Tuesday, 9/22/15
That first reading doesn’t require much explanation, but it
might help to put it into a broader historical setting.
In 587 b.c. the Babylonians (from modern day Iraq) led the
whole citizenship of Jerusalem off as prisoners to Mesopotamia, where they employed them in constructing dikes to
hold the Tigris and Euphrates fom flooding the land between them.
In 535 b.c. the Persians (modern day Iranians) conquered
Babylon; and their leader, Cyrus II, declared the Israelites to have been
mistreated; and he supplied them with funds to return to Jerusalem.
The Psalms tell us that the mouths of the returning
Israelites were filled with laughter; but everything did not go well with
them. They found they didn’t have
the means or the know-how to rebuild their temple. Our reading speaks of how
the prophets Haggai and Zechariah encouraged them to try.
But then, Darius, son of Cyrus II, and his son, Artaxerxces,
supplied them with funds and architects to finish the temple. And, they
dedicated the Second Temple it in 515 b.c..
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