Ezra 3:10 - Exposition

When the builders (Zerubbabel and Jeshua) laid the foundation of the temple, they set the priests in their apparel— the rich apparel, designed "for glory and for beauty," which the law required ( Exodus 28:40 ; Exodus 40:27-29 ), and which the people had recently provided ( Ezra 2:69 ). With trumpets. To blow with trumpets was always the duty of the priests ( Numbers 10:8 ; Numbers 31:6 ; Joshua 6:4 ; 1 Chronicles 15:24 ; 1 Chronicles 16:6 ; 2 Chronicles 5:12 ), to praise God with cymbals the task of the Levites ( 1 Chronicles 15:16 , 1 Chronicles 15:19 ; 1 Chronicles 16:5 ; 2 Chronicles 5:12 , 2 Chronicles 5:13 ; 2 Chronicles 29:25 , etc.), perhaps because the trumpet was regarded as the instrument of greater dignity. After the ordinance of David . David's ordinance on the subject is first expressed briefly in 1 Chronicles 15:16 ; afterwards, more fully, in 1 Chronicles 15:17-21 of the same chapter. The musical service of Zerubbabel fell short of the "ordinance of David," since it comprised neither psalteries nor harps, which were an essential part of David's system. Apparently, the musical skill of the Levites had declined under the depressing circumstances of the captivity (see Psalms 137:2 ).