Ezra 3 commentary

EZRA 3 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
Ezra 3
1
When the seventh month came and the Israelites
had settled in their towns, the people assembled as
one man in Jerusalem.
BAR ES, "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.
CLARKE, "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.
GILL, "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:
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.
HE RY, "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.
JAMISO , "Ezr_3:1-13. The Altar set up.
when the seventh month was come — The departure of the returning exiles from
Babylon took place in the spring. For some time after their arrival they were occupied in
the necessary work of rearing habitations to themselves amid the ruins of Jerusalem and
its neighborhood. This preliminary work being completed, they addressed themselves to
rebuild the altar of burnt offering. As the seventh month of the sacred year was at hand -
corresponding to the latter end of our September - when the feast of tabernacles (Lev_
23:34) fell to be observed, they resolved to celebrate that religious festival, just as if the
temple had been fully restored.
K&D, "The building of the altar, the restoration of the daily sacrifice, and the
celebration of the feast of tabernacles. - Ezr_3:1 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. The year is not stated, but the year in which they returned from
Babylon is intended, as appears from Ezr_3:8, which tells us that the foundations of the
temple were laid in the second month of the second year of their return. The words, ”and
the children of Israel were in the cities,” are a circumstantial clause referring to Ezr_
2:70, and serving to elucidate what follows. From the cities, in which each had settled in
his own (Ezr_2:1), the people came to Jerusalem as one man, i.e., not entirely
(Bertheau), but unanimously (ᆇµοθυµαδόν, 1 Esdr. 5:46); comp. Neh_8:1; Jdg_20:1.
(Note: The more precise statement of 1 Esdr. 5:46, εᅶς τᆵ εᆒρύχωρον τοሞ πρώτου
πυλራνος τοሞ πρᆵς τሀ ᅊνατολሀ, according to which Bertheau insists upon correcting the
text of Ezra, is an arbitrary addition on the part of the author of this apocryphal
book, and derived from Neh_8:1.)
BE SO , ". 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, Ezra 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.
LA GE, "Ezra 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 Ezra 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 verse6 that they did not wait until the feast of tabernacles, the 15 th
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, 1 Esdras 5:46, thence also as much as to say “entirely” (Berth.).
For the verbal repetition of this verse in ehemiah 7:73, and Ezra 8:1, where an
entirely different event was thereby to be introduced, and for the additional clause,
which Esdras improperly has appended here, after ehemiah 8:1, see note on
ehemiah 8:1.
COFFMA , "THE ALTAR ERECTED;
THE FOU DATIO OF THE TEMPLE LAID; A D THE PEOPLE'S
RESPO SE;
THE ALTAR ERECTED AT ITS OLD PLACE
"And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the
cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man in 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 base; for fear was upon them because of the peoples of the
countries: and they offered burnt-offerings thereon unto Jehovah, 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 set feasts of Jehovah that
were consecrated, and of every one that offered a freewill-offering unto Jehovah."
"And when the seventh month was come" (Ezra 3:1). "This was the month Tishri,
corresponding to our September-October."[1] "This was the first day of the month
(Ezra 3:6), The Feast of Trumpets ( umbers 29:1-6), a foreshadowing of Israel's
final regathering. Assuming a two-year delay in the beginning of the journey from
Babylon after Cyrus' decree, this would have been September 25,536 B.C. The
laying of the temple foundation the following spring would thus have brought to an
official close the seventy-year captivity prophesied by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:1-12),
from 605 to 535 B.C.[2]
"And builded the altar of God" (Ezra 3:2). "This altar was hastily constructed in
less than a day (Ezra 3:6) of field stones in accordance with the earliest prescriptions
for altars in the law of Moses (Exodus 2:25)."[3]
Scholars are in disagreement over the date of the foundation's being laid because
"Both Haggai and Zechariah date the beginning of the building activity of
Zerubbabel in the second year of Darius I (520 B.C.)." The writings of Josephus,
however, are ambiguous on this point, for he placed the laying of the foundation in
the period prior to the hostility of the Samaritans, or at least, at the very beginning
of it, but went on to mention it later as taking place in the reign of Darius I.[4] Since
the "foundation" of any building may be: (1) the excavated earth where it will be
constructed; (2) the basic masonry; or (3) the support of the whole structure on top
of the masonry, there can be no criticism of the two mentions of the foundation as
being laid in the second year of Israel's return while Cyrus was still living, and
again in the reign of Darius Hystaspes (Darius I), who was the second ruler after
Cyrus' death. Critics will have to come up with something harder to explain than
this in order to establish what some of them call the "unhistorical" statements in
Ezra.
<MO O>
The Persian Rulers from 559-358 B.C.[5]
559-530 Cyrus
530-522 Cambyses
522-486 Darius I (Hystaspes)
486-465 Xerxes I (Ahashuerus)

465-424 Artaxerxes (Longimanus)
424-423 Xerxes II
423-404 Darius II ( othus)
404-358 Artaxerxes (Mnemon)SIZE>MO O>
"And they kept the feast of tabernacles, as it is written" (Ezra 3:4). This feast was
kept on the fifteenth of Tishri (See Leviticus 23:34-42 and related passages of the
law of Moses). "The Hebrew name of it was Sukkoth (Booths), a reference to the
way in which the Israelites dwelt in booths during their journey through the
wilderness."[6] The day of Atonement was also held on the tenth day of this month;
but no mention of it is made here. The observance of that solemn occasion would
have to wait upon the building of the second temple.
"As it is written" (Ezra 3:4). The inspired author is making it clear that Israel, upon
their return to Palestine, were determined to do everything exactly according to the
instructions in the law of Moses.
"They kept ... all the set feasts of Jehovah" (Ezra 3:5). These were the Passover, the
Pentecost (Feast of Weeks) and Tabernacles.
COKE, "Ver. 1. When the seventh month was come— The seventh month, called
Tizri, answers in part to our September and October. The first day of the month
Tizri was the beginning of the Jewish civil year; and on it was the feast of trumpets,
which lasted for two days, when all labour and business was suspended; and while
sacrifices were in use, the Jews offered, in the name of the whole nation, a solemn
holocaust of a calf, two rams, and seven lambs, all of the same year, together with
the flour and wine which usually accompanied such sacrifices; but, instead of that,
they now go to the synagogue, where they repeat several prayers and benedictions;
and, having very solemnly taken the Pentateuch out of the chest, and read to five
persons the sacrifice which used to be performed on that day, they sound twenty
times upon a horn, sometimes very low, sometimes very loud; and this, they say,
makes them think of the judgments of God, to intimidate sinners, and put them
upon repentance. See Calmet, and Leviticus 23:24.
CO STABLE, "The erection of the altar3:1-6
The text does not record exactly when the exiles arrived in Jerusalem, but it was
probably sometime in537 B.C. since Cyrus issued his decree in538 B.C. The
"seventh month" ( Ezra 3:1) of the Jew"s sacred calendar was Tishri (late
September through early October). [ ote: See the appendix at the end of these notes
for the Hebrew Calendar.] The people assembled in Jerusalem then to erect the
altar of burnt offerings, the centerpiece of their worship (cf. Genesis 12:7). The
seventh month was especially important on the Jewish sacred calendar because in it

