Cornerstone Found: The Third Book

By Cooper McGuire

This book is the third in a series of five books.

The purpose of these books is to bring to light some very important to one's faith by revealing some not widely known facts of the history of events that have come to pass. In this sharing with you these events that might increase your faith.
We would be joyfully thinking God may have used us to increase your faith.

The time setting in this book is during Israel's captivity in Babylon and their release to return to their land and rebuild their Temple by the Meades, now known as Iraq. They and their ally, the Persians, now known as Iran, had conquered Babylon.

We learn of the 'Seventy Years Captivity' prophecy of Israel and its fulfillment by its release as given to Jeremiah by God.
We see it gives the name of the person who would release them as Cyrus. The prophecy was given a hundred and fifty years before its fulfillment.

If we can place you in that time, living a life as one there and seeing and feeling as one of those that were there, then we accomplished what we set out to do.
Making God's witness, Israel, to the world, an actual event in your life, will draw you to seek to know more about God and what He desires from you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9798823004930

Cooper McGuire

This book is the fourth in a series of five books. It is when Rome was holding Israel as a vassal kingdom. In our last book, Cornerstone Found, we were in a time when Kong Cyrus of the Medes released Israel after seventy years of exile to return and rebuild their Temple. It was rebuilt with one change in its dimensions. It was the same in width and length, but now it was ninety feet tall. They built it out of the old stones that had been the Temple before. Another conqueror came and was shown the prophecy of Daniel, Alexander the Great. He was not given by name, as was Cyrus. The prophecy said he would come but not destroy; he did and not destroy. Afterward, he did say they would pay tribute and furnish men for war as needed. The Temple continued to stand with the cornerstone. After four hundred years since the rebuilding, the Romans came. The Greek dominance had been broken into four fractions after Alexander’s death. These four divisions were ruled by four of Alexander’s generals, not in his ways. There were rebellions and wars against these generals. Rome came and took Jerusalem for the first time by intimidation. Rome set up its control of government with its assigned kings. Their king in Jerusalem was of mixed blood. His mother was of the blood of Esua and Canaanite, and his father was of Jewish blood. This new king of Israel was Herod the Great. He was an egotist and a lover of building to gain permanent recognition. He could not tolerate the vision of this building, thirty feet wide by ninety feet long by ninety feet high and built with reused stones. This building would corrupt his vision of grandeur for the city. He made a deal with the priests that he would not disrupt the rituals. He wanted to cover the old stones with new ones. In the cladding process of the Temple, he tore the stones off the porch to keep the same dimensions. In the process, the cornerstone got lost, or it could be assumed that it was hidden. In this book, we will take you from Zerubbable’s rebuilding to Herod’s days. We will get into the lives of some of the Israelites and how they lived before and after Alexander to the coming of the Romans with their allies, one of whom was Herod’s father. We have tried to get into the mind of Herod using the information provided by the Bible. When you finish this book, you will be up to date on the events surrounding the Temple and the cornerstone. There has been no change to the Cornerstone events since Herod’s time. It is still hidden.The Romans tore the Temple down sixty six years after his death.

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2023 Cooper McGuire. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 04/24/2023

ISBN: 979-8-8230-0492-3 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-8230-0491-6 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-8230-0493-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023905936

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

HISTORY

Seventy years after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple, a caravan of Jews came to Jerusalem with their leaders, Zerubbabel, and their High Priest, Joshua, to rebuild the Temple.

In the years after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple, God brought judgment upon Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson, and the Babylonian kingdom was lost. Therefore, the kingdom of Babylon is fallen to the Medes and Persians.

After the fall of Jerusalem and before The Seventy Years Prophecy of exile was fulfilled, we see-

Sheshbazzar (Zerubbabel?), the cupbearer, requested Cyrus, king of the Medes and conquerer of Babylon, to allow him to go to Jerusalem to work on rebuilding the Temple. This young man of Jewish descent, called Zerubbabel, becomes a taster for Cyrus, and Cyrus accepts him as a close friend.

Zerubbabel is saddened when he hears of the condition of Jerusalem and the Temple.

Traveling merchants had come to Pasargadae, Cyrus’s capital, giving news of the conditions of Jerusalem.

The Jews in the city passed the news among themselves.

Zerubbabel hears and takes it into his heart to try to do something.

God was moving in the hearts of many of them to return.

God calls Zerubbabel to take the lead to go to Jerusalem with those he could find to return with him.

This calling created a desire to work on rebuilding the Temple that could not be turned away and kept growing in his heart with a pang of sadness.

Cyrus inquires why does he look so troubled?

First, he explains his love for his home country and then relates the condition of Jerusalem and the Temple of his God. Afterward, he voices his concerns and requests permission to go to Jerusalem and help restore the Temple of his God.

Cyrus permits his trip to Jerusalem with a promise to return in a set time because Cyrus does not want the deprivation of companionship of Zerubbabel.

Cyrus writes a decree for Zerubbabel to take with him giving Zerubbabel authority as a governor to request the local authorities to provide him with money and materials.

This proclamation of Cyrus marks the end of the Seventy Year Prophecy by Jeremiah of captivity and their return to their homeland.

With reluctance and a desire to accommodate him, he sends Zerubbabel to Jerusalem. Zerubbabel returns, bringing 5400 pieces of gold and silver articles taken by King Nebuchadnezzar and given to him by Cyrus.

Cyrus makes the proclamation carried by Zerubbabel to the inhabitants to help and give aid to Zerubbabel or be hanged on a beam taken from their house.

The date of the proclamation was when the seventy-year exile ended.

Another miracle billboard sign of Israel’s road through time gives witness to the true God of Israel.

When Zerubbabel arrives in Jerusalem, he goes to the Temple sight. He finds the old stones of Solomon’s Temple scattered far and wide.

The larger bottom wall stones, three feet high by three to six feet long and three feet wide, had been drug by teams of oxen and mules to distances as far as half-mile away.

Finding, selecting, and placing these stones back surrounding the Temple foundation stones would be difficult.

The Altar of Sacrifice would be the first to be rebuilt.

The Israelites first constructed altars of sacrifices in their cities because worship was primary. The requirement from God was to use uncut stones that had not seen a hammer or chisel for the construction. These uncut stones were scattered among the rectangular Temple wall stones and easily distinguished.

There was no need to measure and seek certain ones to build the Altar of Sacrifice.

After completing the Altar of Sacrifice, they started to work on the Temple foundation and set stones without the Cornerstone.

The Temple stones were everywhere and sunken into the earth, with the growth covering many of them.

The wall stones have one finished side, which is the outside face of the stone. The other five sides are to scale but not rubbed smooth. These stones scattered on the ground would have many turned over to find the face.

*Have you heard the old saying, No Stone unturned? Where did it originate?

The stonemasons would set a stone in the wall and look for one of that height and approximate length, allowing the vertical joints to line up close to the mid-point of the one below.

There were stones specially made for corners with their faces finished on a side and the end. These had to be searched for and found first before they could run another course.

Begin with corners setting first and then lay the course of stones.

Searching for the engraved Cornerstone