Ezra 3 Starting to Build
Ezra reads in Babylon of those who went with Zerubbabel are starting to build the Temple. It is NOT going how they hoped it would.
I was wondering in the beginning if Ezra went with the exiles, but he tells us himself, several chapters later about him joining the people.
After carefully searching, I realized that Ezra could not have been alive at the time of the first return from captivity. Cyrus freed the people of Israel in 538 BC. Ezra’s return to Jerusalem is believed to have happened in 458 BC. That is an eighty-year difference. We also know that Ezra is the high priest at the time when Nehemiah’s is in charge in Jerusalem. Nehemiah left in 444 BC; 95 years after Cyrus’ first decree. That is too old for Ezra to still be working if he had been alive when the people were freed.
This leads us back to the ‘story within a story’ format. We will be joining the events taking place as an observer of Ezra as he imagines the story unfolding. Let’s see where the Spirit takes us today.
♥ ♦ ♥
Morning breaks and Ezra can hardly wait to get back to his studies. He wants to allow the Lord to show him the next phase of Israel’s return home. Before he dives in, he asks the Lord to guide his mind as well as help him to compile the events from the different accounts so that his people will have an accurate summation of all that took place.
Ezra readies his writing materials. “I’m ready. Let the journey begin” he tells his spirit. He knows he will see more in his spirit than he can put down on parchment. The facts are what is required of a scribe, but his imagining of the actual events thrills his heart.
The captives have made it safely to Jerusalem. It has been five months in the process. The journey was long but the joy of what awaited once they arrived buoys the people’s spirits. When they reach Jerusalem, their hearts cry out. Not a building is standing! They will have to start from the ground up in their rebuilding.
Zerubbabel calls the people together. “Gather around for the work begins right here.”
Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen stand in the space where the altar of the Lord once stood. They clear the rubble away from the area.
“On this spot, where the Bronze altar once stood, we will build another altar to the Lord. It will be where the morning and evening sacrifices are brought. It will serve the people for all the offerings commanded by the Lord God through His servant Moses. It will also be ready to accept your freewill offerings.”
Before setting to work, Zerubbabel prays for the people and the work. “Lord God of Heaven, thank You for bringing us back to this land. The land that You swore to our fathers to give is as an everlasting inheritance. To the city where You have written Your name for all time. We know that we have not earned this gift, as we and our fathers have sinned against You. But by Your grace, You delivered us, just as You promised to do so long ago. Protect us as we rebuild Your Temple and the city that bears Your name. Our enemies surround us on every side. We are few in number, but we are strong in Your name. We will begin this day to restore what has been broken; including the inclination of our hearts. Accept this work of our hands as a pleasing sacrifice unto You. Accept from this day forward the sacrifices and offerings that we bring to this place once again.”
The people shouted a resounding “AMAN” once Zerubbabel’s prayer ended. As much as they wanted to, they did not make their first sacrifice on that day. They would not be like their fathers, sacrificing on every high place or under every tree. They will wait until the altar of the Lord is finished. Only in this place will the people sacrifice.
After the workmen have been chosen, the rest of the people return to their ancestral homes. Zerubbabel, his kinsmen, Jeshua, and his fellow priests get busy. With stone and baked bricks, they rebuild the altar of the Lord. It is not as elaborate or as grand as the altar Solomon built, but it is a work of their hearts. The altar is a square of 10 amot (about 5 meters) with a length and breadth of 32 amot (about 16 meters). Because the Law of Moses forbids stairs going up to the altar, there is a ramp made of stone, baked brick and earthen mortar leading up to it. They also fashion horns for the four corners of the altar, just as the one Solomon built.
The people settle in quickly and promise to return to Jerusalem when the altar is ready. It is nearly the beginning of the seventh month when word is sent throughout the land for the people to gather in Jerusalem. The seventh month is also the time when the Lord called for the people to celebrate the Feast of Booths. Perfect timing.
Everyone makes their way to Jerusalem for the dedication of the altar and to celebrate the first feast together. Their ‘neighbors’ are not happy to see them congregating. They do not want them rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. They harass the people in the fields and try to discourage those in the city from rebuilding. The people live in fear of those around them. But once the altar is complete and dedicated, they believe the harassment will stop.
On the first day of the eighth month, Zerubbabel and Jeshua stand before the people. “The altar of the Lord is finished. We will dedicate it this day by offering a sin offering for the people as a whole.”
Zerubbabel motions his hands towards where two goats wait with two Levites. As they begin moving into the crowd, Zerubbabel commands them to lay their hand on the goat’s head and allow the transfer of their sins onto the goat. Once everyone has had the opportunity to place their hand on the head of one of the goats, both are brought forward. Zerubbabel and Jeshua are the final two to put their hands on the goat’s heads.
The two Levites take the goats and slaughter them for the sacrifice. One of the Levites hands the bowl of blood to Jeshua. Jeshua throws the first blood on the new altar. “We dedicate this altar to our God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel. May Your name forever be praised in all the land of Israel and Your glory find rest here in Jerusalem.”
After the sin offering was made, a burnt offering was also made for the people. This was the first time the people had been allowed to worship their God as He commanded since being carried off to Babylon.
