I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezra 3-5.

The returned exiles almost immediately began rebuilding the the altar on the Temple Mount so that they could resume sacrifices and the worship which surrounded those.  Their next step was to rebuild the foundation of the Temple.  It has never been clear to me if those who had seen the original Temple were sad because the new foundation did not live up to their expectations, or because of the memories the new foundation brought back.  Nevertheless, all of those who saw the progress they had made praised God.  Perhaps this can provide inspiration for us as we rebuild our worship practices after this long lockdown.