X-Dreamers
Bible chapter guide
Ezra 3
In the seventh month the returned exiles build the altar and keep the Feast of Booths. The next year they lay the foundation of the temple; the priests sound trumpets and the people shout for joy, while old men who had seen the first house weep aloud.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
See it in the Labs
- The Biblical Family TreeZerubbabel · The Biblical Family TreeOpen
- The Feast of TabernaclesInside a booth · The Feast of TabernaclesOpen
- verse/john-7-37John 7:37–38Open
- The Feast of TabernaclesJerusalem in Nehemiah 8 · The Feast of TabernaclesOpen
- Jerusalem Through the AgesThe Second Temple (Zerubbabel's) · Jerusalem Through the AgesOpen
- Temples Side by SideThe Second Temple (Zerubbabel's) · Temples Side by SideOpen
- Temples Side by SideStacked on one spot · Temples Side by SideOpen
- Temples Side by SideWalk from one into the next · Temples Side by SideOpen
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How sure can we be?
- Strongly supported
The temple of Nehemiah’s day was the modest house rebuilt after the exile, not Herod’s great platform, which was begun some 450 years later.
Ezra 3:12 records old men weeping at how small it was beside Solomon’s. Herod began his rebuilding about 20 BC (Josephus). The Nehemiah view therefore shows a small temple; the booth and last-day views use the Temple Mount lab’s model of Herod’s Temple.
- Strongly supported
Ezra dates its completion to the sixth year of Darius; Haggai compares it with the first house.
- Plausible
How big was the Second Temple? The decree set a limit for the king's money, not a plan: they rebuilt on Solomon's foundations, smaller and plainer. The model draws this.
Many commentators, from Ezra 3:12, Ezra 5:15 (“in his place”) and Haggai 2:3.
- Speculative
The altar: 20 × 20 × 10 cubits. Built first, on its old base; Hecataeus gives unhewn stones, 20 cubits square and 10 high.