THEOSISBeda Venerabilis
The message that Phaphnaeus transmitted to Darius stands in stark contrast to the correspondence penned by Rehum and Shimshai to Artaxerxes. The latter was laden with charges against the inhabitants of Jerusalem, whereas Phaphnaeus’s letter is replete with commendation, not only for the people but also for the Almighty. It opens with a greeting: To Darius the king, all peace! The letter declares: Let it be communicated to the king that we ventured into Judah, to the house of the great God; it is constructed from sizable stones, and timber is utilized in its walls; this endeavor is being accomplished swiftly and successfully. We then inquired of the elders, asking them, ‘Who authorized you to construct this house and to complete these walls?’ (1 Ezra 5:7-9).
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In these statements, we discern the significance of the phrase regarding the construction of the Lord’s house from large stones, acknowledging that such a majestic project could only be achieved with finished stones. These unworked stones likely refer to new stones collected in their natural state, which were then shaped and made suitable for the Lord’s house. Even in the event that remnants of old stones remained, as Jeremiah illustrates in Lamentations, scattered across various places (Lamentations 4:1), it remains clear that new stones needed to be processed to fulfill the temple's construction. The implication of this situation is evident. The Church of God is assembled not only from those who, through repentance, regain their senses and return to a life of righteousness they once forfeited due to sin, but also from those newly drawn to faith, guided by the teachings of shepherds, akin to builders with their measuring tools, fitted appropriately into the structure of the Lord's house.
The fact that the temple was constructed from both old and new stones—those that were long prepared and those that had long remained unworked—rightly illustrates that the singular Church of Christ comprises two distinct peoples: Jews and Gentiles. The Jews are like stones that have already been shaped, as they possessed knowledge and adhered to the law of God. The Gentiles, in contrast, once enslaved by idolatry and untouched by the zeal of spiritual architects or true devotion, have shed their savage nature and the earthbound mindset.