The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Zerubbabel

ZERUBBABEL, zĕ-rŭb'ạ-bĕl, leader of the first band of Israelitish exiles returning from Babylon. He name in the Captivity was Sheshbazzar. He was the recognized prince of Judah, son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah (Hag. i, 12, 14), and on arrival at Jerusalem, with Jeshua, the high-priest, directed the renewal of public daily worship and of festival days, and in the second month of the second year of the return, the reconstruction of the Temple. This last work was stopped by their foes and revived only after 16 years, when it was again undertaken and finally completed by Zerubbabel and Jeshua.