Many of us were brought up with the motto: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” We have applied this adage in schoolwork, sports courtship, employment, and a variety of other endeavors. Sometimes we eventually succeed; sometimes we do not. But we work with the assumption that failure is not inevitable.
The returned exiles to Judah had to learn the importance of a second try. The original group who returned under Zerubbabel’s leadership had much reason for optimism. They had quickly rebuilt their altar of sacrifice and laid the foundation of the temple. But their progress had come to a grinding halt when local adversaries, having been excluded from the project began to oppose them. Construction stopped for at least sixteen years. But this week’s lesson reveals how God’s people came together to serve Him (Bible Expositor and Illuminator Union Gospel Press, Summer Quarter 2022).