EZRA 6 COMMETARYEDITED BY GLE PEASE

1 King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon.

BARES, "A “house of the rolls” was discovered at Koyunjik, the ancient Nineveh, in 1850 - a set of chambers, i. e., in the palace devoted exclusively to the storing of public documents. These were in baked clay, and covered the floor to the depth of more than a foot. Such a “house” was probably that at Babylon.

CLARKE, "In the house of the rolls - beith�siphraiya, the house of the בית�ספריאbooks, the king’s library. This is the first time we hear of a library.

GILL, "Then Darius the king made a decree,.... To make inquiry after the edict of Cyrus, to search the public records for it:

and search was made in the house of the rolls; or "books" (r), in a public library or museum:

where the treasures were laid up in Babylon; where things of worth and value were reposited; not only gold, silver, jewels, and precious stones, and things rare and curious, but all sorts of writings relating to the monarchy, and the dominions belonging to it; but it seems it could not be found here, and therefore the king ordered search to be made elsewhere.

(r) ,"εν�ταις�βιβλιοθηκαις, Sept. "in bibliotheca", V. L. "in bibliotheca librorum ,בבית�ספריאTigurine version; "in domo librorum", Pagninus, Montanus.

HERY 1-5, "We have here, I. The decree of Cyrus for the building of the temple repeated. To this the Samaritans referred because the Jews pleaded it, and perhaps hoped it would not be found, and then their plea would be over-ruled and a stop put to their work. Search was ordered to be made for it among the records; for, it seems, the tribes had not taken care to provide themselves with an authentic copy of it, which might have stood them in good stead, but they must appeal to the original. It was looked for in

Babylon (Ezr_6:1), where Cyrus was when he signed it. But, when it was not found there, Darius did not make that a pretence to conclude that therefore there was no such decree, and thereupon to give judgment against the Jews; but it is probable, having himself heard that such a decree was certainly made, he ordered the rolls in other places to be searched, and at length it was found at Achmetha, in the province of the Medes, Ezr_6:2. Perhaps some that durst not destroy it, yet hid it there, out of ill will to the Jews, that they might lose the benefit of it. But Providence so ordered that it came to light; and it is here inserted, Ezr_6:3-5. 1. Here is a warrant for the building of the temple: Let the house of God at Jerusalem, yea, let that house be built (so it may be read), within such and such dimensions, and with such and such materials. 2. A warrant for the taking of the expenses of the building out of the king's revenue, Ezr_6:4. We do not find that they had received what was here ordered them, the face of things at court being soon changed. 3. A warrant for the restoring of the vessels and utensils of the temple, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away (Ezr_6:5), with an order that the priests, the Lord's ministers, should return them all to their places in the house of God.

JAMISO, "Ezr_6:1-12. Darius’ decree for advancing the building.

Darius the king— This was Darius Hystaspes. Great and interesting light has been thrown on the history of this monarch and the transaction of his reign, by the decipherment of the cuneatic inscriptions on the rocks at Behistun.

in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon— An idea of the form of this Babylonian register house, as well as the manner of preserving public records within its repositories, can be obtained from the discoveries at Nineveh. Two small chambers were discovered in the palace of Koyunjik, which, from the fragments found in them, Mr. Layard considers “as a house of the rolls.” After reminding his readers that the historical records and public documents of the Assyrians were kept on tablets and cylinders of baked clay, many specimens of which have been found, he goes on to say, “The chambers I am describing appear to have been a depository in the palace of Nineveh for such documents. To the height of a foot or more from the floor they were entirely filled with them; some entire, but the greater part broken into many fragments, probably by the falling in of the upper part of the building. They were of different sizes; the largest tablets were flat, and measured about nine inches by six and a half inches; the smaller were slightly convex, and some were not more than an inch long, with but one or two lines of writing. The cuneiform characters on most of them were singularly sharp and well-defined, but so minute in some instances as to be almost illegible without a magnifying glass. These documents appear to be of various kinds. The documents that have thus been discovered in the house of rolls’ at Nineveh probably exceed all that have yet been afforded by the monuments of Egypt, and when the innumerable fragments are put together and transcribed, the publication of these records will be of the greatest importance to the history of the ancient world” [Nineveh and Babylon].

K&D, "The decision of Darius. - Ezr_6:1-5. At the command of Darius, search was made in the archives of the royal treasury; and in the fortress of Achmetha in Media, was found the roll in which was recorded the edict published by Cyrus, concerning the building of the temple at Jerusalem.

Ezr_6:1

Search was made in the house of the books where also the treasures were deposited in

Babylon. מהחתין, partic. Aphel of נחת; see Ezr_5:15.

BESO, "Ezra 6:1. Then Darius the king made a decree — To search the rolls in Babylon, where search was fairly made; but not finding the edict there, they searched in Achmetha, or Ecbatana, the royal city of the Medes and Persians, and found it there. As Darius, the better to fortify his title to the crown, had married two of the daughters of Cyrus, he thought himself concerned to do every thing which might tend to the honour of that great prince, and therefore more readily confirmed the decree which he had granted to the Jews.

COFFMA, "THE SECOD TEMPLE WAS COMPLETED AD DEDICATED

"Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the archives, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of Media, a roll, and therein was thus written for a record: in the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be builded, the place where they offer sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits; with three courses of great stones, a course of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house. And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which ebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to its place; and thou shalt put them in the house of God."

"In the house of the archives where the treasures were stored up" (Ezra 6:1). This verse is another example of scholarly tampering with the sacred text in order to make it say what the scholars suppose it SHOULD have said. The RSV renders this line, "in the house of the archives where the documents were stored"; but Bowman rejects this as "unnecessary,"[1] because archaeological discoveries have proved that such decrees were kept in the same vaults where the treasures were also kept.

It is to Darius' great credit that when Cyrus' decree was not found in Babylon, he did not abandon the search, which he might well have done unless he had been motivated by a favorable inclination toward the Jews. Also, he might well have heard about that decree and thus had personal knowledge that it certainly existed.

"And there (it) was found at Achmetha (Echbatana)" (Ezra 6:2). "This was in Media, the summer residence of Persian kings."[2] "Echbatana is the Persian name for this place, as it came to light in the discovery of the Behistun Inscription."[3]

"The Behistun Inscription was discovered in 1835 by Sir Henry Rawlinson, a British army officer. On Behistun mountain, 200 miles northeast of Babylon, there was a great isolated rock rising 1700 feet out of the plain; and on the face of that rock, on a perpendicular cliff, 400 feet above the road, Rawlinson noticed a large smoothed surface upon which there were carvings and inscriptions. These had been

inscribed there by Darius I (Hystaspes) in the yearr 516 B.C., the very year that the Second Temple was finished in Jerusalem. These inscriptions were written in the Persian, Elamitc, and Babylonian languages; and Rawlinson, standing on a narrow 1-foot ledge at the base of these writings, made squeezes of them. The inscriptions were an account, the same account, of the conquests of Darius, written in three languages; and Sir Henry Rawlinson had found the key to the ancient Babylonian language, which unlocked for the world the vast treasures of the ancient Babylonian literature."[4]Regarding this edict of Cyrus, "The old (critical) objections against the authenticity of this edict, on the supposition that Cyrus would not have concerned himself with the details and size of the temple, can no longer be sustained."[5]

"The variations between this decree of Cyrus and that report of it in Ezra 1 is due to the fact that this one was an official document relating to the expenditure of public money, and that one was an oral, public proclamation."[6]There is no disharmony whatever between them!

The dimensions for the temple listed by Cyrus area problem. There are different accounts of the size of Solomon's temple, in 2 Chronicles 3 and in 1 Kings 6; and, "It it is difficult to reconcile the dimensions given here with the statements made in Zechariah 4:10 and Haggai 2:3, implying that the second temple was smaller than the first. Perhaps the dimensions here are those which Cyrus required the Jews not to exceed."[7] Keil solved the problem with the suggestion that Cyrus' dimensions included the external structures,[8] and others have suggested that the smaller size of the second temple was due to the fact that it was the largest the returnees could afford, due to their impoverished condition.

COKE, "Ver. 1. Darius the king— As Darius, the better to fortify his title to the crown, had married two of the daughters of Cyrus, he thought himself bound to do every thing which might tend to the honour of that great prince; and therefore more readily confirmed the decree which he had granted to the Jews. Instead of were laid up in Babylon, Houbigant reads, had been laid up in Babylon.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:1 Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.

Ver. 1. Then Darius the king] DARIUS HYSTASPES, who succeeded Cambyses, being chosen by the princes of the Persians, as saith Herodotus. Plato commendeth him for a restorer of the Persian monarchy, much defaced under Cambyses. Howbeit he discommends him for this, that he bred not his son Xerxes so well as he might have done, and further testifieth, that to him it might be said: O Darius, how little care hast thou taken to shun Cyrus’s slackness! for thou hast bred Xerxes every whit as ill as he did Cambyses, W Dαρειε ως του Kυρου κακον ουκ εµα- Yες..

In the house of the rolls] So called, because rolled up together, volumes rolled up, like the web upon the pin.

WHEDO, "1. House of the rolls… in Babylon — Chaldee: House of books; the royal library, or chamber of manuscripts and archives attached to the palace in Babylon. Layard discovered at ineveh a series of chambers, the floors of which were covered a foot or more deep with documents written in bricks of baked clay. But it seems the desired document could not be found in Babylon. The archives of the empire had been transferred to Ecbatana. See next verse.

COSTABLE, "Verse 1-2Darius" search6:1-2

Darius looked for Cyrus" edict in Babylon first. That was where Cyrus stayed for a while following his overthrow of that city in539 B.C. He found nothing there. However, someone did discover a memorandum in one of Cyrus" files when they searched his summer capital, Ecbatana (modern Hamadan). According to the Greek historian Xenophon, Cyrus lived in Babylon during the winter, in Susa during the spring, and in Ecbatana in the summer. [ote: Xenophon, 8:6:22.] This memorandum was not the same as the edict (cf. Ezra 1:2-4). onetheless, it confirmed the edict and provided instructions for the royal treasurer, making a way for him to implement the edict.

PARKER, ""Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon" ( Ezra 6:1).

When we read that Darius "made a decree," we are simply to understand that he gave an order. Truth has everything to hope from wise and rigorous search. Darius was anxious to make himself acquainted with the facts of the case, and therefore he insisted that all the papers should be produced, that he might peruse them for himself or have them perused by a reliable authority. The result of the search was the discovery of a record—

"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; with three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber, and let the expences be given out of the king"s house: and also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which ebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God" ( Ezra 6:3-5).

Darius having discovered the record his policy lay plainly revealed before him,—

"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. Moreover, I make 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 expences be given unto

these men, that they be not hindered" ( Ezra 6:7-8).

