The Foundation Laid (Ez. 3)

The atmosphere was alive, humming with eager anticipation as the builders neared the point of laying the foundation of the temple of the LORD. The money had been given according to people’s ability to give for the work. The altar had been restored, burnt offerings in place, feasts kept, freewill offerings given, food for the workers provided. All the people shouted praises to God upon the return of the people to Israel and the rebuilding of the temple after the Babylonian exile, and as the foundation was completed, they were singing and praising responsively with some of the priests and Levites: “For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever” (Ez. 3:11). But many of the priests and Levites, the ones who had seen the glory of Solomon’s temple before its destruction wept loudly, having “despised the day of small things” (Zech. 4:10). 

The contrast is not only startling—the praise being the background for the extreme sorrow—but it is telling. The foundation of the temple had been laid, the priests were dressed resplendently, the Levites, the musicians burst into song, and all the people responded with praise while the old priests and Levites stood mourning. This looks forward to the arrival of Jesus, “the chief cornerstone” (Eph. 2:19-22), the “stone which the builders rejected” (Ps. 118:22-23; Acts 4:11), the stone God laid in Zion for a sure foundation, tried and precious (Is. 28:16), yet “a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (Is. 8:14; Rom. 9:33). This extreme grief at the laying of the foundation of the new temple looks forward to the rejection of the Scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of Jesus’ time who would reject Him as the foundation and urge the people to do the same.

Some still wonder that a physical temple has not been built to rival Solomon’s, and it is this same grief over a physical place for God to dwell on earth that causes the old priests to wail, failing to see that the work of God in that place, His mercies in returning them “home” was more than enough. His mercies toward them would never fail regardless of their physical circumstances, reduced or otherwise. They failed to see that “the latter glory of [that] house would be greater than the former” (Hag. 2:9). The latter glory that would be greater than the former is Jesus, not a physical building, as the New Testament scriptures make clear. Jesus was the foundation laid, the chief cornerstone. Apart from Christ, there is no salvation. Christ IN us, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). Something better than a physical building that none could imagine, something more glorious, something alive. 

Matthew Henry’s commentary puts another slant on these verses found early in Ezra. While Henry also connects the despising of the day of small things (Zech. 4:10) with these verses, he focuses on the unthankfulness of the old priests and Levites even “though it was much more than they deserved.” He goes on to say that the “mixture of sorrow and joy here is a representation of this world. Some are bathing in rivers of joy, while others are drowned in floods of tears.” His admonition echoes Romans 12:15, which tells the Christian to “rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” 

No doubt, living in this world is hard, and being not of it while doing so is beyond difficult, requiring the Spirit within us and the discipline of the Lord and His support, the Word, to make it. If we are all selfishly doing our own things and unmindful of others, we will fail to love people the way they need to be loved and will draw attention to ourselves (whether in joy or sorrow) in an environment that should be only about the praise of our God. Henry sums it up nicely: “In the harmony of public joys, let not us be jarring strings.” It is so easy to get caught up in our own joys or sorrows or expectations and let those things overrule the truth: God IS good, and His mercy endures forever. Jesus is enough, and He is the only foundation that may be build upon securely.