the Jews celebrated three of their annual festivals. These were the Feast of
Trumpets on Tishri1 , the Day of Atonement on Tishri10 , and the Feast of Booths
(Tabernacles) on Tishri15-22 ( Leviticus 23:24-25; Leviticus 27:27-32; Leviticus
27:34-34). Tishri was the first month of the Jewish civil calendar, and the Feast of
Trumpets was a kind of ew Year celebration. It was on this day that the returned
exiles began to offer sacrifices on their altar again ( Ezra 3:6).
In presenting burnt offerings to God even before the foundation of the temple was
in place, the Jews showed their earnest desire to be living sacrifices to Him. That is
what those sacrifices symbolized ( Leviticus 1; cf. Romans 12:1). [ ote: See Fredrick
C. Holmgren, Israel Alive Again, p22.] In Revelation -establishing their ancient
worship, these Jews, under the leadership of Jeshua and Zerubbabel, were careful
to follow the Law of Moses ( Ezra 3:2; cf. Exodus 27:1-8; Exodus 38:1-7;
Deuteronomy 12:4-14). The absence of reference to Sheshbazzar suggests that he
may have died. In any case he passed off the scene.
"From now on, Israel would be viewed (as in the theology of the Chronicler) as that
remnant of Judah which had rallied around the law. He would be a member of
Israel (i.e, a Jew) who assumed the burden of that law.
"The cult was regulated and supported by the law; to be moral and pious was to
keep the law; the grounds of future hope lay in obedience to the law. It was this
consistent stress on the law which imparted to Judaism its distinctive character."
[ ote: Bright, p416.]
"Judaism" as a system of worship began during the Babylonian Captivity when the
Israelites had no temple, functioning priesthood, or kings.
"Ezra"s work was to reorganize the Jewish community about the law." [ ote: Ibid,
p374.]
The "law" in view is the Mosaic Law. One reason the people began offering
sacrifices again was their fear of their neighbors ( Ezra 3:2). They called on the
Lord to protect them. ormally prayers for the Lord"s blessing on His people
accompanied the daily morning and evening sacrifices (cf. Exodus 29:38-42;
umbers 28:3-8).
"Courage is not lack of fear; it is the will to act in spite of fear." [ ote: Breneman,
p91.]
PETT, "Verses 1-7
The First Observance Of The Feasts Of The Seventh Month After The Return (Ezra
3:1-7).
It is probable that this is the first of the major feasts that the arrivees had been in a
position to celebrate. (Had they been able to observe a Passover it would surely have
been mentioned). Thus it occurred possibly in the seventh month in the first year of

Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 1:1), or alternately in the seventh month in the year in
which they arrived. But the mention of the seventh month is not for dating
purposes. It is in order to explain why they now acted as they did. For ‘the seventh
month’ was in Israel a month of feasts. First would come the feast of trumpets on
the first day of the month, then the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of the month
(although to be fully celebrated that required the Temple and a Holy of Holies), and
then the feast of Tabernacles, which continued for seven days, commencing on the
fifteenth day of the month (see Leviticus 23:23-36).
Ezra 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.’
The gathering of the people to Jerusalem would have been seen as one more
evidence that Israel was now continuing as of old. It indicated that the assembly of
the twelve tribes was once more taking place. We can therefore imagine with what
joy they gathered. It would have made them feel an affinity with the people of Israel
at the time of the Conquest, who would also have experienced a similar ‘first time’,
when they too were finally established ‘in their cities’. It would appear from this
that this was the first opportunity for them to do this subsequent to their arrival in
the land.
The mention of ‘the seventh month’ is not for the purpose of dating the passage, but
because it would arouse a chord in every reader’s heart in view of its connection
with the Feasts of that month. They would recognise that the people had been
eagerly awaiting ‘the seventh month.’ ‘When the seventh month was come -- the
people gathered themselves together’ does not necessarily mean that they awaited
the seventh month before commencing preparations. The point is that the seventh
month saw them all gathered in Jerusalem ready for the feasts to begin.
PULPIT, "RESTORATIO OF THE ALTAR (Ezra 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 (2 Kings 16:14; 2
Chronicles 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 verse 6).
Ezra 3:1

