Day 266 Reading Schedule: Ezra 3-4

Ezra Chapter 3: Rebuilding the Temple Begins

[Content Overview]

In the seventh month, three months after returning from captivity, the children of Israel gathered in Jerusalem, built an altar, offered burnt offerings, and celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles for a week from the tenth day of the seventh month according to regulations (verses 1-6). Afterward, various building materials were collected to rebuild the temple, and full-scale temple construction began the year after the return from captivity (verses 7-9). During the temple construction commencement service, the priests wore robes, blew trumpets, and the choir sang praises. Some old people were so moved that they cried, while many other people rejoiced and rejoiced (verses 10-13).

​Ezra Chapter 4: Interference with Temple Reconstruction Work

[Content Overview]

At the beginning of the great work of building the temple, the Samaritans, who were syncretists who worshiped both idols and Yahweh, proposed that they build the temple together, but Zerubbabel and Yeshua resolutely refused (verses 1-6). Then the Samaritans appealed to King Artaxerxes of Persia to hinder the construction of the temple in Judah. The content was that the Jews had often resisted the surrounding powers in the past, so once they completed the construction of the temple and city, they would betray the Persians and stop paying tribute and taxes (verses 7-16). In the end, King Artaxerxes ordered a ban on the construction of the temple, and the Samaritans were so tyrannical that construction of the temple was halted for almost 14 years (verses 17-24).