Joy & Sorrow

Good evening. Restoration and a solid foundation, joy and sorrow that is the topics for this discussion.

Ezra 3:8-13

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.

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.

NIV

Restoration of many kinds begins with laying a solid foundation, for only upon a secure base may one build a secure structure—a home, a temple, a marriage, a nation. As Ezra 3 illustrates this principle, it challenges us to lay solid foundations for our lives.

How did we get here? If you remember Jeremiah prophesied, “This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.” (Jeremiah 29:10). So the first chapter of Ezra opens with Cyrus, king of Persia having his heart stirred up by the LORD to send the captive Israelites back to their homeland. This is done in “order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah,”

In chapter two we get a rundown of those returning to rebuild the Temple of the LORD. Although some of those returning did not go to Jerusalem, but instead they went to their ancestral home towns. It is also here in chapter 2 that we see that some of the priest were removed because they could not prove their ancestry.

And then in the first seven verses of chapter 3 we see that; the alter was rebuilt on it's original site and that the prescribed offering were given thus re-instituting the sacrificial system as ordained by God. We also see that all the Israelites were gathered together to observe the feast of Tabernacle or Booths, hereby re-instituting the observance of the different festivals as ordained by God in His covenant with Moses. That is, all except the Day of Atonement because it required a temple or tabernacle.

There was no dispute among those who had returned as to whether they should build the temple or not. That was reason this group of exiles had returned. From verse 3 it seems that they felt the temple should be done with all speed; so that they could find comfort in God's presence with them and so that they might be able to follow all the law as given by God to Moses.

And now we are up to speed and ready to look at Ezra 3:8-13.

1. It Begins (vs. 8-9)

Who began the work -Zerubbabel (the civil authority), and Jeshua (the religious authority), and their brothers.

The work of God is likely to get done right when magistrates, ministers, and people, are satisfied to do it, and agree in their places to get it done. It was God that gave them one heart for this service, and so it boded well for them. 

 

They appointed the Levites 20 and older to oversee the work (v. 8). But Zerubbabel and Jeshua could not and did not stop with just the administrators, they needed someone to do the physical work, the craftsmen and the ordinary laborers (v. 9). 

 

This is a good lesson for you and me. God has called each one of us to a task within His body of believers. 1 Cor 12:27-28 is a familiar passage ~ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. For you who are not sure what you can do for the Lord, you can be of service by encouraging those around you. 

 

It was the second month of the second year when Zerubbabel and Jeshua were ready to start the building of the temple. “all those who had come out of the captivity” joined in the effort after all that was why they had come back to Israel. It took little more than half a year to prepare the ground and gather the materials; because they were so eager and their hearts burned for the new temple. When your heart burns for God and a work to be done in His name, the wisest course of action is to quickly set about doing it. Even though you might foresee difficulty and opposition to what ever God has called you to do; you should follow Him. When you engage yourself in God's good works, God invests Himself in your life. God's greatest work was done by Christ Jesus' death on a cross and by His resurrection. And this morning Christ Jesus wants to invest Himself in your life. 
 

During the 1930s, in the midst of the Great Depression, the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Long Beach had accumulated dozens of homes because owners could not pay their mortgages. Then a major earthquake rocked Long Beach, badly damaging many of the bank properties. An enterprising civil engineer went to work for the bank with one primary task: to restore the ruined homes. As he began to investigate, he found that most of the buildings had simply fallen off of their foundations. The inadequate foundations were not able to support the weight of houses being rattled by the earthquake. In the next year the young engineer oversaw the restoration of these homes, primarily through rebuilding their foundations.

2. The Foundation is Laid (vs. 10-13)

The thrust of this whole chapter is worship. Very little space is given to the actual repair of the foundation. Ezra 3:10 ~ “Now when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD,” and then there are no more mentions of repairs in this chapter.

After the foundation was laid the chapter is all about the priests, the celebration, the Levites, and the response of the people. That is because worship and religious practice are the focus here. Just as soon as the builders completed the foundation, everyone stopped working to worship. Both the priests, arrayed “in their apparel,” and the Levites, who grabbed their “cymbals,” began to “praise the Lord, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel.”

We find the emphasis here, once again, on the continuity in—Israel’s worship between the past and the present. How God was praised at the laying of the foundation of the temple; the priests with the trumpets appointed by Moses, and the Levites with the cymbals appointed by David, made up a concert of music, not to please the ear, but to assist the singing of that everlasting hymn which will never be out of date, and to which our tongues should never be out of tune, God is good, and his mercy endureth for ever. - Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible

The priests and Levites sang drawing “all the people” into worship. The song found in this verse repeats a familiar refrain, found throughout the Psalms, like Psalms 106:1: Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Their songs celebrates God’s goodness and, especially, His covenant faithfulness towards Israel.

The NKJV uses “mercy” to translate the Hebrew word chesed (kheh'-sed) which is often used to describe God’s faithful care for Israel in light of His everlasting covenant. This term plays a significant role throughout Ezra-Nehemiah.

In joyous song, the people gave credit to God for their progress in restoration; they worshiped “with a great shout.” Those that only knew the misery of having no temple at all, praised the Lord with shouts of joy when they saw the foundation laid. To them even this foundation seemed great, and was as life from the dead; to their hungry souls this was sweet manna from heaven. They shouted, so that the noise was heard afar off because they were thankful.

We ought to be thankful for the foundation of mercy built upon the sacrificed blood of Christ Jesus. And although we have not yet come to the perfection of it we like the children of Israel should want to shout and sing of His faithfulness. And we will someday thanks to Christ Jesus and His sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection we will sing praise to God as we kneel before Him. 

 

Verses 12–13 can have many scratching their heads, “What is going on here?” in the midst of such a vociferous celebration, “many” of the older priests, Levites, and family leaders “wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes; yet many shouted aloud for joy” (v. 12).

The noise they created was so loud that people far away could hear it but could not distinguish the weeping from the rejoicing (v. 13). Why did the older people weep? They remembered the glory of the first temple which Solomon built, and considered how this was likely to be inferior to that, perhaps in dimensions, certainly in magnificence and opulence. And so they wept with a loud voice. 

 

Sin sullies the glory of any church or people, and, when they find themselves diminished and brought low, they must bear the blame. The Jewish historian Josephus (first century a.d.) offers this interpretation of events: But the priests and the Levites and the elders of the families, re calling to mind the former temple which had been very great and costly, and seeing that the one recently constructed fell short of the old one because of their poverty, and considering how far they had fallen below their ancient prosperity and a state worthy of the temple, were downcast, and being unable to master their grief at this thought, were moved to laments and weeping.

And so Chapter 3 closes with this bizarre yet moving scene. Multitudes praised God with loud thanksgivings while others wept with almost equal fervor. 

 

Conclusion: The mixture of sorrow and joy here is a good representation of this world. Some are bathing in rivers of joy, while others are drowned in floods of tears. In heaven all are singing, and none are sighing. In hell all are weeping and wailing, and none are rejoicing.

However here on earth you can scarcely discern the shouts of joy from the noise of the weeping. As Christians, let us rejoice with those who rejoice and weep for those who weep. For the one who does not know Christ Jesus as LORD and Saviour your rejoicing is short lived and will soon turn to everlasting weeping. That is unless you build your foundation on Christ Jesus. Unless you ask Him to become your LORD and Saviour. Christ Jesus changes everything!