The Biblical Book of Haggai

In the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan commander and official of the king of Babylon set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem and broke the walls of Jerusalem.
             Nabonidus, the fourth king after the death of Nebuchadnezzar in 562 BC, himself died in 539 BC, after a seven-year reign. Belshazzar, his son, had evidently been coregent; but in fulfillment of Dan. 5:25-28, he too died. Cyrus, who had been king of Media and Persia since 549, now brought Babylon under his control. In the following year he made his famous edict (see Ezr. 1:2-4; 6:3b-5), allowing all peoples to return to their native lands. Ezra 5:13-14 describes the effect of Cyrus' decree on God's people.
             According to Ezra 5:16, the foundation of the temple were laid by Sheshbazzar and his company, and Ezra 3:2 tells how the leaders built the alter and began sacrificing burnt offerings. However the work was not complete eighteen years later, otherwise Haggai would not have preached his sermons. .
             Why did the enthusiasm of God's people wane? For one thing, during the seventy years in Babylon most of the exiles had come to consider it their home (cf. Jer. 29:5-7). Further some may have been doing financially well that they were reluctant to return to Jerusalem and face the dangers involved in rebuilding the temple. Those who did return were probably the poorer ones who had nothing to lose in such ventures. After king Cyrus of Persia gave the edict in 538 BC, some 50,000 exiled Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and its temple. About two years later (536) they completed the foundation amid great rejoicing (Ezr. 3:8 "11). Their success aroused the Samaritans and other neighbors who feared the political and religious implications of a rebuilt temple in a thriving Jewish state. They therefore opposed the project vigorously and managed to halt work until 520, till Darius the Great became king of Persia in 522 (Ezr.