“The day of small things”
For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven eyes of the LORD, which scan the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. (Zechariah 4:10 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A vague phrase about minor or trivial matters.
The cultural key
The phrase sounds abstract until you know the moment. The exiles returning from Babylon had begun rebuilding the temple, but their foundation looked pathetically small compared to the glorious temple Solomon had built, and the old men who remembered the first one wept, while others openly scorned the meager project (Haggai 2:3). 'Who has despised the day of small things?' is God's gentle rebuke of that contempt: do not sneer at humble, unimpressive beginnings. He rejoices to see even 'the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel,' the builder's simple tool marking a work barely started, because He Himself will bring it to completion, 'not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit' (4:6). The idiom has become a byword for not despising small starts and faithful beginnings. What looks small to human eyes is precisely where God delights to work.
Recovered meaning
'The day of small things' is an idiom for an unimpressive beginning that people are tempted to scorn, here the exiles' modest second temple. God rebukes the contempt and rejoices over the humble start, because He will complete it by His Spirit.