Verses 16 through 18 speak of the dedication of the rebuilt house of God.
The dedication of the rebuilt house of God was with the joy of the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity in celebration (v. 16).
The dedication was also with the offerings for the dedication and a sin offering for all the tribes of Israel (v. 17). This indicates that as they were offering burnt offerings for God’s satisfaction, they could not forget their sin and therefore offered a sin offering.
Finally, the rebuilt house was dedicated with the setting up of the services of the priests in their courses and of the Levites in their divisions, as written in the law of Moses (v. 18).
The account of the return of the captivity under the kingly leadership of Zerubbabel concludes with the keeping of the Passover by the children of the captivity (vv. 19-22). The Passover was a most important matter.
They kept the Passover by having their priests and Levites purified and themselves separated from the defilement of the nations in the good land (vv. 20-21).
They continued with the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for Jehovah had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God (v. 22). The king of Assyria was Darius king of Persia, because Assyria was at that time a part of Persia.
Today very few believers care for the building up of a proper local church in their locality as the house of God. This means that God is kept homeless. He does have a home in the heavens with the angels, but He needs a home with the humanity of His heart’s desire. God wants to have such a home.
We in the Lord’s recovery do not like to see the saints scattered individually. The particular intention of the recovery is to have all the saints in the recovery come together in their localities to be built up together as the house of God in so many cities. Through such a house God will have His kingdom.
We need to have a desire to be freed from self and the natural life in order to be built up with others (see Hymns, #840). To be built we need to be adjusted, disciplined, corrected, and transformed. Then we will be able to come together to be built as the house of God in many localities.