Ezra 3:6

6 On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer whole-burnt-offerings to the Lord: but the foundation of the house of the Lord was not laid.

Ezra 3:6 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 3:6

From the first of the seventh month began they to offer
burnt offerings unto the Lord
And which day was not only a new moon, but a grand festival, the feast of blowing of trumpets, ( Leviticus 23:24 Leviticus 23:25 ) , and no doubt but they observed the tenth day of this month, with all the rites of it, which was the day of atonement, ( Leviticus 23:27-32 ) ,

but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid;
they began first with sacrifices, that having thereby given thanks to God for their return to their own land, and for all the benefits they enjoyed, and made atonement for their sins in a typical way, they might be the more prepared and fit for the work of building the temple; or, "though the foundation" of it was not laid ^F26, yet they offered the above sacrifices.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 Etsi, Michaelis.

Ezra 3:6 In-Context

4 And they kept the feast of tabernacles, according to that which was written, and whole-burnt-offerings daily in number according to the ordinance, the exact daily rate.

5 And after this the perpetual whole-burnt-offering, and for the season of new moon, and for all the hallowed feasts to the Lord, and for every one that offered a free-will-offering to the Lord.

6 On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer whole-burnt-offerings to the Lord: but the foundation of the house of the Lord was not laid.

7 And they gave money to the stone-hewers and carpenters, and meat and drink, and oil, to the Sidonians, and Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Libanus to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant of Cyrus king of the Persians to them.

8 And in the second year of their coming to the house of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zorobabel the of Salathiel, and Jesus the of Josedec, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem, and they appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, over the workmen in the house of the Lord.