8 Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and appointed the Levites from twenty years and older to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. 9 Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers stood united with Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah and the sons of Henadad with their sons and brothers the Levites, to oversee the workmen in the temple of God.~
Ezra 3:8-9 (NASB)
Subtle reminder
In the second month of the second year they had returned, they started the work of rebuilding the temple. It’s curious to note in v8 that the writer says, “after coming to the house of God at Jerusalem”. He added, “to the house of God”. It seems to be a subtle reminder of their purpose for returning and the work at hand.
Overseer Levites
The temple was a huge undertaking – not so much due to its size, but to the specific design God required. (1 Kings 6). As in any large building construction, there need to be supervisors. For the building of the temple, this role was principally given to the Levites. For the first temple, the temple Solomon built, David made all the preparations – including designating who would oversee the work. “3 David counted the Levites who were 30 years old and older. All together there were 38,000 Levites. 4 24,000 will supervise the work of building the Lord’s Temple.” (1 Chronicles 23:3-4a NASB)
Levites other roles
These overseer Levites of course had more responsibilities for the temple than just building it. During temple operations, they had overall responsibility for the temple’s operation and upkeep as well as its protection. We know that certain Levites, the priests, held a special role in the people’s relationship with God.
Overseers Today
In the New Testament times, we are all considered priests. (1 Peter 2:9) This article in Legonier.org nicely describes this in practical terms. Within the body, we have those designated as overseers and deacons. See 1 Timothy 3 for their qualifications and this article in biblicalfoundations.org for responsibilities. If you’re in that role, God bless you. If you’re not, please pray for those that are and support them. Consider your call to this role.
