Jeshua the High Priest
The high priest who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel and rebuilt the altar and the temple with him. Zechariah’s visions centre on him.
Jeshua, son of Jozadak, came back with the first returnees and rebuilt the altar in Jerusalem (Ezra 2:1–2; 3:1–2). Haggai and Zechariah, who call him Joshua, address him alongside Zerubbabel (Haggai 1:1). In Zechariah he is cleansed and reclothed in a vision and then crowned (Zechariah 3) (Zechariah 6:9–13).
In the timeline
- 538 BC, estimated dateThe Edict of Cyrus and the First Return
Cyrus of Persia, having taken Babylon, allows the Judean exiles to go home and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, and hands back the temple vessels. A first group returns.
- March 515 BC, estimated dateThe Second Temple Is Completed
After years of delay the returned exiles, urged on by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah and backed by a decree of Darius, finish rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. It is dedicated in the spring of 515 BC.