Ezra 3:2 Commentary and Bible Study

Then stood up Jeshua, or Joshua is it spelt elsewhere. He was a priest, in fact, he was the acting high priest for all the returnees: for his brethren, for the priests, and for Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel. Zerubbabel was a leading prince among the Jews, but appointed by the Persian authorities to be the governor of Judah and Jerusalem. So they had a governor appointed by the emperor and he is named second. In due course he will be named first, but at this point he is named second. The high priest takes priority in the record and after him the governor, and there is a reason for that. This was obedience to God for worship, and worship is to be conducted and everything is to be done exactly as Moses prescribed. So the architect who is appointed is not some secular person; it’s the high priest; this is a spiritual activity; this is a religious matter. They have no temple yet, but they set up worship as laid down by Moses. Moses has got to be perfectly obeyed. There has got to be a complete continuation of the ordinances for worship that God gave to the Jews. Nothing must be left out; everything must be accurately reproduced. This is so important; they wish to obey God. So even in the record the high priest is mentioned first, because it is a spiritual, a religious activity. Imagine their situation: they got back to Jerusalem and the place is a ruin. It has been destroyed. Various people pick over the rubble, and they trace out the foundations. Amidst all the dust and the rubble they are able to mark out the base of the original foundation stones for the walls, and particularly they are keen to identify the foundation of the altar. They've worked out where it would be, its position. Now they have found the stones that were under the alter, so they build their new alter in exactly the same place. Sacrifices can only be offered in Jerusalem under the law of Moses. They can only be offered at the place that God has appointed, and they are going to be as scrupulously faithful.