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The Worship Resumed
v. 1. And when the seventh month was come, namely, that of the church-year, in which the new year of the civil year, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles were celebrated,and the children of Israel were in the cities, when they had just about gotten settled in the homes assigned to them, the people, filled with zeal for the ancient worship, gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem, all inspired with the same idea and purpose.
v. 2. Then stood up Jeshua (or Joshua), the son of Jozadak, and his brethren, the priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the governor of the province, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, the immediate and most urgent necessity in the restoration of the ancient worship, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the Law of Moses, the man of God.
v. 3. And they set the altar upon his bases, erecting it upon its old foundations as quickly as possible; for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries, those of the neighboring countries, especially also in what was known as Samaria, where the heathen element was strong, who might even now venture a hostile interruption. And they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord, even burnt offerings morning and evening, Num_28:3-4.
v. 4. They kept also the Feast of Tabernacles, whose celebration began on the fifteenth of the month, as it is written, Exo_23:16, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, Num_29:12-40, as the duty of every day required, for the number of sacrifices prescribed for the various days of the festival was not the same;
v. 5. and afterward offered the continual burnt offering, Exo_29:38-42, the one lamb of the morning and of the evening worship, both of the new moons and of all the set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, Numbers 28, 29, and of every one that willingly offered a free-will offering unto the Lord, these words including all other sacrifices, also those of vows.
v. 6. From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord, with the new moon of the civil year. But the foundation of the Temple of the Lord was not yet laid, the courts may have been free of the débris and ruins, but the Sanctuary had not yet been begun.
v. 7. They gave money also unto the masons and to the carpenters, the workmen who prepared the hewed stones and the timber for the building; 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, floating down the logs from some Phenician port to Joppa, whence they could be hauled to Jerusalem, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus, king of Persia, with whose special permission they were rebuilding the Temple, Ezr_1:3. That is the greatest necessity of any congregation, also in the New Testament, to assemble for the worship of the Lord, to hear and learn His Word.