WORSHIP IS RESTORED

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.

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 custom, as the duty of every day required;

5 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.

REBUILDING THE TEMPLE

8 Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of the LORD.

9 Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to set forward the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites.

10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD, after the ordinance of David king of Israel.

11 And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.

12 But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:

13 So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

1 And when the seuenth moneth was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities: the people gathered themselues together, as one man to Ierusalem.

2 Then stood vp Ieshua the sonne of Iozadak, & his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the sonne of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the Altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offrings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.

3 And they set the altar vpon his bases, (for feare was vpon them, because of the people of those countreys) and they offered burnt offerings thereon vnto the Lord, euen burnt offerings, morning and euening.

4 They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offred the dayly burnt offrings, by number, according to the custome, as the duetie of euery day required:

5 And afterward offered the continuall burnt offering, both of the new moones, and of all the set feasts of the Lord, that were consecrated, and of euery one that willingly offred, offered a free will offering vnto the Lord.

6 From the first day of the seuenth moneth, began they to offer burnt offerings vnto the Lord: but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid.

7 They gaue money also vnto the masons, and to the carpenters, and meate, and drinke, and oyle, vnto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring Cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Ioppa: according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.

8 Now in the second yere of their coming vnto the house of God at Ierusalem, in the second moneth, began Zerubbabel the sonne of Shealtiel, and Ieshua the sonne of Iozadak, and the remnant of their brethren, the Priests and the Leuites, and all they that were come out of the captiuitie vnto Ierusalem: and appointed the Leuites, from twentie yeeres olde and vpward, to set forward the worke of the house of the Lord.

9 Then stood Ieshua, with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sonnes, the sonnes of Iudah together, to set forward the workemen in the house of God: the sonnes of Henadad, with their sonnes and their brethren the Leuites.

10 And when the builders laide the foundation of the Temple of the Lord, they set the Priests in their apparell with Trumpets, and the Leuites the sonnes of Asaph, with Cymbales, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of Dauid king of Israel.

11 And they sung together by course, in praising, and giuing thanks vnto the Lord; Because hee is good, for his mercy endureth for euer towards Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shoute, when they praised the Lord; because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laide.

12 But many of the Priests and Leuites, and chiefe of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seene the first house; when the foundation of this house was laide before their eyes, wept with a loude voice, and many shouted aloude for ioy:

13 So that the people could not discerne the noyse of the shout of ioy, from the noyse of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loude shout, and the noyse was heard afarre off.

II == Deut 12:5 ; Hag 1:1; 2:2 ; Zech 3:1 ; Matt 1:12 ; Luke 3:27

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

III == Num 28:3-4

 

 

IV == Ex 23:16 ; Num 29:12 ; Neh 8:14 , 17 ; Zech 14:16-17

V == Ex 29:38 ; Num 28:3 , 11 , 19 , 26 ; 29:2 , 8 , 13

 

 

 

 

VII == 1st Kings 5:6 , 9 ; 2nd Chr 2:10 , 16 ; Ezra 6:3 ; Acts 9:36 ; 12:20

 

 

 

 

VIII == 1st Chr 23:24 , 27

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

X == 1st Chr 6:31 ; 16: 4-6 , 42 ; 25:1

 

 

XI == Ex 15:21 ; 1st Chr 16:34 , 41 ; 2nd Chr 7:3 ; Neh 12:21 ; Ps 136:1 ; Jer 33:11

 

 

 

 

XII == Hag 2:3

1 Now when the seventh month came, after the Israelites had settled in their cities, the people gathered at Jerusalem as one man.

2 Then Jeshua, son of Jozadak, together with his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, together with his brethren, set about rebuilding the altar of the God of Israel in order to offer on it the holocausts prescribed in the law of Moses, the man of God.

3 Despite their fear of the peoples of the land, they replaced the altar on its foundations and offered holocausts to the LORD on it, both morning and evening.

4 They also kept the feast of Booths in the manner prescribed, and they offered the daily holocausts in the proper number required for each day.

5 Thereafter they offered the established holocaust, the sacrifices prescribed for the new moons and all the festivals sacred to the LORD, and those which anyone might offer as a free-will gift to the LORD.

