Ezra 3:6

6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, although the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been 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 They also kept the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings in the number required by ordinance for each day.

5 Afterwards they offered the regular burnt offering, and those for New Moons and for all the appointed feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and those of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to the Lord.

6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, although the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid.

7 They also gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the permission which they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

8 Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the Lord.