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Ezra 6

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Darius Searches for Cyrus's Decree 1–5

1
Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. ​
2
And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written: ​
3
In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits; ​
4
With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house:
5
And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God. ​

Darius Confirms the Decree and Provides Funds 6–12

6
Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shetharboznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, be ye far from thence: ​
7
Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place.
8
Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered. ​
9
And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail:
10
That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons. ​
11
Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this. ​
12
And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people, that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with speed. ​

Completion of the Temple 13–15

13
Then Tatnai, governor on this side the river, Shetharboznai, and their companions, according to that which Darius the king had sent, so they did speedily. ​
14
And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. ​
15
And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. ​

Dedication and Passover Celebration 16–22

16
And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy, ​
17
And offered at the dedication of this house of God an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. ​
18
And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses. ​
19
And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. ​
20
For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.
21
And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, did eat, ​
22
And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Ezra 6

Verse 1

search was made in the house of the rolls — Darius is answering the governors’ letter, which had asked that there be ‘search made in the king’s treasure house, which is there at Babylon’ (5:17). The search begins at Babylon, where the ‘treasures were laid up’, but the decree is found elsewhere (v.2).

Verse 2

a roll, and therein was a record — ‘Record’ is dikrona, the word of 4:15, where the accusers sent Artaxerxes to ‘the book of the records of thy fathers’. A search of the royal archives had produced Rehum’s charge; a search now produces Cyrus’s decree, kept at Achmetha ‘in the province of the Medes’, where Israel had once been placed (2 Kgs 17:6).

Verse 3

threescore cubits — Solomon’s house was ‘threescore cubits’ long, ‘twenty cubits’ broad and ‘thirty cubits’ high (1 Kgs 6:2). Cyrus gives the height and the breadth as sixty each, with ‘three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber’ and the cost paid ‘out of the king’s house’ (v.4). The house is to stand on ‘the place where they offered sacrifices’.

Verse 5

every one to his place — ‘Place’ is atar, the word used in v.3 for ‘the place where they offered sacrifices’, so the vessels go back to the place of sacrifice. They are the ones Nebuchadnezzar ‘took forth’ (2 Chr 36:7), which Cyrus brought out (1:7–8) and Sheshbazzar carried up to Jerusalem (5:14–15).

Verse 6

Tatnai, governor beyond the river — Darius replies to the letter of Tatnai and Shetharboznai, who had asked ‘Who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up this wall?’ (5:3). ‘Be ye far from thence’ (rachiq) tells them to keep away from the site. They govern the province from which the accusers of ch.4 wrote (4:10, 16).

Verse 8

of the tribute beyond the river — ‘Tribute’ is mindah, the ‘toll’ of 4:13 and 4:20, the revenue the accusers said a rebuilt Jerusalem would withhold. Darius orders the house paid for from that same province’s revenue, ‘forthwith’, ‘that they be not hindered’, carrying out the provision Cyrus had made ‘out of the king’s house’ (v.4).

Verse 10

pray for the life of the king, and of his sons — Prayer for the ruler of the land had been the LORD’s word to the exiles, ‘seek the peace of the city… and pray unto the LORD for it’ (Jer 29:7), and Paul asks for ‘kings, and for all that are in authority’ (1 Tim 2:1–2). The sacrifices are offered ‘unto the God of heaven’, the title of 1:2.

Verse 11

let his house be made a dunghill — The dunghill is the penalty Nebuchadnezzar set in Dan 2:5 and 3:29, ‘their houses shall be made a dunghill’; Darius adds timber pulled from the offender’s house, on which he is hanged. Nevalu is the Aramaic word. The offence is to ‘alter this word’, that is, to change the decree.

Verse 12

the God that hath caused his name to dwell there — Darius uses the words of Deut 12:11, ‘a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there’, and of Solomon’s prayer, ‘My name shall be there’ (1 Kgs 8:29). ‘With speed’ is asparna, the word of ‘forthwith’ in v.8 and ‘speedily’ in v.13.

Verse 13

so they did speedily — Asparna, the decree’s own word (‘forthwith’, v.8; ‘with speed’, v.12), returns in the report of obedience. The officials who had asked ‘Who hath commanded you…?’ (5:3) now act ‘according to that which Darius the king had sent’, and the work they had questioned goes on.

Verse 14

the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo — Zechariah’s word to Zerubbabel was ‘his hands shall also finish it’ (Zech 4:9). The commandment of the God of Israel stands first, then the decrees of Cyrus and Darius, and of Artaxerxes, whose decree for the house is in 7:12–26 (silver and gold ‘freely offered’, 7:15–16).

Verse 15

the third day of the month Adar — Adar is the twelfth month (Esth 3:7). Haggai’s call came on the first day of the sixth month of Darius’s second year (Hag 1:1), so the house was finished four and a half years afterwards. Solomon’s house took ‘seven years in building it’ (1 Kgs 6:38).

Verse 16

kept the dedication of this house of God with joy — ‘Dedication’ is Aramaic chanuka, corresponding to the Hebrew word used when Solomon and Israel ‘kept the dedication of the altar seven days’ (2 Chr 7:9). ‘The rest of the children of the captivity’ keep it with the priests and Levites, ‘with joy’ (chedvah).

Verse 17

twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes — The sin offering is counted for ‘all Israel’, though those present came mainly from Judah and Benjamin (1:5). Ezra’s company later brings the same twelve (8:35). Solomon’s dedication had offered ‘two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep’ (1 Kgs 8:63).

Verse 18

the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses — ‘Divisions’ (peluggah) and ‘courses’ (machlaqah) are the Aramaic words for the companies David arranged (1 Chr 24:1; 2 Chr 8:14). ‘Service’ is the word translated ‘work’ in 4:24, where the work ceased. The Aramaic part of the book ends here, and v.19 returns to Hebrew.

Verse 19

the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month — The date is that of Lev 23:5. It falls in the month after the finishing in Adar (v.15), the twelfth month, so this is the first Passover after the house stood. Josiah’s was kept on this day too (2 Chr 35:1); Hezekiah’s was kept in the second month (2 Chr 30:2).

Verse 21

separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen — Badal, to set apart, is the verb of Neh 10:28, ‘all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God’. The law already admitted a stranger to the Passover once he was circumcised (Ex 12:48). They come ‘to seek’ (darash) the LORD, the verb of 4:2.

Verse 22

the king of Assyria — The title was the old one of the power that carried Israel away (2 Kgs 17:6), given here to the Persian king, as Artaxerxes is ‘king of Babylon’ in Neh 13:6. ‘Strengthen their hands’ (chazaq) answers ‘weakened the hands’ in 4:4. The LORD ‘turned the heart’, as in Prov 21:1.