And so the king wrote clearly and distinctly, and opened a way for the further progress and final consummation of the idea which the Jews had set themselves to realise—"I, Darius, have made a decree; let it be done with speed." This came of searching into the records of the case. Christians also must conduct a process of searching; they, too, have papers which they must duly and critically peruse. Christianity, however, does not make its appeal wholly to papers. Christ says, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." Christ himself began at Moses, and continuing his search throughout the whole of the scriptures, found himself everywhere as the object of prophecy and the hope of the world. Jesus Christ always insisted that if men believed the writings of Moses they would also credit his own words, on the ground that Moses wrote of him. Searching amongst papers, therefore, is the duty of all Christian students; but there is a deeper search still which must be exacted. We have to search into human instincts to find out from the mysterious action of human nature what it is that man most wants. We have indeed to interpret instincts to reason, to give them their fit expression, and to show all they mean by their dumb yearnings and prophesyings. We have also to search into the whole scheme of moral mysteries,—the mysteries of providence, the mysteries of thought, the mysteries of hope, and the mysteries of suffering: we must pray that our eyes may be anointed with eye-salve that we may see the real meaning of these mysteries, and be able to read them in all their definiteness to those who inquire concerning the building of the universe and the purpose of its institution. We may also read the bolder and clearer history of the triumphs which Christianity has achieved in the world. Our missionary records must be brought to the front: they will tell what countries were before the introduction of Christianity, and they will prove to us what the countries have been after Christianity has been received, understood, and put into practice. Such practical arguments are always available to the Christian. There can be no dispute about such facts as these: the countries are accessible, the missionaries are living witnesses, the facts are strewn upon every hand, and it will be for those who oppose Christianity to account for its moral successes. If Christianity were a mere argument—that is to say, were it only an intellectual appeal—then all that it has reported itself as having done might be quite disputable; but when it appeals to life, to actual and provable circumstances, it is but decent, not to say just, that the effect should be traced to the proper cause, and that Christ should have credit given to him for making all things new. What we say to every man who opposes the Christian cause Isaiah , Peruse the papers: consider the instincts of human nature; deeply ponder the mysteries which characterise human experience, and look without prejudice at the facts which Christian missions have established, and then come to your own conclusion as to the Divine origin of the Christian religion.

LAGE, "I. Darius’ Answer. Ezra 6:1-12

1Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon 2 And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus

written: 3In 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 three-score cubits, and the breadth thereof three-score 4 cubits; With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king’s house: 5And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which ebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house 6 of God. ow therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shethar-boznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, be ye far from thence: 7Let 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 make 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: 10That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savors 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.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:1-12. The answer of Darius. otwithstanding the great importance of the decision that Darius gave in reply to the letter of his officers and the greatness of its results, in that after so long a waiting it finally introduced a new and significant turn of affairs, its introduction is quite brief.—Then Darius the king made a decree.—These words seem to refer only to the command to make an investigation; but in reality they serve as an introduction to the decree which was promulgated to Tatnai, etc.; comp. V:6. It is as if the subsequent narrative: and search was made, were taken up merely as an explanation of the decree following in Ezra 6:6 sq. Without doubt it was contained in the decree of Darius to Tatnai, as its basis or introduction.—The house of writings.—Comp. Ezra 5:17.[F1] Here the treasures likewise were laid up. מהחתין is participle Aphel of נחת. Comp. Ezra 5:15.

LAGE, "HOMILETICAL AD PRACTICAL

Ezra 6:1-12. That which threatens to become a hindrance must serve for our advantage1) When,—if in our undertakings, looking at the final aim, it is to be done for the cause and glory of God2) Why,—because the advancement of the cause of God, long in advance and to the minutest detail has been once for all provided for and ordained3) How,—the example of predecessors, who have previously taken part

in this work, comes into mind and gives their successors a favorable disposition towards the work.—Starke: It is easy to conceive, moreover, how it must have grieved the Samaritans that they were not only obliged to let the temple be entirely brought to completion, but that also their tribute should be applied to the promotion of the building, and the observation of the divine service with sacrifices.—How important and thankworthy the favorable conduct of even heathen princes has been toward the people of God1) That of Cyrus—a, He gave to the congregation again their liberty to worship the Lord, and ordered the restoration of the temple; b, he thereby gave an example, which determined the conduct of his successors.—Starke: Great lords should be diligent in the practice of virtue, in order that their successors after their death may have a good example, and that they thereby may gain an everlasting name. Ecclesiastes 7:1; Proverbs 22:1. The richest persons should be the first to open their liberal hands when something is to be given for the building of churches and the support of the ministry.—God has the heart of kings also in His hand and can incline them so that they are obliged to have good-will to His children, Daniel 2:48. 2) The favorable conduct of Darius: a) he lets himself be guided by a noble example, yea seeks to surpass it; b) he desires the prayers of the congregation; c) he used his power in a good and proper manner to help the pious and threaten the wicked.—Starke: Respecting the duty of subjects to pray for their rulers, even if they are heathen, see 1 Timothy 2:2; comp. Jeremiah 29:7; 1 Maccabees 12:11. Magistrates should act in their government so as to comfort themselves with the general prayers of their subjects. Regents should make arrangements that prayers should be made to God for their welfare and successful government; for the devil lays many snares for them, but a devout prayer will help them much. The sword, intrusted by God to magistrates, must afford protection to the pious, Romans 13:4.

Ezra 6:13-15. The building of the temple or kingdom of God is the final result of all the divine guidance: 1) It needs the willingness of the congregation, and on this account also the activity of prophets and preachers; 2) it needs, moreover, kings and their representatives, and on this account also a direction of history, by which God works on their hearts; 3) it needs above all the good and gracious will of God.—Starke: The Lord has a kingdom and He rules among the heathen, Psalm 22:29. He brings the counsel of the heathen to nought, and turns the thoughts of the nations, He disposes their hearts. Psalm 33:10; Psalm 33:15.

Ezra 6:16-18. The true joy of dedication1) Upon what it is founded: Starke: My Christian friend, has the spiritual building of the house of God been established in thy soul, then forget not to praise and give thanks2) How it is established,—by our taking to ourselves, with humility and gratitude, what the Lord grants, as truly good and salutary, and putting our trust in Him with respect to all that is still lacking3) How it expresses itself by true sacrifices, thus by setting to work in the universal priesthood.—Starke: Our redemption from the kingdom of the devil and the deliverance of the church is the work of God alone; for His hand helps powerfully, Psalm 20:7. And then for the first will our mouth be full of laughter, and our tongue full with singing, Psalm 126:2.

Ezra 6:19-22. The life of him who has consecrated his heart to be a temple of the

Lord is a continual passover feast, for he feels himself compelled, 1) ever to take anew grace for grace, fleeing from the death of the curse; 2) ever anew to let himself be sanctified unto sincerity and truth, so that he rises from the death of sin; 3) to rejoice with the holy passover joy of redemption, which God has accomplished in Jesus Christ, and which He will likewise fulfil in Him at last.—[Henry: Let not the greatest princes despise the prayers of the meanest saints; ’tis desirable to have them for us, and dreadful to have them against us.—Whatever we dedicate to God, let it be done with joy, that He will please to accept of it.—The purity of ministers adds much to the beauty of their ministrations, so doth their unity.—Tr.]

Footnotes:

F#1 - Rawlinson in loco: “A house of writings was discovered as Koyunjik the ancient ineveh by Mr. Layard in the year1850—a set of chambers, i. e. in the palace devoted exclusively to the storing of public documents. These were in baked clay, and covered the floors to the depth of more than a foot.” Many of these writings were removed to the British Museum, where they have been partially arranged and translated by Rawlinson, Smith, Talbot and others. The library was again visited, and many of its treasures removed by Smith in 1873 and ’4and again in1876. See Assyrian Discoveries of Geo. Smith, ew York, 1875.—Tr.]

F#2 - Rawlinson in loco: “The ancient Persians used parchment for their records as appears from Ctesias (cap. Diod, Sec. II:32).”—Tr.]

F#3 - When Josephus here lets Herod say that the second temple fell sixty cubits in height below the temple of Song of Solomon, he accords to the second a height of sixty cubits, and to that of Solomon of one hundred and twenty cubits, the latter without doubt on the basis of 2 Chronicles 3:4, where in consequence of an error or copyist’s mistake there is given to the hall of the temple of Solomon a height of one hundred and twenty cubits.

F#4 - Ferguson accepts the Sept. δόµος, and understands three stories of stone, with a fourth story of wood-work on the summit. Rawlinson thinks that Cyrus would limit the thickness of the walls to three rows of stone with an inner wooden wainscotting.—Tr.]

F#5 - Rawlinson says, that crucifixion was the most common form of punishment among the Persians, Vid. Com. in loco and Ancient Monarchies IV, p208; Herod iii159; iv53. Beh. Ins., Colossians 2, par14, etc.—Tr.]

F#6 - Houbigant and Dathe prefer the Vulgate rendering: domus ejus publicetur, “let his house be confiscated.” But the balance of authority is in favor of the translation given above. Rawlinson, in loco.—Tr.].

F#7 - Rawlinson in loco mentions as a corresponding fact that Herodotus, with similar inexactness, calls Cyrus the king of the Medes (I:206).—Tr.]

F#8 - This was in accordance with the constant usage of prophecy in representing all the enemies of the kingdom of God by the most prominent enemy of the prophets’ time. This enemy having been the Assyrian in the times of the prophets, it was natural that in thinking of the fulfilment of prophecy, the author should use the prophetic term.—Tr.]

BI 1-5, "And search was made in the house of the rolls.

The search for the decree of Cyrus

Learn—

1. Honest and thorough investigation promotes the interests of religion and of the Church of God.

2. The advantage of written history.

3. How great should be our gratitude for the sacred writings. (William Jones.)

“The house of books.”

One of Mr. Layard’s most valuable discoveries was that of a set of chambers in a palace at Koyunjik, the whole of the floor of which was covered more than a foot deep with terra-cotta tablets inscribed with public records. A similar collection has been recently found in the neighbourhood of Babylon. In some such record-house the search for the edict of Cyrus was made. (W. F. Adeney, M. A.)

A record thus written.

Record of the year

The record here referred to was of what had been done for the house and service of God. It was a religious record such as I propose we should now read of the past year. Records are made of changes of what is altering from day to day in that great empire of change of which we are all subjects. This law of change is often spoken of as a melancholy law. It is better to regard it as the decree of growth and progress. It is the ordinance of escape from old limitations, and the impulse of rising to new stages of life to gain fresh energy of thought and will. A state of sameness or immobility would be in truth a wretched doom. The record of any year is not a record of sadness or decay alone, even as respects this world, but very much of delight and advancement.

I. The first chapter is that of new being, birth and growth. Many houses have been made the scenes of holy gladness by the gifts of God’s creative and inspiring power. What trust so great as that of a living spirit, with its own individual nature and with capacities for a peculiar development of intellectual and moral strength? With what reverent, trembling sense of responsibility it should be received! What office so high in rank, so great in opportunity, so large in patronage or susceptible of good, with such hope and fear wrapped up in it, as the parental once? What expanding of outward nature or unfolding of earthly ambition is really so grand and affecting as that of an undying soul? No changes of material growth, of splendid seasons and solemn spectacles can equal this. It makes the purest inspiration of love, it turns self-sacrifice into a pleasure; it plies the inventive faculties with all knowledge and wisdom to provide for the beloved object; it

draws the mind into long foresight of its benefit and improvement; and by the force of mingling filial and parental communications exalts the soul to a perception of the relation of all to Him who is the common Father. Life’s record, then, is not all of gloomy change and irreparable privation, but of strength enhancing, existence renovating, and of new possession.

II. But i must turn this illuminated leaf of the record to a pace veiled in shades. It is the record of sickness and decline. And what shall we say of this change? We cannot make our record all pleasant and cheerful if we would. The skeleton that the Egyptians carried to their banquets will intrude upon every feast of our earthly joy and fling its ghastly shadow both across the avenues of our immediate thought and along the vistas of our farthest recollection. But although sickness comes with very sharp instrumentalities, yet she comes with a bright retinue. Patience, resignation, spiritual thoughts of God and of futurity come with her. As the most blazing effulgence of heaven sleeps within the black cloud, so in the lowering darkness and eclipse of bodily suffering often lies the very brilliance of a spiritual and Divine glory.

