Second Temple

The Second Temple was rebuilt in Jerusalem under the governor Zerubbabel and the high priest Jeshua after the return from Babylonian exile, completed in 516 BC — seventy years after the destruction of Solomon's Temple. Funded by Persian decree and encouraged by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the new sanctuary stood on the original site but lacked much of the former glory: the Ark of the Covenant was gone, and the older men who remembered the first house wept at the comparatively modest foundations. Yet God promised that the glory of this latter house would surpass the former, for in it the Messiah Himself would one day teach. The Second Temple was later dramatically expanded by Herod the Great into the gleaming complex of Jesus' day, and it remained the centre of Jewish worship until Rome destroyed it in AD 70.