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 (Le
23:24), which was followed on the tenth day by the solemn day of atonement (ibid.
verse 27; comp. Le 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 (Exodus 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 (comp. 20:1, 20:8;
2 Samuel 19:14).
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, "THE EW TEMPLE
Ezra 2:68-70; Ezra 3:1-13
U LIKE the historian of the exodus from Egypt, our chronicler gives no account of
adventures of the pilgrims on the road to Palestine, although much of their way led
them through a wild and difficult country. So huge a caravan as that which
accompanied Zerubbabel must have taken several months to cover the eight
hundred miles between Babylon and Jerusalem; for even Ezra with his smaller
company spent four months on their journey. [Ezra 7:8-9] A dreary desert stretched
over the vast space between the land of exile and the old home of the Jews among
the mountains of the West; and here the commissariat would tax the resources of
the ablest organisers. It is possible that the difficulties of the desert were
circumvented in the most prosaic manner-by simply avoiding this barren, waterless
region, and taking a long sweep round by the north of Syria. Passing over the
pilgrimage, which afforded him no topics of interest, without a word of comment,
the chronicler plants us at once in the midst of the busy scenes at Jerusalem, where
we see the returned exiles, at length arrived at the end of their tedious journey,
preparing to accomplish the one purpose of their expedition.
The first step was to provide the means for building the temple, and contributions
were made for this object by all classes of the community-as we gather from the
more complete account in ehemiah [ ehemiah 7:70-72] -from the prince and the
aristocracy to the general public, for it was to be a united work. And yet it is implied
by the narrative that many had no share in it. These people may have been poor
originally or impoverished by their journey, and not at all deficient in generosity or
lacking in faith. Still we often meet with those who have enough enthusiasm to
applaud a good work and yet not enough to make any sacrifice in promoting it. It is
expressly stated that the gifts were offered freely. o tax was imposed by the
authorities; but there was no backwardness on the part of the actual donors, who

were impelled by a glowing devotion to open their purses without stint. Lastly, those
who contributed did so "after their ability." This is the true "proportionate giving."
For all to give an equal sum is impossible unless the poll-tax is to be fixed at a
miserable minimum. Even for all to give the same proportion is unjust. There are
poor men who ought not to sacrifice a tenth of what they receive; there are rich men
who will be guilty of unfaithfulness to their stewardship if they do not devote far
more than this fraction of their vast revenues to the service of God and their fellow-
men. It would be reasonable for some of the latter only to reserve the tithe for their
own use and to give away nine-tenths of their income, for even then they would not
be giving "after their ability."
After the preliminary step of collecting the contributions, the pilgrims proceed to
the actual work they have in hand. In this they are heartily united; they gather
themselves together "as one man" in a great assembly, which, if we may trust the
account in Esdras, is held in an open space by the first gate towards the east, {RAPC
1 Esdras 5:47} and therefore close to the site of the old temple, almost among its
very ruins. The unity of spirit and the harmony of action which characterise the
commencement of the work are good auguries of its success. This is to be a popular
undertaking. Sanctioned by Cyrus, promoted by the aristocracy, it is to be carried
out with the full co-operation of the multitude. The first temple had been the work
of a king; the second is to be the work of a people. The nation had been dazzled by
the splendour of Solomon’s court, and had basked in its rays so that the after-glow
of them lingered in the memories of ages even down to the time of our Lord.
[Matthew 6:29] But there was a healthier spirit in the humbler work of the returned
exiles, when, forced to dispense with the king they would gladly have accepted, they
undertook the task of building the new temple themselves.
In the centre of the mosque known as the "Dome of the Rock" there is a crag with
the well-worn remains of steps leading up to the top of it, and with channels cut in
its surface. This has been identified by recent explorers as the site of the great Altar
of Burnt-offerings. It is on the very crest of Mount Moriah. Formerly it was thought
that it was the site of the inmost shrine of the temple, known as "The Holy of
Holies," but the new view, which seems to be fairly established, gives an unexpected
prominence to the altar. This rude square structure of unhewn stone was the most
elevated and conspicuous object in the temple. The altar was to Judaism what the
cross is to Christianity. Both for us and for the Jews what is most vital and precious
in religion is the dark mystery of a sacrifice. The first work of the temple-builders
was to set up the altar again on its old foundation. Before a stone of the temple was
laid, the smoke of sacrificial fires might be seen ascending to heaven from the
highest crag of Moriah. For fifty years all sacrifices had ceased. ow with haste, in
fear of hindrance from jealous neighbours, means were provided to re-establish
them before any attempt was made to rebuild the temple. It is not quite easy to see
what the writer means when, after saying "And they set the altar upon his bases,"
he adds, "for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries." The
suggestion that the phrase may be varied so as to mean that the awe which this
religious work inspired in the heathen neighbours prevented them from molesting it
is far-fetched and improbable. or is it likely that the writer intends to convey the

idea that the Jews hastened the building of the altar as a sort of Palladium, trusting
that its sacrifices would protect them in case of invasion, for this is to attribute too
low and materialistic a character to their religion. More reasonable is the
explanation that they hastened the work because they feared that their neighbours
might either hinder it or wish to have a share in it-an equally objectionable thing, as
subsequent events showed.
The chronicler distinctly states that the sacrifices which were now offered, as well as
the festivals which were established later, were all designed to meet the
requirements of the law of Moses-that everything might be done "as it is written in
the law of Moses the man of God." This statement does not throw much light on the
history of the Pentateuch. We know that that work was not yet in the hands of the
Jews at Jerusalem, because this was nearly eighty years before Ezra introduced it.
The sentence suggests that according to the chronicler some law bearing the name of
Moses was known to the first body of returned exiles. We need not regard that
suggestion as a reflection from later years. Deuteronomy may have been the law
referred to; or it may have been some rubric of traditional usages in the possession
of the priests.
Meanwhile two facts of importance come out here - first, that the method of worship
adopted by the returned exiles was a revival of ancient customs, a return to the old
ways, not an innovation of their own, and second, that this restoration was in
careful obedience to the known will of God. Here we have the root idea of the
Torah. It announces that God has revealed His will, and it implies that the service of
God can only be acceptable when it is in harmony with the will of God. The
prophets taught that obedience was better than sacrifice. The priests held that
sacrifice itself was a part of obedience. With both the primary requisite was
obedience-as it is the primary requisite in all religion.
The particular kind of sacrifice offered on the great altar was the burnt-offering.
ow we do occasionally meet with expiatory ideas in connection with this sacrifice;
but unquestionably the principal conception attached to the burnt-offering in
distinction from the sin-offering, was the idea of self-dedication on the part of the
worshipper. Thus the Jews re-consecrated themselves to God by the solemn
ceremony of sacrifice, and they kept up the thought of renewed consecration by the
regular repetition of the burnt-offering. It is difficult for us to enter into the feelings
of the people who practised so antique a cult, even to them archaic in its ceremonies,
and dimly suggestive of primitive rites that had their origin in far-off barbaric
times. But one thing is clear, shining as with letters of awful fire against the black
clouds of smoke that hang over the altar. This sacrifice was always a "whole
offering." As it was being completely consumed in the flames before their very eyes,
the worshippers would see a vivid representation of the tremendous truth that the
most perfect sacrifice is death-nay, that it is even more than death, that it is absolute
self-effacement in total and unreserved surrender to God.
Various rites follow the great central sacrifice of the burnt-offering, ushered in by
the most joyous festival of the year, the Feast of Tabernacles, when the people

