Sunday
Sunday
The Rebuilding of the Temple
They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus.
Ezra 6:14
Psalm 126 gives us a sense of the enormous relief and rejoicing felt by the Babylonian exiles when they were repatriated:
When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed.
Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
verses 1–2
Although scholars are still debating the exact order of events, I am following the traditional chronology, namely that the restoration of Judah took place in three stages under three leaders.
Firstly, in 538 BC Zerubbabel, grandson of King Jehoiachin, and Jeshua the high priest returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple. Secondly, in 458 BC Ezra the priest and scribe arrived in Jerusalem. He has been described as a kind of secretary of state for Jewish affairs in Babylonia, and his task was to regulate and restore Israel’s religious and moral responsibilities in accordance with the law. Thirdly, in 445 BC Nehemiah, cupbearer to the Persian King Artaxerxes, and later governor of Judah, was sent to restore the city of Jerusalem, and in particular to rebuild its walls.
So Zerubbabel was the first to arrive, with the main party of returning exiles. Cyrus’s decree authorized their return, which was encouraged by his generous gesture in giving back to the Jewish leaders 5,400 articles of gold and silver from the temple, all carefully inventoried. No sooner had they returned than they built the altar of burnt offerings and resumed the regular sacrifices. In the seventh month they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles. They also laid the foundation of the new temple. For years their worship had been silenced. “How can we sing the songs of the LORD,” they had asked, “while in a foreign land?” (Ps. 137:4). But now their tongues were loosed, and they burst out singing the familiar covenant song: “He is good; his love to Israel endures forever” (Ezra 3:11). Some shouted. Others wept. It was a time of great emotion in worship.
For further reading: Haggai 1