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Rebuilding The Temple · The Chosen People

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  Speaker 1: Previously on The Chosen People.
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  Speaker 2: I am Cyrus, king of Persia, king of Babylon, ruler
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  Speaker 2: of the four corners of the earth. The Lord, the
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  Speaker 2: God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms
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  Speaker 2: of the earth and has appointed me to build him
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  Speaker 2: a house at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people
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  Speaker 2: among you, may his God be with you. And may
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  Speaker 2: he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house
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  Speaker 2: of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who
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  Speaker 2: is in Jerusalem. Let every survivor, wherever he resides, be
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  Speaker 2: assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods,
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  Speaker 2: and livestock, along with a freewill offering for the house
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  Speaker 2: of God in Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 3: He said we can go back and rebuild the temple.
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  Speaker 4: We can go home?
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  Speaker 1: Yes!
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  Speaker 4: Can you believe it? We'll finally see Jerusalem!
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  Speaker 1: With that, men gathered their tools. Women packed their woven baskets.
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  Speaker 1: Elders dusted off family scrolls and whispered prayers of gratitude
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  Speaker 1: they hadn't thought would ever come. Children ran through alleyways, wide-eyed,
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  Speaker 1: overhearing talk of a city they'd only ever heard of
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  Speaker 1: in stories.
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  Speaker 2: Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem. they arrived in silence. There were no trumpets, no
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  Speaker 1: grand procession, only the sound of sandals scraping against dry
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  Speaker 1: earth and the wind coursing through broken stone walls in
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  Speaker 1: the hills of Judah. The hope of Zion, struck down
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  Speaker 1: by the might of Babylon, now hung in the air
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  Speaker 1: once more, quiet and uncertain. It lingered, ready to be
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  Speaker 1: taken up once more as the exiles stood on the
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  Speaker 1: very hills their elders had spoken of with tears in
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  Speaker 1: their eyes. Jerusalem, here it was.
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  Speaker 4: At long last.
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  Speaker 1: But the city that crowned these hills, spanning Mount Zion
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  Speaker 1: to the south and Mount Moriah to the east, was
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  Speaker 1: not what they imagined at all. There were no golden gates.
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  Speaker 1: There were no shining white stone palaces or grand halls.
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  Speaker 1: just scorched earth and shattered stone. The city that once
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  Speaker 1: topped the mountains of Judah now lay like a slain beast, pitiful,
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  Speaker 1: exposed and broken. The walls that once stood proud and
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  Speaker 1: impenetrable were now jagged teeth against the sky, caved in
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  Speaker 1: and crumbling. Gates that had once welcomed nations with splendor
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  Speaker 1: were nothing but blackened timber and ash. The homes were
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  Speaker 1: no better. Hollowed out shells overtaken by weeds, roofs caved
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  Speaker 1: in and pottery shards half buried in dirt like bones
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  Speaker 1: in a shallow forgotten grave. The Temple Mount, once the
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  Speaker 1: dwelling place of the Most High, stood in ghostly quiet.
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  Speaker 1: Its courtyards were covered in ash and debris. The altar
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  Speaker 1: was gone, desecrated long ago. leaving behind a scorched imprint
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  Speaker 1: in the dust where fire had once burned for the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: where Solomon's wealth had once shone, cavernous corridors and halls remained.
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  Speaker 1: Anything of value, all the gold, silver and bronze, had
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  Speaker 1: long been pillaged and plundered, and everywhere the echo of
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  Speaker 1: the memories of what had been. Jeshua, the priest, stood still,
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  Speaker 1: His breath caught in his chest. Zerubbabel, beside him, said
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  Speaker 1: nothing for a long while. The people behind them murmured
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  Speaker 1: prayers and wept quietly. Some collapsed to their knees. Some
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  Speaker 1: looked away, unable to reconcile the stories they'd heard with
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  Speaker 1: the ruin before them. This was the inheritance they had
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  Speaker 1: waited a lifetime to reclaim. And yet, there they were,
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  Speaker 1: and they had returned at last. just as the prophet
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah had foretold. The words seemed to be on everyone's minds,
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  Speaker 1: but it was Jeshua who whispered them aloud into the
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  Speaker 1: eerie silence that hung over the ravaged ruins and peaks.
