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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:1-7
Aspects of worship. I. The HUMAN in WORSHIP. "Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak," etc. (Ezra 3:2). These men were the leaders in this movement of worship; they gathered the people thereto. There is a human side to…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:2
Jeshua the son of Jozadak. The position of Jeshua, both here and in Ezra 3:8, Ezra 3:9, sufficiently marks him as the high priest, though Ezra does not give him the title. Haggai, however (Ezra 1:1, 14; Ezra 2:2), and Z…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:3
They set the altar upon his bases. They built the new altar upon the foundations of the old one, making it exactly conform to them. This was done, no doubt, to indicate that the religion which the exiles brought back fr…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:4
CELEBRATION OF THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES (Ezra 3:4). Emboldened by their successful restoration of the altar of burnt sacrifice, Zerubbabel and Jeshua allowed the people to gather themselves together and celebrate the au…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:4-7
The first feast. "Also," Ezra 3:4; "afterward," Ezra 3:5; "but," Ezra 3:6; these are the three stepping-stones of this passage. After making a good beginning in restoring the daily sacrifices, the people "also" kept the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:4-6
The worship of the first year. In connection with the worship of the first year after the return of the children of Israel from Babylon, we notice— I. THAT IT WAS SUCH AS COULD BE CONDUCTED IN THE OPEN AIR. 1. They had…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:5
PERMANENT ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DAILY SACRIFICE, THE SET FEASTS, AND THE OFFERING OF FREE-WILL OFFERINGS (Ezra 3:5, Ezra 3:6). Having set up the altar, and celebrated the particular festival which the revolving year happ…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:7-13
Thought, work, and feeling. We have in this passage— I. A TRUE THOUGHT (Ezra 3:8). "Now in the second year of their coming," etc. We can easily imagine any orator among the company of the returned Jews making out a stro…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:7
PREPARATION OF MATERIALS FOR THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE (Ezra 3:7). When the restoration of religion had pro-greased thus far, the civil and ecclesiastical rulers turned their attention to that object which had been s…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:7-13
The founding of the temple. The worship of Israel during the first year of the restoration from Babylon was such as could be conducted around an altar in the open. The people naturally felt how imperfectly they could fu…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:8-13
The first stone. We now come in this story to a very critical time. The great work of the restoration of the house, for the sake of which the partial restoration of Israel to Canaan had been brought about and was to con…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:8-13
§ 3. REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE AND OPPOSITION MADE TO IT. EXPOSITION LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE TEMPLE AND CEREMONIAL ON THE OCCASION (Ezra 3:8-13). Seven months were occupied with preparations. The winter was past,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:8
In the second year. In b.c. 537, the second year of Cyrus in Babylon, which was also the second year of their coming (i.e. after their coming) to the (ruined) house of God (Ezra 2:68), began Zerubbabel, and the others,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:8-13
The joyful and sorrowful in religious worship. Here we have illustrated the power of a right leadership, the wisdom of devout co-operation, and the progress of a great enterprise (Ezra 3:8-10). I. The. JOYFUL. in religi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:9
Jeshua here is the head of the Levitical family mentioned in Ezra 2:40 as "the children of Jeshua," and Kadmiel is the head of the other family. Judah represents the "Hodaviah" of that place, and is probably a corrupt r…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:10
When the builders (Zerubbabel and Jeshua) laid the foundation of the temple, they set the priests in their apparel—the rich apparel, designed "for glory and for beauty," which the law required (Exodus 28:40; Exodus 40:2…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:11
They sang together by course. Literally, "They replied (to each other)," or sang antiphonically; the burthen of their song being, that God was good, and his mercy towards Israel everlasting. All the people shouted with…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:11-13
The foundation laid. The weeping of these old men was the first check on the enthusiasm of the builders of the temple. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and the prophecies of Zechariah and Haggai, which illustrate them, a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:12
Many … who were ancient men, that had seen the first house. The old temple had not been destroyed so much as fifty years. Consequently, there would be many who could remember its grandeur and glory. These persons, when…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 3:13
The people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping. One, it would seem, was as loud as the other; neither predominated. This, which would scarcely be possible among ourselves, was n…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:4-16
The world's opposition to the Church. We observe, in reference to the world's opposition to the Church— I. THAT IT OFTEN SEEKS TO HINDER USEFUL ENTERPRISE, These Samaritans sought to "trouble them in building" (Ezra 4:4…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:4-16
The world's opposition to the Church. We observe, in reference to the world's opposition to the Church— I. THAT IT OFTEN SEEKS TO HINDER USEFUL ENTERPRISE, These Samaritans sought to "trouble them in building" (Ezra 4:4…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:6-16
The work maligned. Besides "hiring counsellors," as mentioned in Ezra 4:5; or, it may be, in order to provide these counsellors with documents to present and act on; we are here told that the Samaritan "adversaries" sen…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:6-24
Three thoughts from old documents. The determined attempts made by the Samaritans to prevent the Jews from building the temple and the walls of Jerusalem are well illustrated in the correspondence between them and the k…