THEOSISBeda Venerabilis
The Jews remarked, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” (John 2:20). Their response reflected their literal understanding. To prevent us from misinterpreting our Lord’s words in a purely physical sense, the evangelist swiftly clarified which temple He meant. Regarding the claim that the temple took forty-six years to construct, it pertains to the second temple, not the original one. Solomon, the builder of the first temple, completed it in a remarkably short span of seven years, during a time of enduring peace in his reign (see 1 Kings 6:38).
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This first temple was ultimately destroyed by the Chaldeans (see 2 Kings 25:9), but after a seventy-year period, its reconstruction was initiated on Cyrus the Persian's command, following the end of the exile (see Ezra 1:1-3). However, the descendants of those exiled could not finish the work led by Zerubbabel and Joshua until forty-six years had passed, as they faced opposition from neighboring nations. This timeframe corresponds perfectly to the completeness of our Lord’s physical form. Scholars of natural history indicate that the human body reaches its perfection within this number of days. In the first six days post-conception, it resembles milk; in the following nine days, it transforms into blood; after twelve days, it solidifies; over the next eighteen days, it develops the distinct features of its parts, continuing to grow until birth. The calculation—six plus nine plus twelve plus eighteen—totals forty-five. Adding one more day, the moment when the body starts to form distinct members, we discover that the duration of our Lord’s physical development matches the years taken to construct the temple.