On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth lunar month (Chislev) “the foundation of the temple of Jehovah was laid”! Zechariah’s companion prophet, Haggai, records that momentous fact. (Haggai 2:18) That action taken in the face of an imperial ban against the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem was of such religious importance that it moved Jehovah of armies to inspire Haggai to prophesy again.

³ “In the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Jehovah occurred to Haggai the prophet, saying: