Editing Second Temple (section)

=== Construction under the Persians ===
{{Further information|Return to Zion}}[[File:105.The Rebuilding of the Temple Is Begun.jpg|thumb|Rebuilding of the Temple (illustration by [[Gustave Doré]] from the 1866 {{lang|fr|La Sainte Bible}})]]

The accession of [[Cyrus the Great]] of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] in 559 BCE made the re-establishment of the city of Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple possible.<ref name="Albright1963">{{cite book |title=The Biblical Period from Abraham to Ezra: An Historical Survey |last=Albright |first=William |author-link=William F. Albright |year=1963 |publisher=HarperCollins College Division |isbn=978-0-06-130102-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalperiodfr0000albr}}</ref><ref name="JE" /> Some rudimentary ritual sacrifice had continued at the site of the first temple following its destruction.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zevit |first=Ziony |chapter=From Judaism to Biblical Religion and Back Again |title=The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship |publisher=New York University Press |year=2008 |page=166 |isbn=978-0-8147-3187-1 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=inRKaf_To5sC&pg=PA166 |access-date=2022-10-17 |archive-date=2023-08-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830021826/https://books.google.com/books?id=inRKaf_To5sC&pg=PA166 |url-status= live}}</ref> According to the closing verses of the [[Books of Chronicles|second book of Chronicles]] and the books of [[Book of Ezra|Ezra]] and [[Book of Nehemiah|Nehemiah]], when the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem following a decree from Cyrus the Great ([[Ezra 1:1]]–[[Ezra 1:4|4]], [[2 Chronicles 36:22]]–[[2 Chronicles 36:23|23]]), construction started at the original site of the altar of Solomon's Temple.<ref name="Schiffman" /> These events represent the final section in the historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible.<ref name="Albright1963" /> The original core of the book of Nehemiah, the first-person memoir, may have been [[Ezra–Nehemiah|combined]] with the core of the [[Book of Ezra]] around 400 BCE. Further editing probably continued into the [[Second Temple period#Hellenistic era|Hellenistic era]].<ref>{{cite book |date=1997 |editor1-last=Cartledge |editor1-first=Paul |editor2-last=Garnsey |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Gruen |editor3-first=Erich S. |title=Hellenistic Constructs: Essays In Culture, History, and Historiography |location=California |publisher=University of California Press |page=92 |isbn=978-0-520-20676-2}}</ref>

Based on the biblical account, after the return from Babylonian captivity, arrangements were immediately made to reorganize the desolated [[Yehud Province]] after the demise of the Kingdom of Judah seventy years earlier. The body of pilgrims, forming a band of 42,360,<ref>{{bibleverse|Ezra|2:65|HE}}</ref> having completed the long and dreary journey of some four months, from the banks of the [[Euphrates]] to Jerusalem, were animated in all their proceedings by a strong religious impulse, and therefore one of their first concerns was to restore their ancient house of worship by rebuilding their destroyed Temple.<ref name=2ndT>{{Cite EBD |wstitle=Temple, the Second}}</ref>

On the invitation of [[Zerubbabel]], the governor, who showed them a remarkable example of liberality by contributing personally 1,000 golden [[Persian daric|darics]], besides other gifts, the people poured their gifts into the sacred treasury with great enthusiasm.<ref>[[Ezra 2]]</ref> First they erected and dedicated the altar of God on the exact spot where it had formerly stood, and they then cleared away the charred heaps of debris that occupied the site of the old temple; and in the second month of the second year (535 BCE), amid great public excitement and rejoicing, the foundations of the Second Temple were laid. A wide interest was felt in this great movement, although it was regarded with mixed feelings by the spectators.<ref>{{bibleverse|Haggai|2:3|HE}}, {{bibleverse|Zechariah|4:10|HE}}</ref><ref name=2ndT/>

The [[Samaritan]]s wanted to help with this work but Zerubbabel and the elders declined such cooperation, feeling that the Jews must build the Temple unaided. Immediately evil reports were spread regarding the Jews. According to [[Ezra 4:5]], the Samaritans sought to "frustrate their purpose" and sent messengers to [[Ecbatana]] and Susa, with the result that the work was suspended.<ref name=2ndT/>

Seven years later, [[Cyrus the Great]], who allowed the Jews to [[Return to Zion|return]] to their homeland and rebuild the Temple, died,<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Chronicles|36:22–23|HE}}</ref> and was succeeded by his son [[Cambyses II|Cambyses]]. On his death, the "false [[Smerdis]]", an impostor, occupied the throne for some seven or eight months, and then [[Darius I of Persia|Darius]] became king (522 BCE). In the second year of his rule the work of rebuilding the temple was resumed and carried forward to its completion,<ref>{{bibleverse|Ezra|5:6–6:15|HE}}</ref> under the stimulus of the earnest counsels and admonitions of the prophets [[Haggai]] and [[Zechariah (Hebrew prophet)|Zechariah]]. It was ready for consecration in the spring of 516 BCE, more than twenty years after the return from captivity. The Temple was completed on the third day of the month [[Adar]], in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, amid great rejoicings on the part of all the people,<ref name=Ezra6etc/> although it was evident that the Jews were no longer an independent people, but were subject to a foreign power.

The [[Book of Haggai]] includes a prediction that the glory of the Second Temple would be greater than that of the first.<ref>{{bibleverse|Haggai|2:9|HE}}</ref><ref name="2ndT" /> While the Temple may well have been consecrated in 516, construction and expansion may have continued as late as 500 BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last=Grabbe |first=Lester L. |author-link=Lester L. Grabbe |date=2004 |title=A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: Yehud: A History of the Persian Province of Judah |location= |publisher=T&T Clark |volume=1 |series=Library of Second Temple Studies 47 |isbn=978-0-567-08998-4 |pages=282–285}}</ref>

Some of the original artifacts from the Temple of Solomon are not mentioned in the sources after its destruction in 586 BCE, and are presumed lost. The Second Temple lacked various holy articles, including the [[Ark of the Covenant]]<ref name=JE>{{Jewish Encyclopedia |no-prescript=1|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=128&letter=T&search=second|title=Temple, The Second}}</ref><ref name=2ndT/> containing the [[Tablets of Stone]], before which were placed the pot of [[manna]] and [[Aaron's rod]],<ref name=2ndT/> the [[Urim and Thummim]]<ref name=JE/><ref name=2ndT/> (divination objects contained in the {{transliteration|he|[[priestly breastplate|Hoshen]]}}), the [[Holy anointing oil|holy oil]]<ref name=2ndT/> and the sacred fire.<ref name=JE/><ref name=2ndT/> The Second Temple also included many of the original vessels of gold that had been taken by the [[Babylonians]] but restored by [[Cyrus the Great]].<ref name=2ndT/><ref>{{bibleverse|Ezra|1:7–11}}</ref>

No detailed description of the Temple's architecture is given in the Hebrew Bible, save that it was sixty [[Cubit#Biblical cubit|cubits]] in both width and height, and was constructed with stone and lumber.<ref>{{bibleverse|Ezra|6:3–4|HE}}</ref> In the Second Temple, the [[Holy of Holies]] (''{{transliteration|he|Kodesh Hakodashim}}'') was separated by curtains rather than a wall as in the First Temple. Still, as in the [[Tabernacle]], the Second Temple included the [[Menorah (Temple)|Menorah]] (golden lamp) for the ''{{transliteration|he|[[Hekhal]]}}'', the Table of [[Showbread]] and the golden [[Altar (Judaism)#Altar of Incense|altar of incense]], with golden [[censer]]s.<ref name=2ndT/>