Ezra — Chapter 3

Joshua the high priest and Zorobabel the prince were the two leaders of the returned people in Jerusalem: Jesus (Joshua) over ecclesiastical affairs, Zorobabel over civil affairs. Thus the sacred and civil orders were distinct, each with its own head, working together for the restoration of God's people.

And they set the altar of God upon its bases … and they offered upon it a holocaust to the Lord morning and evening — The altar was erected and sacrifice offered BEFORE the Temple was built or its foundations laid. Lapide notes: worship of God must take precedence over all else; prayer and sacrifice cannot await the completion of outward structures. Even with adversaries threatening on every side, they did not delay the morning and evening sacrifices.

They kept the feast of Tabernacles according to what was written, and offered holocausts day by day in order, according to the commandment, \"the work of each day in its day.\" Lapide cites Numbers 29 on the precise number and kind of victims prescribed for each day of the octave.

From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer holocausts to the Lord, though the foundation of the temple of God was not yet laid. Lapide: the altar came first; the house of God followed. So too in the spiritual life: interior sacrifice of heart must precede exterior building of any earthly work.

They praised God through the hands of David — that is, through David's works, namely the Psalms composed by David, and through the musical instruments he skilfully arranged for the praise of God in the Temple. The Levites with cymbals and the priests with trumpets stood in their vesture.

And many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, and the ancients that had seen the first temple, when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice — The elders wept because the foundations of the new Temple bore no comparison in greatness and majesty to the Temple of Solomon which they had seen before the destruction. Yet others rejoiced at the rebuilding and at the return from captivity, and at God's reconciliation with His people. Thus the voices of those weeping and those exulting were mingled together in a harmony of lamentation and jubilation, and the sound was heard afar. Haggai 2 addresses this very sorrow.