III. We now turn the last leaf of our record. It ends, like all earthly records, with death. God by His Son Jesus Christ lifts up the burden of sadness that settles down on a record like this. Being dead in the body, our departed friends yet speak for truth and goodness more loudly and more persuasively than when their words fell on our outward hearing. They have gone that they might awaken our virtue, and that they might chill and discourage our worldly lusts. Like the stars, though with a warmer attraction, they lift and beckon us up. The light burns on, the fountain flows, the music sounds for us. Neither is this final change and record in the providence of God a ground for lamentation. It is rather a declaration of our native dignity as His children. It is the announcement of our glorious destiny. It is a summons to us to gird up our loins, trim our lamps, watch and be ready. (C. A. Bartol.)

2 A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it: Memorandum:

BARES, "“Achmetha” is the “Ecbatana,” or “Agbatana,” of the Greeks, the Persian name for which, as we find in the Behistun Inscription, was HaGMaTANa.

We must suppose that, when Babylon had been searched in vain, the other cities which possessed record-offices were visited, and the decree looked for in them. Ecbatana was the capital of Cyrus.

CLARKE, "At Achmetha - Ecbatana in India, whither it is probable all the records of Cyrus had been carried. This was a sort of summer residence for the kings of Persia.

GILL, "And there was found at Achmetha,.... Which Jarchi and Aben Ezra take to be the name of a vessel in which letters and writings were put for safety; but it was no doubt the name of a place; the Vulgate Latin version has it Ecbatana; and so Josephus (s); which was the name of a city in Media, where the kings of that country had their residence in the summer time (t); for it has its name from heat (u); the Persian kings dwelt at Shushan in the winter, and at Ecbatana in the summer (w); hence they are compared by Aelian (x) to cranes, birds of passage, because of their going to and from the above places:

in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, here was found

a roll; which was the decree of Cyrus, which perhaps he took with him when he went thither:

and therein was a record thus written; as follows.

JAMISO, "Achmetha— long supposed to be the capital of Greater Media (the Ecbatana of classical, the Hamadan of modern times), [is] at the foot of the Elwund range of hills, where, for its coolness and salubrity, Cyrus and his successors on the Persian throne established their summer residence. There was another city, however, of this name, the Ecbatana of Atropatene, and the most ancient capital of northern Media, and recently identified by Colonel Rawlinson in the remarkable ruins of Takht-i-Soleiman. Yet as everything tends to show the attachment of Cyrus to his native city, the Atropatenian Ecbatana, rather than to the stronger capital of Greater Media, Colonel Rawlinson is inclined to think that he deposited there, in his fortress, the famous decree relating to the Jews, along with the other records and treasures of his empire [Nineveh and Persepolis].

K&D 2-4, "Ezr_6:2-4

“And there was found at Achmetha, in the fortress that is in the land of Media, a roll; and thus was it recorded therein.” In Babylon itself the document sought for was not found; though, probably the search there made, led to the discovery of a statement that documents pertaining to the time of Cyrus were preserved in the fortress of Achmetha,

where the record in question was subsequently discovered. חמתא), the capital of Great

Media - τ*�Εκβάτανα, Judith 1:1, 14, or -γβάτανα (Herod. i. 98) - built by Dejokes, was the summer residence of the Persian and Parthian kings, and situate in the neighbourhood of the modern Hamadan. Achmetha is probably the Old-Median or Old-

Persian pronunciation of the name, the letters אחם on Sassanidian coins being explained as denoting this city (Mordtmann in the Zeitschrift der deutsch morgenl. Gesellschaft, viii. p. 14). The citadel of Ecbatana probably contained also the royal palace and the

official buildings. For 03גו is found in some MSS and editions 03גו; but Norzi and J. H.

Mich. have Pathach under ו as the better authorized reading. 7כרונה, stat. emph. of 7כרון,

memorandum, 8πόµνηµα, a record of anything memorable. The contents of this document follow, Ezr_6:3-5. First, the proclamation of King Cyrus in the first year of his reign: “The house of God at Jerusalem, let this house be built as a place where sacrifices

are offered.” The meaning of the words following is doubtful. We translate מסובלין :וא=וחיand let them raise up its foundations, i.e., its foundations are to be again raised up,

restored. א=ין, foundations (Ezr_4:12); מסובלין, part. Poel of סבל, to carry, to raise (not to

be raised). סבל often stands for the Hebrew נשא, to carry, to raise up, to erect; compare

the Samaritan translation of Gen_13:10 סובל�א=ין .he lifted up his eyes ,וסבל�את�עגין :

analogous with מוסדי ד Isa_58:12, and signifies to erect buildings upon the ,קומםfoundations.

(Note: The Vulgate, following a rabbinical explanation, has ponant fundamenta supportantia, which is here unsuitable. The conjecture of Bertheau, who labours, by

all sorts of critical combinations of the letters in the words מסובלין to produce ,וא=וחי

the text תמנים מאה אמין its foundation length 180 cubits,” is as needless as it is“ ,אשוהי

mistaken. The interpretation of the words in the lxx, καF�Gθηκεν�Gπαρµα, and Pseudo-

Ezra 6, δι*�πυρός�Kνδελεχους, are nothing else than unmeaning suppositions.)

Expositors are divided as to the dimensions of the new temple, “its height 60 cubits, and its breadth 60 cubits,” Antiq. xi. 4. 6; while Solomon's temple was but 30 cubits high, and, without the side-buildings, only 20 cubits broad. We nevertheless consider the statements correct, and the text incorrupt, and explain the absence of the measure of length simply by the fact that, as far as length was concerned, the old and new temples were of equal dimensions. Solomon's temple, measured externally, inclusive of the porch and the additional building at the hinder part, was about 100 cubits long (see the ground plan in my bibl. Archaeol. Table II. fig. 1). To correspond with this length, the new temple was, according to the desire of Cyrus, to be both higher and broader, viz., 60 cubits high, and as many wide, - measurements which certainly apply to external dimensions. Zerubbabel's temple, concerning the structure of which we have no further particulars, was externally of this height and breadth. This may be inferred from the speech of King Herod in Joseph. Ant. xv. 11. 1, in which this tyrant, who desired to be famous for the magnificence of his buildings, endeavoured to gain the favour of the people for the rebuilding of the temple, which he was contemplating, by the remark that the temple built by their forefathers, on their return from the Babylonian captivity, was 60 cubits too low, - Solomon's temple having been double that height (sc. according to the height given in 2Ch_3:4, 120 cubits) - and from the fact that Herod made his temple 100 or 120 cubits high. Hence the temple of Zerubbabel, measured externally, must have been 60 cubits high; and consequently we need not diminish the breadth of 60 cubits, also given in this verse, by alterations of the text, because Herod's temple was likewise of this width, but must understand the given dimensions to relate to external height and breadth. For in Herod's temple the holy places were but 60 cubits high and 20 wide; the holy place, 40 cubits long, 20 wide, and 60 high; the holy of holies, 20 cubits long, 20 wide, and 60 high. And we may assume that the dimensions of Zerubbabel's temple preserved the same proportions, with perhaps the modification, that the internal height did not amount to 60 cubits, - an upper storey being placed above the holy place and the holy of holies, as in Herod's temple; which would make the internal height of these

places amount to only about 30 or 40 cubits.

(Note: While we acknowledge it possible that the holy and most holy places, measured within, may have been only 40 cubits high, we cannot admit the objection of H. Merz, in Herzog's Realencycl. xv. p. 513, that 20 cubits of internal breadth is an inconceivable proportion to 60 cubits, this being the actual proportion in Herod's temple, as Merz himself states, p. 516, without finding it in this instance ”inconceivable.”)

In like manner must the 60 cubits of breadth be so divided, that the 5 cubits internal breadth of the side-buildings of Solomon's temple must be enlarged to 10, which, allowing 5 cubits of thickness for the walls, would make the entire building 60 cubits wide (5 + 10 + 5 + 20 + 5 + 10 + 5).

(Note: The conjecture of Merz in his above-cited article, and of Bertheau, that the dimensions of Zerubbabel's temple were double those of Solomon's, - viz. the holy and most holy places 40 cubits high and 40 wide, the upper chambers 20 cubits high, the side-chambers each 10 cubits high, and the whole building 120 cubits long, - must be rejected as erroneous, by the consideration that Herod's temple was only the length of Solomon's, viz., 100 cubits, of which the holy of holies took up 20, the holy place 40, the porch 10, the additional building behind 10, and the four walls 20. For Herod would by no means have diminished the length of his building 20, or properly 40 cubits. We also see, from the above-named dimensions, that the 60 cubits broad cannot be understood of internal breadth.)

The statement in Ezr_6:4, “three layers of great stones, and a layer of new timber,” is

obscure. נד3ך� means row, layer, and stands in the Targums for the Hebrew טור, “used of a

layer of bricks;” see Gesen. Thes. p. 311, and Levy, chald. Wörterbuch, ii. p. 93. ללO ,אבן

stone of rolling, one that is rolled and cannot be carried, i.e., a great building stone. חדת,

novus, as an epithet to עQ, is remarkable, it being self-evident that new wood is generally

used for a new building. The lxx translates εRς, reading the word חדה (Ezr_6:3). This statement involuntarily recalls the notice, 1Ki_6:36, that Solomon built the inner court,

ארזים Tרתת וטור גזית טורי hence Merz expresses the supposition that “this is certainly ;שלשהa fragment, forming the conclusion of the whole design of the building, which, like that in 1Ki_6:36, ends with the porch and the walls of the fore-court,” Thus much only is certain, that the words are not to be understood, as by Fritzsche on 1 Esdr. 6:25, as stating that the temple walls were built of “three layers of large stones, upon which was one layer of beams,” and therefore were not massive; such kind of building never being practised in the East in old times. “And let the expenses be given out of the king's house.” This is more precisely stated in Ezr_6:8 of the royal revenues on this side the

river. נפקא the expense (from נפק, Aphel, to expend), therefore the cost of building.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:2 And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that [is] in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein [was] a record thus written:

Ver. 2. And there was found at Achmetha] Or Ecbatana. This was occasioned by the malice of the Jews’ adversaries, and proved a great furtherance to the finishing of the temple. Sic canes lingunt ulcera Lazari. So dogs licked the sores of Lazarus. All things work together for good to them that love God, Romans 8:28. Venenum aliquando pro remedio fuit, At length a poison will be for a medicine. saith Seneca.

WHEDO, "DARIUS’S LETTER AD DECREE, Ezra 6:1-12.

This whole passage (Ezra 6:1-12) may be regarded as a part of the answer (chap. Ezra 5:5, note) which was returned to the communication of Tatnai and his companions. Comp. Ezra 6:6. The king’s letter may have contained more than is here given, but this was all that suited our historian’s purpose.

