Ezra 6:15

Finished. The exact day of the completion of the Temple is given, probably also the day of dedication described in vs. 16-18. Adar 3 in the 6th regnal year of Darius I was about March 12, 515 B.C., six weeks before the Passover. The rebuilding of the Temple from the time the foundation stone had been laid a second time (Kislev 24, 2d year of Darius) to its completion, had therefore occupied about 4 years and 3 months, some 2 years and 3 months shorter than it had taken Solomon to build his Temple. The reason for this difference probably lies in the fact that Solomon had first to prepare a flat surface on which to erect the various buildings belonging to the Temple complex, a task of no small size. Although the present substructures of the Temple area at Jerusalem date from Herodian times or later, as far as they are visible, they reveal the tremendous efforts that must have been made by the early builders to construct a foundation platform on which the Temple and its many auxiliary buildings could be erected. When the exiles returned they probably found that great parts of this substructure were still good enough to use without expensive, time-consuming repair work. Furthermore, the buildings seem to have been less elaborate and numerous than in Solomon’s time, and probably much less lavishly decorated (see Ezra 3:12). Also, a certain amount of building had been carried on since the time that the first decree was issued. Some or all of these reasons may have been responsible for the comparatively short period required to build the second Temple. Concerning the size of the new Temple, the number of subsidiary buildings, their arrangement and outer form, we are completely without information. The Temple of Solomon, or perhaps the ideal temple of Ezekiel (Ezek. 40-42), may have served as a pattern for some parts. That this Temple, like Solomon’s, possessed auxiliary buildings, is evident from such texts as Ezra 8:29; Neh. 12:44; 13:4, 5, where certain rooms are mentioned in connection with the Temple. In some of these chambers Temple treasures were kept; others served as offices for certain priests. According to 1 Macc. 4:38 the Temple was surrounded by several courts.