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  Speaker 5: They will rebuild the ancient ruins. They will restore the
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  Speaker 5: former devastations. They will renew the ruined cities, the devastations
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  Speaker 5: of many generations.
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  Speaker 1: Zerubbabel entered the ruins of the Temple Mount first. He
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  Speaker 1: ran his fingers along a cracked, soot-stained stone at the
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  Speaker 1: edge of what had once been the Temple courtyard. He
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  Speaker 1: turned and looked over the ragged group of exiles, tired, hungry, overwhelmed,
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  Speaker 1: but relieved to be home at last. to the land
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  Speaker 1: of promise. With a sigh infused with heavy, complicated emotions,
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  Speaker 1: Zerubbabel looked to Jeshua. Jeshua nodded, and Zerubbabel spoke, not
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  Speaker 1: with triumph, but with quiet, resolute hope.
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  Speaker 4: This is where we begin.
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  Speaker 1: When they began to rebuild, they did not begin with walls,
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  Speaker 1: nor the homes, nor the towers or palaces. They began
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  Speaker 1: with fire, with sacrifice, with worship.
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  Speaker 6: Bring the rams, the goats, the sheeps without blemish. We
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  Speaker 6: begin and end each day with the ascension offering. The
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  Speaker 6: entire sacrifice will be consumed on the fire of the
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  Speaker 6: altar of the burnt offering. And the fragrant aroma will
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  Speaker 6: be pleasing to the Lord. It will represent our constant
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  Speaker 6: diligent devotion and dependence on him.
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  Speaker 1: The people eagerly obeyed Yeshua, their high priest, as they
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  Speaker 1: re-established the altar of burnt offering on the temple mount,
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  Speaker 1: the roaring fire like the steadfast north star that lights
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  Speaker 1: the way home in a vast cosmos of desolation. The
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  Speaker 1: worship was modest and plain compared to the years of
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  Speaker 1: abundance and extravagance that had been built up in the
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  Speaker 1: days of the tabernacle and the first temple. But it
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  Speaker 1: was not the grandeur of Solomon's temple they sought to replicate.
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  Speaker 1: It was the covenant it represented. In the same spirit,
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  Speaker 1: they also kept the Feast of Tabernacles, just as it
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  Speaker 1: was written. A reminder that the Lord had once led
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  Speaker 1: their ancestors through the wilderness by cloud and flame. And now,
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  Speaker 1: generations later, they were still wandering and seeking a place
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  Speaker 1: of permanence. but hope was rekindled with each fire lit
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  Speaker 1: in the altar, a flame in the ruins, where the
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  Speaker 1: people of Israel could draw near to their God. Zerubbabel
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  Speaker 1: began work on the foundation of the temple. It took
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  Speaker 1: time to organize workers among the Levite priests, preparing plans
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  Speaker 1: and securing cedar logs from the forests of Lebanon, just
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  Speaker 1: as Solomon had done centuries before. At last, In the
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  Speaker 1: second month of the second year, seventy years after the
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  Speaker 1: first exile, the foundation was ready to be laid. The
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  Speaker 1: Levites took their place, just as their ancestors did in
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  Speaker 1: the days of David when the ark had been brought
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  Speaker 1: to Jerusalem. Trumpets were raised and cymbals clashed. The people shouted,
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  Speaker 1: danced and rejoiced. The raucous of their joyous music sounded
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  Speaker 1: like thunder rolled through the ruins of Jerusalem. Zerubbabel stepped forward,
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  Speaker 1: and he addressed the first wave of returned exiles, the
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  Speaker 1: men and women of the remnant of the southern kingdom,
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  Speaker 1: the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and the Levites.
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  Speaker 3: Let this be the foundation, not just of stone, but
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  Speaker 3: of faith.
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  Speaker 4: We are just the beginning.
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  Speaker 3: We have hoped that our brothers and sisters still in
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  Speaker 3: exile would return to us here. For as the songs
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  Speaker 3: of our ancestors proclaim, for he is good. His faithful
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  Speaker 3: love to Israel endures forever.
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  Speaker 1: But in the midst of the joy, there was also sorrow.
