Ezra 5:17

Now therefore, let there be search made, &c. So they properly propose, that the real facts might be ascertained; in the king's treasure-house The house or place where the records of the kingdom were preserved very carefully, as rich treasures are wont to be. Thus these Samaritans seem to have given a fair representation of the cause of the Jews to the king, telling him only what was done namely, that they were rearing the temple, as persons that intended to worship, and not what was not done, that they were fortifying the city, as if they intended war; as those Samaritans that had written to Artaxerxes had falsely represented. It is probable, if their case had been as fairly stated to the former king (see the foregoing chapter) as it was now to Darius: he would not have ordered the work to be hindered. God's people could not be persecuted if they were not belied. Let but the cause of God and truth be fairly stated and heard, and it will keep its ground.