Get your priorities right!
Opening Prayer
Loving Father, help me to set right priorities and to entrust all to You.
Read Ezra 2:68—3:13
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
[68] When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the house of God on its site. [69] According to their ability they gave to the treasury for this work 61,000 darics of gold, 5,000 minas of silver and 100 priestly garments. [70] The priests, the Levites, the musicians, the gatekeepers and the temple servants settled in their own towns, along with some of the other people, and the rest of the Israelites settled in their towns. [1] When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled together as one in Jerusalem. [2] Then Joshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. [3] Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the LORD, both the morning and evening sacrifices. [4] Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Festival of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day. [5] After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred festivals of the LORD, as well as those brought as freewill offerings to the LORD. [6] On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, though the foundation of the LORD’s temple had not yet been laid. [7] 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 authorized 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. [10] When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel. [11] With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD: “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. [12] But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. [13] No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What did the people do first?In this passage God’s people establish the right priorities as they rebuild their lives in Jerusalem. Before doing anything else, the heads of some of the houses make freewill offerings for the rebuilding of the Temple (68). Then, all the returned exiles gather in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Booths (3:1). The purpose is to express their unity, to remember the way God originally delivered them from captivity in Egypt (Lev. 23:42,43) and to remind them of their need for God’s mercy. As they gather, Shealtiel and his relatives first of all rebuild the altar and re-establish the regular pattern of burnt offerings (2). Then, in the second year after their return from Babylon, Shealtiel and Zerubbabel work with others to begin rebuilding the Temple (8–11). Notice that even while following the right priorities, the people experience a wide range of emotion: they are in fear and dread of their neighbors (3); and while some are singing for joy in praising God (11) the older people are weeping loudly (12). Why do you think this was?
Apply
Ask God to show you where he needs to change you so that worship is the priority in your life.
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