“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; . . . For who hath despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:9, 10).
“Many of the . . . ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy” (Ezra 3:12).
Zerubbabel was a governor of Judah, tasked with rebuilding the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem. But when the foundation was being laid, it appeared it might be a lesser structure than the original Temple complex built by King Solomon (which had been destroyed), and many of the elders of the people who had seen the original Temple were weeping—maybe because of the humble beginnings of the new one. Perhaps many who “shouted aloud for joy” were younger folks who hadn’t seen the first Temple. But those who were among the joyous were evidently so grateful that the Temple was being rebuilt that they rejoiced in the progress rather than weeping over the relatively modest start that would ultimately result in a significant house of worship. Had they begun to understand that small beginnings can grow—with patience and trust in God—into deeper and fuller expressions of good?
