Zechariah has eight visions on the night of February 15, 519. The visions are to direct and
encourage the Jews who are trying to complete the Temple that they returned from Babylon to
build in Jerusalem in 537. Six months earlier (August 29, 520) Haggai had reprimanded the
people and their leaders for not having finished the Temple during the previous seventeen years.
Now after about five months of labor on the Temple Mount the people realize how
daunting a task it was to:
- locate the needed materials
- prepare the building materials which include cut stones
- transport these cut stones (ashlar stones) up the slopes of Mount Moriah
- move the ashlar stones up onto the Temple Mount on Mount Moriah and
assemble them into the Temple.
Zerubbabel is a Jew from the line of David appointed by the Persian government to serve as
the governor of the returning Jews in they endeavor to rebuild their city, their Temple and
their community.
On the night of February 15, 519 the Lord speaks through Zechariah to encourage Zerubbabel
as he attempts the overwhelming project of replacing Solomon’s Temple on the exact location
it had stood before the Babylonian destruction in 586.
The Lord tells Zerubbabel that this project is empowered by the Spirit of the Lord.
God wants it done! And, concerning the demanding assignment of dragging the huge cut
ashlar stones up Mount Moriah, the Lord says, “This steep incline will become like level ground
for Zerubbabel’s labor force!” Will this project be completed? “Yes!” the Lord says. The day is in Zerubbabel’s near future when the final stone, the capstone, will be brought up the mountain as crowds of people shout the chant, “God bless it!...God bless it!...” Then the Temple will be
crowned with the glorious, final capstone to complete the seemingly unachievable project.
The people need to work, Zerubbabel needs to pursue the vision, but all this is going to be
empowered by the Spirit of the Lord. It will be done! |
