For many of us today there are many calls on our time and not as much time to fit it all in. Many parents will know that there are plenty of things between school, sports, instruments, church events, and more to prioritise. Some things have to come first. Some things are more important than others, and have to be treated that way.
For the Israelites who returned to the ruins of the Promised Land, you might think that rebuilding homes, building businesses, planting crops, and repairing public facilities would take top priority. But you would be wrong. Their priority was to restore the public worship of God. They had it right. We are made to bring glory to God, and we bring glory to God by worshiping him. Like the Israelites, prioritising worship over our own interests is a recognition of why we were made, and what really matters – eternity with Jesus.
After Cyrus’ decree allowing the return of the Jews to Judah to rebuild the Temple, tens of thousands of faithful Jews answered the call to return. They did not return to empty buildings, but to charred and blackened ruins. What little was left had spent decades exposed to the elements, and picked over by those who remained. There was no bustling local economy. There were no homes. Many had never lived there, or if they had, they were elderly and looking on lands from a child’s memories.
In that context, we might expect the returnees to focus on the essentials for survival, and then rebuild their lives in a new (old) land. But not long after they arrived, perhaps mere weeks, the seventh month of the year ticked over, and “the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem” from the towns in which they had settled (v.1, cf. 2:70). This seventh month was the most important month in the Hebrew worship calendar, the month of Tishri.
In this month there were several important festivals. It was the Jewish New Year, then the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. All not long after they returned home. What a Godincidence!
But there was nowhere central for them to gather and worship, as generations of faithful Israelites had done before. The Temple was a ruin. It had to be rebuilt. You have to start somewhere. So Jeshua with his fellow priests and Zerubbabel rebuilt an altar to offer burnt offerings, just as God had commanded Moses to do a thousand years earlier (v.2).
They carefully placed it in the exact spot its predecessor had stood, demolishing the previous one placed there (cf. Jeremiah 41:5) which helped kindle the annoyance of the older inhabitants of the country who were already indulging in blended worship practices (v.3; these people probably became the Samaritans of Jesus’ day). With the altar properly rebuilt, they offered the morning and evening burnt offerings which God’s Law required.
These returnees recognised the importance of obedience, and the importance of God’s forgiveness, symbolised in the sacrifices which pointed forward to their coming Messiah. They knew that in the face of opposition, their strength was not in numbers but in God.
After this, they kept the Feast of Booths, and offered all the required sacrifices “as it is written … according to the rule” (v.4). Whatever the day, whatever the festival, whatever the time (v.5). Whatever the cost, the hundreds of animals and kilograms of precious food and oils were sacrificed to God, because God came first.
They even abandoned their half-rebuilt structures for tents (booths), to remember God’s provision for them in the wilderness. They were just as dependent on God on that day.
“From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid” (v.6). Worship of God had been restored, but the work was only beginning. There was more to restore the right place of God in that land.
The faithfulness of the returning Israelites is a reminder to us to prioritise worship. There are plenty of things that could distract us, whether urgent or pleasurable, but we must place worshiping God first. We might even worship while fearing the possible attack of those around us, but worshiping God still comes first. Indeed, the worship of God is the best thing to do in those times.
Secondly this passage reminds us to worship God as he desires. Our worship of God through singing and prayer, the reading of his Word and hearing it taught, and participating in The Lord’s Supper and Baptism, are what God desires of us. We should not add or subtract from it.
When we worship God, when we place God first in priority, and when we worship God as he has asked us to, we bring glory to God which is what we were made to do. We surrender our own aims and strength, to depend on Jesus our Messiah, and to place him in top priority in our lives.