חגי, פרק ב׳, פסוק ג׳

A living bridge exists between the glorious past of Jerusalem and the present efforts to rebuild. The prophet directs his message to a unique and specific group within the nation: the surviving elders who lived through the long exile [אבן עזרא, רד״ק, רש״י, מצודת דוד]. These individuals saw the original Temple when they were very young, right before its destruction. Having spent decades away, they have now returned to the land at the age of seventy or older [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. They carry the vivid memory of the first sanctuary, built by King Solomon with extraordinary wealth and splendor. The new structure is considered a direct continuation of the old because it is being erected in the exact same location [מצודת דוד].

The prophet speaks directly to the heavy feelings carried by these elders, asking them to reflect on how the current construction appears to them [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. There is a deep understanding of their quiet pain. The primary approach among commentators is that the prophet knows exactly what they are thinking. Compared to the magnificent memory of the first sanctuary, the new building seems small, miserable, and lacking any real significance. The gap between the past and the present is so massive that the new structure feels like a complete void. In the eyes of those who remember the original glory, the current building and absolute nothingness are entirely the same [רש״י, מצודת דוד, רד״ק, מלבי״ם].