scatter themselves over the hills round Jerusalem under the shade of extemporised
bowers made out of the leafy boughs of trees, and celebrate the goodness of God in
the final and richest harvest, the vintage. Then come ew Moon and the other
festivals that stud the calendar with sacred dates and make the Jewish year a round
of glad festivities.
Thus, we see, the full establishment of religious services precedes the building of the
temple. A weighty truth is enshrined in this apparently incongruous fact. The
worship itself is felt to be more important than the house in which it is to be
celebrated. That truth should be even more apparent to us who have read the great
words of Jesus uttered by Jacob’s well, "The hour cometh when neither in this
mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father when the true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit and truth." [John 4:21; John 4:23] How vain then
is it to treat the erection of churches as though it were the promotion of a revival of
religion! As surely as the empty sea-shell tossed up on the beach can never secrete a
living organism to inhabit it, a mere building-whether it be the most gorgeous
cathedral or the plainest village meeting-house-will never induce a living spirit of
worship to dwell in its cold desolation. Every true religious revival begins in the
spiritual sphere and finds its place of worship where it may-in the rustic barn or on
the hillside-if no more seemly home can be provided for it, because its real temple is
the humble and contrite heart.
Still the design of building the temple at Jerusalem was kept constantly in view by
the pilgrims. Accordingly it was necessary to purchase materials, and in particular
the fragrant cedar wood from the distant forests of Lebanon. These famous forests
were still in the possession of the Phoenicians, for Cyrus had allowed a local
autonomy to the busy trading people on the northern seaboard. So, in spite of the
king’s favour, it was requisite for the Jews to pay the full price for the costly timber.
ow, in disbursing the original funds brought up from Babylon, it would seem that
the whole of this money was expended in labour, in paying the wages of masons and
carpenters. Therefore the Jews had to export agricultural products-such as corn,
wine, and olive oil-in exchange for the imports of timber they received from the
Phoenicians. The question at once arises, how did they come to be possessed of these
fruits of the soil? The answer is supplied by a chronological remark in our
narrative. It was in the second year of their residence in Jerusalem and its
neighbourhood that the Jews commenced the actual building of their temple. They
had first patiently cleared, ploughed, and sown the neglected fields, trimmed and
trained the vines, and tended the olive gardens, so that they were able to reap a
harvest, and to give the surplus products for the purchase of the timber required in
building the temple. As the foundation was laid in the spring, the order for the cedar
wood must have been sent before the harvest was reaped-pledging it in advance with
faith in the God who gives the increase. The Phoenician woodmen fell their trees in
the distant forests of Lebanon; and the massive trunks are dragged down to the
coast, and floated along the Mediterranean to Joppa, and then carried on the backs
of camels or slowly drawn up the heights of Judah in ox-wagons, while the crops
that are to pay for them are still green in the fields.

Here then is a further proof of devotion on the part of the Jews from Babylon-
though it is scarcely hinted at in the narrative, though we can only discover it by a
careful comparison of facts and dates. Labour is expended on the fields; long weary
months of waiting are endured; when the fruits of toil are obtained, these hard-
earned stores are not hoarded by their owners; they too, like the gold and silver of
the wealthier Jews, are gladly surrendered for the one object which kindles the
enthusiasm of every class of the community.
At length all is ready. Jeshua the priest now precedes Zerubbabel, as well as the rest
of the twelve leaders, in inaugurating the great work. On the Levites is laid the
immediate responsibility of carrying it through. When the foundation is laid, the
priests in their new white vestments sound their silver trumpets, and the choir of
Levites, the sons of Asaph. clang their brazen cymbals. To the accompaniment of
this inspiriting music they sing glad psalms in praise of God, giving thanks to Him,
celebrating His goodness and His mercy that endureth forever toward Israel. This is
not at all like the soft music and calm chanting of subdued cathedral services that
we think of in connection with great national festivals. The instruments blare and
clash, the choristers cry aloud, and the people join them with a mighty shout. When
shrill discordant notes of bitter wailing, piped by a group of melancholy old men,
threaten to break the harmony of the scene, they are drowned in the deluge of
jubilation that rises up in protest and beats down all their opposition with its
triumph of gladness. To a sober Western the scene would seem to be a sort of
religious orgy, like a wild Bacchanalian festival, like the howling of hosts of
dervishes. But although it is the Englishman’s habit to take his religion sombrely, if
not sadly, it may be well for him to pause before pronouncing a condemnation of
those men and women who are more exuberant in the expression of spiritual
emotion. If he finds, even among his fellow-countrymen, some who permit
themselves a more lively music and a more free method of public worship than he is
accustomed to, is it not a mark of insular narrowness for him to visit these
unconventional people with disapprobation? In abandoning the severe manners of
their race, they are only approaching nearer to the time-old methods of ancient
Israel.
In this clangour and clamour at Jerusalem the predominant note was a burst of
irrepressible gladness. When God turned the captivity of Israel, mourning was
transformed into laughter. To understand the wild excitement of the Jews, their
paean of joy, their very ecstasy, we must recollect what they had passed through, as
well as what they were now anticipating. We must remember the cruel disaster of
the overthrow of Jerusalem, the desolation of the exile, the sickness of weary waiting
for deliverance, the harshness of the persecution that embittered the later years of
the captivity under abonidas; we must think of the toilsome pilgrimage through
the desert, with its dismal wastes, its dangers and its terrors, followed by the patient
work on the land and gathering in of means for building the temple. And now all
this was over. The bow had been terribly bent; the rebound was immense. People
who cannot feel strong religious gladness have never known the heartache of deep
religious grief. These Israelites had cried out of the depths; they were prepared to
shout for joy from the heights. Perhaps we may go further, and detect a finer note in

