Ezra 6:1

Ezra 6:1-12. Darius's Decree

1. made a decree cf. Ezra 4:19.

search was made literally -they made a search". Plural used impersonally.

in the house of the rolls R.V. in the house of the archives: marg. Aram. books.

rolls The word usually rendered -roll" is Megillah, see Ezra 6:2; Jeremiah 36:2-6, &c.; Ezekiel 3:1-2; Zechariah 5:1. The word used here is -Sêpher" = -book". Sometimes the two occur together -the roll of a book" in Jeremiah 36:2; Jeremiah 36:4; Ezekiel 2:9. -Sêpher" is the ordinary word for a book or a writing. The town Kirjath-Sêpher (-town of a book"), called also Debir, Joshua 15:15, may have been famous for its treasured documents.

-The house of the Archives" at Babylon must have contained a state library in which such a document as Cyrus's decree would probably be found.

Such libraries containing documents consisting of burnt clay tablets have been found in Nineveh and in the vicinity of Babylon. The rolls and parchments and more perishable materials have not survived.

the treasures cf. Ezra 5:17. It was evidently a place of great security.