In Ezra, chapter three, verse eight, the highest priority for the people upon returning to Jerusalem was to rebuild the temple and reinstate the faithful worship of the Lord. Their years in captivity had taught them that God would not be their protection and helper unless they put Him first in their lives. The building started as soon as ever the season would permit. During this time, they had ended the solemnities of the Passover. They took little more than half a year to prepare the ground and materials; so much were their hearts upon the work.
Then, the work of God is likely to go on well when magistrates, ministers, and people are zealously affected by it and agree in their places to promote it. God gave them one heart for this service and promised a happy issue. The two leaders were Zerubbabel, the head of the royal, and Jeshua, the head of the priestly house, along with the priests, Levites, and the rest of the returned community. Zerubbabel here has the place of honor, as in Ezra three, verse two, in connection with the building of the temple in which the commission he had received from Cyrus.
The limits of age for the Levites laid down in Numbers eight, verses twenty-four through twenty-five, excluded from service those younger than twenty-five and older than fifty. The religious reorganization under David required the services of the Levite ‘from twenty years old and upward’ as in First Chronicles twenty-three, verses twenty-four, and twenty-seven. The Levites available made it all the more important to lower.
Likewise, we cannot expect the help of the Lord or blessing if our lives and desires are not in accord with His kingdom and righteous cause, as in Matthew six, verse thirty-three. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”