Ezra 3
The Altar Rebuilt and Worship Restored 1–7
Laying the Temple Foundation 8–11
Joy and Sorrow Mixed 12–13
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Ezra 3
Verse 1
the seventh month — This month held the ‘memorial of blowing of trumpets’ on its first day (Lev 23:24), the day of atonement on the tenth (23:27) and Tabernacles on the fifteenth (23:34). ‘As one man’ is the phrase of Judg 20:1 and Neh 8:1, where the people gather again in this month to hear the law. Here no temple stands yet; the foundation is not yet laid (v.6) and is laid in v.10.
Verse 2
the law of Moses the man of God — Jeshua is the high priest ‘Joshua the son of Josedech’ of Hag 1:1, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel stands in the line of Christ (Matt 1:12). They build the altar before anything else, to offer burnt offerings ‘as it is written’. ‘Moses the man of God’ is the title of Deut 33:1.
Verse 3
morning and evening — The altar is set ‘upon his bases’ (mekonah, a pedestal) while the temple’s foundation is still unlaid (v.6), and the daily offering resumes as the law fixed it: a lamb ‘in the morning’ and another ‘at even’ (Ex 29:38–39). The ‘fear’ comes from ‘the people of those countries’; in 4:4 ‘the people of the land’ weaken the builders’ hands.
Verse 4
the feast of tabernacles — Kept ‘as it is written’: the fifteenth day of the seventh month, seven days in booths (Lev 23:34, 42). The offerings ‘by number’ follow Num 29:12–32, where the bullocks fall from thirteen on the first day to seven on the seventh. ‘As the duty of every day required’ is also the phrase of 2 Chr 8:14.
Verse 7
cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa — The route is Solomon’s: Lebanon timber brought ‘in floats by sea to Joppa’ for Jerusalem (2 Chr 2:16), paid for in food and oil (1 Kgs 5:11), and the Sidonians were the skilled timber-hewers (1 Kgs 5:6). The ‘grant’ (rishyon, a permit) is Cyrus’s, whose decree gave the expenses ‘out of the king’s house’ (Ezra 6:4).
Verse 8
twenty years old and upward — The second month is the month Solomon began to build (1 Kgs 6:1). David had lowered the Levites’ age of service to twenty (1 Chr 23:24–27). ‘To set forward’ is natsach, to oversee, the word of 1 Chr 23:4, where twenty-four thousand Levites ‘were to set forward the work of the house of the LORD’.
Verse 10
with trumpets… with cymbals — The priests blow the trumpets as Num 10:8 commands, ‘an ordinance for ever’, and the sons of Asaph take cymbals as Asaph did under David (1 Chr 16:5). ‘After the ordinance of David’ is literally ‘by the hands of David’, his arrangement of the musicians (1 Chr 25:1). The verb for laying the foundation is yasad, to found.
Verse 11
for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel — The refrain of Ps 136:1, sung when Solomon’s house was dedicated (2 Chr 5:13). ‘Mercy’ is chesed, covenant love. ‘By course’ translates anah, to answer, so the companies responded to one another. ‘Shouted’ and ‘shout’ come from one root, the great shout of the whole people at the laid foundation.
Verse 12
ancient men, that had seen the first house — Haggai asks the same generation, ‘Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory?’ (Hag 2:3). Weeping and joy rise together: ‘the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people’ (v.13), ‘heard afar off’.