Ezra 3:8

When Jerusalem was demolished by Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom was destroyed, and no longer were there hereditary successions to the sovereignty as formerly; at that time, moreover, being out of power, the posterity of David were living in captivity. But, when the followers of Salathiel and Zerubbabel returned, they led the people more democratically, transferring the rule henceforth to the priesthood because of the intermingling of the priestly and royal tribes.

In the second year of their coming, etc. He says they came to the temple of God, not because they found it already built, since it was foretold that it had not yet been founded; but it is said that they came to the temple of God, to the place of the temple of God, to the work they desired to rebuild as a temple. Modern Jews are mistaken, who are accustomed to say that the walls of the temple were never overthrown, but only the roof by the Chaldeans; since Ezra clearly writes that the children of the captivity made the temple from its foundations. However, when it is said above that they came to Jerusalem in the seventh month, and here it is added that in the second year of their coming, in the second month, they began the work of the temple; it is clear indeed that in seven months they prepared stones, cement, wood, and other necessary works; and at the beginning of the eighth month they began to apply themselves eagerly to the desired work. For six months were of the first year and the seventh of the following; which, indeed, anyone learned can easily find was done in a great mystery. For the seven pertain to the sabbath, in which the Lord either rested from all His works after creating the world or rested in the tomb after redeeming the world through His passion. The eight pertain to the first of the sabbath, in which He Himself rose from the dead. The seven refer to our hope of a sabbath after death. The eight look forward to the joy of our eternal blessedness after the resurrection. Therefore, because the work of all the elect, who are the temple and house of God, is begun and perfected by the grace of the Holy Spirit and is carried out with every regard and intention of future rest and immortality; it is rightly considered that those who search out the temple, having offered holocausts to God from the seventh month, began to prepare the expenses for building, and, with the preparations made in seven months, commenced the work itself in the eighth. Neither is any other number found at all in the preparation of such a great work than that which symbolically denotes either the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit, by which we are assisted while working, or the rest of souls, or the resurrection of bodies, which we, hoping well, work for. Moreover, what the time of forty-six years signifies, in which the temple was built, as also the scripture of the Gospel testifies, is explained in its own place. However, the great devotion of that entire people is shown to us as well to be diligently imitated, since not only the elders, namely Zerubbabel and Joshua, and the remaining priests and Levites, but also all who came from captivity to Jerusalem from the greatest to the least, appointed Levites to hasten the work of the Lord. For they rejoiced to have returned from Babylonian captivity to Jerusalem; and as much as they had loathed the idols and wickedness of the proud city they had escaped, they desired to see the beauty of the city consecrated to the Lord, to which they had merited to come. As much as they abominated the temples of idols, among which they had long been present, they desired the temple of their Creator, which they mourned to be destroyed and from which they had been exiled as captives for so long, to be quickly restored. In the same order, even now, not only bishops and priests but also the congregation of the faithful, that is, the house of God, should diligently teach and appoint those teachers who diligently fulfill the holy work of the Word by counseling. Also, the people themselves, called from the captivity of vices to the vision of true peace, should demand the ministry of the Word from those who know how to impart it. These ministers of the word, that is, Levites, are said to be appointed from twenty years old and above; because it is fitting that those who are presented to preach the word of God to the people should not only show the example of the law by work in action but also keep it undefiled in the purity and integrity of heart before their Creator. Nor should there be any doubt that the state of the Church will take prosperous progress where both the prelates rightly keep their grade by regularly appointing teachers of truth to the people who will instruct them, and the people compel the appointed teachers, by diligently listening and obeying their teachings, not to cease from speaking. But alas, alas! the negligence of our times offends both the greater and the lesser, hindering them, the former from preaching the word, the latter from hearing it, and both from doing it, because we consider less diligently either how great the bitterness of the demonic captivity from which we are rescued is, or how great the solemnity to which we are called, the heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of us all, of which we have already received a pledge in the present Church. Let us, however, consider the excellent works of the Fathers, that we may the more be confounded by our own smallness in action. It follows: