Albert Barnes Commentary Ezra 3
Albert Barnes Commentary
Ezra 3
Albert Barnes Commentary
Ezra 3
"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." — Ezra 3:1 (ASV)
The seventh month - i. e., the month Tisri (nearly our September), the most sacred month in the Jewish year (Exodus 23:16; Leviticus 23:24–41).
"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." — Ezra 3:2 (ASV)
Jeshua, the high priest, was the son of Jozadak, who was carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar (1 Chronicles 6:15).
Zerubbabel was really the son of Pedaiah, Shealtiel’s (or Salathiel’s) younger brother. But Shealtiel having no sons, and the royal line being continued in the person of his nephew, Zerubbabel, the latter was accounted Shealtiel’s son.
"And they set the altar upon its base; for fear was upon them because of the peoples of the countries: and they offered burnt-offerings thereon unto Jehovah, even burnt-offerings morning and evening." — Ezra 3:3 (ASV)
Upon his bases — They restored the old altar of burnt-offerings, which stood directly in front of the temple-porch, upon the old foundation. This became apparent on the clearing away of the ruins, and on a careful examination of the site.
"They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and food, and drink, and oil, unto them of Sidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar-trees from Lebanon to the sea, unto Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia." — Ezra 3:7 (ASV)
According to the grant - that is, in accordance with the permission granted them by Cyrus to rebuild their temple (Ezra 1:1–4).
"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 rest 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 have the oversight of the work of the house of Jehovah." — Ezra 3:8 (ASV)
To the house of God - that is, to the place where the house of God had been, and where God was believed still to have His special dwelling.
And appointed the Levites - This is the emphatic clause of the present verse. Though so small a number of Levites had returned from Babylon (Ezra 2:40), yet they were especially singled out to be entrusted with the task of superintending and advancing the building of the temple.
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