TEMPLE OF ZERUBBABEL
Cyrus allowed the Israelites to build a temple sixty cubits wide and sixty cubits high (Ezra 6:3; cf. Ant. 11:4, 6). No mention is made of the length.
Begun in 537 B.C., the second year after the return from exile, it was finished in 515, in the sixth year of Darius, despite the opposition of the Samaritans (Ezra 3:8; 6:15; Contra Apion 1:21). The dimensions of the temple loaves are not indicated.
The new building followed the basic lines of Solomon’s Temple, but without its splendor (Ezra 3:12). However, it would have an even more glorious destiny, because of the coming, now closer then, of Jesus Christ (Hag. 2:3, 9).
Cedars from Lebanon were used (Ezra 3:7) and precious metals offered voluntarily as during the wilderness pilgrimage (Ezra 1:6; 2:68, 69). Numerous utensils had been recovered from Solomon’s Temple (Ezra 1:7-11).
The interior walls were covered in gold. The Temple, as in the past, was divided into the Holy of Holies and the holy place, undoubtedly separated by a veil (1 Mac. 1:21, 22; 4:48, 51).
However, the Holy of Holies was empty, because the ark had disappeared (Cicero, pro Flac. 28; Tacitus, Histories 5:9). In the holy place there was the altar of incense and, as in the time of the Tabernacle, only one golden lampstand and a single table for the shewbread (1 Mac. 1:21, 22; 4:49) .
The outer chambers were contiguous with the building (Neh. 10:37-39; 12:44; 13:4; 1 Macc. 4:38), which surrounded the courts (Neh. 8:16; 13:7; Ant. 14 :16, 2); there was also a sea of bronze (Sir. 1:3) and an altar for burnt offerings (Ezra 7:17), made of stone (1 Mac. 4:44-47).
A wooden balustrade separated the priests’ court from the outer court (Ant. 13:13, 5). There were doors to close the temple and its courts (Neh. 6:10; 1 Mac. 4:38).