6:1 So Darius the king issued orders, and they searched in the archives of the treasury which were deposited there in Babylon.
The enemies of God should have kept their mouths shut. King Darius succeeded King Cyrus, so he did not know of the decree of this previous king. Darius ordered that the archives be checked.
6:2 A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana which is in the province of Media, and it was inscribed as follows:
“Memorandum:
According to archaeologists, the Persian emperors of this period kept their records in four different capitals—Babylon, Persepolis, Susa, and Achmetha (or Ecbatana). This search began in Babylon, but the scroll was finally found in the palace at Achmetha. Ecbatana was the place where Cyrus spent his summer in 538, which was the year of the decree. This is the only reference in the Bible to this city.
6:3 In the first year of his reign, King Cyrus gave orders concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: ‘Let the temple be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered. Let its foundations be set in place. Its height is to be ninety feet and its width ninety feet,
God called Cyrus by name 70 years in advance so that Cyrus could issue this decree.
6:4 with three layers of large stones and one layer of timber. The expense is to be subsidized by the royal treasury.
Not only was the decree found, but the Persian government was to finance the cost of the rebuilding of the Jewish temple.
6:5 Furthermore let the gold and silver vessels of the temple of God, which Nebuchadnezzar brought from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, be returned and brought to their proper place in the temple in Jerusalem. Let them be deposited in the temple of God.’
King Darius would have never known about this decree if the enemies of God had not mentioned it. This was a big mistake on the part of the enemies of the Jews.
6:6 “Now Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar Bozenai, and their colleagues, the officials of Trans-Euphrates—all of you stay far away from there!
The Abrahamic Covenant was at work. Tattenai was about to receive the kind-for-kind curse of the Abrahamic Covenant.
6:7 Leave the work on this temple of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this temple of God in its proper place.
Tattenai went to the king to halt the temple from being built. Instead, he was ordered by the king to stay away from the temple area and allow it to be built.
6:8 “I also hereby issue orders as to what you are to do with those elders of the Jews in order to rebuild this temple of God. From the royal treasury, from the taxes of Trans-Euphrates the complete costs are to be given to these men, so that there may be no interruption of the work.
Tattenai attempted to stop the funding of the temple. Now, his district was to fund the rebuilding of the temple. Instead of sending the tax money to Persia, Tattenai was to tax, collect, and send the money to Jerusalem so that they could rebuild the temple.
6:9 Whatever is needed—whether oxen or rams or lambs or burnt offerings for the God of heaven or wheat or salt or wine or oil, as required by the priests who are in Jerusalem—must be given to them daily without any neglect,
Tattenai attempted to stop the sacrifices, which were all object lessons which pointed to the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, his district was required to supply the animals for the offerings which pointed to Christ.
6:10 so that they may be offering incense to the God of heaven and may be praying for the good fortune of the king and his family.
Tattenai was to use the tax money from his district to glorify Jehovah.
6:11 “I hereby give orders that if anyone changes this directive a beam is to be pulled out from his house and he is to be raised up and impaled on it, and his house is to be reduced to a rubbish heap for this indiscretion.
King Darius ordered that if anyone attempted to stop the rebuilding of the temple, then they would be impaled from the timber of their own house. Stopping the building of the temple was a capital crime in Persia.
Will the modern Jews of today ever rebuild their temple? Yes, but they will build it for the Antichrist, not the Messiah.
6:12 May God who makes his name to reside there overthrow any king or nation who reaches out to cause such change so as to destroy this temple of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have given orders. Let them be carried out with precision!”
Darius pronounced a curse on anyone who would destroy the temple. Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated it in 167 B.C. and died insane three years later. Herod the Great (37–4 b.c.) added extensively to the temple in order to glorify himself instead of God. He had domestic trouble and ended up dying with a disease. The Romans destroyed the temple in 70 A.D. and later lost their empire to Germanic invaders.
6:13 Then Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates, Shethar-Bozenai, and their colleagues acted accordingly—with precision, just as Darius the king had given instructions.
Tattenai had no choice but to follow the new edicts of King Darius. He would have to tax his people and supply for the Jewish temple. God turned this attack on His people into a governmental financial system which supported the rebuilding of the temple.
6:14 The elders of the Jews continued building and prospering, while at the same time Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo continued prophesying. They built and brought it to completion by the command of the God of Israel and by the command of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
The Jews building the temple were supported and protected by two prophets of God and three Gentile kings.
6:15 They finished this temple on the third day of the month Adar, which is the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
The temple was completed about eighteen years after the Jews returned to Jerusalem.
6:16 The people of Israel—the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles—observed the dedication of this temple of God with joy.
The temple was dedicated. Notice that all of the tribes of Israel were at this feast. There were no ten lost tribes. Satan could not stop the temple from being built.
6:17 For the dedication of this temple of God they offered one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve male goats for the sin of all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
All of these offerings pointed to the atonement of the Messiah. Each family had to participate and learn the powerful graphic object lesson in which God provided to instruct His people about the price of sin and the saving power of the atonement.
Notice that twelve male goats were offered “for the sin of all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.” There are not ten tribes who became lost, moved to Great Britain, and then came to America on the Mayflower. They were all right there in Jerusalem celebrating the Passover with Ezra.
6:18 They appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their divisions over the worship of God at Jerusalem, in accord with the book of Moses.
Ezra was now teaching the Word of God. He prepared the people to return to the graphic object lessons of the temple.
6:19 The exiles observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
After seventy years in captivity, the Jews were finally able to observe the Passover once again. The Passover pointed to the atonement of the Messiah.
6:20 The priests and the Levites had purified themselves, every last one, and they all were ceremonially pure. They sacrificed the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their colleagues the priests, and for themselves.
Ezra retaught the priests on how to become ritually clean. God is holy. He will not allow dirty priests or dirty believers to serve in His name. The modern believer is cleansed by the continual confession of sin, as according to 1 John 1:9.
6:21 The Israelites who were returning from the exile ate it, along with all those who had joined them in separating themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to seek the Lord God of Israel.
The Jewish returnees and the Gentile proselytes ate the Passover feast together. This was a giant barbecue where God was worshiped among family and friends.
6:22 They observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy, for the Lord had given them joy and had changed the opinion of the king of Assyria toward them, so that he assisted them in the work on the temple of God
There were three feasts during the week of Unleavened Bread which pointed to the Messiah. Jesus was crucified on Passover, buried on Unleavened Bread, and resurrected from the dead on First Fruits.
Darius was King of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. Darius changed his negative opinion of the Jews and began to assist them in their rebuilding of their temple.