this great blast of jubilation, a note of higher and more solemn gladness. The
chastisement of the exile was past, and the long-suffering mercy of God-enduring
forever-was again smiling out on the chastened people. And yet the positive
realisation of their hopes was for the future. The joy, therefore, was inspired by
faith. With little accomplished as yet, the sanguine people already saw the temple in
their mind’s eye, with its massive walls, its cedar chambers, and its adornment of
gold and richly dyed hangings. In the very laying of the foundation their eager
imaginations leaped forward to the crowning of the highest pinnacles. Perhaps they
saw more; perhaps they perceived, though but dimly, something of the meaning of
the spiritual blessedness that had been foretold by their prophets.
All this gladness centred in the building of a temple, and therefore ultimately in the
worship of God. We take but a one-sided view of Judaism if we judge it by the sour
ideas of later Pharisaism. As it presented itself to St. Paul in opposition to the gospel,
it was stern and loveless. But in its earlier days this religion was free and gladsome,
though, as we shall soon see, even then a rigour of fanaticism soon crept in and
turned its joy into grief. Here, however, at the founding of the temple, it wears its
sunniest aspect. There is no reason why religion should wear any other aspect to the
devout soul. It should be happy; for is it not the worship of a happy God?
" evertheless, in the midst of the almost universal acclaim of joy and praise, there
was the note of sadness wailed by the old men, who could recollect the venerable
fane in which their fathers had worshipped before the ruthless soldiers of
ebuchadnezzar had reduced it to a heap of ashes. Possibly some of them had stood
on this very spot half a century before, in an agony of despair, while they saw the
cruel flames licking the ancient stones and blazing up among the cedar beams, and
all the fine gold dimmed with black clouds of smoke. Was it likely that the feeble
flock just returned from Babylon could ever produce such a wonder of the world as
Solomon’s temple had been? The enthusiastic younger people might be glad in their
ignorance; but their sober elders, who knew more, could only weep. We cannot but
think that, after the too common habit of the aged, these mournful old men viewed
the past in a glamour of memory, magnifying its splendours as they looked back on
them through the mists of time. If so, they were old indeed; for this habit, and not
years, makes real old age. He is aged who lives in bygone days, with his face ever set
to the irreparable past, vainly regretting its retreating memories, uninterested in the
present, despondent of the future. The true elixir of life, the secret of perpetual
youth of soul, is interest in the present and the future, with the forward glance of
faith and hope. Old men who cultivate this spirit have young hearts though the snow
is on their heads. And such are wise. o doubt, from the standpoint of a narrow
common sense, with its shrunken views confined to the material and the mundane,
the old men who wept had more reason for their conduct than the inexperienced
younger men who rejoiced. But there is a prudence that comes of blindness, and
there is an imprudence that is sublime in its daring, because it springs from faith.
The despair of old age makes one great mistake, because it ignores one great truth.
In noting that many good things have passed away, it forgets to remember that God
remains. God is not dead! Therefore the future is safe. In the end the young
enthusiasts of Jerusalem were justified. A prophet arose who declared that a glory

which the former temple had never known should adorn the new temple, in spite of
its humble beginning; and history verified his word when the Lord took possession
of His house in the person of His Son."
PARKER, ""The people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem" (
Ezra 3:1).
THE emphasis must be laid upon the expression "one man." There are times when
we are struck by individuality; we go into detail, and speak with some critical
minuteness about one man"s peculiarity and another man"s eccentricity. There are
other times when we take no heed of the unit, except as it is representative of the
sum total; we forget characteristics, points of separation, in the grand consolidation
of human beings all intent upon the accomplishment of one purpose or the
expression of one holy thought. We need not think of the number as being large
arithmetically; probably in an arithmetical point of view the number on this
occasion was not large: but how many soever were in it, the whole represented but
"one Prayer of Manasseh ,"—a solid energy, a glorious and effective unity of
strength. Why? They were brought together partly by love and partly by fear.
When the altar was set up on this occasion it was the first symbol of defiance to all
the surrounding and observing heathens. Church-building is nothing in civilised or
christianised lands to-day. A hundred churches can be in course of erection in any
of the chief cities of the globe now given up to the Christian profession, and the
citizens would pay but little heed to the fact that so many pinnacles were rising to
the clouds. We must recall the circumstances under which the altar was set up.
Heathenism prevailed even in places once holy; the whole spirit and genius of the
time was against the worship of the true and living God: when the smoke curled
upward from the new altar it was like a signal of defiance to those who had given
themselves up to worship the hosts of heaven, or the beasts of the earth, or images of
their own fashioning. Religious liberty has its disadvantages. In our dreaming we
suppose that if all men stood upon a religious level, and all men professed the same
form of faith, we should have enjoyment and high enthusiastic delight in religion;
sometimes we have supposed that if persecution could be put down, and every man
could utter his own thoughts in his own words, then we should have heaven upon
earth. It is not so. The dream is not founded upon a right conception of human
nature. Perhaps there is not much that is to be more dreaded than the cessation of
persecution. Men prayed in the old days, when the wolf was about the city, when the
tiger might be let loose at any moment, when every sound that was heard might be
the approach of the persecutor; men then prayed when they wanted to pray; that
was no child"s work; prayer was then an agony, and therefore it prevailed. When
we can build altars where we like and how we like, we may soon cease to build altars
at all. The danger of the cessation of persecution is the danger of deadly
indifference. Persecution was turned into a motive to worship; Christians were
brought together in one holy consent and brotherhood: they needed such association
for the stimulus of each other"s confidence, the assurance of each other"s faith and
hope; men felt safe when they were near the altar. To-day the world, measured by
Christian nominal profession, suffers under the disease of indifference. Men do not
care whether they go to church or not; they can be satisfied with very little church-

