offer burnt offerings … as it is written in the law of Moses (3:2). Because it was the Jews’ failure to worship the Lord and serve him only that had led to the destruction of the temple and the Babylonian exile, the returnees knew that the temple had to have priority. And, even before it was rebuilt, the altar itself was. These returnees wanted to make sure they were faithful to the Mosaic covenant and its requirements so that they might worship God rightly—unlike their ancestors. 3:3 Here, the reader