Ezra 3, Worship Renewed!

A large crowd of exiles are headed to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the city.

Ezra 3: 1-3, Altar rebuilt

When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.

Then Jeshua 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. 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.

 

The altar is rebuilt and sacrifices started, even before working on the temple. There is tension about the local inhabitants, descendants of pagan groups moved there seventy years prior, at the beginning of the captivity.

Yamauchi says that the "seventh month" is Tishri, in the fall (late September, early October.) It was an important month in the Jewish calendar. It was probably three months after the exiles returned to Judah.

Ezra 3: 4-7, Feast of Tabernacles and New Moon

Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day. After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred feasts of the LORD, as well as those brought as freewill offerings to the LORD.

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. Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters, and gave food and drink and 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.
 

The ancient feasts are being restored. They begin with the Feast of Tabernacles. This is followed by the "New Moon" sacrifices. 

Ezra 3: 8-11, Praise among the foundation

In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak and the rest of their brothers (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work, appointing Levites twenty years of age and older to supervise the building of the house of the LORD. Jeshua 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.

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. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD: 

"He is good; his love to 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.

Worship in the temple begins long before it is built, even when just the foundations have been laid. The trumpets and cymbals are played by the priests. There is a deliberate attempt to repeat the practices of King David, from five centuries before; the sons of Asaph are mentioned.

Yamauchi dates the "second month of the second year" as the spring of 536 BC. He explains the drop in the age limit for Levites (from thirty, Numbers 4:3,  or twenty-five, Numbers 8: 24, down to twenty) as a result of the small number of Levites.

Ezra 3: 12-13, Weeping and cheering

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. 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.

The people weep and cheer at the rebirth of the temple and the nation. The people were unable to sacrifice to YHWH in Babylon; there they were surrounded by the many Babylonian gods and idols. Now they are finally free to make sacrifices to YHWH alone. The renewal of sacrifices is significant and those who, as children had seen the old temple, now weep with joy.