WHEDO, "2. Achmetha — The Chaldee form of the Persian Hagmatana or Hagmatan, and the Ecbatana of the classical writers. Its site is usually identified with the modern Hamadan. Herodotus (i, 98) describes it as a great city, whose walls were built circle within circle, each wall out-topping the one beyond it by the height of its battlements. This was done by means of the conical hill on which the city was built. The circular walls were seven in number, and the royal palace and treasury were within the innermost wall. It was originally the capital of the Medes, and hence its location here noticed as in the province of the Medes, but it was subsequently made the summer residence of the Persian kings. Hither it would seem the royal records had been transferred for greater security. The Behistun inscription shows that Babylon revolted at the beginning of Darius’s reign, but was soon reconquered, and that may have been the occasion of this transfer of the archives, and among them this celebrated roll containing Cyrus’s decree for the restoration of the exiles, and the rebuilding of their temple. Perhaps, however, the record in question had never been deposited at Babylon, but placed originally among the archives kept at Achmetha.

PETT, "Ezra 6:2

‘And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of Media, a roll, and in it was thus written for a record,’So attention was turned to the palace at Achmetha (Ecbatana). Ecbatana was a magnificent city (see Judith 1:1-4) and the former capital city of the Median Empire. It had become the summer residence of the Persian kings, and was in the province of Media In its archives was found a scroll in which was recorded the decree which was being sought. What follows was presumably recorded in Darius’ reply to Tattenai.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:2. And there was found at Achmetha.—Search was made for the writing in Babylon; but it was found in Achmetha, after that there was probably found in the archives at Babylon a reference to the archives of Achmetha for the documents of the time of Cyrus. The letters אחם engraved on coins seem to designate this city. Comp. Mordtmann, D. M. Zeitschrift, VIII, S14, In ancient Persian, however, Achmetha probably was Hagamatha.—[Rawlinson in loco: “in the Behistun inscription Hagmatana.”—Tr.]—In Greek it is ’Αγβάτανα (Herod. I:98) or ’Eκβάτανα ( Judith 1:14), the summer-residence of the Persian and Parthian kings, built by Deiokes, the capital of Media the great, in the vicinity of the present Hamadan.—In the palace.—The archives were especially in the citadel, בירה=ἡ

βάρις, which embraced the palace and likewise the other prominent buildings.—A roll and therein was a record.[F2]—We should expect directly after בגוה (there is less authority for a kametz in the last syll.) the contents of the writing; indeed דכרונה(st. emph. of דכרון) may have been a superscription in the writing itself about equivalent to: memorandum; nevertheless it is here connected with the previous clause as a memorandum was written therein. The contents do not follow until Ezra 6:3-5.

3 In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be ninety feet [16] high and ninety feet wide,

BARES, "It is difficult to reconcile the dimentions here with expressions in Zechariah Zec_4:10, Haggai Hag_2:3, and even Ezra Ezr_3:12, which imply that the second temple was smaller than the first (compare 1Ki_6:2). Perhaps the dimensions here are those which Cyrus required the Jews not to exceed.

CLARKE, "The height thereof threescore cubits - This was much larger than the temple of Solomon. This was sixty cubits high, and sixty cubits broad; whereas Solomon’s was only twenty cubits broad, and thirty cubits high.

GILL, "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,.... See Ezr_1:1,

the place where they offered sacrifices; to God in times past, ever since it was built by Solomon:

and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; so as to bear and support the building erected on them, as the word signifies:

the height thereof sixty cubits; which were thirty more than the height of Solomon's temple, 1Ki_6:2 though sixty less than the height of the porch, which was one hundred and twenty, 2Ch_3:4 and which some take to be the height of the whole house; and hence it may be observed what Herod said (y), that the temple then in being wanted sixty cubits in height of that of Solomon's:

and the breadth thereof sixty cubits; whereas the breadth of Solomon's temple was but twenty, 1Ki_6:2, but since it cannot reasonably be thought that the breadth should be equal to the height, and so very disproportionate to Solomon's temple; many learned men understand this of the extension of it as to length, which exactly agrees with the length of the former temple, 1Ki_6:2.

BESO, "Ezra 6:3. The height thereof threescore cubits — These proportions differ from those of Solomon’s temple, which was but thirty cubits high, only the porch was a hundred and twenty cubits high, and but twenty cubits in breadth. Either therefore Solomon’s cubits were sacred cubits, which were larger than the other, and these but common cubits; or, the sixty cubits of height are meant only for the porch. And the word rendered breadth, should be rendered the extension or the length of it; it being improbable that the king should give orders about the breadth, and none about the length of it.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:3 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;

Ver. 3. The height thereof threescore cubits] Yet was it less than Solomon’s temple, Haggai 2:3, Ezra 3:12. Solomon’s cubits therefore were longer (likely) than these here mentioned.

WHEDO, "3. Be strongly laid — Gesenius and Furst render, be erected, or set up.

Height… breadth… threescore cubits — These proportions differ from those of Solomon’s temple, the height of which was thirty cubits, and its breadth twenty, while only its length was threescore, or sixty cubits. See 1 Kings 6:2. But we need not suppose that this record of Cyrus contained the exact measures which were followed in the rebuilding of the temple. Even had he commanded that the building be made of this size, it does not follow that the Jews were careful to observe this part of his orders. Or it may be these numbers are faulty, having been taken down from the indistinct remembrance or careless copying of some Persian scribe, for this record has the appearance of being not a copy of Cyrus’s proclamation to the Jews, but a document prepared by the royal scribe or recorder as a part of the chronicles or annals of Cyrus, to be deposited among the archives of the empire. At any rate,

these numbers are not an authoritative guide to estimate the size of the second temple.

COSTABLE, "Verses 3-5Cyrus" memorandum6:3-5

The memorandum provided details that the edict did not contain. Among these details were the dimensions of the proposed temple. It was to be twice as high and three times as wide as Solomon"s temple ( Ezra 6:3; cf. 1 Kings 6:2). Obviously, Cyrus intended to sponsor a temple that would excel Solomon"s and thereby bring greater glory to himself. The fact that the foundations, when completed, appeared less impressive than Solomon"s ( Ezra 3:12-13), suggests that the Jews did not take full advantage of their opportunity and resources. The Persian government had committed to pay for the building ( Ezra 6:4). We too often fail to take full advantage of our opportunities and resources to glorify God.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:3 contains first probably stereotype introductory forms; at first the date: In the first year of king Cyrus (as in Ezra 5:13); then the short preamble: Cyrus the king made a decree; then a statement of the contents; then the following words: the house of God at Jerusalem, stand alone by themselves, and constitute to a certain extent a title. Then the command: Let the house be built as a place where offerings are brought and whose foundations are capable of supporting (namely, the structure).—אתר is placed before the relative clause in stat. constr. as מקום, Hosea 2:1, etc. יאשוהי מסובלין is hardly to be explained as: “its foundation they may set up” (Keil), or “may be erected (Ges. in his Thesaurus). In this sense the additional clause would be superfluous. We would expect an optative instead of a participle. It is made co-ordinate with the previous relative clause by the participle, and not with the principal clause “let the house of God be built.” סבל, which only in very detached passages is like the Heb. נשא, in the Targum of Deuteronomy 24:15 and in the Samaritan translation of Genesis 13:10, means, as in Hebrew, without doubt also in Chald, first and chiefly, to drag, bear a burden. Accordingly we regard as the safest explanation: whose foundations are burden-bearing, that Isaiah, capable of carrying, durable for the buildings erected upon them. Cyrus might have been present to state briefly in his own way the very reason why the house of God in Jerusalem was to be built. It is a place wherein they from ancient times offer offerings, thus a place long ago sanctified, and besides the foundations are still present and in a condition capable of bearing a building upon them. The two participles, thus viewed, are used without regard to tense. The Vulgate and the Rabbins likewise let this conception betray itself since they render: ponant fundamenta supportantia. Although it is more natural to suppose that this second relative clause should be synonymous with the first, yet there is no change in the text that could be at all proposed (e.g., אשין for אשין) that would throw any light. Whilst indeed Esdras had διὰ πυρὸς ἐνδελεχοῦς, the Sept. seems, although rendering very freely (κὰι ἔθηκαν ἔπαρµα) to have followed our text.

In order that the house might be large and elevated enough, Cyrus at once fixed ’its height and breadth (comp. Daniel 3:1 for פתיה), and indeed both, sixty cubits, double

that of the temple of Solomon. Comp. 1 Kings 6:2. Even if in this passage the cubit of commerce of the exile times were meant, whilst in 1 Kings 6:2, on the other hand, the ancient Mosaic or holy cubit ( 2 Chronicles 3:3), which according to Ezekiel 40:5; Ezekiel 43:13, was a hand’s breadth longer than the former, namely, eighteen and a half Rhenish inches, the difference would still be significant enough. But it is probable that the reference here is to the Mosaic cubit. The measurements for the new temple appear, since they were just double, to have been chosen with reference to those of the old temple, and on their basis. It is probable that Cyrus thought he could not make the matter of the temple his own affair without at least surpassing Solomon to the extent of double. Perhaps this explains why he fixes nothing at all respecting the length. Probably he knew that a greater length than that of the temple of Solomon was not desirable, since otherwise the temple buildings would have taken relatively too much space, and the extent of the courts, which needed much space, be too limited. Since now he could not well go beyond Solomon in this respect, he rather makes no standard at all. The building of Solomon’s temple had a length of sixty cubits, twenty for the most holy place, forty for the holy place, and besides a vestibule of ten cubits. This was besides surrounded on the two long sides and in the rear, by wings of five cubits breadth. The length of the temple of Herod was limited to essentially the same measurements. But if they did not wish to exceed these measurements, the sixty cubits breadth could only be applied to measure the outer breadth, embracing likewise the wings, unless they would entirely abandon the relations rendered sacred by the tabernacle, and almost throughout retained by the temple of Solomon. The holiest of all had been a cube in both the tabernacle and the temple of Solomon and the holy place again had had double the length of this cube, and this arrangement of the parts seems to have been regarded as the most essential. The internal breadth of the second temple could not well amount to more than that of the first temple, or than that which it subsequently had in the temple of Herod, namely, twenty cubits (with Keil and against Merx in Herz’s Real-Enc. XV. S 513 and Berth.) Thus there remained to the side buildings a considerable space. If we reckon ten cubits for each side, whilst in the temple of Solomon only five cubits had been applied to that purpose, since the breadth in that case would have amounted to twenty cubits in the clear, in all thirty cubits, there still remain twenty cubits for the four walls, which in the temple of Herod likewise took up the same amount of space. Whether accordingly the internal height was likewise limited, whether it at least in the holiest of all was diminished to the measure of the length and breadth, as it were, by the addition of upper chambers, such as had been in the temple of Solomon likewise, these taking up ten cubits in height, we know not. In the temple of Herod there was assigned to the holiest of all, as well as to the holy place, an internal height of sixty cubits, whilst still forty to sixty cubits in height were applied to the upper chambers. And it is possible that Zerubbabel and Jeshua likewise already acted with more freedom with reference to the height, an internal height of only twenty cubits in connection with an external height of sixty cubits, would have been almost too much out of proportion. That they really carried the external height to sixty cubits, seems to follow from Josephus Arch. xv11, 1.[F3]

PETT, "Ezra 6:3

‘In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree:’These words were probably taken from the preamble to the decree. It made clear that the decree in question was made in the first year of Cyrus, and thus within a short time of his conquest of Babylon.

Large numbers of scholars now agree that this decree was genuine. It was written in Aramaic and bears all the hallmarks of a Persian document of the time. It was a different decree from the one mentioned in Ezra 1:2-4. That was for public consumption. This one was to be filed away as a record, and recorded the details of what Cyrus required with respect to the building of the Temple.

4 with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury.

