Ezra 3:9

_THEN STOOD JESHUA WITH HIS SONS AND HIS BRETHREN, KADMIEL AND HIS SONS, THE SONS OF JUDAH, TOGETHER, TO SET FORWARD THE WORKMEN IN THE HOUSE OF GOD: THE SONS OF HENADAD, WITH THEIR SONS AND THEIR BRETHREN THE LEVITES._ Jeshua with his sons - not the high priest, but a Levite (Ezra 2:40). To these, as probably distinguished for their mechanical skill and taste, the duty of acting as overseers was particularly committed....

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....

JESHUA - See the marginal reference. Not the high priest, but the head of one of the two Levitical houses which had returned. TOGETHER - The Hebrew phrase is very emphatic - “they stood up as one man.”...

§ 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

THEN STOOD JESHUA, WITH HIS SONS,.... Not Jeshua the high priest before mentioned, but Jeshua the Levite, Ezra 2:40, AND HIS BRETHREN, KADMIEL AND HIS SONS, THE SONS OF JUDAH, TOGETHER; the same with Hodaviah, Ezra 2:40 TO SET FORWARD THE WORKMEN IN THE HOUSE OF GOD; to give them orders to begin and lay the foundation, and hasten and animate them to it: THE SONS OF HENADAD, WITH THEIR SONS AND THEIR BRETHREN THE LEVITES: two of this man's sons are mentioned in Ne 3:18....

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

THEN STOOD JESHUA. Probably not the high priest, but the Jeshua named in chapter 2:40, and there associated with Kadmiel....

JUDAH: or Hodaviah, as in Ezra 2:40....

This VERSE presents considerable difficulty: (_a_) The English reader cannot fail to be struck with the awkwardness of the final clause, -the sons of Henadad … the Levites". (_b_) The names here mentioned have been understood by different commentators to represent four, two and three families. (_a_) The manifest dislocation of the verse has caused some to conjecture that it is a gloss, which has found its way into the text, having been originally introduced to supplement the previous verse by the names of those who had been appointed to the work and by emphasizing the fact that they undertook the duty. This conjecture, which is not without probability, would assign a very early date to the gloss, since the verse appears in the LXX. and, though in a corrupt form, in 1Es 5:58, -Then stood up Jesus, and his sons and brethren, and Cadmiel his brother and the sons of Madiabun, with the sons...