Ezra 3:10, commentary and pictures

The laying took place at the close of the seventy years' captivity, in the second year of Cyrus, when a remnant of nearly fifty thousand Israelites returned from Medo-Persia to Canaan to re-establish worship at Jerusalem under Zerubbabel, governor of Judea, and Joshua, the high priest, by the decree of Cyrus for the restoration of the children of the captivity. Those who returned were only a remnant of all Israel scattered through the provinces of Medo-Persia, for many chose to remain in the land of captivity rather than assist in restoring the temple services. What was laid was the foundation, cornerstone, and foundation-stone of the temple of the LORD, the house of God, the Lord's house, the second temple. It was laid by the builders, with Zerubbabel laying the cornerstone.

When the builders laid it, the priests in their apparel and garments were set with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD after the ordinance of David king of Israel. The people rightly offered praise and thanks because the foundation had been laid and God had encouraged its builders. It was an occasion of loud, joyful praise in which the people arose upon their feet and praised God with a loud voice. The voice of weeping was so mingled with the voice of shouting that one could not be told from the other, making a triumphant time in which all were strengthened and refreshed.

The verse shows God's people rising up to build a house for the Lord to honor Him at once, where they can worship God in all humbleness of mind, kneel to worship Him, and serve Him becomingly and in order. The building is to be done without delay and in earnest with faith of the right quality, to be dedicated to the worship of God and to stand as a witness to the truth believed, on the ground where the Lord directs. It is an example of the Lord's direction in building a house of worship even when the builders could not see how the work could be accomplished. The mingled weeping and shouting and loud praise at the foundation laying provides a comparison and echo for later worship meetings marked by loud praise to God, strong emotion, mingled weeping and shouting, and deep strengthening and refreshing.

From the time the foundation-stone was laid, Satan brought many influences to bear that greatly hindered the rapid prosecution of the work, working through men close at hand a few miles northward, the Samaritans. The Samaritans were a mixed race originating more than a century before the Babylonish captivity when the Assyrian kings devastated Samaria and Galilee, took many thousands of the ten tribes captive, and repopulated Samaria with heathen colonies from distant parts of the Assyrian realm who intermarried with the Israelites left in the land. They claimed to worship the true God but in heart and practice were idolaters, holding that their idols only reminded them of the living God, the ruler of the universe, yet led to reverence for their graven images. At the laying of the cornerstone many gave expression to lack of confidence in the enterprise, and that display of doubt was not forgotten. When Samaritan opposition grew strong and determined, the memory helped the builders lose heart, question whether the time had come to rebuild, become discouraged and disheartened, and leave the temple work to return to ordinary pursuits of life.