EZRA 3
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2004 James Melough
3:1. “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.”
It is uncertain whether the seventh month here was seven months from the time
they had left Babylon, or seven months from the time of their arrival in
Jerusalem, or the seventh month of the year, for it was in that seventh month
of the year that three of the great annual feasts were held: Feast of Trumpets
celebrated on the first day of the month; Day of Atonement on the tenth; and
Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, which ran from the fifteenth till the
twenty-first of the seventh month. Most scholars understand this particular
gathering in Jerusalem to have been the celebration of the Feast of
Tabernacles,
The gathering of the people “as one man to Jerusalem” is generally taken to
imply unanimity of purpose relative to the rebuilding of the Temple, and
resumption of the Levitical order of worship.
3:2. “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.”
Jozadak, a descendant of Aaron, was the religious leader; and Zerubbabel,
descended from David, was the civil head, thus were the religious and civil
administrators joined as one in their determination to reestablish the
divinely appointed order of worship. This stands in stark contrast with the
western world’s separation of church and state, the latter having no desire to
have God interfere in its affairs, or impose His will upon its activities.
Their building the altar “to offer burnt offerings thereon” declares their
desire to present God with their worship for Who He is, and for all that He
had done for Israel. Their worship being according to “the law of Moses”
ought to remind us that God is to be worshiped according to the order He
Himself has appointed, and not according to the vagaries of man’s
imagination. The amazing variety of what passes in Christendom for worship
declares the extent to which man has chosen to replace the Divine order with
what is of mere human origin.
3:3. “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.”
“Bases” should be singular. The altar was set up on the base or site where it
had been originally, the activity of the people being prompted in some measure
at least by their fear of the heathen neighbors in the midst of whom they
dwelt, their fear impelling obedience, apart from which they could not claim
God’s protection. It would be well if that same fear motivated us, for our
need is as great as was Israel’s; but it is all too apparent that for the most
part believers today aren’t governed by that same principle. The world is as
much our enemy as were her heathen neighbors Israel’s in that far distant day;
but sadly the professing Church for the most part has lost that wholesome
fear, not only of an enemy world whose ways she has embraced, but also of a
righteous God whose dominion she has rejected.
Their presenting burnt offerings “morning and evening” reminds us that our
days too should begin and close with the presentation of thanksgiving to God,
for He has done for us “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,”
Ephesians 3:20.
3:4. “They kept also the feast of tabernacles
(booths), as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number,
according to the custom, as the duty of every day required;”
The feast of tabernacles (booths) lasted for seven days (15-21) in the seventh
month (cf. Leviticus 23:33-43; Numbers 29:12-40), and foreshadows the
millennial blessing, not only of Israel, but of the whole world.
3:5. “And afterward offered the continual burnt
offering, both of the new moons (months), 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.”
The continual burnt offering was prescribed, and was offered every morning and
every evening; but in addition to it the people voluntarily and spontaneously
presented these other offerings as an expression of their thanksgiving to God
for His countless blessings and multiplied mercies. We who are the recipients
of even richer blessings would do well to emulate them by expressing our
gratitude through obedience, remembering that it is written, “Behold, to obey
is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams,” 1 Samuel
15:22, the same truth being declared by the Lord Himself, “If ye love me, keep
my commandments,” John 14:15; “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them,
he it is that loveth me,” John 14:21; Paul also exhorting, “I beseech you
therefore, brethren ... that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service,” Romans 12:1.
3:6. “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.”
As noted above, see verses 3 and 4, only the altar of burnt offering had been
set up, on its original site, but the work of rebuilding the Temple hadn’t
begun.
3:7. “They gave money also unto the masons, and
to the carpenters; and meat, and drink (wine), 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.”
In preparation for the rebuilding of the Temple, the people hired masons and
carpenters, and paid the people of Tyre and Zidon with food and drink (wine)
and oil, to bring cedar wood to Joppa, from which it would then be brought to
Jerusalem, for the rebuilding of the Temple, Cyrus, king of Persia, having
authorized that work.
