Zerubbabel’s Business Vision
Zerubbabel’s Business Vision
Zerubbabel had a Business Vision. He dreamed outside of the proverbial box. Zerubbabel, a descendant of David and in the direct line of ancestry of Jesus (Luke 3:27, Matthew 1:12) was a man of vision.Â
While living in captivity in Babylon, he apparently impressed his captors and gained respectability among them. In the early reign of King Darius, he was given public recognition as the “prince of Judah†(Ezra 1:8). Emerging as the political and spiritual leader of the tribe of Judah, Zerubbabel led a group of captives back to Jerusalem to begin building the temple.  Seemingly in the service of the king, he was appointed by King Cyrus of Persia as the governor of Judea (Haggai 1:1). Apparently he was associated with kings, priests and prophets for some 20 years.
Zerubbabel’s vision was to rebuild the temple on the original site in Jerusalem.
Here are some events that surrounded Zerubbabel’s vision.
- Zerubbabel is in captivity in Babylon (Ezra 3)
- recognized as the “prince (Ezra 1:8)
- with the blessing of King Cyrus, along with Jeshua the high priest, leads a group of captives back to Jerusalem (Ezra 2:2)
- returned the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had removed from the Temple (Ezra 1:11)
- set up an altar for burnt sacrifices (Ezra 3:2)
- kept the Feast of the Tabernacles
- took steps to rebuild the Temple
- worked on the foundation for 2 years
- opposition came from settlers in Samaria who wanted to help
- they were refused because of the Samaritans’ association with heathen worship
- Samaritans’ disrupted the entire building project
- construction comes to a standstill for approximately 17 years
- Haggai gives the Word of the Lord to Zerubbabel to rebuild the temple:Â (Haggai 1:3-6)Â
- Zechariah and Haggai encourage Zerubbabel to get going again (Ezra 5:1-2)
- coordinated the cooperation of prophets, kings and captives
- solicited and received considerable grants of money and materials from Persia, (including timber of cedar from Lebanon (Ezra :6:16)
- finished rebuilding the temple in 4 years
- dedicated it with great ceremony and rejoicing
- received a special blessing from God (Haggai 2:23)
- restored the work of the priests and Levites, gave them singers, porters, etc. (Ezra 6:18, Nehemiah 7:5-7)
- for seven days they celebrated with joy the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Ezra 6:22)
Your thoughts on this subject? Your comments appreciated!
Content © Rich Brott, 2011
