Restoring Joyful Worship

June 30, 2013 Background Scripture: Ezra 1:1 – 3:7 Lesson Passage: Ezra 3:1 – 7 Psalm 51 is David’s prayer to God after he committed a dreadful sin. It is a petition for God to restore unto him the joy of being saved. It seems obvious from the prayer that David experienced the absence of that joy. Note that David did not request to be saved again only that he may once again rejoice in the knowledge that he was one of the saved. In our lesson today, the nation of Israel had grievously sinned against God and was now scattered in the land of their captors. After repentance had taken place, God allowed many of them to return to Palestine—the land of promise. Zerubbabel led the first expedition of almost 50,000 persons back into Palestine where they repopulated many of the cities. During the years of captivity, many of them had continued to worship God. We can observe from the books of Daniel and Esther that the most devout of Israel continued to worship God in Babylon. However, the psalmist noted in Psalm 137 that rejoicing in the Lord in a strange or foreign land was all but impossible. So there is a biblical record that some of the people of Israel continued to worship God in captivity but without rejoicing as in days prior to their captivity. Just as a repentant David had prayed for the restoration of the joy of being saved, national Israel was now in need of the same thing. Also it should be noted that worship was originally established as a national event for Israel rather than individual devotions. Several times during the year all males of Israel were required to present themselves before the Lord en masse. Therefore, joyful worship for Israel would entail more than a few devout individuals praying several times a day while facing towards Jerusalem from a foreign country. Proper worship for Israel required all individuals to come together at the place God designated for them to gather. As the nation of Israel began to repopulate Palestine, their local leaders (especially Zerubbabel) saw the opportunity for them to restore national worship as before. In fact, this is the reason Cyrus king of Persia had offered the opportunity for them to return to their land. Cyrus had instructed them to return to Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel in Jerusalem. He stated that God had directed him to do this. The historical record in the book of Ezra focuses on setting up the altar and rebuilding the temple which had been destroyed by the army of Babylon under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar. The steps taken by Israel to restore national worship were simple and according to the Law. The people gathered together at Jerusalem. Zerubbabel and the priests set up the altar and they offered sacrifices on it according to the Law. They went on to observe the annual feasts that were specified by the Law. The people gave offerings that were required to secure materials and labor for the construction of the temple. Although the nation was far from the glory days prior to their captivity, they had taken the necessary steps to begin the process of restoring joyful worship in Israel. Robert C. Hudson June 24, 2013