going or religious worship and sacrifice; if they give it up altogether they will not
miss much of social patronage or social enjoyment. There is no threatening abroad
in the land now against men who pray in any place they may choose for their
sanctuary. What, then, is forgotten in that view of things? It is forgotten that
persecution cannot cease; it only changes its form: for ever will it be true that they
that will live actually in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The old vulgar way is
thrown out of history altogether, or so thrown back as to be almost beyond
recollection; fire and faggot, and thumb-screw and executioner"s block and axe,—
these are terms that have lost all accent and force of meaning: but the one enemy
always lives; the devil never succumbs. The persecution may now come spiritually.
A man may be fighting battles every day in the week and no other man may know of
it. Do not suppose that enemies are all external and numerable, and are open to such
treatment as is possible to mere phases of antagonism as represented by the action
of the hands; we are never safe but at the altar; we are never safe but within the
enclosure of the fold; we may not venture far by ourselves, or trust to the light of
our own wit or the guidance of our own fancy to discover a path in the wide desert
hitherto untrodden by human feet: our safety is in fellowship, in association, in
keeping quite closely together. To break away from the security of being so near to
one another as to take consultation almost in whispers, is to give up the battle, is to
accept defeat.
Great occasions bring men together. Special historical crises cause men to forget all
littlenesses of difference and to come together in one mass as against a common foe.
We could create such crises if we pleased. We have been looking for them as coming
to us: why not now change the point of observation and look out for them, and
prepare ourselves to create them? How can this be done? This can be done by
looking at the real evils that afflict the land. Men deny the poverty when they do not
look out; men take a roseate view of things when they turn their back upon them.
Let the Church of the living God bring before its view the real state of the country
to-day, and all controversies of a wordy nature, all mere fray of expressions, attacks,
replies, accusations, retorts,—all this would be forgotten in the awful wonder that
there is so much of perdition actually at the very doors. The Church will never be
united in controversy: it may be united in philanthropy. The children are naked,
ignorant, forsaken; there is worldliness in their poor young eyes that ought to be full
of light and poetry and hope; there is a leanness upon them that indicates a leanness
within as well as a hunger and deprivation of the body. The devil is building his
smoking altars at every street corner, and the metropolis of the world groans
because of its intolerable sin and grief and weariness. If men will read their spirited
journals, their dazzling romances, and drink their foaming wine, and enjoy their
smoking feasts, and clothe themselves in the garments of vanity, they will deny all
these things, and say, in some flippant tone, that there is more happiness in the
world than is often supposed. We are not called upon to measure that happiness, but
to dig down to the roots of the misery, and get them all eradicated, and burned with
unquenchable fire. Were we to look in these directions we should make a historical
crisis; we should not have to wait for the occasion that unites men"s hearts. Let
representatives of all the Christian communions of the country go down some of the
back slums and alleys of the metropolis, and in the sight of unimagined misery they

will forget their ecclesiastical controversies and cease the bitterness of their mutual
reproach.
MACLARE , "ALTAR A D TEMPLE
Ezra 3:1 - Ezra 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. o
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 Ezra 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 Ezra 3:2 the ecclesiastical dignitary comes first, but
in Ezra 3:8 the civil. Similarly in Ezra 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
ebuchadnezzar 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, athan, still survived.
Their representative was one Salathiel, who, on the failure of the direct line, was
regarded as the ‘son of Jeconiah’ [1 Chronicles 3:17]. He seems to have had no son,
and Zerubbabel, who was really his nephew [1 Chronicles 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!
o 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. ote in Ezra 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. ow, 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 Ezra 3:1 and Ezra 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.’ ot 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? o 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.
LA GE, "I. Building of the Altar, Feast of Tabernacles, and anxiety for the
Building of the Temple. Ezra 3:1-7
1A D 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 2 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 3
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 4 They 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
6 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 7 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, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the
sea of Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.
PULPIT, "Ezra 3:1-7
Aspects of worship.
I. The HUMA in WORSHIP. "Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak," etc.
(Ezra 3:2). 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 ESSE TIAL in WORSHIP. "And builded the altar" (Ezra 3:2). 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 ADDITIO AL in WORSHIP. "And they offered burnt offerings thereon
unto the Lord," etc. (Ezra 3:3). 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 (Ezra 3:3). 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.
(Ezra 3:7). 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.
BI 1-13, "And when the seventh month was come.
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 life’s 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.)
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 God’s kingdom is thus being ushered
in. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)
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 Judah’s 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 nation’s 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. Man’s need of atonement with God.
2. Man’s 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 boat’s 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 God’s 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.)
2
Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests
and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates
began to build the altar of the God of Israel to
sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with
what is written in the Law of Moses the man of
God.
BAR ES, "Jeshua, the high priest, was the son of Jozadak, who was carried into
captivity by Nebuchadnezzar 1Ch_6:15.
Zerubbabel was really the son of Pedaiah, Shealtiel’s (or Salathiel’s) younger brother.
But Shealtiel having no sons, and the royal line being continued in the person of his

nephew, Zerubbabel, the latter was accounted Shealtiel’s son.
CLARKE, "Jeshua the son of Jozadak - He was grandson of Seraiah the high
priest, who was put to death by Nebuchadnezzar, 2Ki_25:18, 2Ki_25:21. This Jeshua or
Joshua was the first high priest after the captivity.
GILL, "Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak,.... Who was the high priest,
and the proper person to give the lead in the following work:
and his brethren the priests; the common priests, very fit to join him, and assist
him in it:
and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel; the prince and governor of Judah, whose
presence was necessary to give countenance to the work, and animate to it:
and his brethren; the princes and heads of the people, particularly those mentioned
Ezr_2:2
and builded the altar of the God of Israel; the altar of burnt offering, gave orders
for the building of it, and directions about it:
to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man
of God; or prophet of God, as the Syriac version; see Lev_1:1.
HE RY 2-3, " The care which their leading men took to have an altar ready for them
to attend upon.
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 (1Ch_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.
JAMISO , "Jeshua — the grandson of Seraiah, the high priest, put to death by
Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah (2Ki_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 (1Ch_3:17-19);

