled to bring the burnt offerings as commanded in the law. Obedience to the Word of God was their first concern. Fear was also upon them because of the people of those countries, therefore they felt the need of protection. They knew Jehovah is the Shield and the Refuge of His trusting people. First they were obedient to His Word by setting up the altar for worship and approach to God in the appointed way, and then they trusted Him that He would keep them in the midst of their enemies. The altar and the burnt offerings morning and evening are typical of Christ, who is the altar and the burnt offering. Whenever the Spirit of God sends a true recovery and revival He will make the Lord Jesus Christ and His blessed finished work the first thing. He leads His people together, and then in true worship around the Person of the Lord. This worship centers for the true Church in the Lord’s Supper, that precious feast of remembrance.
Ezr 3:4. Next they kept the feast of tabernacles--as it is written (Lev 23:33-36). They manifested a holy zeal in rendering a complete obedience to the law of their fathers. The feast of tabernacles typifies the consummation when the kingdom has come and the full harvest. Another remnant of Israel will return in the future, under different circumstances, and then when Messiah, the King, is in the midst of His people, the feast will find its fulfillment. We learn from this how exact the returned exiles were to be in obedience to the Word of God. Without having the house to worship in, destitute of almost everything, they earnestly tried to please God by leaving the ways of Babylon and submitting to the Word of God. This is another mark of the power and energy of the Spirit of God in His gracious work or recovery; He leads back to the Word of God and gives power to walk in obedience.
Ezr 3:5-7. It was a complete return to the law of God. Continual burnt offerings were offered, new moons and the set feasts of Jehovah were kept. Then the spirit of sacrifice was also manifested--they offered a free-will offering unto the LORD. And though the foundation of the temple was not yet laid, they gave money to the masons and to the carpenters in anticipation of the laying of the foundation and building of the temple. Meat, drink and oil were given to them of Zidon and Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa. Permission had been given to do this by King Cyrus.
Ezr 3:8-13. We doubt not that their faith also was tested in the beginning, for nine months passed by before the work began. It was in the second month of the second year after their arrival in Jerusalem, when the Levites from twenty years and upward were appointed by Zerubbabel and Jeshua “to set forward the work of the house of the LORD.” The leaders were foremost in the work, and associated the people with themselves in the blessed enterprise. They were “laborers together” (1Co 3:9). They took hold of the work in earnest. The order in this chapter is the building of the altar-worship; obedience to the Word of God, and then whole-souled and united service for the Lord. This is the order still for God’s people. And in that work God’s order was not ignored but conscientiously followed, for the Levites are mentioned first (Numbers 4; 1Ch 23:24). In all things they adhered strictly to the Word of God. And when the work was actually begun a holy enthusiasm took hold of them, and all the people praised the LORD with a great shout. It was a great celebration, led by the priests in their apparel, with trumpets. Next came the sons of Asaph with cymbals. Their praise was after the ordinance of David, King of Israel. They sang together by courses in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD “because He is good, for His mercy endureth forever toward Israel.” Then all the people shouted with a great shout. The Spirit of praise took hold upon their hearts. They celebrated the goodness and mercy of Jehovah towards His people, which are endless. But there were also tears. The old men, Priests and Levites, and others who still remembered the Solomonic temple in its great beauty, wept with a loud voice; while others shouted aloud for joy. The voice of the shouting and of the weeping was so mingled together that it could not be discerned. The tears were occasioned by remembering the glories of the former days, which had passed away.
Joy was in His presence and acceptable. Tears confessed the truth and testified a just sense of what God had been for His people, and of the blessing they had once enjoyed under His hand. Tears recognized, alas! that which the people of God had been for God; and these tears were acceptable to Him. The weeping could not be discerned from the shout of joy; this was a truthful result, natural and sad, yet becoming in the presence of God. For He rejoices in the joy of His people, and He understands their tears. It was, indeed, a true expression of the state of things (Synopsis of the Bible).
And when we too remember the former things and present conditions in the ruin and confusion all around us in that which professes His Name, we also weep. And yet we shout and praise Him when we remember His mercy, which endureth forever.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Worship Resumed
The Worship Resumed
v. 1. And when the seventh month was come, namely, that of the church-year, in which the new year of the civil year, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles were celebrated,and the children of Israel were in the cities, when they had just about gotten settled in the homes assigned to them, the people, filled with zeal for the ancient worship, gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem, all inspired with the same idea and purpose.
Read full note →
v. 2. Then stood up Jeshua (or Joshua), the son of Jozadak, and his brethren, the priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the governor of the province, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, the immediate and most urgent necessity in the restoration of the ancient worship, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the Law of Moses, the man of God.
v. 3. And they set the altar upon his bases, erecting it upon its old foundations as quickly as possible; for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries, those of the neighboring countries, especially also in what was known as Samaria, where the heathen element was strong, who might even now venture a hostile interruption. And they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord, even burnt offerings morning and evening, Num 28:3-4.
v. 4. They kept also the Feast of Tabernacles, whose celebration began on the fifteenth of the month, as it is written, Exo 23:16, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, Num 29:12-40, as the duty of every day required, for the number of sacrifices prescribed for the various days of the festival was not the same;
v. 5. and afterward offered the continual burnt offering, Exo 29:38-42, the one lamb of the morning and of the evening worship, both of the new moons and of all the set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, Numbers 28, 29, and of every one that willingly offered a free-will offering unto the Lord, these words including all other sacrifices, also those of vows.
v. 6. From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord, with the new moon of the civil year. But the foundation of the Temple of the Lord was not yet laid, the courts may have been free of the débris and ruins, but the Sanctuary had not yet been begun.
v. 7. They gave money also unto the masons and to the carpenters, the workmen who prepared the hewed stones and the timber for the building; and meat and drink and oil unto them of Zidon and to them of Tyre to bring cedar-trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, floating down the logs from some Phenician port to Joppa, whence they could be hauled to Jerusalem, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus, king of Persia, with whose special permission they were rebuilding the Temple, Ezr 1:3. That is the greatest necessity of any congregation, also in the New Testament, to assemble for the worship of the Lord, to hear and learn His Word.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 6 the seventh month
the seventh month
This is the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. It is at the end of the dry season and the beginning of the early rain season. It is during the last part of September and the first part of October on Western calendars. (See: Hebrew Months and Ordinal Numbers)
Read full note →
as one man
One man is in only one place and has only one purpose. AT: "for one purpose" (See: Simile)
Jeshua
This is the name of a man. Translate the same as in Esra 2:36.
Shealtiel
This is the name of a man. (See: How to Translate Names)
rose up and built
Standing up is a metaphor for beginning to act. AT: "began to act and built" (See: Metaphor)
as it is written in the law of Moses
This can be translated in active form. You may need to make explicit whom and what Yahweh had commanded. AT: "as Yahweh had commanded them to do in the law of Moses" (See: Active or Passive and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
people group
Israel
Jerusalem
brother
priest
Zerubbabel
altar
God
burnt offering
command
law
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1–5 3:1–4:5 After resettling in various towns in Judah, the…
3:1–4:5 After resettling in various towns in Judah, the community turned to restoring the worship of God at Jerusalem. They quickly rebuilt the altar and began regular sacrifices in time to celebrate the Jewish festivals (3:4), and then they began the more difficult task of rebuilding the Temple itself (3:8). Soon they faced opposition from local foreigners (4:1-5).
3:1 Festivals in early autumn (literally in the seventh month) included the Festival of Trumpets (see Lev 23:23-25), the Day of Atonement (see Lev 16), and the Festival of Shelters (see Lev 23:34-36).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.