The Altar Is Rebuilt
Study note
The seventh month was a sacred time in Israel's calendar, with the Festival of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Festival of Shelters all falling in that month. Even before the temple foundation was laid, the people built the altar and began offering burnt sacrifices. They were afraid of the surrounding peoples but chose to worship God anyway. This showed their faith and trust in the Lord.
1 By the time the seventh month arrived, the Israelites had all settled in their towns. Then they came together as one group in Jerusalem. 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 Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests joined with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his relatives to rebuild the altar of Israel's God. They wanted to offer burnt sacrifices on it, just as the Law of Moses required. 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 Even though they feared the peoples living around them, they rebuilt the altar right on its old foundation. They began offering the morning and evening burnt sacrifices to the Lord. 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 the Feast of Shelters as the Law required. They gave the right number of daily offerings for each day. 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 After the festival, they kept up the regular daily burnt offerings. They offered the New Moon offerings and the offerings for every appointed festival of the Lord. People also brought gifts of their own free will. 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 They began offering burnt sacrifices to the Lord on the first day of the seventh month. But the temple's foundation had not been laid yet. 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.
Rebuilding the Temple Begins
Study note
In the second year after returning, the people began the major work of rebuilding the temple. They hired skilled workers and arranged for cedar wood from Lebanon, just as King Solomon had done when building the first temple centuries earlier. King Cyrus of Persia had given them permission and funding for this project. The Levites age twenty and older were put in charge of the work.
7 They hired stonecutters and carpenters, paying them with money. They traded food, drink, and olive oil with the people of Sidon and Tyre in exchange for cedar logs shipped by sea from Lebanon to the port of Joppa. King Cyrus of Persia had authorized all of this. 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.
8 Work on the temple began in the second month of the second year after the exiles got to Jerusalem. Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and all their people put Levites age twenty and older in charge of the building project. 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 Jeshua and his sons and relatives teamed up with Kadmiel and his sons from Judah's family. Together they watched over the temple workers. The family of Henadad and their Levite relatives helped them. 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.
Celebration and Weeping at the Foundation
Study note
When the builders finished laying the foundation, it was a deeply emotional moment. The priests blew trumpets and the Levites played cymbals, following the worship pattern King David had established. They sang praises to God for His never-ending love. Younger people shouted with joy, but the older people who remembered Solomon's magnificent first temple wept. They could see this new temple would be much smaller and simpler.
10 When the builders completed the temple's foundation, the priests put on their robes and raised their trumpets. The Levites descended from Asaph took up their cymbals. Together they praised the Lord using the pattern King David of Israel had established. 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 They sang back and forth to each other, praising and thanking the Lord: "He is good, and his faithful love for Israel never ends." The whole crowd burst out in a thundering shout of praise because the Lord's temple foundation was finished. 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 older priests, Levites, and family leaders who had seen Solomon's original temple cried out loud when they looked at this new foundation. At the same time, many others were shouting for joy. 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 Nobody could tell the joyful shouting apart from the weeping -- the noise was so loud it carried for miles. 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.