SHOUT FOR JOY (EZRA 3)
I have an educator friend J living in one of the big Chinese cities where the pandemic restrictions were very harsh. He said, “It was crazy being in lockdown for a month, not being able to go outside.” At the slightest relaxing of restrictions, he and his wife were the first to fly halfway around the world to see their son in college overseas. After they left, the restrictions tighten up again to its stringent worst.
My friend called and asked, “Victor, can I stay in Hong Kong so that I can re-enter the mainland once it opens up?” I replied, “No, J. It’s better to find a place where you have family members for support because I don’t think it’s going to open up anytime soon.” We went back and forth as he was convinced the restrictions would loosen soon because the lockdown would not last forever!” I was convinced otherwise.
Eventually my friend stayed with his brother and his family in Asia instead of entering Hong Kong. Do you know how long he was away? Eight months, before sanity was restored!
Can you imagine the Israelites were in exile for 70 years? After their return to Jerusalem, it took them seven months to settle in their towns. Suggestions on the internet include six months to a year to settle into a new town or city for new residents, but it’s new immigrants in the Israelites’ case. The challenge of residence, resources and redevelopment were a struggle.
How do new residents start their lives again? What does it mean to be a community? Why are we to be good neighbors to believers and unbelievers alike?
Set Your Priority
1 When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem. 2 Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. 3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices. 4 Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day. 5 After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred feasts of the Lord, as well as those brought as freewill offerings to the Lord. 6 On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord's temple had not yet been laid. 7 Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.
Two Jews are walking through a neighborhood one evening when they notice they are being followed by a pair of hoodlums.
“David,” say his friend, “we better get out of here. There are two of them, and we’re alone!”
Unity requires work, wisdom and watchfulness.
The Israelites, or “children of Israel” in the Hebrew language, occurs for the first time in the book. It was a way to describe the unity of the new and next generation seven months into their arrival. They were as “one man” (v 1). The number “one” occurs twice (vv 1, 9 together). The company of 49,897 exiles (v 64) was gifted 5,400 articles of gold and of silver by Cyrus (Ezra 1:11) for the journey and later 61,000 drachmas (2/3 ton) of gold, 5,000 minas (3 tons) of silver and 100 priestly garments by the local leaders toward the rebuilding of the house of God in Jerusalem (Ezra 2:69), but the success of the mission was not in the money, but in their mindset. 50 thousand new immigrants was a recipe for disaster, but they were united, unanimous and undivided to make it work.
Twice, the mission of the returnees was said to build the house of the Lord God of Israel (Ezra 1:3, 5), so the first thing the priests and Zerubbabel did was to build an altar to the God of Israel (v 2). Why was this important? Because this was what their forefather Abraham did upon arriving in Canaan, altogether four times in his lifetime (Gen 12:7, 8, 13:18, 22:9) for thanksgiving, testimony and tracking purposes. The times of offering were morning and evening (v 3), beside daily offerings (v 4), the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred feasts of the Lord (v 5). The noun “day” occurs four times in verse 4 and once in verse 6.
Warren Wiersbe said, “It wasn't necessary to wait until the temple was completed before offering sacrifices to God. As long as there was a sanctified altar and a qualified priest, sacrifices could be given to the Lord. After all, it's not the external furnishings but what's in the heart that concerns God the most.” (The Bible Exposition Commentary)
The obstacles were many, but the biggest and basic obstacle was “fear.” NIV in verse 3 says “’Despite’ their fear of the peoples around them,” but the original language is “FOR fear was upon them because of the people of those countries.” The conjunction “FOR” tells us the direct reason. The Israelites were close to 500,00 strong (v 64), yet their fear was surprising, severe and sincere. Who did they fear? They feared not only the peoples (NIV), but the “countries” (KJV), as the Israelites were surrounded by different people from various races and numerous nations. Reading the news today, you would understand there is no tit for tat, eye for an eye and blow for blow like that in the Middle East!
Succeed the Plan
8 In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak and the rest of their brothers (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work, appointing Levites twenty years of age and older to supervise the building of the house of the Lord. 9 Jeshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah) and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers — all Levites — joined together in supervising those working on the house of God.
Here are some humor on teamwork from the internet:
“Teamwork means never having to take all the blame yourself.” (Stephen Hawking)
“If you take out the team in teamwork, it's just work.”
“The reward for good teamwork is more work.”
“T.E.A.M- Together Everyone Annoys Me.”