but having been brought up by Salathiel, he was called his son.
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.
K&D, "Ezr_3:2
Then the two leaders of the people, Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the prince
(see on Jos_2:2), with their brethren, i.e., the priests and the men of Israel (the laity),
arose and built the altar, to offer upon it burnt-offerings, as prescribed by the law of
Moses, i.e., to restore the legal sacrifices. According to Ezr_3:6, the offering of burnt-
offerings began on the first day of the seventh month; hence the altar was by this day
already completed. This agrees with the statement, “When the seventh month
approached” (Ezr_3:1), therefore before the first day of this month.
BE SO , "Ezra 3:2. Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak — He was the high-
priest, called Joshua, Haggai 1:1. And Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel — That is, his
grandson; for, properly speaking, he was the son of Pedaiah. And builded the altar
of the God of Israel — Which was of more present necessity than the temple, both to
make atonement to God for all their sins, and to obtain God’s assistance for the
building of the temple, and to strengthen their own hearts and hands in that great
work.
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "The Altar and the Temple
Ezra 3:2; Ezra 3:6
In the opening chapters of this book of Ezra we are among the Jews who have come
back from Babylon. God has restored the exiles to their country; and their feet
stand in Jerusalem again. But the ravages of war and the silent attacks of time have
played strange havoc with the beloved city. It was then that they set to work to
restore Jerusalem. God breathed an enthusiasm upon the people. And it was then
that they built the altar of the Lord, for the foundation of the temple of the Lord
was not laid. Such then is the setting of our text, and it carries three suggestions
with it.
I. First, it is good to begin building with an altar. It is wisest and noblest and most
rational to begin with the recognition of the Lord. To realize that above our finite
will there is the infinite will of the Almighty; to feel that around the purpose we
form is the eternal purpose of a Sovereign God; to know that He girds us when we
perceive it not, that He loves us even when we have despised Him, that He hath
prepared our goings from of old, that He will never leave us or forsake us—is not
that the secret of an arm that can endure, and of a heart that will not weary in the
drought?
II. The second lesson of our text is this. Build your altar till you can start your

temple. ow if our life means anything for us, it must be rich in dreams which we
cannot realize. A life is very valueless and poor if it can grasp and hold all for which
it craves. It is the heart which hungers that is the blessed heart. You cannot do great
services for Christ, you cannot make the greatest sacrifices; are you therefore doing
nothing at all? Do what you can. Begin your altar now. Do not waste one hour
waiting for the temple. Christ never said, "She hath done mighty things"; Christ"s
praise was, "She hath done what she could".
III. Thirdly, have the temple clearly before you all the time. It takes the vision of the
perfect temple if we are to build well the humblest altar. It takes the assurance that
striving shall not be in vain, and the certainty that ideals shall yet be realized, if we
are to toil cheerfully and bravely at the task that is given to us today. It is at that
point (with an emphasis which is Divine) that the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaims
its message. For the golden age of Christ is on ahead of us, ana the best, for the
followers of the Lord, is still to be.
—G. H. Morrison, The Unlightened Lustre, p38.
PULPIT, "Ezra 3:2
Jeshua the son of Jozadak. The position of Jeshua, both here and in Ezra 3:8, Ezra
3:9, sufficiently marks him as the high priest, though Ezra does not give him the
title. Haggai, however (Ezra 1:1, 14; Ezra 2:2), and Zechariah (Ezra 3:1, Ezra 3:8;
Ezra 6:11) distinctly assign him the office. His father, Jozadak, or Josedech, was the
son of Seraiah, high priest at the destruction of Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 6:14). The
name Jeshua is a mere variant of Joshua, and so corresponds to Jesus, of whom
Jeshua may be regarded as a type. His brethren the priests. As being all of them
equally descended from Aaron, the priests were "brethren." Zerubbabel the son of
Shealtiel. See note on Ezra 2:2, where Zerubbabel's actual descent is given. And his
brethren. Such other members of the royal house as had returned with him. As it is
written in the law. See Le 17:2-6; Deuteronomy 12:5-11. It was an express command
of God to the Israelites that sacrifice should be offered only at Jerusalem in the
place which he should appoint. Moses the man of God. That is, "the Prophet;" but
the phrase is emphatic, and characteristic of Ezra.
PARKER, ""As it is written in the law." ( Ezra 3:2).
We cannot get rid of something that lies behind and beneath all external action.
That sacred something is "the law." Do not qualify that term by the "ancient," or
the "Mosaic," or the "ceremonial," or some other limiting word: there are certain
terms that look best when they are unqualified. We speak of "the law of Moses,"
and thus we limit an illimitable term; we speak of "the divine justice," as if justice
had two phases or aspects or degrees of dignity: "justice" is a grander word than
"divine justice"; "law" is an everlasting term; the words "Moses," "ceremonial,"
"historical," "incidental," must fall off, but the word "law" abides evermore. There
is a law of right; there is a law of worship; there is a law of philanthropy; and these
laws, or forms of law, never change: we develop them in different ways, we invest

