The Samaritans sought to “frustrate their purpose” (Ezra 4:5), and sent
messengers to Ecbatana and Susa, with the result that the work was
suspended. Seven years after this Cyrus died ingloriously, having killed
himself in Syria when on his way back from Egypt to the east, and was
succeeded by his son Cambyses (B.C. 529-522), on whose death the “false
Smerdis,” an imposter, occupied the throne for some seven or eight
months, and then Darius Hystaspes became king (B.C. 522). In the second
year of this monarch the work of rebuilding the temple was resumed and
carried forward to its completion (Ezra 5: 6-17; 6:1-15), under the stimulus
of the earnest counsels and admonitions of the prophets Haggai and
Zechariah. It was ready for consecration in the spring of B.C. 516, twenty
years after the return from captivity.
This second temple had not the ark, the Urim and Thummim, the holy oil,
the sacred fire, the tables of stone, the pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod. As
in the tabernacle, there was in it only one golden lamp for the holy place,
one table of shewbread, and the incense altar, with golden censers, and
many of the vessels of gold that had belonged to Solomon’s temple that
had been carried to Babylon but restored by Cyrus (Ezra 1:7-11).
This second temple also differed from the first in that, while in the latter
there were numerous “trees planted in the courts of the Lord,” there were
none in the former. The second temple also had for the first time a space,
being a part of the outer court, provided for proselytes who were
worshippers of Jehovah, although not subject to the laws of Judaism.
The temple, when completed, was consecrated amid great rejoicings on the
part of all the people (Ezra 6:16), although there were not wanting
outward evidences that the Jews were no longer an independent people,
but were subject to a foreign power.
Hag. 2:9 is rightly rendered in the Revised Version, “The latter glory of
this house shall be greater than the former,” instead of, “The glory of this
latter house,” etc., in the Authorized Version. The temple, during the
different periods of its existence, is regarded as but one house, the one only
house of God (comp. 2:3). The glory here predicted is spiritual glory and
not material splendour. “Christ himself, present bodily in the temple on
Mount Zion during his life on earth, present spiritually in the Church now,
present in the holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, of which he is the temple,