THEOSISBeda Venerabilis
They celebrated because the Lord's house, which had been laid waste, was now being reconstructed; yet they wept as they recognized the contrast between the humble beginnings of their own efforts and the unmatched splendor of Solomon’s reign at the time the original temple’s foundation was established. They rejoiced in their liberation from exile and their newly granted opportunity to restore the temple, but sorrow filled their hearts as they acknowledged that the former temple, with its grandeur and magnificence they could never replicate, had been laid waste due to their transgressions.
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The prophetic words, “The glory of this last temple shall be greater than the former temple” (Haggai 2:9), do not speak of the first temple’s magnificence or decor but rather reference its construction itself: the remarkable feat accomplished by the few remaining exiles, in spite of opposition from their foes, stands as a more profound miracle of Divine intervention than the achievements of the wealthiest king, aided by the powerful and affluent king of Tyre, with no adversaries, and surrounded by skilled artisans to fulfill his desires. Thus, the glory of this latter temple surpasses that of the former, as the priests of the first temple delivered the teachings of the Old Testament—the law and the prophecies—while in the second temple, Christ and His apostles heralded the joyous message of the grace of the New Testament and the arrival of the kingdom of heaven.