The temple successfully rebuilt
The help of the prophets
Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them.
In the second year of Darius I, nearly 20 years after their return, the Jews still had not completed the building of the temple. The Lord sent two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to admonish them for their negligence and to encourage them to complete their work. The messages of these two prophets are recorded in the Old Testament books that bear their names. The book of Haggai is quite short, so you may wish to read it at this point. In it Haggai accused the people of neglecting the reconstruction of the temple because they were too preoccupied with the building up of their own property. He encouraged them with the promise that the glory of this temple would be even greater than the glory of Solomon’s temple because the Messiah would appear in this temple and would gather people from all nations to the Lord.
The message of Zechariah is longer and more difficult. The first half of his book contains symbolic visions similar to those in Revelation. The general message of these visions is that the Lord is ruling over the nations and protecting his people. Special words of comfort and encouragement are given to the high priest Jeshua in Zechariah chapters 3 and 6. In the second half of his book, Zechariah delivers several beautiful prophecies about the coming of the Messiah.
When the people heard the words of the Lord spoken through these prophets, they eagerly resumed the work of building God’s house.