The account of the building of Jerusalem and the temple is covered in several books of the Old Testament. In these accounts, it appears that one of the main leaders of this project was Zerubbabel. He is seen as the Leader of the project in Ezra 4:
“Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel; Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither. But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.” (Ezra 4:1-3)
He is in the lineage of Christ!
“And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;” (Matthew 1:12-13)
He is one of the two leaders for the list of priests and Levites given in Nehemiah 12:
“Now these are the priests and the Levites that went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,” (Nehemiah 12:1)
He is one of the people that God stirred up to do this work during the time of Darius’ reign.
“And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.” (Haggai 1:14-15)
Is there any record of how this command ("the trigger") came about?
Actually, there is an entire story explaining how this command came about and it is contained in the Apocrypha…in I Esdras. Let’s look at this story that was in the Apostles’ (Greek) version of the Old Testament…
Next Section at Book Level: I Esdras 3
Chapter Summary
Part III Table of Contents
Part I Table of Contents
