Or, The Sound Heard Far Away
Scripture: Ezra 3:1-13
Date: October 20, 2024
Speaker: Sean Higgins
The word of the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah promised not only that His people would return to their land but that they would return to offer sacrifices in the temple. After 70 years of captivity—which started when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and took away the valuables connected to the temple—God would rebuild the nation and in particular renew the nation’s worship.
Ezra 1 opens the story, with Cyrus’ decree and an overview of those returning with special mention of the temple items. Ezra 2 documents the 49,000 plus persons who returned in the first wave, including slaves and singers, along with the assets they brought with them. Ezra 3 recounts two more providential stages, though the events took place some months apart.
The first is a renewal of worship sacrifices and the second is laying the foundation of the temple for worship. Watch for the motivation especially in the beginning, and prepare for the resistance especially at the end.
Their worship was based. Calling something “based” today implies a counterpoint to either “cringe” or “woke.” It represents a rejection of progressive ideals and an embrace of nonconformity. But Israel’s worship was more than just courageous, it was Book-based. The foundation of the temple wasn’t just a statement of architecture, it was faith-based.
Chapter 2 opened and closed with reference to Jews settling in their towns. One of the divisions in the documentation numbered the persons by their different cities. But when the seventh month came there was a new sort of coming together.
It was the seventh month of the year (probably 537 BC) when the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. The Lord said in Jeremiah 32:39 that He would give His people “one heart and one way.” He gave them a mutual interest, He gave them agreement of purpose.
Among the graces given by God, the unity of the assembly is easy to say and an obvious pain point when it’s lacking. We have not because we ask not, and we make no forward progress when every person is picking at one another. It’s the way of man, and no wonder we can’t get anything done. Unity brings men to worship, and worship, by God’s grace, brings men to unity. An assembly with one mind makes things move.
The two men mentioned represent the priestly and the Davidic lines. Jeshua and his fellow priests along with Zerubabbel…with his kinsmen got the place for sacrifices set up.
Three key pieces. First, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. They went by the Book. The Law of Moses is the Pentateuch, the Five Books, also called the Torah. The Book is the standard for righteousness as a standard for the community. The Book got their attention; we’ll see it for Ezra especially who was “skilled” in it. Instructions for sacrifices came through the Book.
Second, They set the altar in its place, on the original site, on its “bases” (KJV).
Third, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands. We’d probably be safe to assume that they would have restarted sacrifices in the best of times, but what drove them (by providence) is recognition of their vulnerability. We could think of the lion (who was actually Aslan) chasing Shasta so that he’d go faster. And when they felt themselves in trouble, they gave themselves to worship.
Burnt offerings are consecration offerings. The burnt offering got set on the altar in its entirety to be entirely consumed in the fire. It represented the sacrificer, and so the sacrificer devoted himself completely to the Lord. This was their response to anxieties, to cast their whole persons on God.
They also kept the Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles. It was the right time of the year, yes, but this weeklong festival took them into tents as a reminder of the Lord’s previous provision in the wildness. When Israel didn’t have permanent homes, they had daily provision from the Lord.
Verse 6 ends this part by saying they got all the sacrifices going again but had not yet made progress on the temple.
Verse 7 not only transitions to temple work but resonates with David gathering supplies for when Solomon built the temple in his day. This includes trading for lumber with Lebanon and for stones and craftsman with Tyre and Sidon.
We’ve moved into the second year of their return by verse 8. In the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem,; they’d come home, but the house wasn’t standing. In the second month would be around our April-May, so in the spring when the weather started to be more favorable for building. Zerubbabel and Jeshua are mentioned again, with delegation to the Levites to supervise the work of the house of the LORD. The people were excited about the project.
The rest of the chapter is the sunrise before people who hate the light wake up. The rest of the chapter is a glad choir before the neighbors complain about happy sounds being too loud. It isn’t actually the finish; turns out the finish of the temple won’t be for another twenty years (c. 516 BC). But these small beginnings were worth big celebration.
They brought out the noisemakers, trumpets and cymbals (see also Psalm 150:5); according to the directions of David king of Israel, so based. They sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD.
For He is good,
for His steadfast loves endures forever
toward Israel.
This is maybe the summary lyric of the Psalms. Take for example Psalm 136, it’s 26 verses long with the steadfast love taking up the second half of every verse. It was the line everyone knew, a line of response, and here in Ezra with the added toward Israel.
See Jeremiah 33:10-11, prophesied probably around 586, or fifty years ahead of time.
Some of the older men wept, men who had seen the temple in its heyday, men who then were taken to Babylon and now returned. The text doesn’t give the explicit reason of their sorrow, whether because they knew the rebuilt temple wouldn’t be as glorious, or just bittersweet because of all that had been lost.
Many others shouted aloud for joy. The scene and sounds made it 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.
We don’t really do the godly shouting thing. We’re more on the nervous-about-emotionalism side. And, alright. We prefer our cymbals more manageable, and trumpets are a monstrous blast. Still, there are times when the assembly really gets going. Some of you are old enough to remember our re-meeting inside in the summer of 2020. We don’t always get so amped up. For that matter the Jews didn’t maintain this fervor. But there’s nothing wrong with the praising and giving thanks and making it heard.
The joyful noise got them in trouble. They were jealousable in a negative world. It provoked more resistance than a growing rejoicing.
The next stage is resistance and the worked stopped for 16 years until Haggai and Zechariah urge rebuilding under Darius. Here they “made a beginning” (3:8). And later in Zechariah 4:10 again “the day of small beginnings.”
“The sound heard far away” for God is good. And whatever our hands find to do should be based on worship.
Let the joyful shouts of the assembly ring in your hearts even when you are far away. You are the burnt offerings. Present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. Your life is the altar. Offer yourselves in light of the mercies of God. Be consumed for your good God.
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5–6 ESV)