No 7

(The Second Temple)

The Babylonians who had plundered and destroyed Solomon’s temple were defeated by the Medo-Persians in 539 BC. We are now at a point in our study where the Jews have been in Babylon for 70 years and in Daniel 9, we read that this exile period was coming to an end. In the year 536 BC, the Medo-Persian king allowed the Jews to return to the land of Israel to build a second temple under the leadership of Zerubabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah and Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest (Hagg 1:1). “ 3 In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits; 4 With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house: 5And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God.” Ezra 6 : 3-5. Amid fierce opposition and delays, the second temple was finished after a 15-year delay in 515 BC. The Greeks defeated the Medo-Persians in 331 BC and Alexander the Great permitted that the city of Jerusalem with its temple be spared; unfortunately, not much information is available about the second temple. After the death of Alexander, many wars ensued and the kingdom of Greece was divided by into 4 parts according to 4 generals: Selucus, Ptolemy, Cassander and Lysimachus. In 175 BC, the Seleucid throne was taken by treachery by Antiochus Epiphanes and he desecrated the temple by killing a pig on the altar and sprinkled the juices throughout the sanctuary. In the apocryphal book of Macabbees, we read that the Jewish priests, under the leadership of Judas Maccabaeus, cleansed the temple and restored animal sacrifice in 165 BC.