Editing Zerubbabel (section)

====Ezra====
According to the [[Book of Ezra]] chapter 2, Zerubbabel returned to Jerusalem in the first wave of liberated exiles under the decree of King Cyrus of Persia in 538 BC. The mention of Zerubbabel in the book of Ezra primarily serves the purpose of describing the return to Judah following the exile from [[Babylon]] and the construction of the [[Second Temple]]. According to the authors of the Book of Ezra, "when the seventh month came… [[Joshua the High Priest|Jeshua]] son of Jozadak along with his fellow-priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, with his colleagues, set to work to build the altar of the God of Israel". ({{bibleverse||Ezra|3:1–2|HE}})

The Book of Ezra also gives a date for the beginning of the construction of the Temple:

{{blockquote|"In the second month of the second year, after they came to the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak began the work".({{bibleverse||Ezr.|3:8|HE}})}}

This passage describes how Zerubbabel was part of the group who began to build the second Temple of Jerusalem. According to the Book of Ezra, Zerubbabel is also under the authority of King Cyrus of Persia to build the Temple (Ezr. 4:3). The passages describing Zerubbabel do mention the [[#Zerubabbel and the Prophecy of Haggai|prophecies of Haggai]] and [[#Zechariah|of Zechariah]] concerning Zerubbabel's actions in the land of Judah.

Regarding [[Sheshbazzar]], he is frequently considered to have been appointed governor of Judah by the Persian King Cyrus in the year 538 BC, although an argument has been made that he was the last Neo-Babylonian governor of [[Yehud (Babylonian province)|Yehud]] at the time of the Persian invasion.<ref>{{cite book |title=Exile and Return: The Babylonian Context |last=Silverman |first=Jason M. |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |year=2015 |isbn=978-3-11-041928-3 |pages=308–321 |editor-last=Stökl |editor-first=Jonathan |chapter=Sheshbazzar, a Judean or a Babylonian? A Note on his Identity |editor-last2=Waerzeggers |editor-first2=Caroline |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7CBpCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA308}}</ref> He was given gold and told to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. According to a letter from [[Tattenai]] (the governor of the province Beyond the River) to King Darius I, Sheshbazzar started the Temple, but it lay under construction for a long time ({{bibleverse||Ezra|5:16|HE}}). It seems as though Zerubbabel picked up construction shortly afterwards, in the 2nd year of Darius' rule (August 29, 520 BC) (see Zerubbabel in Haggai).<ref>{{Cite book |title=T&T Clark Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism |last=Williamson |first=H. G. M. |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-567-66095-4 |editor-last=Stuckenbruck |editor-first=Loren T. |volume=2 |page=734 |chapter=Sheshbazzar |editor-last2=Gurtner |editor-first2=Daniel M. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ica_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA734}}</ref>

According to the Letter written by King Darius I recorded in the Book of Ezra:

{{blockquote|"the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which [[Nebuchadnezzar]] carried away from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned; they are all to be taken back to the temple in Jerusalem, and restored each to its place in the house of God". ({{bibleverse||Ezr.|6:5|HE}})}}

The final detail in the book of Ezra regarding Zerubbabel is a date for the completion of the second Temple. According to the Book of Ezra, "the house was completed on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius." In this passage, the word "house" refers to the second Temple.