Altar Before Houses: The Priority of Worship

Maclaren observes a remarkable paradox in the returned exiles' conduct: having endured months of desert travel and finally reclaimed their ancestral lands, they abandoned their fields—unguarded and unworked—to gather at Jerusalem for worship. This was no small sacrifice. These were new settlers, their survival dependent upon immediately cultivating their property and erecting shelter. Yet they obeyed the summons to rebuild the altar and begin the Temple's foundation.…