When the Jews (as they now referred to themselves) who had returned from Exile had gotten settled in the land, they began to offer sacrifices to God in Jerusalem. It is worth noting that they did this even before they had started rebuilding the temple, they had not even begun laying the foundation for the rebuilt temple. They did not wait to have a specially consecrated space before they began obeying God’s commands about gathering together to worship Him. In the same way, we should gather together with our fellow believers to worship and honor God, even if we do not have a space specifically designated for doing so.
As we read farther into the passage we see that some of those who lived in the land before the Exiles returned asked to help with the rebuilding of the temple. The returned Exiles flatly rejected their help. I am conflicted about this. The passage writes that those who offered were the enemies of the returned Exiles, suggesting that the offer to help was less than sincere. However, I cannot help but think that perhaps if the returned Exiles had responded in hostile manner things may have gone differently. If those offering help had already demonstrated their hostility to the returned Exiles, or had indicated that they wanted the plans for the rebuilt temple to include practices contrary to those laid out in the Law of Moses, then the rejection was appropriate. On the other hand, if the offer of help was genuine, out of a desire to join with the returned Exiles in worshiping God, perhaps if they had conditionally accepted the help they could have defused a tense and difficult situation.
The first thing which struck me about this passage was the enthusiasm of the returned exiles for serving the Lord. As soon as they had gotten settled into their new homes they gathered in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to God and celebrate the Feasts He had mandated for the Israelites. In fact the way I read the passage, they built a makeshift altar, or perhaps I should say they built an altar that was intended to be temporary, in order to begin making those sacrifices as soon as possible. The other part of this which strikes me is that they did this “Despite their fear of the people around them,…” We should share both their enthusiasm for worshiping God and their willingness to defy their fear of those around them in an open and explicit manner.
Later, the passage recounts something about which I am somewhat ambivalent. When the people who had been living in the land before the exiles returned learned that they were rebuilding the temple, those people asked to be allowed to help them do so. The returned exiles refused to allow these people to help them. Which caused those whose assistance was rejected to slander the returned exiles to the King of Persia, who ordered a halt to the rebuilding. On the one hand, I wonder if things might have gone better if the returned exiles had allowed the surrounding peoples to join in rebuilding the temple. Perhaps if they had invited the surrounding peoples to join them, and not just in rebuilding the temple, but in full worship of God, Israel would have risen as a power dedicated to God. On the other hand, perhaps the returned exiles were correct in rejecting this offer of assistance. Perhaps, if they had accepted the assistance the surrounding peoples would have demanded that they include some of the pagan practices which they had adopted into their worship of God.
Both of these possible interpretations of this passage have lessons for us. First, we should always welcome the help of those who will faithfully join us in worshiping God. We should strive to avoid alienating those who genuinely seek to faithfully serve and worship God. Second, we should be wary of those who offer to aid us in serving God so that they can lead us into accepting practices which God condemns. We must be cautious of those who refuse to abandon practices which God has clearly spelled out as evil. Much of the Church today fails to heed the second lesson.
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.
As soon as the Returned Exiles got settled back in the land they began work on rebuilding the altar to the Lord in Jerusalem. Then, when the altar was rebuilt they began making offerings upon it and began working on laying a foundation for the rebuilt Temple. Once they had completed the foundation, they held a festival to praise the Lord for bringing them thus far. All of the people were emotionally overcome by the moment, some weeping, some shouting in joy. The noise was so loud that it was impossible to distinguish those who were weeping from those shouting in joy. In a similar way, we should not be ashamed to allow our emotions to overwhelm us when we worship the Lord, especially when something positive happens.
I am always torn by the accounts here where the Returned Exiles rejected the request of those living in the land to assist them in rebuilding the Temple. On the one hand, those who offered are identified as enemies of the Returned Exiles. On the other hand, I believe that we should welcome all who wish to worship the Lord. Perhaps if the Returned Exiles had allowed those living in the land to take part in rebuilding the Temple, they would not have become the enemies of the Returned Exiles. Or, perhaps they would have acted to undermine the restoration of faithful worship of God. The writer of this passage clearly believes that these people were not acting in good faith when they asked to take part in rebuilding the Temple. All in all, this passage highlights the need to determine whether those who offer to help you serve God share your understanding of what serving God means.
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.
As soon as the Returned Exiles got themselves settled into their new homes, they rebuilt the altar and began offering sacrifices upon it. The following spring the Returned Exiles began rebuilding the Temple. When they completed the foundation of the Temple the people who had been living in the land during the Exile claimed a stake in the rebuilding of the Temple. The local people claimed to have worshiped God since they were settled in the land by the Assyrians. I have always read this passage and thought that the Returned Exiles should not have so bluntly rejected the offer of assistance. However, today it struck me, if the locals had been worshiping God and offering Him sacrifices for all of these years, why didn’t they rebuild the Temple before this? Further, as soon as their help was rejected the locals began working to disrupt the building project. In fact, after Cyrus died, the locals reached out to the King of Persia and slandered the Returned Exiles by implying that they had begun restoring Jerusalem behind the back of the Persian authorities.
Reading between the lines here we learn an important lesson about working with non-believers to carry out God’s will. The locals offered to help the Returned Exiles, but considering the ways in which they immediately began working against the project when their help was rejected we see that their offer was not sincere. Perhaps they wanted to be involved so as to have a say in how worship was carried out in the new Temple. Or perhaps they were planning to frustrate the plans from the inside. The key factor here is that the locals did not share the priorities of the Returned Exiles. When non-believers offer to partner with believers to accomplish some goal, we must be very careful about accepting their aid because they do not share our desire to do God’s will. Their reasons for seeking goals which they may have in common with us will be different from ours and they will attempt to redirect our efforts to further their other goals.
As I mentioned the local government officials not associated with the Returned Exiles had sent a letter to the King of Persia and received a reply ordering a halt to rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. Initially, this also caused the Returned Exiles to cease work on the Temple. However, after Darius took the throne, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah inspired the people to resume work on the Temple. I find this interesting. When the local government officials received orders from the King of Persia to halt the rebuilding, they intervened with sufficient force to stop the work. However, when the rebuilding resumed, the local government officials refrained from using force to stop work. The passage does not tell us what had changed besides who was King of Persia. I suspect that a significant factor was that Darius was a king more in the mold of Cyrus, while the two kings who reigned in between ruled more with an iron-fist (incidentally, both of their reigns were relatively short). If all parties were aware of this change in attitude at the top, the Returned Exiles would have been more willing to stand up for themselves and the local officials less willing to initiate a violent confrontation. Under the intermediary kings, both parties would have been aware that imperial forces were likely to back up such a show of force. Under Darius, the Returned Exiles would have had reason to believe they would get a chance to argue their side before imperial forces acted. Additionally, it appears that someone among the Returned Exiles produced a copy of Cyrus’ decree authorizing their return. It appears that the local officials suspected the copy was a forgery and hoped to use that as leverage on their side over the Returned Exiles
