In Ezra, chapter six, verse fifteen, the construction was finished twenty-one years after laying the foundation in chapter three, verse ten. The ark of the covenant, containing the two tables of the law, was not in the new temple. It disappeared when Nebuchadnezzar’s army destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.
Haggai one, verse fifteen, gives the exact day of the recommencement of the work as the twenty-fourth of Elul in Darius’s second year. Ezra here gives the day of the completion. From Zerubbabel’s laying of the foundation, the time elapsed was twenty-one years. From the recommencement under the inspiring influence of the two prophets, the time was only four years, five months, and ten days. However, the dedication of the second temple is in Ezra six, verses sixteen through eighteen.
Following the example of Solomon, who had solemnly “dedicated” the first temple in First Kings eight, verse sixty-three, and had offered on the occasion a sacrifice unexampled for its magnitude in the whole of Jewish history, Zerubbabel now, under the advice of two prophets, inaugurated the new building with a similar ceremony. In “The Day of Small Things,” Zerubbabel emulated Solomon’s magnificence in the number of victims. Solomon had sacrificed ninety-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. Zerubbabel’s means only enabled him to offer seven hundred and twelve animals, more than half of them lambs. He did, however, according to his ability, and God, who accepts all our endeavors according to what we have and not according to what we have not, was content to receive graciously the humble offering made to him and to bless the building thus inaugurated with a glory unknown to the first temple. The Lord, the Messenger of the covenant, so long sought by his people, suddenly came to this temple as in Malachi three, verse one.