Joy and Tears Together

Ezra 3 shows the returned exiles setting their priorities. The first thing they built was not houses or walls but the altar of the God of Israel. They worshiped even though they were afraid of the peoples around them. They kept the daily offerings and the feast of booths, following what was written in the law of Moses.

With money, food, and oil they hired masons and carpenters and brought cedar from Lebanon, as Cyrus had allowed. In the second month of the second year, Zerubbabel and Jeshua appointed the Levites to oversee the work, and the builders laid the foundation of Yahweh's temple.

The celebration followed the pattern set by David. The priests blew trumpets, and the sons of Asaph praised with cymbals. They sang, For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever toward Israel. The people shouted with a great shout. Yet many older priests, Levites, and leaders who had seen the first house wept aloud. Joy over what God was doing mixed with grief over what had been lost, and the sound was heard far away. In the New Testament, Peter says believers are built up as living stones into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5).