The Rebuilding of the Temple

‎Under the lead of Jeshua the priest, the restored exiles started at once to build a temple somewhat similar to that of Solomon. They began, as their fathers had begun, with a religious ceremony and feast of foundation. “And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets” with cymbals, and with song. As the first huge stone was set in place there was a great shout of joy; but also there was an outburst of wailing from those old, old men who had seen the earlier temple in its splendor, and who compared Judah’s present feebleness with her former power.

‎Nor were they permitted to raise the new Temple in peace. The people of Samaria, those colonists of the Assyrians, who had gathered some vague imperfect knowledge of the Hebrew faith, desired to aid the Jews and unite with them in both the labor and the ownership of the new shrine. To this the Jews would not consent. “Ye have nothing to do with us!” was the cry of both the governor and the chief priest. So the Samaritans were angered. They appealed to the Persian court to stop the building; they accused the Jews of planning a rebellion; and in every way they delayed the reërection of the temple, so that it took twenty years to finish.