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  Speaker 1: The elders mourned at the sight of the plain foundation
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  Speaker 1: of the temple and the smeared and faded stone walls
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  Speaker 1: of the city surrounding it. They were the ones who
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  Speaker 1: had seen Solomon's temple with their own eyes. They remembered
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  Speaker 1: its golden courts, its towering walls, and its glory.
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  Speaker 2: It is not as it was. Though the Persian king, Cyrus,
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  Speaker 2: has authorized us to bring cedars from Lebanon and material
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  Speaker 2: from faraway lands as before, It is not the same.
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  Speaker 2: It never will be again.
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  Speaker 1: The complaints at the gathering shook Zerubbabel's confidence. He had
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  Speaker 1: not seen Jerusalem in its glory days. He had never
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  Speaker 1: seen Jerusalem at all. But the sound of joy and
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  Speaker 1: sorrow rose together all the same. And together they became
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  Speaker 1: a holy noise. There was grief. for what had been lost,
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  Speaker 1: and then hope for what might still come. Laughter and
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  Speaker 1: weeping mingled in the air. Days turned to weeks, and
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  Speaker 1: weeks turned to months. Zerubbabel stood in the shadow of
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  Speaker 1: it all, watching the fruition of his labour. He watched
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  Speaker 1: as some abandoned the project altogether. They went off to
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  Speaker 1: build houses of their own. He had answered the people's call,
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  Speaker 1: yet he was weighed down by the expectations of a nation.
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  Speaker 1: His heart sank with each Jew who lost heart or
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  Speaker 1: fell under the spell of discouragement and slunk off, abandoning
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  Speaker 1: the rebuilding of the temple. And at the edges of
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  Speaker 1: their construction site, he spied the eyes of their enemies. waiting, lurking,
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  Speaker 1: readying themselves to strike and chip away further at their resolve,
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  Speaker 1: eager to snuff out the faint sparks of their rekindled flames.
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  Speaker 1: But the fire on the altar still burned, small, steady,
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  Speaker 1: stubborn as hope. Their enemies would be a problem for tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: But no work of God goes unchallenged. Not every exile
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  Speaker 1: had returned. Many Jews still remained scattered in distant lands.
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  Speaker 1: Not every fear had vanished, and not every tear had dried.
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  Speaker 1: But the altar was built, the foundation was laid, and
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  Speaker 1: worship had begun again. Word quickly spread throughout the territory
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  Speaker 1: that the exiles had come home, and soon the surrounding peoples,
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  Speaker 1: the descendants of the northern tribes of Israel, came forward
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  Speaker 1: with honeyed words and smiling faces. They had lived in
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  Speaker 1: the land since Israel's fall, or returned from exiles of
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  Speaker 1: their own. Though they had once descended from the sons
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  Speaker 1: of Jacob, many generations had passed, and they were now
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  Speaker 1: strangers to God's covenant people. Long ago, they had intermarried
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  Speaker 1: with the pagans of the land and turned to foreign gods,
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  Speaker 1: abandoning the Lord who had called their ancestors. And yet
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  Speaker 1: now they approached, pretending kinship.
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  Speaker 4: Let us build with you. We seek your God too.
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  Speaker 4: We were brought here like you. We worship him as well.
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  Speaker 1: The man represented just one of the many groups feigning
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  Speaker 1: such friendship with the Jews. But Zerubbabel and Yeshua were
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  Speaker 1: not so easily ensnared by their lies. They knew that
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  Speaker 1: they would not abandon their false gods. They would simply
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  Speaker 1: add worship of Yahweh to the worship of their gods.
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  Speaker 1: The twelve tribes of Israel were already down to a
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  Speaker 1: mere remnant of what they were, Judah, Benjamin, and the
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  Speaker 1: Levitical priesthood, and they could not afford to make yet
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  Speaker 1: another mistake in trusting foreigners and allowing them to lead
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  Speaker 1: the people astray. Zerubbabel drew back his shoulders and loudly
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  Speaker 1: spoke the truth before the elders and other leaders who
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  Speaker 1: were gathered to hear the pleas of their visitors.
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  Speaker 3: No, you do not worship the Lord as we do.
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  Speaker 3: This house is not yours to build. We were appointed
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  Speaker 3: by decree of the king and by the command of
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  Speaker 3: our God.
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  Speaker 1: The smiles faded.
