Expositor's Dictionary of Texts 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 Altar and the TempleEzra 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. Now 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, p. 38. References.—III. 8.—G. Morrison, The Scottish Review, vol. i. p. 309. R. S. Candlish, Sermons, p. 284. VI. 14.—W. H. Fremantle, Oxford Lent Sermons, 1869, p. 169. VII. 22.—C. Heap, A Book of Lay Sermons, p. 121. VII.—J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in a Religious House, vol. ii. p. 440. VIII. 22.—Ibid. p. 625. VIII. 28, 29.—J. M. Neale, Sermons for the Church Year, vol. ii. p. 154. VIII. 29.—A. Maclaren, Weekday Evening Addresses, p. 45. IX. 3.—J. Parker, City Temple Pulpit, vol. i. p. 159. IX. 13, 14.—J. Budgen, Parochial Sermons, vol. ii. p. 168. Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
And they set the altar upon his bases; for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries: and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD, even burnt offerings morning and evening.
They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required;
And afterward offered the continual burnt offering, both of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of the LORD that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the LORD.
From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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. Nicoll - Expositor's Dictionary of Texts Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission. Bible Hub |
    |