The Origin of Freemasonry and Knights Templar ... - Lodge Prudentia

FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLARmained in an unfinished state until his death, andthe succession of Darius to the throne (521 B. C).As in early life there had been a great intimacy betweenthis sovereign and Zerubbabel, the latter proceededto Babylon and obtained permission from themonarch to resume the labor. Zerubbabel returnedto Jerusalem, and notwithstanding some further delaysconsequent upon the enmity of the neighboringnations, the second temple, or, as it may be calledby \vay of distinction from the first, the Templeof Zerubbabel, was completed in the sixth year ofthe reign of Darius, 515 B. C, just twenty yearsafter its commencement. It was then dedicatedwith all the solemnities that accompanied the dedicationof the first. (See Darius, king of Persia,in Supplement.)Zerubbabel was of the royal race of David, andcalled "Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah." He wasborn in Babylon, as his name imports, but nothingfurther than what has been said is known of hishistory except that from him both Joseph and Marydescended.The general plan of this second temple was similarto that of the first, but it exceeded it in almostevery dimension by one-third. The decorations ofgold and other ornaments in the first temple musthave far surpassed those bestowed upon the second,for we are told by Josephus ( Antiq. xi. 4) that "thepriests and Levites and elders of families were disconsolateat seeing how much more sumptuous theold temple was than the one which, on account oftheir poverty, they had just been able to erect." (SeeJerusalem, inSupplement.)104