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

As soon as the Returned Exiles got settled they arranged to build the altar to God in order to offer sacrifices upon it.  Once it was built they immediately started offering the sacrifices required by the Law of Moses.  At that point they began the process of laying the foundation, and rebuilding, the temple.   Reading today I think I finally understand the justification for the Returned Exiles rejecting the offer to help, actually almost a demand, in rebuilding the temple brought by those who had been living in the land during the Exile (particularly in the areas of the Northern Kingdom).  Those whose help the Returned Exiles rejected had not taken part in the ritual sacrifices required by the Law of Moses, yet now claimed to worship God.  In all of the time that these people had been living in the land, they had made no attempt to rebuild the temple, nor had they joined in the sacrifices and festivals which the Returned Exiles had restored.  When we keep in mind the attitude towards foreigners worshiping God which was expressed in the Chronicler’s account of Solomon’s dedication of the first temple we should see that the help was rejected because those offering wanted to co-opt the efforts of the Returned Exiles and assimilate them into their practices rather than join the faithful worship of God which the Returned Exiles were establishing.

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