them with various aspects, but when we cease to have consciousness of the nearness,
reality, and authority of law, then all we have becomes merely sentimental; it may
be done, or may not be done; it may be done to-day, or tomorrow; it may be done
thus, or otherwise: then men"s opinions are ranged against one another, as if
opinions were of equal value—as they probably are around the whole circle of
intercourse and controversy. What is written in the law? should be the abiding
question. Then we build upon a rock. If we begin to unroof our Church, and find
that it is slated with opinions, built with opinions, founded on opinions, that beneath
it there is nothing but opinion, the Church may be blown down by any rough wind
that cares to do so mean a work; but if the Church is founded upon "the law"—the
eternal, the right, the true—then it can only be injured externally, in such a way
that loving and generous hands can repair it; but the foundation abideth sure,
having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.
In connection with this, however, there is a human name, and in connection with the
human name a eulogium which any one might covet. We read, in the second verse
once more, of "Moses the man of God." Well for Moses that he is dead! Men become
more valued in proportion as they pass away from the vision of their critics, and
come into the field of criticism through the haze of fancy and through all the soft
regard of sentiment. There was a time when we read thus of Moses—"as for this
Moses... we wot not what is become of him." He was living then; he was a visible
figure in society. Christ ascended early. He said in effect, The body must get out of
the way; so long as there is a body to be looked at there will be a point of criticism,
and the wrong elements of human nature will be stirred into activity: I must ascend
as soon as I have given the last touch to my earthly work. So he went up, and the
clouds received him out of sight. How does any man become known as a man of
God? The character cannot always be hidden. There is something about a godly
man which graciously betrays itself. There is no need for self-demonstration, self-
exposure to the moral admiration of mankind; there is a mysterious action in the
whole life, a new way of looking at things, saying things, and doing even common
things, which men notice and reason about, and finally ascribe to an inspiration not
of the earth. The character comes up at last and secures the confidence of mankind.
Actions would seem to be subjected to criticism of an unjust and injurious nature,
but in the long run there is a mystery which is called Character; it stands out in all
its gravity, completeness, and dignity; and within such a character is the mystery of
godliness. The righteous shall live for ever. o man can put away the memory of the
just; it is blessed for evermore; when the world would forget it, it retires for a while
and then returns with new claims upon human attention and regard. "Moses" is a
great name; "Moses the man" is a worthy designation; "Moses the man of God,"—
say if in all the Old Testament there can be found a higher designation. We wait
until we come into the ew Testament for higher titles. "Moses the man of God" is
an Old Testament designation; "Paul a slave of Jesus Christ" is a ew Testament
designation: they both mean the same thing; you can easily tell which is from the
Old Testament and which from the ew, but in the soul of them they mean that
both the men have touched the living God, and represent eternal thoughts and
eternal principles.

PETT, "Ezra 3:2
‘Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and 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.’
The non-mention of Sheshbazzar would appear to be fairly conclusive evidence that
he was dead, or at least incapacitated. For the lead in what took place was taken by
Jeshua, as chief priest, along with his brother priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of
Shealtiel, as at least governor-elect, along with his ‘brothers’. That the term
‘brothers’ is to be taken widely is apparent from the fact that the priests have all
been described as Jeshua’s ‘brothers’. It may well simply indicate all the non-
priestly returnees, seen very much as ‘brothers’. The emphasis is thus on the fact
that all involved were in full agreement with what was happening, and indeed saw
themselves as involved in it.
And their first act was to ‘build the altar of the God of Israel’. This may indicate
that they built it from scratch, but it could equally indicate that they erected it on a
primitive altar already there. For even if we had not had reason to think so, it would
have been extremely unlikely that such a sacred spot had not been used for offerings
and sacrifices during the preceding period. Archaeology continually evidences the
fact that veneration of sacred sites continues long after any buildings have been
destroyed. That this did in fact take place here is confirmed for us in Jeremiah 41:5;
Haggai 2:14.
This ‘building of the altar of the God of Israel’ was in accordance with YHWH’s
instructions through Ezekiel whereby he commanded the people to build an altar in
Ezekiel 43:13-27, by which to service the heavenly Temple which had descended on
a mountain outside Jerusalem (a Temple which was already there, invisible to the
normal eye, and not commanded to be rebuilt). This may well have been in the
minds of Jeshua and Zerubbabel, and would confirm the legitimacy of the altar.
Furthermore such an altar had been authorised in Exodus 20:24-25, for none could
doubt that the Temple mount where God had revealed His glory on the first Temple
(2 Chronicles 7:1-2) was a place where YHWH had recorded His ame. And had
not Abraham himself, on entering the land, built an altar to YHWH? (Genesis 12:7-
8).
The emphasis on ‘the altar of the God of Israel’ (a unique phrase) may be intended
to emphasise that the previous altar used since the destruction of the Temple was
not seen as being such. In other words it was not seen as legitimate (compare Haggai
2:14). ow it had been replaced by an altar that was legitimate. The previous altar
might well have involved syncretistic worship.
In the Law of Moses the phrase ‘the God of Israel’ is used three times and is
uniquely connected with the worship of God. In Exodus 24:10 it refers to God when
He appeared as the elders were gathered on Mount Sinai to eat before Him,
inaugurating Israel as the covenant people. In Exodus 34:23 it refers to Him as the

One before Whom the people will gather three times a year. In umbers 16:9 it is
used of God as having set aside the Levites to the service of the Tabernacle. Thus it
was potent with meaning.
‘To offer burnt-offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.’
And the aim of this altar was so that they could offer burnt offerings on it in
accordance with the Law of Moses the ‘man of God’ (i.e. prophet). Just as their
gathering in assembly again fulfilled the Law of Moses, so would the offering of
whole burnt offerings on the altar. Such burnt offerings were required during the
feasts of the seventh month (see umbers 29 for details, the offerings beginning on
the first day of the month). So there was a great sense of repeating what had
followed the Exodus.
3
Despite their fear of the peoples around them,
they built the altar on its foundation and
sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD, both
the morning and evening sacrifices.
BAR ES, "Upon his bases - They restored the old altar of burnt-offerings, which
stood directly in front of the temple-porch, upon the old foundation. This became
apparent on the clearing away of the ruins, and on a careful examination of the site.
CLARKE, "They set the altar upon his bases - Rebuilt it on the same spot on
which it had formerly stood. As it was necessary to keep up the Divine worship during
the time they should be employed in re-edifying the temple, they first reared this altar of
burnt-offerings; and all this they did, “though fear was upon them,” because of the
unfriendly disposition of their surrounding neighbors.
GILL, "And they set the altar upon his bases,.... Which might remain of the old
altar; or the meaning is, that it was fixed and settled on the same spot where it stood
before:

Ezra 3 commentary

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Ezra 3 commentary