Esra 3:4

The Altar of Burnt-Offering Erected, the Feast of Tabernacles Celebrated, and the Foundations of the Temple Laid - Ezr 3:1-13 On the approach of the seventh month, the people assembled in Jerusalem to restore the altar of burnt-offering and the sacrificial worship, and to keep the feast of tabernacles (Ezr 3:1-7); and in the second month of the following year the foundations of the new temple were laid with due solemnity (Ezr 3:8-13). Comp. 1 Esdr. 5:46-62.

In the close of the foregoing chapter we left Israel in their cities, but we may well imagine what a bad posture their affairs were in, the ground untilled, the cities in ruins, all out of order; but here we have an account of the early care they took about the re-establishment of religion among them. Thus did they lay the foundation well, and begin their work at the right end. I. They set up an altar, and offered sacrifices upon it, kept the feasts, and contributed towards the rebuilding of the temple (Ezr 3:1-7). II. They laid the foundation of the temple with a mixture of joy and sorrow (Ezr 3:8-13). This was the day of small things, which was not to be despised, Zac 4:10.

3:4 The seven-day Festival of Shelters . . . prescribed in the Law (Lev 23:33-36; Num 29:12-38; Deut 16:13-16) reminded the people of God’s guidance and care during the forty years the nation spent in tents during the wilderness journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. This festival was especially significant to those who had just experienced a similar journey from a foreign land, living in tents as they walked to the Promised Land.