BARES, "The word translated “row” occurs only in this passage. Some regard it as a “course,” and suppose that after every three courses of stone there followed a course of timber. Others understand three “storeys” of stone, with a fourth “storey” of woodwork on the summit (compare 1Ki_6:5-6). Others consider that Cyrus intended to limit the thickness of the walls, which were not to exceed a breadth of three rows of stone, with an inner wooden wainscotting.

Let the expenses be given out of the king’s house - i. e., “out of the Persian revenue,” a portion of the decree which was probably not observed during the later years of Cyrus and during the reign of Cambyses, and hence the burthen fell upon the Jews themselves Ezr_2:68-69.

CLARKE, "Three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber - We have noticed this kind of building before, three courses of stones, and then a course of strong balk; and this continued to the square of the building.

And let the expenses be given - Cyrus had ordered wood to be cut at Libanus, and conveyed to Joppa at his expense; but it does not appear that he furnished the other expenses of the building, for we have already seen that the Jews contributed for the defraying of all others. But it appears that he provided at his own expense the sacrifices and offerings for the temple. See Ezr_6:9.

GILL, "With three rows of great stones,.... Which Jarchi interprets of the walls of it, and these stones of marble; and so Ben Melech:

and a row of new timber; of cedar wood upon the rows of stone, see 1Ki_6:36 or for the lining and wainscoting the walls:

and let the expenses be given out of the king's house; treasury, or exchequer; but it does not appear that this part of the decree was observed, at least hitherto; but the Jews built at their own expense, and perhaps did not exactly observe the directions given as to the dimensions of the house.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:4 [With] three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king’s house:

Ver. 4. Out of the king’s house] i.e. Out of the royal revenue in those parts, Ezra 7:20. Herodotus testifieth that Cyrus and Darius (who married his daughter Atossa, and made him his pattern for imitation) were highly honoured among the Persians for their kingly munificence; God hath threatened that the nation and kingdom that will not serve the Church shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted, Isaiah 60:12, Ezra 6:12.

WHEDO, "4. With three rows of… stones — There is no with in the Chaldee, and the passage has the appearance of a fragmentary excerpt. The language, however, reminds us of 1 Kings 6:36, (see note there,) and may, perhaps, be best understood of the platform of the inner court, which, like that of the first temple, was to have three layers of stone and one of new timber.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:4 gives still further directions, but it is difficult to understand them.—Three rows of great stones.—נדב� is used in the Targ. for the Hebrew טור, which is from טור =circumire, and means the surrounding wall or walls ( Ezekiel 46:23), but also the rows ( Exodus 28:17, etc.; so also indeed 1 Kings 7:3-4). Fritzsche on Esdras6:25, Keil and Merx (l. c.), regard its meaning as row or course, and accordingly understand it to be = the walls, whether of the temple (Fritzsche) or of the inner porch (Keil and Merx)—of the latter it is very appropriately said in 1 Kings 6:36, that Solomon built them: שלשה טורי נזית וטור כרתת ארזים, they should have below three layers of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams. But that the walls of the temple building itself, of which alone we can think according to Ezra 6:3, should be built of four such courses is highly improbable, for such an unfinished massive method of building has no where been found in the Orient. But if the walls of the inner court were meant, these would certainly have been mentioned, or if something had been left out that was originally contained in the edict of Cyrus for explanation (Merx), these words would most suitably have been omitted likewise. Moreover טור in the above mentioned passage, 1 Kings 6:36, very probably has a different meaning. It is very worthy of remark, that טור as well here as also immediately afterwards, 1 Kings 7:2, so also in Ezekiel 46:23, occurs with reference to four-sided rooms, which were enclosed round about, just as נדבכים is used in our passage. othing is more appropriate then than to understand thereby the four side

enclosures which enclosed the room; whether walls, as in the inner court, 1 Kings 6:36; Ezekiel 46:23, or side buildings that surrounded a four-cornered room, as 1 Kings 7:2. The sense of 1 Kings 7:36, Isaiah, then, that Solomon provided the inner court on three sides with walls of quarried stone, on the one other side, without doubt the front side, where the chief entrance was, where then there was probably a larger door, with an enclosure of hewn cedar. Our passage, however, then says that three of the temple walls—for it can only refer to these according to Ezra 6:3—were of hewn stone, the other, namely, the front, which must for the most part be composed of a large entrance, was to be made of wood. In confirmation of this view it is sufficient that in the temple of Herod also, the entrance side of the holy place was still composed of one great folding door, sixteen cubits broad. In the same manner then, moreover, was the inner court enclosed, as we conclude from 1 Kings 6:36.[F4]—And a row of now timber.—Instead of חדת = new after אע = timber, it is appropriate to read חדה=one, as then the Sept, already renders εἶς, yet this numeral is absent also in 1 Kings 6:36.—And let the expenses.—נפקתא from נפק (in Aphel = to give out) is the expense, and indeed here that which was caused by the building of the temple.—From the house of the king is according to Ezra 6:8 sq. = from the royal revenues on this side of the river.

PETT, "Ezra 6:3-4

‘Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be built on the place where they offer sacrifices, and let its foundations be fixed; the height of it to be threescore cubits, and the breadth of it threescore cubits, with three courses of massive stones, and a course of new timber, and let the expenses be given out of the king’s house.’In it Cyrus declared that ‘concerning the house of God at Jerusalem’, the house was to be rebuilt on its holy site, the place where sacrifices had been offered, and its foundations were to be fixed, that is, in the same place as the previous foundations. His concern was to make use of the ancient sacredness of the site for the benefit of his realm. He wanted sacrifices to be offered there as a sweet savour to the God of Heaven while the priests and people prayed for the life of the king and for his sons (Ezra 6:10). The sacredness of the site would ensure God’s response. He made a similar request to Marduk, the god of Babylon, and to other gods throughout his realm. He was seeking to get the gods on his side, and keep the people happy at the same time.

The building of the Temple was not, however, just a vague command. He wanted to have some say in how large it would be. So some details of how it was to be built were recorded, although the main detail was left to the builders who could call on the knowledge of people who had seen Solomon’s Temple (Ezra 3:12). It was to have a height of sixty cubits, and a breadth of sixty cubits. In other words it was to be twice as large as Solomon’s Temple, as befitted a Persian king. (Solomon’s Temple was thirty cubits high and twenty cubits broad (1 Kings 6:2) but with side rooms at each side of five cubits (1 Kings 6:6), making thirty cubits in all). It was to be built with three courses of stones followed by one of timber, the same pattern presumably being repeated again and again. It would thus be massive, whilst protected against

earthquakes. The courses of timber would enable it to respond to earth movement. The details of the whole were left for the builders to decide.

This was not intended to be a detailed building plan and we need not therefore ask why its length is not given. That was already determined by the length of Solomon’s Temple (sixty cubits in length (1 Kings 6:2) plus additional for the porch and the back rooms (1 Kings 6:3; 1 Kings 6:16). This might be seen as having the intention of making a perfect cube, 60 x 60 x 60. It may simply be symbolic with no intention of carrying it out. The cost of the whole was to be borne by the Persian treasury. Cyrus undoubtedly expected that the benefits that would accrue to him and his house for honouring the God of Heaven would far outweigh the cost of building. This generosity towards the restoration of Temples is paralleled elsewhere. The kings of Persia were prepared to pay generously for the support of the gods.

5 Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which ebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God.

GILL, "And also let the golden and silver vessels,.... See Ezr_1:7 and which confirms what the Jews said to Tatnai, Ezr_5:14.

K&D, "Ezr_6:5

“And also let the vessels ... be restored, and brought again to the temple at Jerusalem, to their place, and (thou) shalt place them in the house of God.” On the matter of this

verse, comp. Ezr_1:7 and Ezr_5:14. The sing. יהך� (comp. Ezr_5:5) is distributive: it (each

vessel) to its place. ותחת (comp. אחת Ezr_5:15) cannot, according to the sense, be third pers. fem. (neutr.), but only second pers. imperf. Aphel: thou shalt place. None but Sheshbazzar can be addressed (Ezr_5:15), though he is not named in Ezr_6:3. The

historian is evidently not giving the contents of the document word for word, but only its essential matter; hence he infers the address to Sheshbazzar from the answer of the Jewish elders (Ezr_5:15). Perhaps it was also remarked in the document, that Coresh caused the sacred vessels to be delivered to Sheshbazzar (Ezr_1:8).

BESO, "Ezra 6:5. And place them in the house of God — Thus far the decree of Cyrus is recited, which justified all the allegations of the Jews in the foregoing chapter. In the next verse the decree of Darius thereupon appears to begin.'

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:5 And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which ebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which [is] at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which [is] at Jerusalem, [every one] to his place, and place [them] in the house of God.

Ver. 5. And also let the golden and silver vessels] This was decreed, and this was done accordingly, Ezra 1:7-8. Let good resolutions be put in execution; purpose without performance is like a cloud without rain; and not unlike Hercules’s club in the tragedy, of a great bulk, but stuffed with moss and rubbish.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:5 adds the order for the restoration of the temple vessels, that was so important. The sing. יה� (respecting the form vid.V:5) is explained after the previous plural from the conception of the different vessels as one sum total. תחת, thus written and pointed, Isaiah 2 d pers. imperf. Aph. with transitive meaning = cause to be delivered, comp. Ezra 5:15. If this meaning is to be retained, we must suppose that the edict of Cyrus was addressed to some individual, perhaps Zerubbabel himself, and that Cyrus now turns immediately to him. Yet the transition to the direct address is here somewhat singular and abrupt, and it seems best to take תחת as 3 d pers. fem. imperf. Kal, which indeed should be pointed תחותor at least תחת with the indefinite subject.

Ezra 6:6. The previous edict of Cyrus is now followed by the order of Darius, so favorable and careful in its provisions for the Jews, that it is as if the latter would not only confirm the former’s action out of reverence, but even surpass him. If it should be difficult for the little congregation of Jews to conduct the worship in Jerusalem in accordance with the prescriptions of the law, in that a great expense was especially necessary for the offerings, Darius helped them to bear the burden by his great liberality. He at first in Ezra 6:6-7 arranged that his governor should not hinder the work.—ow therefore Tatnai, etc.—For the connection with previous context see notes on Ezra 6:1.—And your companions, your Apharsachites = those who are your companions, etc. For an explanation of the terms comp. Ezra 5:3; Ezra 5:6.—Be (or keep yourself) far from thence, e. g., interfere not with the imposition of burdens or hindrances.

PETT, "Ezra 6:5

‘And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which ebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be

restored, and brought again to the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to its place, and you shall put them in the house of God.’Furthermore the Temple vessels of gold and silver, which had been appropriated by ebuchadnezzar, were to be restored to the house of God in Jerusalem, ‘every one to its place’. All was to be restored as formerly. The God of Heaven was to be fully satisfied that His house and everything in it was as before, courtesy of the kings of Persia. The minutiae of ritual was to be scrupulously followed, thus ensuring maximum benefit for the realm. Following the correct ritual would have been seen as important.

‘You shall put them in the house of God.’ It is noteworthy that all references to Cyrus’ edict stress that the Temple is ‘the house of God’. See Ezra 1:2-4; Ezra 4:3.

6 ow then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you, their fellow officials of that province, stay away from there.

BARES, "This verse gives the words of the decree of Darius, which was grounded upon, and probably recited, the decree of Cyrus.

CLARKE, "Be ye far from thence - Do not interrupt the Jews in their building; but, on the contrary further them all in your power.

