Page 102 - Advanced Biblical Backgrounds Revised

Laying the Foundation for the Second Temple

Judah’s temple, the house of Yahweh, had remained desolate since its destruction by the Babylonians in
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586 B.C. In the 2 year after the Israelites returned to Jerusalem, Zerubbabel, a descendant of David,
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and Jeshua, the high priest, broke ground to begin construction of the 2 temple at the same location as
the previously destroyed temple. The structure was much smaller than the previous temple of Solomon.
The laying of the foundation was an event of great importance.

The temple had an indispensable theological function to play. It was the very center of God’s presence
in Judah. It was the point where sacrifices were made in response to Yahweh’s gracious choice of Israel
as His people.

Yet the temple had important political and economic roles to play in society as well. It was the
institution that held all of Judean society together, past as well as present and future. It gave political
identity to the people. Access to its courts identified who was properly a citizen and who was excluded.

Economically, rooms in the temple functioned as a treasury – the society’s bank. Because of the
temple’s demands for tithes and offerings, a large portion of the Judean economy passed through the
temple personnel and storehouses. Without the temple, the Judean people had little chance of pulling
together as a coherent society to the fact the challenges of the future.

The laying of the foundation for this new temple, therefore, represented the rebirth of the kingdom of
Judah. Given their past, Judeans could well appreciate that such an event was worthy of great joy. 150

For similar reasons, there is a great movement to rebuild the third temple in Jerusalem today. The
problem is that the Jews believe that the 2 temple was located in the center of the temple mount, a
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36-acre walled and elevated plot that has a Muslim holy site built squarely in the middle. The Dome of
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the Rock, built in 691 A.D., is the 2 most holy Muslim place in the world. It supposedly was the place
where their greatest prophet, Mohammad, ascended to Heaven. Israel knows that there is NO WAY
that a Jewish temple could be built upon this same location.

In 333 AD, there was an
anonymous pilgrim called
the Pilgrim of Bordeaux
who traveled to Jerusalem.
He wrote that he looked
EAST from the location of
the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher (built three years
later), and all he could see
was the old Roman fort.
This was 350 years BEFORE
the Dome of the Rock was
built. He identified what is
called the Temple Mount
today as Fort Antonia. If

150 So That’s Why Bible, Thomas Nelson Publications, p. 1106

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