Year 8, Day 41: Ezra 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Ezra 3 gives us a report on the reconstruction effort.  There are many things going on here.  First of all, notice that the exiles coming back are able to give gifts to the nations around them.  They no doubt do this to try and put themselves in a favorable position.  They also do it so that they will send them building supplies like cedar.  The point is that these people have come back equipped to do the job.  These are Hebrew people coming back from exile, but they aren’t coming back empty-handed.  God has taken care of them.

Second, notice that the effort begins with the worship of God.  When the people come together -even before gathering the materials – they begin with worship.  For me, I think this is a crucial point in this chapter.  It speaks to the centrality of God in our efforts, naturally.  But it also speaks to the reality that God doesn’t need a temple for our worship.  I can worship God without a fancy building.  I can worship in His creation.  Worship is a function of the outpouring of my response to God, not a function of the lavishness of my surroundings.  We cannot get more lavish than the creation around us that God has made for us.  What is important is that I worship Him, not where I worship Him.

I think we see an indication here of how easy it is to fall into the trap of caring more about the location and the building than God.  Do you hear what is said at the end of the chapter?  Most of the people are praising God for the work that is being done.  But some of the older people weep because the new temple isn’t as great as the temple that Solomon built.  What should be joy turns into sorrow because the people are focused on the building, not upon God.

I believe that the Bible is right when it points the fingers at the old generation and the heads of the families.  As I have gotten older, it gets far easier for me to be critical and even cynical.  Sometimes, when wisdom is found there, it is the right place to be.  But in times where criticism and cynicism crush joy towards God, I am in the wrong place.  I should always celebrate what God is doing.  I should always want to be a part of His hand at work.  The so-called wisdom that comes with age, often useful, should never be given permission to trump the joy of the Lord.

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