GILL, "Now therefore Tatnai, governor beyond the river,.... The river Euphrates, that side of it towards the land of Israel; Josephus (z) calls this man master of the horse:

Shetharboznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, be ye far from thence; keep at a distance from the Jews, and give them no disturbance, nor interrupt them in their work of building of the temple, but mind your own business and government.

HERY, " The confirmation of it by a decree of Darius, grounded upon it and in

pursuance of it.

1. The decree of Darius is very explicit and satisfactory.

(1.) He forbids his officers to do any thing in opposition to the building of the temple. The manner of expression intimates that he knew they had a mind to hinder it: Be you far hence (Ezr_6:6); let the work of this house of God alone, Ezr_6:7. Thus was the wrath of the enemy made to praise God and the remainder thereof did he restrain.

K&D, "Ezr_6:6-12

Acting upon the discovered edict, Darius warned the governor and royal officials on this side the Euphrates, not to hinder the building of the house of God at Jerusalem. On the contrary, they were to promote it by furnishing what was necessary for the work, and paying the expenses of the building out of the royal revenues to the elders of the Jews (Ezr_6:6-8). They were also to provide for the worship of God in this temple such animals as the priests should require for sacrifice (Ezr_6:9, Ezr_6:10), under pain of severe punishment for transgressing this command as also for any injury done to the temple (Ezr_6:11, Ezr_6:12). This decree was undoubtedly communicated to the governor in the form of a written answer to his inquiries (Ezr_6:13). Without, however, expressly stating this to be the case, as Ezr_6:1 and Ezr_4:17 would lead us to expect, the historian gives us in Ezr_6:6. the actual contents of the royal edict, and that in the form of a direct injunction to the governor and his associates on this side the river: “Now

Tatnai, governor, ... be ye far from thence.” The suffix וכנותהון, and their associates, is indeed unsuitable to the form of an address, of which Tatnai and Shethar-Boznai are the subjects; the narrator, however, in using it, had in mind the title or introduction of the

royal letter. On this matter, comp. Ezr_5:6. רחק and רחיק, to be far from, figuratively to

keep from anything, e.g., from good, Psa_53:2. הWXמן־, from thence, from Jerusalem; in other words, trouble yourselves no longer, as, according to Ezr_5:3, you have done about what is being done there.

COFFMA, "Verse 6BESO, "Ezra 6:6-7. Be ye far from thence — Come not near Jerusalem to give the Jews any hinderance or disturbance. Let the work of the house of God alone —The manner of expression intimates that he knew they had an inclination to hinder it. Thus was the wrath of the enemy made to praise God, and the remainder thereof did he restrain.

DARIUS' REPLY TO TATTEAI; GOVEROR BEYOD THE RIVER

"ow therefore, Tettanai, governor beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your companions the Apharsachites, who are beyond the River, be ye far from thence: 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 its place."

"This order must have stunned Tettanai and his companions."[9] ot only did Darius confirm the existence of the decree of Cyrus, he added his own authority and power to back it up, and even commanded the expenses of the project to be borne by

the tax revenues which Tattenai controlled; and that probably meant that some of the expense would come out of Tattenai's own pockets.

"Be ye far from thence" (Ezra 6:6). This should not be interpreted to mean that the governor was not to go near the temple for purposes of inspection; but, "It meant: Do not interfere with or impede the work on the building."[10] Matthew Henry commented that, "The manner of Darius' expression here indicates that he knew that Tattenai and his companions had a mind to hinder the work."[11

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:6 ow [therefore], Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shetharboznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which [are] beyond the river, be ye far from thence:

Ver. 6. Be ye far from thence] i.e. Come not at them, to hinder them at all. Thus, though the Church’s enemies bandy together and bend all their forces against her; yet are they bounded by Almighty God (who saith unto them, Be ye far from thence), as is the raging sea, Jeremiah 5:22. Surely, saith the psalmist, the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain, Heb. gird, that is, keep it within compass, as with a girdle. The Septuagint render it thus, The remnant of wrath shall keep holy day to thee, that is, it shall rest from working, or acting, how restless soever it be within.

WHEDO, "6. ow therefore, Tatnai — Here Darius turns from quoting the record of Cyrus, which forms a part of his letter in answer to the Samaritan governor’s letter, (Ezra 5:5, note,) and proceeds to prohibit all interference with the Jews or hindering of their work.

Be ye far from thence — That is, far from Jerusalem. Meddle not at all with their work.

COSTABLE, "Verses 6-12Darius" decree6:6-12

Evidently Darius also saw the Jerusalem temple as a monument to his own success. He instructed Tattenai to allow the Jewish governor, Zerubbabel, and his people to proceed unobstructed. Darius seems to have viewed Zerubbabel as the ruler of the Jews living in the jurisdiction of Tattenai, who governed the whole province that included Palestine and Jerusalem. Darius further specified that the provincial treasury should pay all costs ( Ezra 6:8), and that the provincial governor should provide the items required for sacrifices in the temple. The king also wanted the Jews to pray for him and his family ( Ezra 6:10).

"Although Darius revered Ahuramazda especially, it is understandable that in a world of polytheism he would want to make sure that he was in the favor of every god in his empire." [ote: Fensham, The Books ..., p90.]

One wonders if stories about Daniel (ca605-536 B.C.), who served under Cyrus (

Daniel 6:28), might have had some influence on Darius. The Darius that the book of Daniel mentions, however, was Darius the Mede, not this Darius, who was a Persian.

". . . Darius [the Persian] himself was a monotheist and an adherent of the new faith of Zoroastrianism, but it is not known whether this religious orientation had any effect on his policies this early in his reign." [ote: Vos, p49.]

Impaling ( Ezra 6:11) was a common method of execution in the Persian Empire (cf. Esther 7:9-10), and Darius practiced it. After he subdued a rebellion in Babylon, Darius impaled3 ,000 rebels there. [ote: Herodotus, 2:3:159.]

"Impalement was a well-known kind of punishment in the ancient ear East for grave offenses. One side [end?] of a beam was sharpened and the other side planted in the ground. The sharp point was inserted under the chest of a person and pushed through his esophagus and lungs. He was then left to hang until he died." [ote: Fensham, The Books . . ., p91.]

The king closed his decree by calling down Yahweh"s curse on anyone who might attempt to change it ( Ezra 6:12).

"Darius" curse on anyone who would destroy the temple was fulfilled in: (a) Antiochus Epiphanes, who desecrated it in167 B.C, and died insane three years later; (b) Herod the Great (37-4 B.C.), who added extensively to the temple to glorify himself, and who had domestic trouble and died of disease; and (c) the Romans , who destroyed the temple in A.D70 , and later had their empire destroyed." [ote: Martin, pp663-64.]

PETT, "Verses 6-12The King Instructs Tattenai On How To Proceed (Ezra 6:6-12).

Having established what was in the decree of Cyrus, king Darius now issued his instructions to Tattenai and his colleagues on how they are to proceed. ot only were the returnees to be allowed to complete the building of the house of God, but they were to be assisted out of state revenues. Furthermore they were to be provided with everything that was necessary in order to fully satisfy the God of Heaven, in the form of offerings and sacrifices, and all that pertained to them. Darius was clearly well informed concerning the requirements. He would have had many Jewish advisers.

Ezra 6:6

‘ow therefore, Tattenai, governor of Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your companions the Apharsachites, who are of Beyond the River, be you far from there (‘leave them alone’ or ‘go somewhere else’).’ote the formal nature of the address. It follows exactly the pattern of the original letter addressed to Darius (Ezra 5:6). And it informed Tattenai and his assistants that they were to leave the builders alone to get on with what they were doing. ‘Be

you far from there’ signifies that they are to leave things alone, and possibly suggests that they are to move elsewhere as they are no longer required to be at the site of the new Temple. That would not, of course, mean that they were not to check up on how the work was going, but that they should not interfere in any way while it was going smoothly.

EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMETARY, "THE DEDICATIO OF THE TEMPLE

Ezra 6:6-22

THE chronicler’s version of the edict in which Darius replies to the application of the Satrap Tattenai is so very friendly to the Jews that questions have been raised as to its genuineness. We cannot but perceive that the language has been modified in its transition from the Persian terra-cotta cylinder to the roll of the Hebrew chronicler, because the Great King could not have spoken of the religion of Israel in the absolute phrases recorded in the Book of Ezra. But when all allowance has been made for verbal alterations in translation and transcription, the substance of the edict is still sufficiently remarkable. Darius fully endorses the decree of Cyrus, and even exceeds that gracious ordinance in generosity. He curtly bids Tattenai "let the work of the house of God alone." He even orders the Satrap to provide for this work out of the revenues of his district. The public revenues are also to be used in maintaining the Jewish priests and in providing them with sacrifices-"that they may offer sacrifices of sweet savour unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and of his sons." [Ezra 6:10]

On the other hand, it cannot be doubted that Darius sent a reply that was favourable to the Jews, for all opposition to their work was stopped, and means were found for completing the temple and maintaining the costly ritual. The Jews gratefully acknowledged the influence of God on the heart of Darius. Surely they were right in doing so. They were gifted with the true insight of faith. It is no contradiction to add that-in the earthly sphere and among the human motives through which God works by guiding them-what we know of Darius will account to some extent for his friendliness towards the Jews. He was a powerful ruler, and when he had quelled the serious rebellions that had broken out in several quarters of his kingdom, he organised his government in a masterly style with a new and thorough system of satrapies. Then he pushed his conquests farther afield, and subsequently came into contact with Europe, although ultimately to suffer a humiliating defeat in the famous battle of Marathon. In fact, we may regard him as the real founder of the Persian Empire. Cyrus, though his family was of Persian origin, was originally a king of Elam, and he had to conquer Persia before he could rule over it, but Darius was a prince of the Persian royal house. Unlike Cyrus, he was at least a monotheist, if not a thoroughgoing Zoroastrian. The inscription on his tomb at aksh-i-Rustem attributes all that he has achieved to the favour of Ormazd.

"When Ormazd saw this earth filled with revolt and civil war, then did he entrust it to me. He made me king, and I am king. By the grace of Ormazd I have restored the

earth."

"All that I have done I have done through the grace of Ormazd. Ormazd brought help to me until I had completed my work. May Ormazd protect from evil me and my house and this land. Therefore I pray unto Ormazd, May Ormazd grant this to me."

"O Man! May the command of Ormazd not be despised by thee, leave not the path of right, sin not"

Such language implies a high religious conception of life. Although it is a mistake to suppose that the Jews had borrowed anything of importance from Zoroastrianism during the captivity or in the time of Cyrus-inasmuch as that religion was then scarcely known in Babylon-when it began to make itself felt there, its similarity to Judaism could not fail to strike the attention of observant men. It taught the existence of one supreme God-though it coordinated the principles of good and evil in His being, as two subsidiary existences, in a manner not allowed by Judaism-and it encouraged prayer. It also insisted on the dreadful evil of sin and urged men to strive after purity, with an earnestness that witnessed to the blending of morality with religion to an extent unknown elsewhere except among the Jews. Thus, if Darius were a Zoroastrian, he would have two powerful links of sympathy with the Jews in opposition to the corrupt idolatry of the heathen-the spiritual monotheism and the earnest morality that were common to the two religions. And in any case it is not altogether surprising to learn that when he read the letter of the people who described themselves as "the servants of the God of heaven and earth," the worshipper of Ormazd should have sympathised with them rather than with their semi-pagan opponents. Moreover, Darius must have known something of Judaism from the Jews of Babylon. Then, he was restoring the temples of Ormazd which his predecessor had destroyed. But the Jews were engaged in a very similar work; therefore the king, in his antipathy to the idolaters, would give no sanction to a heathenish opposition to the building of the temple at Jerusalem by a people who believed in One Spiritual God.

