Ezra 3:12

_BUT MANY OF THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES AND CHIEF OF THE FATHERS, WHO WERE ANCIENT MEN, THAT HAD SEEN THE FIRST HOUSE, WHEN THE FOUNDATION OF THIS HOUSE WAS LAID BEFORE THEIR EYES, WEPT WITH A LOUD VOICE; AND MANY SHOUTED ALOUD FOR JOY:_ But many of the priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers ... wept with a loud voice. Those painful emotions were excited by the sad contrast between the prosperous circumstances in which the foundations of the first temple had been laid, and the desolate, reduced state of the country and city when the second was begun; between the inferior size and costliness of the stones used in the foundations of the second (1 Kings 7:9), and the much smaller extent of the foundation itself, including all the appurtenances of the building (Haggai 2:3); between the comparative

8-13 There was a remarkable mixture of affections upon laying the foundation of the temple. Those that only knew the misery of having no temple at all, praised the Lord with shouts of joy. To them, even this foundation seemed great. We ought to be thankful for the beginnings of mercy, though it be not yet perfect. But those who remembered the glory of the first temple, and considered how far inferior this was likely to be, wept with a loud voice. There was reason for it, and if they bewailed the sin that was the cause of this melancholy change, they did well. Yet it was wrong to cast a damp upon the common joys. They despised the day of small things, and were unthankful for the good they enjoyed. Let not the remembrance of former afflictions drown the sense of present mercies....

Verse Ezra 3:12. _WEPT WITH A LOUD VOICE_] They saw that the glory had departed from Israel; in their circumstances it was impossible to build such a house as the first temple was; and had this been even possible, still it would have been greatly inferior, because it wanted the ark of the covenant, the heavenly fire, the mercy-seat, the heavenly manna, Aaron's rod that budded, the Divine shechinah, the spirit of prophecy, and most probably the Urim and Thummim. _MANY SHOUTED FOR JOY_] Finding they were now restored to their own land, and to the worship of their God in his own peculiar city: these, in general, had not seen the original temple; and therefore could not feel affected in that way which the elderly people did. The sight must have been very affecting: a whole people, one part crying aloud with _sorrow_; the other shouting aloud for

WEPT ... SHOUTED ... FOR JOY - Compare the marginal reference and Zechariah 4:10. It is implied that the dimensions of the second temple were smaller than those of the first. Hence, the feeling of sorrow which came upon some. They, however, who had not seen the former temple, and so could not contrast the two, naturally rejoiced to see the sanctuary of their religion begin to rise from its ruins....

§ 3. REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE AND OPPOSITION MADE TO IT. EXPOSITION LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE TEMPLE AND CEREMONIAL ON THE OCCASION (Ezra 3:8). Seven months were occupied with preparations. The winter was past, and the spring had arrived. It was the second month, Zif, the month of "blossom,'' corresponding to our May—the same month in which Solomon had laid the foundation of the first temple (1 Kings 6:1)—when Zerubbabel ju

BUT MANY OF THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES, AND CHIEF OF THE FATHERS, WHO WERE ANCIENT MEN,.... Seventy or eighty years of age: THAT HAD SEEN THE FIRST HOUSE; the temple built by Solomon, as they very well might, since then it had been destroyed but fifty two years; for the seventy years captivity are to be reckoned from the fourth of Jehoiakim, when it began, and which was eighteen years before the destruction of the temple; the beginning of the next clause, WHEN IN THE FOUNDATION, according to the Hebrew accents, is to be connected with this, THAT HAD SEEN THE FIRST HOUSE; not when first founded, for that was five hundred years ago, but in "its foundation"; they saw it standing upon its foundation, in all its glory, and so the Septuagint version; and we may read on, when THIS HOUSE WAS BEFORE THEIR EYES, WEPT WITH A LOUD VOICE; seeing what it was like to be by the foundation now laid, and...

CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The altar set up (Ezra 3:1)_ 2. The feast of tabernacles celebrated (Ezra 3:4) 3. The sacrifices brought (Ezra 3:5) 4. The foundation of the temple laid (Ezra 3:8) Ezra 3:1. How long the journey lasted is not stated. The previous chapter in its close states that all dwelt in their cities--”and all Israel in their cities.” The significant seventh month (Tishri) with its holy convocation (feast of trumpets, day of atonement and feast of tabernacles) having come, the remnant gathered “as one man to Jerusalem.” It was the time for such a general

THE LAYING OF THE TEMPLE FOUNDATION AND THE JOY OF THE PEOPLE. Ezra 3:7. masons. carpenters: those referred to were the men who hewed the stone from the quarries and those who prepared the rough stone thus obtained. THEM OF ZIDON. THEM OF TYRE: as in the case of the first Temple, see 1 Kings 5:6. according. Persia: see Ezra 1:2; the Lebanon range belonged now to the kings of Persia. Ezra 3:8. in the second year. in the second month: _i.e._ as the text stands, the second year of the return, 536 B.C., which was also the second month of the year (according to the Chronicler's mode of reckoning); the second month was lyar (= approximately May

BUT MANY OF THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES AND CHIEF OF THE FATHERS. Long and loud were these Jewish _Te Deums_ re-echoed by the shouts of the multitude. It was not, however,. day of unmingled joy, for among the crowd stood some aged men who had lived through the catastrophe of the Captivity; who, in their youth, had seen the magnificent structure of Solomon standing in its unbroken stateliness; and when they compared that vanished splendor with these scanty beginnings, they could not refrain from bursting into. loud wail at the sad contrast. The two strains from the older and the younger generation mingled in. rivalry of emotion.--_ Stanley._...

CHIEF. heads. WHO WERE. Some codices, with one early printed edition and "Vulgate, read "and the". SHOUTED ALOUD FOR JOY. Thus fulfilling Jeremiah 33:10; Jeremiah 33:11....