A search of the archives in Ecbatana uncovered Cyrus's original decree authorizing the temple reconstruction with specific dimensions and funding from the royal treasury, along with instructions to return the temple vessels. Darius issued a new decree commanding Tattenai and his associates not to interfere but to let the work proceed, to provide full funding from provincial taxes for daily sacrifices, and warning that anyone altering the edict should have a beam pulled from their house and be impaled upon it while their house became a dunghill. The temple was completed on the third day of Adar in the sixth year of Darius, dedicated with joy and sacrificial offerings including a sin offering of twelve goats for all Israel, and the returned exiles celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth of the first month because the priests and Levites had purified themselves; they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy because the Lord had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to strengthen their hands.
Read Ezra Chapter 6 Summary
Characters in This Chapter
Priest and scribe who led the second return and addressed intermarriage
Leader of the first return who oversaw temple rebuilding
Persian king who decreed the Jews could return and rebuild the temple
King who Cast Daniel into the Lions' Den
King of Babylon
Prophet of Temple Rebuilding
Prophet of Messianic Visions
Prophet and Lawgiver
Places in This Chapter
The Temple in Jerusalem was the permanent house of worship built by Solomon on Mount Moriah. Destroyed by Babylon, it was rebuilt by Zerubbabel and later greatly expanded by Herod. Jesus taught in the Temple courts, cleared it of merchants, and predicted its destruction, which occurred in 70 AD.
Persia (modern Iran) was a major empire that conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem. King Cyrus issued the decree permitting the temple's reconstruction. The books of Esther and Daniel are set partly in the Persian court. Nehemiah served as cupbearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes before returning to rebuild Jerusalem's walls.
Position in Book
Altar rebuilt, temple foundation laid, opposition faced, work completed under Darius.