Rebuilding the Temple

 

Ezra 3: 8-13

 

February 25, 2021

 

 

Rebuilding the Temple

 Now in the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests, and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. They appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to supervise the work of the house of the Lord.   And Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together supervised the workmen in the house of God, along with the sons of Henadad and the Levites, their sons and brothers.

 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel.   And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,

“For he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever 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.   But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

 

The people have been back in Jerusalem for two years, and have rebuilt their dwelling place and now the leaders have said it is time to lay the foundations of the temple.  For such an important task you would expect the Levites to be put in charge, and so it was all the Levites 20 years of age and older who were to supervise the work of the house of 
God.

 

When the foundation was complete, we see the priest and Levities coming forward the priest blowing trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord.  The people loudly praise the Lord, but some who recalled the older temple wept for the new one was not even close to the temple that Solomon had built for the LORD.

 

When the foundation of a nation is being torn down those who survive the destruction will always recall the way it was, but as was the temple, so are the end results of the USA  unless the church awakens and repents and prays for the forgiveness of the grievous sins of our Nation.  The killing of children, the lust for money and power not looking to God but a rejection of His authority and grace.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice