Listen to Adam Clarkes words, “They saw that the glory had departed from Israel in their circumstances it was impossible to build such a house as the first temple was and had this been even possible, still it would have been greatly inferior, because it wanted the ark of the covenant, the heavenly fire, the mercy-seat, the heavenly manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, the divine shechinah, the spirit of prophecy and most probably the Urim and Thummim.”īut those who were younger and had never seen the first temple rejoiced because this was an important accomplishment in the restoration of the temple, and the worship that would happen here. Later in the chapter when the construction begins, the old men who had seen the previous temple, before it was destroyed, wept when the foundation was laid. God meets men at the place of sacrifice, even though there be no house for His name.” Commentator Alexander Maclaren said, “There cannot be a temple without an altar, but there may be an altar without a temple. They wanted God’s blessing on the entire project, and to neglect this would not be a good beginning. They wanted to resume the burnt offerings for the atonement of sin, and the morning and evening burnt offerings that were required according to the Law. I believe they did this because of their desire to be obedient to the Lord. Even before beginning construction on the temple, they built the altar. Once the people got to Jerusalem and settled into their towns, the first thing they did was build the altar on the exact same spot that the original altar had been. These were probably lost, destroyed or stolen when the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. Missing from the list of returned items is the altar of incense, the table of showbread, the bronze altar, the golden lampstand and the ark of the covenant. Having been in bondage all this time, the people are poor, so Cyrus volunteers to pay for the rebuilding of the temple out of his own resources, and he returns all of the temple articles to them. God’s judgement of 70 years of exile is over, and He sees to it that they are set free. And notice that this happens in Cyrus’ first year as king. And God moves on the heart King Cyrus of Persia, who is ruler of the land that once belonged to Nebuchadnezzar, and Cyrus decreed that the Jewish exiles may return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. God has judged Babylon as Jeremiah also prophesied. Ezra 1Īnd now as Ezra opens, the 70 years have come and gone. The people were taken into what would be a 70 year captivity, as was prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah. All the articles from the temple removed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, and the temple itself was set ablaze. The previous book, 2 Chronicles ended with the fall of Jerusalem. Design: Steve Webb | Photo: Yan Laurichesse on Unsplash Comments on Ezra 1-5 Introduction to Ezra
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