Zerubbabel

(born in Babylon) (1 Chron. 3:19) — leader of the first company of Jews, 42,360 in number, besides a great many male and female servants, who returned from the Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem, in the first year of the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia (Ezra 2:64, 65). He was son of Shealtiel (Ezra 3:2; Matt. 1:12; Luke 3:27), or of Pedaiah, brother of Shealtiel (1 Chron. 3:16–19), and was descended from the royal house of David through Nathan, according to the testimony of the Evangelist Luke (3:27), and, according to the testimony of the Evangelist Matthew (1:12), through Jechoniah.

Cyrus, king of Persia, entrusted to him the sacred vessels for their return to Jerusalem, together with rich gifts from his captive brethren. Appointed governor of Judea by Cyrus, Zerubbabel, in the second year of the return to Jerusalem, solemnly laid the foundation of the second temple of Jerusalem, on the site of the first. The laying of the temple’s foundation, which took place in the second month of the second year, was carried out with special solemnity: the priests in their vestments played on trumpets; the descendants of Asaph sang with cymbals the same psalms that had been sung at the dedication of the first, Solomonic, temple (2 Chron.

5:11–14), and those elders who remembered the splendor of the former temple wept aloud from sorrow and joy. But the prophet Haggai comforted and encouraged them with the word of the LORD, that the glory of this latter temple would be greater than the glory of the former (Hag. 2:9). After this, much labor, care, and effort still lay ahead for Zerubbabel, for the continuation of the building of the temple and for the establishment of good order, both ecclesiastical and civil, amid a multitude of enemies and obstacles.

He was hindered and opposed in the building of the temple both by the Samaritans and by the governors of the provinces beyond the river, who were bribed by the Samaritans and slandered the Jews before the royal court (Ezra 4). But with God’s help, and with the assistance of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, Zerubbabel overcame all the schemes of his enemies. “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house,” says God through the prophet; “his hands shall also finish it” (Zech. 4:9), and indeed he had the consolation of seeing the completion of the temple and its solemn dedication, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, on the third day of the month Adar, amid numerous sacrifices and the general rejoicing of the people (Ezra 5, 6).

The new temple, dedicated to the LORD, stood majestically on the site of the one destroyed by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. Besides the building of the temple, Zerubbabel’s other achievements included, among others, the following: the restoration of the priestly and levitical courses of service (Ezra 6:18), the correction of the genealogies (Neh. 6:5 [as given]), and the celebration of the Passover in the seventh year of the reign of Darius. In general, religion and patriotism especially marked the character of Zerubbabel throughout the whole of his public activity.

Zerubbabel is also called by the Persian name Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah (Ezra 1:8). Zoheb (greedily seizing, grasping) (1 Chr 4:20)—one of the sons of Ishi, mentioned in the genealogy of the tribe of Judah.