6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer holocausts to the LORD, though the foundation of the temple of the LORD had not yet been laid.

7 Then they hired stonecutters and carpenters, and sent food and drink and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians that they might ship cedar trees from the Lebanon to the port of Joppa, as Cyrus, king of Persia, had authorized.

8 In the year after their coming to the house of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, son of Jozadak, together with the rest of their brethren, the priests and Levites and all who had come from the captivity to Jerusalem, began by appointing the Levites twenty years of age and over to supervise the work on the house of the LORD.

9 Jeshua and his sons and brethren, with Kadmiel and Binnui, son of Henadad, and their sons and their brethren, the Levites, stood as one man to supervise those who were engaged in the work on the house of God.

10 When the builders had laid the foundation of the LORD'S temple, the vested priests with the trumpets and the Levites, sons of Asaph, were stationed there with the cymbals to praise the LORD in the manner laid down by David, king of Israel.

11 They alternated in songs of praise and thanksgiving to the LORD, "for he is good, for his kindness to Israel endures forever"; and all the people raised a great shout of joy, praising the LORD because the foundation of the LORD'S house had been laid.

12 Many of the priests, Levites, and family heads, the old men who had seen the former house, cried out in sorrow as they watched the foundation of the present house being laid. Many others, however, lifted up their voices in shouts of joy,

13 and no one could distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from the sound of those who were weeping; for the people raised a mighty clamor which was heard afar off.

An outline of unity is seen in this chapter: v 1. Unity in purpose; v 3,4. Unity of prayer and worship; v 7 Unified giving; v 8 Unified work, v 11 Unified Praise.

v 1. We don’t know what month they arrived, but I take this to mean the seventh month of the year, which God had commanded them Lev. 23:33-36,  to gather for the Feast of Tabernacles and the Day of Atonement. This is the time that harvest would be complete in normal times, and people could gather. These people were united in purpose that they must get on with the things the Lord had brought them back to do.

v 2. Jeshua, the high priest, and Zerubbabel, line of David and head of the tribe of Judah, wisely put first things first. With their brethren they built up an altar in it’s proper place according to Deut. 12: 5,6.

v 3-6. They feared the people who had populated the land, so began that very day, v 6, to offer the morning and evening sacrifices. They were united in worship, and continued right on with the daily offerings commanded for the Feast of Tabernacles. They also brought other burnt offerings at the appropriate time and freewill offerings. The second priority, laying the temple foundation, would be the next major step.

v 7. Preparation had to be made before laying the foundation, and the people responded by unified giving. Money was raised to pay the carpenters and masons, and food, drink and oil were paid to those of Tyre and Sidon to cut cedar lumber and transport it to Joppa for them to receive. Cyrus had given permission that trees from the Lebanon part of his domain could be used for that purpose.

v 9. It was not until spring, the second month of the second year, our April-May and the same month Solomon began building the temple, that materials were ready. Now all the people assembled to begin a unified work. Levites were involved in the construction of the tabernacle, Ex. 38:21, and here they are appointed to oversee the construction of the temple. There were only 341 Levite overseers compared to 24,000 overseers of Solomon’s temple. Even the high priest is right there organizing the work.

v 10-11. When the foundation was laid they did not have the choir and  musical instruments that David had organized, but at least they had trumpets and cymbals. The priests had their vestments, and the choir, though smaller, sang praises responsively. All this was accompanied by loud shouts of joy from the people. Unified Praise.

v 12,13. The old men of both priests, Levites and common people who had known of the grandeur of Solomon’s temple and it’s overwhelming dedication are saddened by this one’s comparison to it. Besides the difference in size and material, there is no Ark of the Covenant or Shekinah glory. They are no doubt reminded that it was because of sin that it was taken from them, and they weep uncontrollably. However, they have tears of joy mingled with the rejoicing of the younger people, that they are back in their home land and the temple of the Lord is underway. There was such a cacophony of sound that one could not tell the weeping from the shouts of joy, and it could be heard great distances. (On a still morning I could distinctly hear the Afton band practice nine miles away, as the sound traveled down Twelve Mile Creek.)