Darius was credited with a generous disposition, which would incline him to a kindly treatment of his subjects. Of course we must interpret this according to the manners of the times. For example, in his edict about the temple-building he gives orders that any one of his subjects who hinders the work is to be impaled on a beam from his own house, the site of which is to be used for a refuse heap. [Ezra 6:11] Darius also invokes the God of the Jews to destroy any foreign king or people who should attempt to alter or destroy the temple at Jerusalem. The savagery of his menace is in harmony with his conduct when, according to Herodotus, he impaled three thousand men at Babylon after he had recaptured the city. Those were cruel times-Herodotus tells us that the besieged Babylonians had previously strangled their own wives when they were running short of provisions. The imprecation with which the edict closes may be matched by one on the inscription of Darius at Behistum, where the Great King invokes the curse of Ormazd on any persons who should injure the tablet. The ancient despotic world-rulers had no conception of the

modern virtue of humanitarianism. It is sickening to picture to ourselves their methods of government. The enormous misery involved is beyond calculation. Still we may believe that the worst threats were not always carried out; we may make some allowance for Oriental extravagance of language. And yet, after all has been said, the conclusion of the edict of Darius presents to us a kind of state support for religion which no one would defend in the present day. In accepting the help of the Persian sovereign the Jews could not altogether dissociate themselves from his way of government. evertheless it is fair to remember that they had not asked for his support. They had simply desired to be left unmolested.

Tattenai loyally executed the decree of Darius; the temple-building proceeded without further hindrance, and the work was completed about four years after its recommencement at the instigation of the prophet Haggai. Then came the joyous ceremony of the dedication. All the returned exiles took part in it. They are named collectively "the children of Israel" - another indication that the restored Jews were regarded by the chronicler as the representatives of the whole united nation as this had existed under David and Solomon before the great schism. Similarly there are twelve he-goats for the sin-offering-for the twelve tribes. [Ezra 6:17] Several classes of Israelites are enumerated, -first the clergy in their two orders, the priests and the Levites, always kept distinct in Ezra; next the laity, who are described as "the children of the captivity." The limitation of this phrase is significant. In the dedication of the temple the Israelites of the land who were mixed up with the heathen people are not included. Only the returned exiles had built the temple; only they were associated in the dedication of it. Here is a strictly guarded Church. Access to it is through the one door of-an unimpeachable genealogical record. Happily the narrowness of this arrangement is soon to be broken through. In the meanwhile it is to be observed that it is just the people who have endured the hardship of separation from their beloved Jerusalem to whom the privilege of rejoicing in the completion of the new temple is given. The tame existence that cannot fathom the depths of misery is incapable of soaring to the heights of bliss. The joy of the harvest is for those who have sown in tears.

The work was finished, and yet its very completion was a new commencement. The temple was now dedicated-literally "initiated"-for the future service of God.

This dedication is an instance of the highest use of man’s work. The fruit of years of toil and sacrifice is given to God. Whatever theories we may have about the consecration of a building-and surely every building that is put to a sacred use is in a sense a sacred building-there can be no question as to the rightness of dedication. This is just the surrender to God of what was built for Him out of the resources that he had supplied. A dedication service is a solemn act of transfer by which a building is given over to the use of God. We may save it from narrowness if we do not limit it to places of public assembly. The home where the family altar is set up. where day by day prayer is offered, and where the common round of domestic duties is elevated and consecrated by being faithfully discharged as in the sight of God, is a true sanctuary; it too, like the Jerusalem temple, has its "Holy of Holies." Therefore when a family enters a new house, or when two young lives cross the threshold of

what is to be henceforth their "home," there is as true a ground for a solemn act of dedication as in the opening of a great temple. A prophet declared that "Holiness to the Lord" was to characterise the very vessels of household use in Jerusalem. [Zechariah 14:21] It may lift some of the burden of drudgery which presses on people who are compelled to spend their time in common house-toil, for them to perceive that they may become priests and priestesses ministering at the altar even in their daily work. In the same spirit truly devout men of business will dedicate their shops, their factories, their offices, the tools of their work, and the enterprises in which they engage, so that all may be regarded as belonging to God, and only to be used as His will dictates. Behind every such act of dedication there must be a prior act of self-consecration, without which the gift of any mere thing to God is but an insult to the Father who only seeks the hearts of His children. ay, without this a real gift of any kind is impossible. But the people who have first given their own selves to the Lord are prepared for all other acts of surrender.

According to the custom of their ritual, the Jews signalised the dedication of the temple by the offering of sacrifices. Even with the help of the king’s bounty these were few in number compared with the lavish holocausts that were offered in the ceremony of dedicating Solomon’s temple. [1 Kings 8:63] Here, in the external aspect of things, the melancholy archaeologists might have found another cause for lamentation. But we are not told that any such people appeared on the present occasion. The Jews were not so foolish as to believe that the value of a religious movement could be ascertained by the study of architectural dimensions. Is it less misleading to attempt to estimate the spiritual prosperity of a Church by casting up the items of its balance-sheet, or tabulating the numbers of its congregations?

Looking more closely into the chronicler’s description of the sacrifices, we see that these were principally of two distinct kinds. [Ezra 6:17] There were some animals for burnt-offerings, which signified complete dedication, and pledged their offerers to it. Then there were other animals for sin-offerings. Thus even in the joyous dedication of the temple the sin, of Israel could not be forgotten. The increasing importance of sacrifices for sin is one of the most marked features of the Hebrew ritual in its later stages of development. It shows that in the course of ages the national consciousness of sin was intensified. At the same time it makes it clear that the inexplicable conviction that without shedding of blood there could be no remission of sins was also deepened. Whether the sacrifice was regarded as a gift pleasing and propitiating an offended God, or as a substitute bearing the death-penalty of sin, or as a sacred life, bestowing, by means of its blood, new life on sinners who had forfeited their own lives, in any case, and however it was interpreted, it was felt that blood must be shed if the sinner was to be freed from guilt. Throughout the ages this awful thought was more and more vividly presented, and the mystery which the conscience of many refused to abandon continued, until there was a great revelation of the true meaning of sacrifice for sin in the one efficacious atonement of Christ.

A subsidiary point to be noticed here is that there were just twelve he-goats sacrificed for the twelve tribes of Israel. These were national sin-offerings, and not

sacrifices for individual sinners. Under special circumstances the individual could bring his own private offering. But in this great temple function only national sins were considered. The nation had suffered as a whole for its collective sin; in a corresponding way it had its collective expiation of sin. There are always national sins which need a broad public treatment, apart from the particular acts of wickedness committed by separate men.

All this is said by the chronicler to have taken place in accordance with The Law-"As it is written in the book of Moses." [Ezra 6:18] Here, as in the case of the similar statement of the chronicler in connection with the sacrifices offered when the great altar of burnt-offerings was set up, [Ezra 3:2] we must remember, in the first place, that we have to do with the reflections of an author writing in a subsequent age, to whom the whole Pentateuch was a familiar book. But then it is also clear that before Ezra had startled the Jews by reading The Law in its later revelation there must have been some earlier form of it, not only in Deuteronomy, but also in a priestly collection of ordinances. It is a curious fact that no full directions on the division of the courses of the priests and Levites is now to be found in the Pentateuch. On this occasion the services must have been arranged on the model of the traditional priestly law. They were not left to the caprice of the hour. There was order; there was continuity; there was obedience.

The chronicler concludes this period of his history by adding a paragraph on the first observance of the Passover among the returned Jews. The national religion is now re-established, and therefore the greatest festival of the year can be enjoyed. One of the characteristics of this festival is made especially prominent in the present observance of it. The significance of the unleavened bread is pointedly noticed. All leaven is to be banished from the houses during the week of the Passover. All impurity must also be banished from the people. The priests and Levites perform the ceremonial purifications and get themselves legally clean. The franchise is enlarged, and the limitations of genealogy with which we started are dispensed with. A new class of Israelites receives a brotherly welcome in this time of general purification. In distinction from the returned captives, there are now the Israelites who "had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the Lord." Jehovah is pointedly described as "the God of Israel"-i.e., the God of all sections of Israel. [Ezra 6:21] These people cannot be proselytes from heathenism-there could be few if any such in exclusive times. They might consist of Jews who had been living in Palestine all through the captivity, Israelites also left in the orthern Kingdom, and scattered members of the ten tribes from various regions. All such are welcome on condition of a severe process of social purging. They must break off from their heathen associations. We may suspect a spirit of Jewish animosity in the ugly phrase "the filthiness of the heathen." But it was only too true that both the Canaanite and the Babylonian habits of life were disgustingly immoral. The same horrible characteristic is found among most of the heathen today. These degraded people are not simply benighted in theological error, they are corrupted by horrible vices. Missionary work is more than the propagation of Christian theology, it is the purging of Augean stables. St. Paul reminds us that we must put away the old leaven of sinful habits in order to partake of the Christian

Passover, [1 Corinthians 5:7] and St. James that one feature of the religious service which, is acceptable to God is to keep oneself unspotted from the world. [James 1:27] Though unfortunately with the externalism of the Jews their purification too often became a mere ceremony, and their separation an ungracious race exclusiveness, still, at the root of it, the Passover idea here brought before us is profoundly true. It is the thought that we cannot take part in a sacred feast of Divine gladness except on condition of renouncing sin. The joy of the Lord is the beatific vision of saints, the blessedness of the pure in heart who see God. On this condition, for the people who were thus separate, the festival was a scene of great gladness. The chronicler calls attention to three things that were in the mind of the Jews, inspiring their praises throughout. [Ezra 6:22] The first is that God was the source of their joy-"the Lord had made them joyful." There is joy in religion, and this joy springs from God. The second is that God had brought about the successful end of their labours by directly influencing the Great King. He had "turned the heart of the king of Assyria"-a title for Darius that speaks for the authenticity of the narrative, for it represents an old form of speech for the ruler of the districts that had once belonged to the king of Assyria. The third fact is that God had been the source of strength to the Jews, so that they had been able to complete their work. The result of the Divine aid was "to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel." Among His own people joy and strength from God, in the great world a providential direction of the mind of the king-this was what faith now perceived, and the perception of so wonderful a Divine activity made the Passover a festival of boundless gladness. Wherever that ancient Hebrew faith is experienced in conjunction with the Passover spirit of separation from the leaven of sin religion always is a well of joy.

7 Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site.

GILL, "Let the work of this house of God alone,.... Suffer them to go on with it, and do not hinder them; it looks, by these expressions, as if he had some suspicion or hint given him that they were inclined to molest them, or that there were some that stirred them up to it, and were desirous of it:

let the governor of the Jews, and the elders of the Jews, build this house of God in his place; where it formerly stood; that is, go on with the building of

K&D, "Ezr_6:7

“Let the work of the house of God alone.” שבק with an accusative, to leave anything, to let it go on without hindrance. “Let the Pechah of the Jews (Sheshbazzar, Zerubbabel)

and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in its place.” The ל� to לשבי introduces a second subject with special emphasis: And as far as regards the elders of the Jews, i.e., the Pechah, and especially the elders.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:7 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.