Their willing generous giving is an example we should follow, keeping in mind
what is written in 2 Corinthians 9:6-8, “He which soweth sparingly shall reap
also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully
... give, not grudgingly or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having
all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”
3:8. “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.”
The second month of the second year, i.e., fourteen months after their return
from Babylon, and seventy years from the first deportation in 605 B.C.,
Zerubbabel the civil head, and Jeshua the religious head, appointed the
Levites, over the age of twenty, to superintend the work of rebuilding the
Temple.
The fact that the superintending Levites were “from twenty years old and
upward” is the OT symbolic declaration of the truth recorded in 1 Timothy 3:6
relative to elders, that God does not permit the novice to have any part in
overseeing the local assembly, as it is written concerning those to whom God
has committed the oversight of the churches, “Not a novice, lest being lifted
up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.”
3:9. “Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his
brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to set forward
(superintend) the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their
sons and their brethren the Levites.”
Jeshua means he will save: Jehovah is salvation; Kadmiel, before
(literally in front of) God; Judah he shall be praised;
Henadad favor of Hadad (Hadad meaning I shall move softly: I shall
love).
They may very well represent the evangelists, elders, and teachers, etc., whom
God has given to the Church for her up building, see 1 Corinthians 12:28, “And
God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly
teachers ....”
It is to be noted, however, that the apostles and prophets were for the
apostolic age only, the completion of the canon of Scripture rendering their
further ministry unnecessary, God’s communication since then being through the
written Word. The apostles were unique: they have had no successors, they by
means of their teaching laying the foundation of the Church; but it is to be
noted that the prophet has been succeeded by the teacher, see 2 Peter 2:1,
“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be
false teachers among you....” The great distinction between the prophet and
the teacher is that the former received fresh revelation of truth beyond what
had been revealed to his OT counterpart, that revelation constituting the NT
scriptures, the work of the teacher being, not to receive additional truth,
but to explain what the prophets have written.
In their meanings these names combine to set Jehovah forth as the Savior God,
Who is worthy of all praise, honor, glory, and worship, the One before Whom
all men must eventually stand for judgment, and before Whom all men
should “walk softly,” (see above meaning of Hadad) i.e., in humble, loving
obedience.
All of these agreed to superintend the work voluntarily, and it is instructive
to note that elders are to serve in the same spirit, see 1 Peter 5:1-2, “The
elders which are among you I exhort .... Feed the flock of God ... taking the
oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but
of a ready (willing) mind....”
This Jeshua (Joshua), incidentally, was not the high priest, but rather, the
Levite mentioned in 2:40.
3:10. “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.”
The foundation upon which the believer’s eternal security rests was laid over
two thousand years ago when the Lord Jesus Christ expiated all our sins by His
vicarious death, it being written concerning that foundation, “For other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ,” 1
Corinthians 3:11. And as the laying of the Temple foundation was accompanied
by the activity of the priests, so was that of the spiritual temple the Church
which is composed of pardoned sinners who have become a royal kingdom of
priests, clad also “in their apparel,” the spotless righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, which God imputes to every believer, as it is written, “But of
him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness ...” 1 Corinthians 1:30.
The priests also had trumpets which they used to glorify God. We too, the
priests of this era of grace are responsible to glorify Him by “trumpeting”
the good news of the gospel.
The Levites’ contribution to the worship was to sound their cymbals, the clash
of which is to be echoed today by our sounding out the warning of the terrible
end of him who dies without having been born again through faith in Christ as
his Savior. Unfortunately the clash of the cymbal is little heard today, the
Gospel having been largely expunged of warning, so that men continue
undisturbed in the sleep of death, a dreadful awakening awaiting them in hell,
the indescribable torment of which will be continued eternally in the terrible
lake of fire.
It is instructive to note that the name Asaph, the father of the Levites,
means a gatherer. We too are to be gatherers in God’s great harvest
field, the world, those we lead to Christ being the “wheat” that will be
gathered into His “barn,” those who die unsaved being the “tares” which will
be ultimately gathered together for burning, first in hell, and then eternally
in the terrible lake of fire.
