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- rebuild the temple:
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- "Zechariah was the grandson of Iddo, the head of one of the priestly families that returned from the Exile (Neh 12:4, 16). Twenty years after the return, the temple still lay a blackened ruin, and the discouraged people did not see how it could be restored. At this critical moment God raised up the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to encourage the Jews to rebuild the temple. The prophecies of the two men were delivered almost at the same time--Haggai in August 520 B.C. and, soon after, Zechariah (Zech 1:1-6). Haggai finished his recorded prophecies the same year. The following year Zechariah gave a message consisting of eight symbolic visions, with an appendix (1:7-6:15). Two years later he gave a third message in answer to an inquiry by the men of Bethel regarding the observance of a fast. The two prophecies found in Zechariah 9-14 are not dated and were probably given at a much later period." (THE NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE, © 1987 Zondervan, p. 1083)