Ash and soil coat the limestone bedrock of Mount Moriah. Persian administrators govern the territory of Yehud while returning exiles clear rubble from a 66-year-old demolition. Broken masonry and scorched timber litter a site covering 35 acres. Men pull stones from the debris to mark a crude perimeter for a new altar.
Darius I rules the Achaemenid Empire from the Indus River to the Balkans. Under his administration in 520 b.c., a priest named Joshua assumes leadership over the Jerusalem cult. A text recorded during this second year of Darius places Joshua in a tribunal modeled on Persian judicial courts. An adversary acts as a royal prosecutor against the priest in a dispute over ritual purity.
The prosecutor targets the excrement-stained garments worn by the priest. The Lord silences the adversary and orders his attendants to strip the soiled linen from Joshua. He commands them to place a clean turban on the head of his priest. The judge then sets a single engraved stone featuring seven distinct facets on the ground.
A single engraved stone anchors the foundation and erases the guilt of the province in one day.
This inscribed rock points toward a promised agrarian stability. The text predicts a future ruler called the Branch will emerge from the restored priesthood. Men will invite their neighbors to sit under established grapevines and mature fig trees. The rebuilt terrace walls will hold enough dirt to support orchards across the limestone ridges.