Believers are the counterparts of the OT priests, as declared in 1 Peter 2:9,
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood ...” Their having
trumpets and cymbals wherewith to praise God serves to remind us that we too
are to sound forth the praises of Him Who has called us out of darkness into
His marvelous light, 1 Peter 2:9; and as those priests were clad in special
garments so are we, for we are clothed in Christ’s immaculate righteousness.
But worship is to be accompanied by faithful testimony in the Gospel, the
trumpet speaking symbolically, but very clearly, of testimony.
Relative to “the ordinance of David” it is to be noted that it was he who
first appointed the musical ministry of the Levites, see 1 Chronicles
15:16,19; 16:7; 23:1,5; 25:1,2; 2 Chronicles 7:6; 8:14; 29:25,27; 35:15. In
the wilderness Israel had no musical ministry, and we do well to note that her
wilderness experience foreshadows that of the Church, while her dwelling in
the land symbolizes her in the enjoyment of millennial blessing.
Contrary to what is generally taught today there is no musical ministry for
the Church. Believers of the Church age are commanded, “... be filled with
the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,” Ephesians 5:19, the
command being repeated in Colossians 3:16. The silence of the NT on the
subject of choirs, etc., is instructive: it does not envisage any musical
ministry for the Church; nor is scriptural silence to be construed as
permission to introduce such a ministry. We are safe in doing only that for
which we have a clear “Thus saith the Lord.”
Some believe that Psalm 118 was the one used here to express the people’s
worship.
3:11. “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.”
Their singing together “by course in praising and giving thanks unto
the Lord,” teaches symbolically that praise and worship are to be at the
impulse of the Holy Spirit, which is always orderly, and not according to the
vagaries of our own emotions.
The eternal endurance of His mercy toward Israel is not to be interpreted as
excluding all other nations, for it is to be remembered that the believing
remnant of Israel were the only ones whom He considered as being true
Israelites, as it is written, “For they are not all Israel, which are of
Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children:
but, in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of promise
are counted for the seed,” Romans 9:6-8. Since the true Israel is a figure of
all believers of every age, the truth being declared here is that God’s mercy
to believers will endure eternally.
The cause of their joyful worship was the laying of the foundation of the
Temple, reminding us that the up-building of the Church, which proceeds with
the salvation of souls, brings joy to the heart of every true believer, each
new convert becoming another living stone which the Holy Spirit sets in its
appointed place as the building of the Church continues.
3:12. “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:”
The scene is repeated today. Many Christians looking back to the phenomenal
numbers converted in the early Apostolic age, and to the multitudes led to the
Lord in revivals during the intervening years, deplore the paucity of converts
in this present age. Encouragement, however, lies in the fact that these are
the closing days of the age, the gleaning time, the bulk of the harvest having
already been gathered in. This is the time typologically foreshadowed by
Ruth’s gleaning in the field of Boaz. It is the day of small things, and not
to be despised, for God sets a greater value on faithfulness than on numbers.
Rather than weeping for departed glory, we should rejoice at news of
conversions no matter how small the numbers, remembering that one soul is of
greater value than the whole world, and, “... that likewise joy shall be in
heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just
persons, which need no repentance .... there is joy in the presence of the
angels of God over one sinner that repenteth,” Luke 15:7,10.
Relative to this verse G. Coleman Luck has written very pertinently, “Old men
are often inclined to be too pessimistic and to look too much to the past,
sometimes unduly dampening the godly enthusiasm of the young by their
attitude. But young people sometimes have a tendency to be overconfident and
rush rashly ahead without proper preparation, thus making a miserable
failure. In proper bounds both the wisdom and conservatism of age along with
the vigor and enthusiasm of youth can be used in the Lord’s work. ‘There is
room both for the weeping and the shouting.’”
3:13. “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.”
And so is it today: there is much cause for weeping, but greater reason to
rejoice, for clearly the age is almost ended: there are only a few more grains
of sand to run in the hourglass before the Lord fulfills His promise to come
to the air and catch us up to be for ever with Him. Today could be our last
on earth, our first in heaven.
[Ezra 4]