e
chariots, horses, and riders of their Persian masters, "each by the sword
of his brother." He also voiced the popular expectations that centred in
Zerubbabel, who had already been appointed governor of Judah. The prophet
declared boldly that this scion of the house of David would be Jehovah's
seal-ring, the earthly representative of that divine power which was about
to work great revolutions in the history of the world. During the same
period Zechariah also uttered his messages of encouragement and spurred
the people on to continued efforts (Section XCV).

V. The Attempt to Stop the Rebuilding of the Temple. The Aramaic
document preserved in Ezra 5 and 6 describes in detail an attempt of the
Persian governor, who ruled over the province west of the Euphrates, to
put a stop to the temple building. The narrative, the letter, and decrees
which it contains reveal at many points their Jewish origin. While the
tradition may be comparatively late, its circumstantial character favors
the conclusion that it preserves the memory of a definite historical
event. The action of the Jews in rebuilding their temple was in perfect
accord with the policy of Cyrus and also of Darius, as is shown by
contemporary inscriptions. The attempt, therefore, to stop the building of
the temple failed; and in 516 B.C., four years after the work was begun,
it was completed.

VI. The Significance of the Restoration of the Temple. The rebuilding of
the Jerusalem temple appears to have been of immediate significance
chiefly to the Jews of Palestine. The Jews of Egypt, or at least those of
Elephantine, had their own temple. From Zechariah 6:9-11 it is evident
that the Jewish exiles in Babylon sent certain gifts to the Jerusalem
temple; but the hundreds of miles of desert that intervened made
communication exceedingly difficult, so that except at rare intervals
there was apparently little interchange between Babylonia and Palestine.
For all Jews, however, the rebuilding of the temple meant that at last
they had a common rallying-place, and that Jehovah was again being
worshipped by his own people at his traditional place of abode. In a sense
it bridged the seventy years that had intervened since the destruction of
the pre-exilic Hebrew state, and made it possible to revive the ancient
religious customs. In time it attracted from the lands of the dispersion
patriotic Jews whose interest was fixed upon the ceremonial side of their
religious life. It also