In the autumn of 520 b.c., laborers hauled heavy limestone blocks up the central mountain ridge. Men scraped dried clay and mortar from their hands under a cold wind. A farmer expecting fifty bushels of harvested grain found only twenty. The harvest had failed again, leaving the storehouses completely empty and the workers exhausted. Fear of Gentile interference kept armed guards posted on the perimeter walls day and night. The Sovereign Lord spoke through his messenger to offer relief to the worn builders.
Governor Zerubbabel and High Priest Joshua surveyed the meager foundations in Jerusalem. The older men wept because the new structure looked pathetic compared to the former temple. God demanded answers from the priests regarding strict contagion laws. Sacred meat wrapped in a garment does not make the cloth holy. A man defiled by a corpse ruins everything he touches. Contamination spreads rapidly through a camp, while purity requires deliberate isolation. The people needed to finish the building to survive the coming winter and secure divine favor.
The master builders stared at the raw wood and uncut rock. Men easily romanticize the past when facing severe physical labor in the present. The workers lacked silver and gold to coat the sanctuary walls. The Lord Almighty claimed ownership of all global wealth and promised he would fill the house with peace. A leader received the authority of a royal signet ring. An ancient governor used a carved stone seal pressed into hot wax to bind legal documents and declare absolute authority.
Men who stare backward at ruined buildings cannot lay the heavy stones at their feet.
The remnant community finished the structure exactly four years later. The modest building anchored religious life in the province for another five centuries.