Chapter 3
Titled "Rebuilding the Altar"
All the returnees gather in Jerusalem, as one man, in the seventh month. Several men, including Zerubbabel (who has been named twice already in Ezra, and is presumably the same one who builds the temple later) and some of the priests, and they rebuild the altar according to the Law of Moses. I assume they also properly dedicated this altar with blood before commencing sacrifices. Because they feared the people around them, they began making sacrifices, morning and evening. So the "cessation" had lasted 70 years, and now is started again. They keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This is the feast that was "due" when the altar was rebuilt. They also begin gathering materials to lay again the foundation of the temple of God.
2025 - Imagine a naked altar with no Temple around it, yet they started making sacrifices according to the Law of Moses, and even on that rude, barely serviceable altar, because their own hearts were right, God accepted what they offered. So does it really matter how the worship service is organized today or who leads the singing or how they do it, or is the hearts of those who worship that matters?
In year 2, month 2 after returning, they make a start to rebuilding under Zerubbabel and Jeshua. Together with the Levites, these lay the foundation of the second temple, and when it is laid the priests put on their vestments and they sing and praise God according to the directions David had given so long ago. (They still had these instructions. I would guess that those books of the law were cherished, preserved, and essentially canonized by this time.)
If they are laying the foundation again, it is apparent that Nebuchadnezzar's Captain of the Guard had razed Solomon's Temple to the ground. Just as will happen with Herod's in 70 AD.
2024 - But those who remember the old days, who remember the glory of the temple before Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it, weep and wail because this new one is so very much less than before. I don't think this second Temple ever approaches that of Solomon. And that third temple, renovated at least if not rebuilt completely, is built by a Gentile for his own glory not for the glory of God. What we are seeing here is the long term result of promising to follow, and then not doing so. Israel has these "revivals" a number of times in here history. But go back and count the number of animals sacrificed. Less each time. Because the curses are still in effect as they fall further and further away, and the revivals never really overcome the apostasy that went before. Israel/Judah is a diminishing nation from the time of Solomon's death on. Each time they fall, it is from a lower starting place. And we see that this time, in their own land...
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. [Ezr 3:3 ESV].
They are in terror of the people now living in the land that God gave them, that they have lost through their own apostasy. They are scared to death, and THAT is their primary motivation for rebuilding this altar.
2024- And even here, as the foundation is laid, it is not made with materials donated to a great and respected King, but at the command of a pagan King far away. It is a sad return home, a sad revival even, if we are honest about it.
2024 - Wikipedia says this second Temple we see in Ezra and Herod's Temple are the same. Herod fixed it up some, but it had not fallen since the rebuilding in 516 BC. This next is copied from Wiki:
"In the 1st century BCE, the Second Temple was refurbished and expanded under the reign of Herod the Great, hence the alternative eponymous name for the structure. Herod's transformation efforts resulted in a grand and imposing structure and courtyard, including the large edifices and façades shown in modern models, such as the Holyland Model of Jerusalem in the Israel Museum. The Temple Mount, where both Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple stood, was also significantly expanded, doubling in size to become the ancient world's largest religious sanctuary.[3]"