Ezra 3:6

Or rather let them learn of you, who are so well instructed in such histories, how that Jeshua the son of Josedek the priest, and his brother, and Zerubbabel the wise, the son of Salathiel, and Ezra the priest and scribe of the law, as the temple was being built after the captivity, the feast of tabernacles being at hand (which was a great feast and time of assembly and prayer in Israel), gathered the people together with one accord in the great court within the first gate, which is toward the east, and prepared the altar to God, and there offered their gifts and kept the feast. And so afterwards they brought hither their sacrifices, on the sabbaths and the new moons, and the people offered up their prayers. And yet the Scripture says expressly that when these things were done, the temple of God was not yet built; but rather while they thus prayed, the building of the house was advancing. So neither were their prayers deferred in expectation of the dedication, nor was the dedication prevented by the assemblies held for the sake of prayer. But the people thus continued to pray; and when the house was entirely finished, they celebrated the dedication, and brought their gifts for that purpose and all kept the feast for the completion of the work.

From the first day of the seventh month they began the burnt offering, etc. It has often been said that the seventh month designates the sevenfold illumination of spiritual grace. Hence it is well said now: Because from the first day of the seventh month they began to offer a burnt offering to the Lord, since indeed from the very beginning of divine inspiration, it is necessary that the human conscience be transformed, and disregarding lower pleasures, it must burn with thoughts only of the Lord's matters. From the first day of the seventh month, that is, from the first illustration of heavenly grace, they were offering the burnt offerings of virtues to the Lord, who, with the Holy Spirit coming upon them in fiery tongues, immediately, as if changed from what they had been, began to burn with new flames of intimate love, and to proclaim the great works of God with the tongues of all nations; and they are so dedicated to this burnt offering, or rather they themselves are made a burnt offering, that it would be easier to be killed by those who thought oppositely than to be turned from their intention. Hence deservedly the same seventh month is called the new year among the Hebrews; indicating to us by its name that through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the faithful are given the power to fulfill the new commandment of mutual love, and to resound the new song of heavenly praise in the building of the house of the Lord. About whose observance of this month the Lord thus mystically commanded: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you will have a sabbath memorial, with trumpets sounding, and it will be called holy; you will not do any servile work on it, and you will offer a burnt offering to the Lord (Leviticus 23). Indeed, a sabbath memorial, that is, the first day of this month will be a rest, when the mind inflamed divinely, abstains from temporal allurements and strives to contemplate the will of God. The priests blow trumpets when the faithful strive to preach to the neighbors that fervor of internal sweetness which they have begun. No servile work is done on such a sabbath when the mind, as much as it can in this life, keeps itself free from every pleasure and contagion of sin to please God; for servile work is sin. Because whoever commits sin is the servant of sin (John 8). And therefore rightly a burnt offering is offered to the Lord on the same sabbath, because indeed he is truly rendered free from the service of sin whose whole heart is inflamed with the fire of love. However, it must be noted, according to the letter, that in the seventh month, the people having been gathered in Jerusalem and everyone there gathered, Joshua and Zerubbabel with their brothers are said to have built an altar, and from the first day of that same seventh month to have offered a burnt offering to the Lord. From which it is inferred that this altar was made with rather quick work from unpolished stones and not as formerly made of wood and covered with bronze plates. For otherwise, even with the crowd of builders in full force, it could not have been completed and prepared for offering a burnt offering on the same day on which it was begun. For it is also proven in the book of Maccabees that it was made of stones, where it is mentioned to have been profaned by the Gentiles and after six years to have been renewed by Judas Maccabeus (1 Maccabees 4). And, it says, they took whole stones according to the law, and built a new altar according to the one that had been before. It should also be noted that the beginning of the fifth age of the world, just as the four preceding ones, is consecrated by burnt offerings offered to the Lord. For in the first age, blessed protomartyr Abel, first of all the elect, offered burnt offerings to God from the firstlings of his flock and of their fat, dedicating the entrance of the nascent world, both with the offerings of the firstlings of beasts and ultimately with his own blood. The beginning of the second age was consecrated by Noah, offering burnt offerings to God from all clean beings contained in the ark. The third age was consecrated by Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, and by Abraham the patriarch, this one with bread and wine, the other with his own son offered to God, consecrating its very beginning by erecting an altar and calling upon His name when he came into the Promised Land. King David consecrated the fourth age to the Lord by building an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite and offering burnt offerings to God, by which he sought to appease His wrath, which he had incurred by numbering the people (2 Samuel 24). In that place also, it is said that Abraham once offered his son; and later, with the temple built by Solomon, the altar of burnt offerings is established there. The beginning of the fifth age is now consecrated by Joshua, the son of Jozadak, the great priest, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, by building an altar in the same place and offering burnt offerings to God as soon as they returned to Jerusalem after a long captivity was broken, and thereafter they took care to placate the Lord daily with constant burnt offerings. All these occurrences prefigured Him who was to come in the sixth age in the flesh and was to redeem the whole world with the offering of the same of His flesh and blood. Therefore, after building the altar and offering burnt offerings to God, the Scripture continues, saying:

Furthermore, the temple of God was not yet founded. The foundation of the temple of God typifies those who have recently converted to the faith, preparing a place and dwelling for the Lord in their heart and body, as the Apostle says: "Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you?" (1 Corinthians 6). And again: "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (1 Corinthians 6). Thus, those who had been liberated from captivity and came to Jerusalem intended to build the temple, which they later indeed accomplished; but first, by building the altar, they commended themselves to the Lord through daily burnt offerings, so that they might thereby become more purified and worthy to approach the building of the temple. Similarly, in spiritual edification, it is always necessary that anyone who has decided to teach others should first teach himself; whoever intends to instruct his neighbor in the fear or love of God should first make himself worthy of the teacher's office by serving God more devotedly, so that he does not hear from the Apostle: "You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach not to steal, do you steal?" (Romans 2). Hence, the Apostle says about himself: "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, so that after preaching to others, I myself should not become disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9). For this reason, it is fitting that the sons of the dispersion are found to have offered no other sacrifices or victims than burnt offerings, that is, entirely consumed offerings, to God: for it is necessary that anyone who, by living well and even abstaining from lawful things, gives himself wholly to his Creator, who, by teaching, wishes to restrain others from unlawful acts, should, by the merit of good action, obtain abundant divine assistance in preaching, and also more effectively urge his listeners to follow what he teaches by his example of good deeds. It can also be mystically interpreted that, having built the altar, they offer burnt offerings to God, but do not yet build the temple, those who recently converted to the Lord, as soon as they recognized His faith, burn with such love for Him wholeheartedly that they may already be counted among the perfect, even if they have not yet received the time or ability to accomplish and perfect the good things they desire to do. Blessed Abraham offered this kind of burnt offering to the Lord, even if the temple was not yet built, when he was already perfect in faith and before he carried out the acts of faith, as Scripture says: "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness" (Genesis 19). When therefore he added the fullness of good works to his perfect faith, offering Isaac his son on the altar, as if the temple had also been built, he offered more perfect burnt offerings to God; for indeed, each act or step of pious devotion is like an order of polished stones with which we construct in our heart a beloved house and dwelling place for God. However, how the sons of the dispersion, after building the altar and offering burnt offerings to God, came to build the temple is subsequently shown.