Ezra 6:1-22
1 Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls,a where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.
2 And there was found at Achmetha,b 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 againc unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God.
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 maked 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.
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 commandmente 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.
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.
Having received the letter from Tattenai, Darius ordered that a search be made in the archives where the treasures were stored in Babylon.There is no doubt that God led the searchers to Achmetha in the province of Media, to find a scroll that recorded the decree of Cyrus concerning the rebuilding of the temple.The words of the decree are quoted in verses 3-5, confirming what has been told us in Ezra 1:1.Verses 6-12 record the words of Darius in reply to Tattenai. Neither this governor nor any of his companions was to interfere in the matter of the rebuilding of the temple, letting the work of this house of God alone (vv. 6-7), but allowing full right to the governor and the elders of the Jews to build as they had been given permission.
But more than that, Darius issued a decree that the cost of building should be borne by taxes due the king from his possessions west of the river (v. 8). Rehum had urged that if the temple were built, then the Jews would not pay taxes, but Darius decreed that the Jews would have tax money paid to them! Yet this was not all.Any needs the Jews had, bulls, rams and lambs for burnt offerings, wheat, salt, wine and oil, were to be given them at the requests of the priests in Jerusalem, not only on one occasion, but "day by day." It is interesting that Darius desired that the Jews should offer sacrifices to the God of heaven, and to pray for the life of the king and his sons (v. 10).Does not this appear to be a true work of God in the king's soul?Today, whatever government Christians may be under, it is important that they pray for those in authority over them.
Darius evidently thought it necessary also to solemnly decree that anyone who sought to alter his edict was to have his house destroyed and he himself hanged from the timber of his house (v. 11).This would rather effectually arrest any show of hostility by the enemies of the Jews.ThenDarius also invoked the God of Israel to act against any king or people who opposed the building of the house of God.He closed with the firm declaration, "I Darius issue a decree:let it be done diligently" (v. 12).
THE TEMPLE COMPLETED
(vv. 13-18)
Tattenai the governor and those associated with him did not hesitate to obey the king's decree, but were diligent in carrying out all his orders(v. 13).Through the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah the Jews had resumed their building, and continued it also under such prophesying(v. 14). The decree of Darius was not sufficient to keep them building: they needed the help of God, just as we too need the grace and blessing of God if we are to build up the Church of God according to His Word.
We are not given precise dates as regards the length of the reign of Cyrus, Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes and Darius, so that we do not know how long the rebuilding took, but it was much longer than Solomon's seven years in building the first temple (1 Kings 6:38), and it was finally completed in the sixth year of King Darius (v. 15).
Thus God was honored in the restoration of His house, which is typical of the eventual restoration of the temple in the millennium as described in Ezekiel 40:1, though this in Ezra's time was much smaller.Since God was honored, the Jews had perfect right to rejoice in celebration of this glad event of the dedication of the temple.A large offering was made, though it was small in comparison to Solomon's offerings at the dedication of the first temple (1 Kings 8:62). In Ezra's case, the offerings were 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs and twelve male goats (v. 17). But the important matter is that all of these are types of the Lord Jesus in various aspects of the value of His sacrifice at Calvary. The priests and Levites were assigned to their proper places of service in connection with the temple, as prescribed in the book of Moses, no doubt specially Leviticus.
CELEBRATION OF THE PASSOVER
(vv. 19-22)
A Passover could finally be kept in Jerusalem.Previous to this, the last Passover recorded is that of Josiah, which must have taken place over 100 years before this (2 Chronicles 35:1). This too was kept on the proper day, in contrast to the Passover in Hezekiah's time (2 Chronicles 30:1), which was kept in the second month because many were not purified in the first month. On this occasion the priests and Levites had purified themselves, which speaks not only of being personally cleansed, but purified from any identification with evil, just as today whose who eat the Lord's supper should be free from evil associations.
The feast of Unleavened Bread, connected with the Passover, was kept for the seven days prescribed by Moses (v. 22).The seven days pictures the complete life of believers, being kept free from any contamination of evil, for we are not to suppose that we are intended to be free from evil just on certain holy days or occasions, but for our entire life.They kept the seven days with joy, and thus our joy is not to be temporary, but continued, as the Lord Jesus says, "that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." (John 15:11).
It is interesting to observe at the end of Chapter 6 that the Lord had "turned the heart of the King of Assyria toward them." Thus the King of Persia is called also "the King of Babylon" (ch. 5:13) and "the King of Assyria." Persia had conquered Babylon after Babylon had conquered Assyria, so that Persia's king was in authority over Assyria and Babylon.
Ezra was the scribe whom God employed to give the history of these first six Chapter s, which took place before Ezra came to Jerusalem.Only in Chapter 7 does Ezra introduce himself into the picture.