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  Speaker 4: Careful, Jews! We were once brothers, you know. The king
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  Speaker 4: may have given you permission to return here to build
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  Speaker 4: up your precious temple, but we are all still under
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  Speaker 4: the yoke of Persia.
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  Speaker 1: The threat left a pit in Zerubbabel's stomach, and once
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  Speaker 1: the foreigners finally left, Jeshua turned to him with fear
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  Speaker 1: in his eyes.
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  Speaker 4: I do not think those were idle threats.
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  Speaker 6: Do you think they will write to the Persians and
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  Speaker 6: slander us, telling lies about what is happening here in Jerusalem?
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  Speaker 1: Zerubabbel gritted his teeth, but the pit in his stomach remained.
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  Speaker 3: I think that's exactly what they'll do. We should double
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  Speaker 3: the guards around the construction site as well. I don't
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  Speaker 3: think pens will be their only weapon. And I do
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  Speaker 3: not think scribes will be their only soldiers.
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  Speaker 1: Zerubabbel's instincts proved to be correct. Their enemy's flattery quickly
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  Speaker 1: turned to fury. They did not leave the foothills of Judah.
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  Speaker 1: They threatened and intimidated the remaining workers of the temple.
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  Speaker 1: They tried everything in their power to prevent the rebuilding
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  Speaker 1: of the temple. And then they worked in the shadows.
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  Speaker 1: They hired counselors, bribed officials, spread lies, twisted truth, sent
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  Speaker 1: letters dripping with accusation and fear. The pressure mounted over
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  Speaker 1: the years until it intensified to its fever pitch. The elders, workers,
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  Speaker 1: and priests alike could finally take it no longer.
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  Speaker 2: There is no temple.
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  Speaker 4: Only rubble. We are still exiles. This is no home.
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  Speaker 6: But the altar still burns. The covenant still stands.
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  Speaker 4: We must press on.
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  Speaker 1: Jeshua looked around wildly among the ranks of priests for support.
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  Speaker 1: before finally settling on Zerubbabel. With a heavy sigh, Zerubbabel
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  Speaker 1: silently shook his head. He had seen this inevitability coming
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  Speaker 1: for years now. He had done the best he could
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  Speaker 1: leading the frightened, scattered people, but their fear was too great.
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  Speaker 3: I'm sorry, Jeshua. We cannot lead the people if they
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  Speaker 3: do not want to be led. Perhaps one day, There'll
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  Speaker 3: be a leader who can unite them. A voice they
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  Speaker 3: will listen to, but unfortunately, we are not that voice.
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  Speaker 1: And so the builders laid down their tools. The songs
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  Speaker 1: of praise quieted. The cedar logs stacked for the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the temple gathered dust. Hands once calloused from lifting
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  Speaker 1: stone now returned to tilling soil. Hope grew cold and
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  Speaker 1: years passed, but the altar of burnt offering still stood
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  Speaker 1: and the fire still burned, tended by the faithful Jeshua
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  Speaker 1: and the reluctant, disheartened Zerubbabel and a handful of faithfuls.
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  Speaker 1: But the temple waited, unbuilt and unfinished. Zerubbabel stood many
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  Speaker 1: nights at the edge of the mount, gazing at the
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  Speaker 1: unfinished foundation and waiting materials, Jeshua still offered prayers that
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  Speaker 1: the people would remember their worship. He hoped beyond hope
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  Speaker 1: that a voice, a prophet of the Lord, would come
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  Speaker 1: and inspire the people in a way that he and
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  Speaker 1: Zerubbabel could not. He prayed that a word would stir
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  Speaker 1: them again and the work would once again rise from
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  Speaker 1: the ruins. But for now, the fire on the altar
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  Speaker 1: still burned, waiting for that day. This Pray.com production is
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  Speaker 1: only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Schelleberger, and Ben Gammon are
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: the executive producers of The Chosen People, narrated by Paul Coltofianu.
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  Speaker 1: Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvato, Sarah Seltz,
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  Speaker 1: Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwald, Sylvia Zaradok, Thomas Copeland Jr., Rosanna Pilcher,
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  Speaker 1: and Mitch Lashinsky. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith. Written by
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  Speaker 1: Aaron Salvato, Brie Rosely, and Chris Baig. You can hear
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: more Prey.com productions on the Prey.com app, available on the
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