Ezra 6:1-12

The King's Reply according his Permission tor the Building to be Continued.

Ezra 6:1. a decree: the actual decree does not begin until Ezra 6:8.

Ezra 6:2. Achmetha: cf. Tob_3:7; i.e. Ecbatana, in Media, the summer residence of the Persian kings. a roll: in this case more probably a cylindrical clay tablet inscribed with cuneiform characters; but the fact that a roll is mentioned shows that the Jews of Ezra's time were unfamiliar with that form of writing.

Ezra 6:3. This purports to be a copy of Cyrus-' decree (cf. Ezra 1:1); it is, however, not a transcript of this, but contains the gist of the original coloured by the Chronicler; the text is not in good order.

Ezra 6:6 f. The formal injunction to the governor to permit the building to proceed. The abrupt commencement Now therefore suggests that some intervening matter in Darius-' reply has been left out, presumably because the Chronicler did not consider it important. be ye far from thence: i.e. keep away from there, namely, where the building was going on; there was to be no interference with the Jews; the more friendly feeling which had sprung up would not be known of in Persia.

Ezra 6:8. The decree of Darius. Here again it is abundantly clear that this is no transcript, but merely the general drift of the decree embellished according to the Chronicler's ideas.