It is still two weeks until the start of the feast of Booths, but no one wants to leave. They entrusted the Lord with the safety of their homes and fields before coming to Jerusalem. They also brought their offerings, along with freewill offerings that they will contribute to the rebuilding of the Temple. They camp around the city and prepare their booths for the festival.
The atmosphere is charged with excitement and praise to the Lord God as the morning of the 15th dawns. Celebration begins in earnest with the first sacrifice of the day. This day there are 13 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs, and 1 goat sacrificed. Fine flour mixed with oil is brought as a grain offering calculated for each, animal except the goat. The goat is a sin offering. For each bull, 3/10 of an ephah of this mixture is required. For each ram, 2/10 of an ephah, and for each lamb 1/10 of an ephah. A total of 5.7 ephahs of fine flour mixed with oil are offered on this first day.
For seven days this offering is brought before the Lord for the people. It changes only by decreasing in the number of bulls each day by 1 and its corresponding 3/10 of an ephah for the grain offering. On the 8th day the offering drops to 1 bull, 1 ram, 7 lambs, and one goat. Their corresponding grain offering follows the same numbers.
Those will little are grateful that this is a community offering instead of an individual one. The week is full of festivity, praise, and worship to the Lord. The people also present their own offerings according to their vows to the Lord and from their hearts. From these freewill offerings, money pours into the treasury for the purpose of rebuilding the Temple.
As the people leave for their homes, those staying in Jerusalem breathe a collective sigh. Celebrations are WONDERFUL, but the quiet following them is amazing!
It’s time to get busy rebuilding. Now that the people are all gone, there is room to work. Zerubbabel sends to Lebanon for cedar trees and reopens the quarries for stone. No iron tools could be used inside the Temple courtyard, so the stone and timbers were cut and stored in another site until all was ready. Six months after the dedication of the altar of the Lord, all was in readiness for laying the foundation.
“Send word to all the people, that the foundation is being laid. It will be finished before the end of the month. And we will dedicate it as soon as it is complete” Zerubbabel tells his scribe.
Word goes out and work begins at the same time the next morning. Zerubbabel, his kinsmen, Jeshua, and the priests labor beside those who were cutting stone and shaping the trees. The foundation of stone and cedar takes shape and form with each new piece added. Excitement builds in those laboring as they begin to see their hard work paying off. They know this is just the beginning, but it is a MARVELOUS beginning.
The people begin pouring into Jerusalem again. Excitement and anticipation running high. They can’t wait to see what has been laid; the beginning of the Temple of the Lord. Young and old alike assemble in and around the courtyard, trying to get a glimpse of the foundation.
The morning after the last stone and beam is in place, the priests dress in their vestments and gather in front of the foundation. The Levites bring the trumpets and cymbals. The first trumpet sounds to gather the people. The rest of the trumpets join in as the singers raises their voices in praise and the cymbals crash with each crescendo. The songs are responsive, with one portion of the Levites singing lines that are answered by another portion. The most often verses sang are: “Give thanks to the Lord”, responded with, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel” (Ezra 3:11b).
With the Levites singing, the people join in with shouts. But not all the shouts are shouts of joy. Those who are able to remember the Temple that Solomon built, cry out in mourning. This Temple is much smaller and nowhere as grand as the one it is replacing. Joy and mourning mix together into a sound that fills the heavens and the surrounding hills.
Ezra pauses in his reading and imagining to consider the sound described. “But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away” (Ezra 3:12-13).
“I wonder how many were weeping? Enough that their voices were heard crying out. There was no way to rebuild exactly as before. Israel was a wealthy and strong nation when Solomon built the Lord’s house. At this point, she is barely starting over. Maybe the Lord allowed the grandeur to be removed from the Temple because the people had become proud” Ezra thinks to himself. He knows one thing for certain; there is still a LONG way to go before the Temple of the Lord is complete. He knows that it is complete today, but he hasn’t reached that point in the story. That will wait for another time, as he has work to do.
(to be continued)
I wonder how many were still living from before the exile. The total exile was to last 70 years, but some of the people were deported later on. There were about 18 years from first deportees until Jerusalem fell. I wonder how many of them would be alive when the Temple was completed. The work would take 20 years. Were they all dead by then?
Did they mourn the difference when the altar was built? It was FAR from what Solomon made.
The most important thing isn’t the outward appearance, but the inward purpose. The people did not have the means to erect anything like what Solomon gave them. Size doesn’t matter. Grandeur means nothing. If the heart is not centered on the Lord, even the most elaborate structure is an empty shell.
That is the same with each of us. It doesn’t matter how important we are in man’s eyes, how beautiful we are, how rich, or how powerful. If the heart is not filled with the Lord, it is nothing but an empty husk. The most deformed person, the poorest, the lowliest, and the insignificant are prized by God, and when their hearts are His, they are just as valuable.
Remember, Jesus’ first birth announcement was made to the lowliest of men; night shepherds. They weren’t even important enough to have the ‘day shift’. NEVER let anyone diminish your worth to the Lord; not even yourself!
Father God, thank You for reminding me of how much You love me. Even though I’m a simple, mainly isolated, overweight woman, I’m YOUR CHILD! And You LOVE ME! I don’t know why, but I accept it with ALL my being. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am a treasure in my Father’s eyes. I am Your jewel.
