Ezra 3:1-7--Rebuilding the Altar

Ezra 3:1-7
English Standard Version

Rebuilding the Altar
3 When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. 2 Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. 3 They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening. 4 And they kept the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required, 5 and after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the appointed feasts of the LORD, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the LORD. 6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid. 7 So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

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Assuming this is the seventh month according to the Jewish calendar, which is a month full of holy days to the LORD starting on the first day of the seventh month when the Feast of Trumpets, then on the tenth day, there was the Day of Atonement, and on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles--where they offered sacrifices every day, increasing in number each day, for eight days.

With this in mind, it was essential that the LORD's Altar--the Bronze Altar be rebuilt first.  We normally think of the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place being where the really important stuff happened, but none of that happens without the work that is done at the LORD's Altar in the courtyard.  It supplies the blood for atonement and the fire the lights the lamps and burns the incense for all the other ministries done inside the Tabernacle.  Without the Bronze Altar, there is no other priestly ministry.  It is only by the blood of the Lamb that we can approach the LORD to minister before Him.

Now the high priest at this time was named Jeshua (other translations will say Joshua, but this is the same name as "Jesus"--Yeshua--"The LORD Saves" or "The LORD's Salvation" or "The LORD is My/Our Salvation."  All are appropriate translations to this name, and he will truly look forward to the priestly ministry of Jesus to save His people from their sins).

Along with the other priests, Yeshua offered burnt offerings to the LORD for the atonement of the people's sins according to what was written in the Law of Moses in the morning and in the evening, every day.  They were unable to keep the Feast of Trumpets or the Day of Atonement, but they kept the Feast of Tabernacles (Feast of Booths) and offered the daily sacrifices required by it on the LORD's Altar for all eight days for the feast.  As well as the daily offerings, they offered the weekly offering the New Moon (monthly offerings) and all the other offerings for the appointed feasts of the LORD moving forward.

All this was being done before the foundation of the sanctuary was even laid, for the main ministry of the Temple happened with the blood atonement made at the Bronze Altar.  However, there were other things that needed to happen inside the sanctuary (The Altar of Incense where they would offer prayers of confession and petition, the Table of Showbread, and the Golden Lampstand that kept the sanctuary lit, and of course the Ark of the Covenant where the blood was applied once a year by the High Priest to make atonement for himself and all the people of Israel).  Money was collected from the people as a freewill offering and the money was used to hire carpenters and masons, and to buy the food, drink and oil that they needed to give daily provisions to the laborers.  Once again, the people of Tyre and Sidon provided the skilled laborers to rebuild the Temple and provided more cedar Lebanon that they cut and turned into rafts and floated down the Mediterranean Sea so that these could be used to build a Temple for the LORD.  All this was done at the direction of King Cyrus who king over this entire region and at his direction everyone was to provide all the laborers and resources needed for the Temple to be rebuilt.  We'll look at the rebuilding of the Temple proper (the sanctuary) next time.