No. 9 in Returning Home
“When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem.” – Ezra 3:1ESV
Tishri is the seventh month in the Hebrew calendar. The first day of Tishri was the Feast of Trumpets (Leviticus 23:24). Work would stop , and, as the name describes, trumpets would be blown, signaling that something or someone was coming. It also signaled the arrival of a month in which the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:27) and the Feast of Tabernacles (feast of booths, Leviticus 23:34) was to be observed. In Moses’ time, God had commanded the Israelites to journey to the temple for this celebration. How very poignant this memorial time must have been for the people led by Zerubbabel. They gathered in Jerusalem on the first day of Tishri. After settling in the surrounding cities where their homes and ways of life had been destroyed, they showed their true commitment. Their focus was the restoration of their worship to Jehovah God.
“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.” – Ezra 3:2ESV
Numbers 29 gives more detail about the sacrifices and offerings they were to give in the holidays of the seventh month. Note that they had to set up the altar before they could begin their worship to God.
“Though fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its bases; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening burnt offerings.” – Ezra 3:3NKJV
Re-entering their old land did not mean they could walk in and take over. They knew it, and these new arrivals were afraid. Idol-worshipers had been living in their country; they had to step lightly. But Ezra tells us they did not step lightly when it came to God’s command to offer sacrifices to Him. They set up the altar anyway.
“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,” – Ezra 3:4ESV
How ironic that during this seven-day feast, when they were to live in primitive shelters made from tree branches, they did not have houses to reside in. This holy day was to remind them of their days living in tents after their escape from Egypt. How much more did it mean to them, having returned from a second captivity! This was doubly the memorial for them, offered with grateful hearts for a new beginning.
The Israelites began to worship God and meet with Him again from a tumbled-down temple site. They had so far to go, but they made the start. This feast was also a starting point to reestablish the ongoing service of the Levites to worship God continually.
“…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.” – Ezra 3:5ESV
While the word “regular” expresses how these were the everyday offerings, it does not adequately express the definition of the Hebrew word, tamiyd, which means “continually” or “always.” God, through Moses, established a continual succession of offerings that were to be sacrificed in the mornings and the evenings seven days a week, beyond what was sacrificed on holy days and on the first day of every month. He explains His reason for this. “This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee. And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory”(Exodus 29:42-43KJV).
Our Most High God set up His tabernacle, and, later, His house in Jerusalem, to meet with His people and commune with them. Through these animal sacrifices being given every day, God was teaching them how they must be cleansed by blood that would atone for sin, continually making them holy before Him. The inspired writer of Hebrews 10:1-4 teaches us the meaning of this symbolic ritual:
“For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
When Christ died, His blood became the atonement for sin once for all, and does so continually (1 John 1:7ESV).
Do you long to return to meaningful worship from a tumbled-down temple site? 1 Corinthians 3:16 says that we are the temple of God. When we neglect the things of God, it may be a struggle to rebuild. It may be overwhelming to reembark on the life of a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1ESV), but consider the struggle and perseverance of these people of God that are recorded in Ezra. Consider the burden of their task, the load of work ahead of them. They set a starting point and began again. You can, too.