Ezra 6:15 Commentary and Bible Study

So the work of rebuilding the temple was completed in 516 BC. The reason why it had been so important to have priests and Levites among the returnees was that this moment had been envisaged when the regular service of the temple would begin. All things had to be done properly, ‘as it is written in the law of Moses’, and Ezra was going to make sure of that. Conformity to the law of God for worship was essential to them, as it should be essential to us today. This was a time of joy for them, for the worship of God was rightly at the centre of their national identity. Though there had been delays along the way, God had brought them to this day and for that they owed him great thanks. They therefore kept the Passover, that feast which took them back to their origin as a nation in being brought out of Egypt, in spite of all opposition. The priests were set ‘in their divisions’, that is, according to the heads of families as described in the law (1 Chronicles 24:1).In the middle of these verses is something very interesting: ‘and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats.’ Now that is something your eye would pass over as an incidental. It is in actual fact enormously significant. ‘A sin offering for all Israel’, in other words, they are still praying and hoping that others of Israel would join them. They are still thinking of their entire nation. Some were left behind in Israel herself, after the fall of Samaria; others were still in Babylon living now as second-rate citizens, but as free people, nevertheless, they didn't want to return. A sin offering is offered for them all. Twelve he-goats: that is one for each tribe. So there is a reunification desire and prayer even in the middle of the re-establishment of the newly built temple. God had done something which they knew only he could do, and therefore they had this clear token that he had not forsaken them in spite of all their many departures from him.