“Teamwork is so much fun! Person A does 99% of the work, B has no idea what’s going on the whole time, C says he’s going to help but he’s not, and D disappear at the very beginning and doesn’t show up again till the very end.”
“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.” (Andrew Carnegie)
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” (Henry Ford)
All was not smooth even after the altar was built. It took them another seven months, into the second month of the second year after their arrival in Jerusalem, for the work of laying the foundation of the temple to begin (v 8). Masons and carpenters, food and drink and oil, logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa require manpower and money, coordination and collaboration, patience and perseverance.
Have you noticed the names of Joshua and Zerubbabel were reversed in order from verse 2, where previously Joshua’s name was mentioned first? This is because the work of the altar was led by Joshua and his fellow priests (v 2), but now working on the foundation was led by Zerubbabel, a descendant of King David (1 Chron 3:1, 19). The jobs of the priests and the Levites were different. The Levites were to oversee the work/ministry (v 8 building), whereas the priests (v 2) were to oversee the workers (v 9). Joshua and the priests were not experts in construction but they could make clear their representation, requirements and restrictions.
Verse 8’s “supervise” is translated elsewhere as excel (1 Chron 15:21), set (1 Chron 23:4) and oversee (2 Chron 2:18). The Lord’s work is never spontaneous, sloppy or subjective. The Levites supervising the building of the house of the Lord were merely 20 years or older of age. They were never too young to serve the Lord. The trio of fathers, sons and brothers were hard at work (v 9).
NIV’s inadequate translation of “building” (v 8) is outnumbered by “work” in other translations (KJV, NASB, ESV). Building is limited to the structure, but work is service. All worked according to their ancestry, apportionment and abilities.
Sing His Praise
10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel. 11 With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: "He is good; his love to Israel endures forever." And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12 But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. 13 No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.
James Packer views the glorifying of God as a sixfold activity in the Scripture: “Praising God for all that he is and all his achievements; thanking him for his gifts and his goodness to us; asking him to meet our own and others' needs; offering him our gifts, our service, and ourselves; learning of him from his word, read and preached, and obeying his voice; telling others of his worth, both by public confession and testimony to what he has done for us.”
The verb “lay foundation” (vv 6, 10, 11, 12) occurs more in this chapter than any chapter in the Bible. The altar goes “up” but the foundation goes “down.” “Lay foundation” and “shout” are the two most repeated verbs in the chapter.
Here are some quotes from the internet: “Foundation: the lowest load-bearing part of a building, typically below ground level.” (dictionary.com) “Foundation: the solid layer of cement, bricks, stones etc that is put under a building to support it.” (Longman)
“Building a foundation requires patience, perseverance, and passion.”
“Building a solid foundation involves various factors such as soil conditions, building size, and access constraints, impacting construction timelines. Proper planning and collaboration with experts are crucial for a successful construction project. The foundation construction process includes site preparation, footing installation, formwork, concrete pouring, backfilling, and waterproofing.” (storables.com)
Verse 11’s “praise” is the first occurrence of the verb after the exile. The hardware (Foundation) is built, but there was no heart-ware. The first praise was from the priests with trumpets, and the Levites with cymbals (v 10). The next praise was when the priests and the Levites added their voice to the instruments (v 11). The last “praise” was when all the people praised the Lord (v 11).
There were two reasons for their praise. First, the Lord is good (v 11), and second, His mercy rather than “love” is forever, as in NIV. The Hebrew noun “hesed” is mostly translated as mercy, kindness or lovingkindness, never love as we know it. Rick Warren says, “Heartless praise is not praise at all! It is worthless, an insult to God.”
There was more “shouting” (vv 11, 12, 13 twice) in this chapter than any chapter in the Bible. The verb “made/aloud” (v 12) is original to the ark as it was “lifted up” above the earth (Gen 7:17), and made famous by Moses as he “held up” his hand in prayer (Ex 17:11), so it is sustained, strong and serious. Great shout (v 11) and much noise/loud shout (v 13) are the same on Hebrew, just as shouts of joy (vv 12, 13) are the same.
Conclusion: Have you felt that God as failed or forsaken you? God has given us His very great and precious promises, so that we may participate in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Let us hope in God, hope in His word and His mercy. In the meantime, let us serve the Lord with all devotion, diligence and dependence!
Victor Yap
Bible.ryl.hk (Grammar Bible)
Preachchrist.com (sermons)
