Tuesday 5th May
Read Ezra 3:7-9
“Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and olive oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as authorised by Cyrus king of Persia.
8 In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak and the rest of the people (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years old and older to supervise the building of the house of the Lord. 9 Joshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah) and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers – all Levites – joined together in supervising those working on the house of God.” (NIVUK)
Ezra provides us with deliberate echoes of the building process used by Solomon. This new temple stands in line with that temple, seeking to follow the pattern of the first destroyed temple in relationships, material, and building oversight. There is a desire to build strength and honour and glory into the temple from the beginning. It is significant that the work began in the same month in which Solomon’s temple was begun.
There are differences though. The trade relationships described in the building of the first temple were established from a position of strength unmatched in Israelite history. These trade relationships rely on the authority of a foreign king (v7d). For all the unmatched attention to oversight, of both the building (v8) and the builders (v9), it is clear from the very beginning that the work is precarious. It relies on the grace of the king.
How do you honour traditions passed down from previous generations and begin new works in new and challenging times?
