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temple of zerubbabel Summary and Overview

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temple of zerubbabel in Schaff's Bible Dictionary

THE TEMPLE OF ZERU'BBABEL In b.c. 536, Cyrus the Persian, conqueror of Babylon, gave permission to the Jews to return. Many availed themselves of the opportunity, and returned in a great caravan under Zerubbabel. The latter, as Jewish governor, and Joshua, the high priest, superintended the people in rebuilding the temple. Cyrus permitted and encouraged them to do this work, and in the second year after their return They laid the foundation. Ezr 3:8. Owing to the opposition of their enemies, it was not, however, completed until twenty years had gone by, b.c. 515. The story of this long struggle and trouble is told in the book of Ezra.
This second temple, though inferior in many respects to the first - having no ark, no mercy-seat, no visible revelation of the divine glory, no sacred fire, no Urim and Thummim, and no spirit of prophecy, Ezr 3:12-13 - still was in breadth and height, in almost every dimension, one-third larger than Solomon's. In three particulars the general arrangements differed from those of the ancient sanctuary:
(1) There were no trees in the courts;
(2) At the north-western corner was a fortress-tower, the residence of the Persian, afterward of the Roman, governor;
(3) The court of the worshippers was divided into two compartments, of which the outer enclosure was known as the court of the Gentiles or heathens. It furnished a fixed place of worship for the nation, and ultimately became the theatre of far more glorious illustrations of the divine attributes than the first temple ever witnessed. Hag 2:6-9; Mal 3:1; Col 2:9; 1 Tim 3:16.

temple of zerubbabel in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Temple of Zerubbabel. Erected by sanction of Cyrus, who in his decree alleged the command of the God of heaven (Ezra 1:12), on the stone site ("the place where they offered sacrifices") and to reproduce Solomon's temple "with three rows (i.e. three stories) of great stones, and a row of new timber" (a wooden story, a fourth, called a talar: Josephus 11:4, 6; 15:11, section 1): Ezra 6:3-12, comp. 1 Kings 6:36. The golden and silver vessels taken by Nebuchadnezzar were restored; the altar was first set up by Jeshua and Zerubbabel, then the foundations were laid (Ezra 3) amidst weeping in remembrance of the glorious former temple and joy at the restoration. Then after the interruption of the work under Artaxerxes I or Pseudo Smerdis, the temple was completed in the sixth year of Darius (chapter 6). ARTAXERXES I; EZRA; HAGGAI; JESHUA; JOSHUA; NEHEMIAH; DARIUS.) The height, 60 cubits (Ezra 6:3), was double that of Solomon's temple. Josephus confirms this height of 60 cubits, though he is misled by the copyist's error, 120, in 2 Chronicles 3:4. Zerubbabel's temple was 60 cubits broad (Ezra 6:3) as was Herod's temple subsequently, 20 cubits in excess of the breadth of Solomon's temple; i.e., the chambers all around were 20 in width instead of the ten of Solomon's temple; probably, instead of as heretofore each room of the priests' lodgings being a thoroughfare, a passage was introduced between the temple and the rooms. Thus the dimensions were 100 cubits long, 60 broad, and 60 high, not larger than a good sized parish church. Not merely (Haggai 2:3) was this temple inferior to Solomon's in splendour and costly metals, but especially it lacked five glories of the former temple: (1) the ark, for which a stone served to receive the sprinkling of blood by the high priest, on the day of atonement; (2) the sacred fire; (3) the Shekinah; (4) the spirit of prophecy; (5) the Urim and Thummim. Its altar was of stone, not brass (1 Maccabees 4:45), it had only one table of shewbread and one candlestick. Antiochus Epiphanes profaned this temple; afterward it was cleansed or dedicated, a new altar of fresh stones made, and the feast of dedication thenceforward kept yearly (John 10:22). But "the glory of this latter house was greater than of the former" (Haggai 2:9) because of the presence of Messiah, in whose face is given the light of the knowledge of the glory of God (2 Corinthians 4:6; Hebrews 1:2) as Himself said, "in this place is one (Greek 'a something greater,' the indefiniteness marking the infinite vastness whereby He is) greater than the temple" (Matthew 12:6), and who "sat daily teaching in it" (Matthew 26:55).