The Altar Before the Foundation
1 When the seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. 2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up with his brothers the priests and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his relatives, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. 3 In spite of their fear because of the peoples of the surrounding lands, they set the altar on its base; and they offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh, even burnt offerings morning and evening. 4 They kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required; 5 and afterward the continual burnt offering, the offerings of the new moons, of all the set feasts of Yahweh that were consecrated, and of everyone who willingly offered a free will offering to Yahweh. 6 From the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh; but the foundation of Yahweh’s temple was not yet laid. 7 They also gave money to the masons and to the carpenters. They also gave food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus King of Persia.
Sacrifice restarts on open ground months before any building begins, and the fear it was done under is recorded rather than hidden.
When the seventh month had come... the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
The seventh month was the fullest month in the calendar — trumpets, the day of atonement, and the feast of booths all fell in it. The returned community assembles for it with no temple to assemble at.
What they build first is an altar. Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up with his brothers the priests and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his relatives, and built the altar of the God of Israel — priest named before governor, which is the order the work required.
The warrant given is textual: as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. The phrase as it is written appears twice in the paragraph, and both times it authorizes an action nobody present had ever seen performed.
Verse 3 then records the conditions without dressing them up: in spite of their fear because of the peoples of the surrounding lands, they set the altar on its base. The fear is stated as a fact and the action is stated as happening anyway. Neither is presented as canceling the other, and the same neighbors will shortly be weakening their hands Ezra 4:4.
And the sacrifices begin at once — burnt offerings morning and evening, the feast of booths kept as it is written, the daily offerings by number, according to the ordinance, then new moons and set feasts. Full public worship, running on schedule.
Then verse 6 states the situation plainly: from the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh; but the foundation of Yahweh's temple was not yet laid.
Months of daily sacrifice on an altar standing in the open, with no building around it. The sequence says something about priorities that the book never argues: worship did not wait for premises.
Verse 7 shows the construction beginning as a supply contract — masons and carpenters paid, and food, drink and oil sent to the people of Sidon and Tyre for cedar shipped to Joppa — the same arrangement Solomon had used, now running according to the grant that they had from Cyrus.
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