Ver. 7. Let the work of this house of God alone] Meddle not, make no disturbance; this was doubtless a hard task to them, for their spirits were irked, as Moab, umbers 22:3, and their fingers even itched at these builders. They sleep not, except they may do mischief, Proverbs 4:16.

PETT, "Ezra 6:7

‘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 its place.’The enemies of the Jews now found themselves confounded. Darius expressly states that the work is to be carried out by his duly appointed governor (Zerubbabel) and by the elders of the Jews. And they were to be left alone to carry on with the work, which now had the sanction of the current monarch. It thus had double sanction.

‘In its place.’ That is on the long revered holy site of the Temple. There is a constant requirement that it be built on the very site of the original Temple. This was holy ground and would, in Persian eyes, ensure that the God of Heaven was well pleased.

8 Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God: The expenses of these men are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the

revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop.

GILL, "Moreover, I make a decree, what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews, for the building of this house of God,.... This must be considered as an additional decree of Darius, which was peculiarly made by him, in which more was granted in favour of the Jews, and as an encouragement to them to go on with the building of the temple; though Josephus (a) says this is no other than a confirmation of the decree of Cyrus; for, according to him, all that is here granted to them, or threatened to others, from hence to the end of Ezr_6:10, was contained in the decree:

that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the river; what was collected out of his dominions on that side the river Euphrates, towards the land of Israel: according to Herodotus (b), this Darius was the first of the kings of Persia that exacted tribute; under Cyrus and Cambyses only presents were brought; but he imposed

a tribute, and was therefore called καπηλος, an huckster, as Cambyses had the name of lord, and Cyrus that of father: the same writer gives an account of the several nations he received it from, and the particular sums, which in all amounted to 14,560 Euboic talents of gold; among whom are mentioned all Phoenicia and Syria, called Palestine, the tribute of which parts is the tribute beyond the river he referred to: and this king was well disposed to the Jewish nation, temple, and worship, before he was king, if what Josephus (c) says is true, that, while a private man, he vowed to God that, if he should be king, he would send all the sacred vessels that were in Babylon to the temple at Jerusalem: and out of the above tribute it is ordered:

that forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered; from going on with the building, for want of money to buy materials, and pay the workmen.

HERY 8-10. "He orders them out of his own revenue to assist the builders with money, [1.] For carrying on the building, Ezr_6:8. Herein he pursues the example of Cyrus, Ezr_6:4. [2.] For maintaining the sacrifices there when it was built, Ezr_6:9. He ordered that they should be supplied with every thing they wanted both for burnt-offerings and meat-offerings. He was content it should be a rent-charge upon his revenue, and ordered it to be paid every day, and this without fail, that they might offer sacrifices and prayers with them (for the patriarchs, when they offered sacrifice, called on the name of the Lord, so did Samuel, Elijah, and others) for the life (that is, the happiness and prosperity) of the king and his sons, Ezr_6:10. See here how he gives honour, First, To Israel's God, whom he calls once and again the God of heaven. Secondly, To his ministers, in ordering his commissioners to give out supplies for the temple service at the appointment of the priests. Those that thought to control them must now be, in this matter, at their command. It was a new thing for God's priests to have such an interest in the public money. Thirdly, To prayer: That they may pray for

the life of the king. He knew they were a praying people, and had heard that God was nigh to them in all that which they called upon him for. He was sensible he needed their prayers and might receive benefit by them, and was kind to them in order that he might have an interest in their prayers. It is the duty of God's people to pray for those that are in authority over them, not only for the good and gentle, but also for the forward; but they are particularly bound in gratitude to pray for their protectors and benefactors; and it is the wisdom of princes to desire their prayers, and to engage them. Let not the greatest princes despise the prayers of the meanest saints; it is desirable to have them for us, and dreadful to have them against us.

JAMISO 8-10, "of the king’s goods, even of the tribute beyond the river ... expenses be given unto these men— The decree granted them the privilege of drawing from his provincial treasury of Syria, to the amount of whatever they required for the furthering of the work and providing sacrifice for the service of the temple, that the priests might daily pray for the health of the king and the prosperity of the empire.

K&D, "Ezr_6:8

“And a decree is (hereby) made by me, what ye shall do to these elders of the Jews, i.e.,

how you shall behave towards them (עם עם = עבד ,Gen_24:12.), to build this house ,עשה

i.e., that this house may be built: namely, (ו expl.) of the royal moneys, of the custom

on this side the river, let expenses (the cost of building) (see remarks on Ezr_4:13 ,מ7ה)

be punctually given to these men, that there be no hindrance.” לאZלב that there be ,7י־לאno cessation or leisure from work, i.e., that the work is not to be discontinued. On the

construction of the לא with the following infinitive, comp. Dan_6:9. The Vulgate renders the sense correctly by ne impediatur opus.

BESO, "Ezra 6:8-9. That of the king’s goods, forthwith expenses be given —That the work might not be stopped for want of money to carry it on, he orders certain sums to be paid them out of his own revenue. And that which they have need of both young bullocks, &c. — He orders that they should be supplied with every thing they wanted for maintaining the sacrifices at the temple, when it should be built, both for burnt-offerings and meat- offerings. Let it be given them day by day — That the morning and evening sacrifices might not fail to be offered every day.

COFFMA, "Verse 8DARIUS' ORDERS THAT EXPESES WERE TO BE PAID OUT OF TAX REVEUES

"Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to these elders of the Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the River, expenses be given with all diligence to these men, that they be not hindered. And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for burnt-offerings to the God of heaven; and also wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests that are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail; that they may offer sacrifices of sweet savor unto the God of

heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons."

"And pray for the life of the king, and of his sons" (Ezra 6:10). "Jeremiah's admonition for the Jews to seek the peace of Babylon during their residence there in the captivity (Jeremiah 29:7), was interpreted as a requirement that they should pray for their rulers, which the Jews do even until this day. In view of the kindness to them of the Persian kings, they would not have neglected to do this."[12] Furthermore this has come down even into Christianity as an apostolic order (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

"Offerings to the God of heaven" (Ezra 6:9,10). Many able commentators have warned us that actions and words as we find here should not be construed as meaning that men like Darius were genuine believers in the one true God. "Such acknowledgements as this we find here by Persian kings they could make without any renunciation of their polytheism. They could honor Jahve as a mighty god, yea, even as the mightiest god, without being unfaithful to the pagan gods of their fathers."[13]

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:8 Moreover I make 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.

Ver. 8. Moreover I make a decree] So did some of the heathen emperors for the persecuted Christians, Charles V for the Lutherans (at the motion of Albertus, archbishop of Mentz, and Ludovicus, palatine of Rhine), and Henry III of France for the Protestants; which yet was but sorrily observed though sworn to. It is written by an Italian (no stranger to the court of Rome) that their proverb is, Mercatorum est, non regum stare iuramentis, that it is for merchants, and not for kings, to keep to their oaths.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:8. Then Darius directs his officers to defray the cost of the building.—Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do.—Comp. Ezra 4:19; למא = in reference to that which ye are to do, comp.אל־ with צוה, Isaiah 23:11; Psalm 91:11; 2 Kings 20:1. עם is used here with עבד in no other way than with עשה in Hebrews, comp. Genesis 24:12 sq. It corresponds to some extent with the German “an,” but expresses still further “infavor of.”—For the building.—למבנא = in order that they may build. The second half of the verse: that of the king’s goods, even of the tribute, contains the principal thing that the royal officers were to do, so that ו=and indeed—With expenses—that they be not hindered.—אספרנה as in Ezra 6:8. די־לא cannot well mean that there be no stopping, or that it may not come to a לבטלאstopping of the work (Keil after the Vulgate: ne impediatur opus), since no object such as work is mentioned here as in Ezra 4:21; Ezra 4:23; but it means: which (prescribed action) is not to be brought to I an end, or discontinued (Bertheau). Comp. Daniel 6:9. This additional clause Is to sharpen the previous one.

PETT, "Ezra 6:8

‘Moreover I make a decree what you shall do to these elders of the Jews for the building of this house of God, that of the king’s goods, even of the tribute beyond the River, expenses be given with all diligence to these men, that they be not hindered.’What was more the elders of the Jews had to be given all financial assistance for the work out of the tribute, customs duties and rents which were gathered for the king’s treasury in the district of Beyond the River, so that nothing would hinder its completion. This went beyond what Cyrus had offered in Ezra 1:4.

The importance of this comes out when we compare the situation at the commencement of the construction of the Temple. Both Haggai and Zechariah emphasise that the work is to be carried on even in the face of financial hardship. But as God had said, ‘the silver is Mine and the gold is Mine’ (Haggai 2:8). And now He was proving it. They had commenced in poverty, but now they would complete the work with plenty. It is a reminder to us that if we are faithful to God with what we have, He will often supply a hundredfold.

9 Whatever is needed--young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem--must be given them daily without fail,

GILL, "And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven,.... All which were used for burnt offerings, see Lev_1:2

wheat, salt, wine, and oil; "wheat", or "fine flour", for the "minchah" or meat offering; "salt", for every offering; "wine", for the drink offerings; and "oil", to be put upon the meat offerings, see Lev_2:1,

according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail; for the daily sacrifice, and the meat and drink

offerings which attended it, Exo_29:38.

K&D, "Ezr_6:9

“And what is needful, both young bullocks and rams and lambs, for the burnt-offerings of the God of leaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests at Jerusalem (i.e., as the priests shall require for the service of God), let it be

given them day by day without fail.” מה is joined with the plur. fem. of the partic. חשחן,

and is defined by the enumeration which follows. משח, properly the anointing, then oil as

the means of anointing. On להוא and להון, see remarks on Ezr_4:12. שלו that there ,7י־לאbe no failure.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:9 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:

Ver. 9. Of the God of heaven] Heathens have this notion by nature, that God is the God of heaven, and that there he is, as in his place; howbeit we must not conceive that God is commensurable by any place, since he filleth all places, and is everywhere all-present, totally present wheresoever present; but in heaven is his glory most manifested, and on earth is he alone to be worshipped.

LAGE, "In Ezra 6:9-10 Darius further adds: that his officers shall provide the material of the offerings in order that prayer may be offered for him, and the welfare of his empire in the Jewish manner, in Jerusalem likewise.—And whatever is necessary—חשחן is fem. pl. (necessary things) from חשח for חשחן, comp. חשחין, Daniel 3:16, and פרסין, Daniel 5:25, according to Winer’s Gr., § 34, 3. [Riggs’ Gr., § 32—Tr.], the vocalization varies.—Both young bullocks and.—The following ו —ו is properly = as well—as, or also, whether—or. Darius names here various animals and other materials, which may in any way come into consideration, since he leaves the more particular designation of what would be required to the priests at Jerusalem.—Let it be given them without fail.—The singular לחוא מתיחב (comp. להוא4:12) is explained perhaps from the fact that Darius goes back upon מה and embraces every individual in an indefinite “it.” די־לא שלו means: that there be no interruption, namely, in providing what is necessary, or indeed in the worship. In the translation of the LXX: ὅ ἑὰν ἀιτήσουσι, which overlooks the לא and in that of the Vulgate ne sit in aliquo quærimonia, שלו seems to have been derived from שאל.

PETT, "Ezra 6:9-10

‘And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for burnt-offerings to the God of heaven; also wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests that are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail, that they may offer sacrifices of sweet savour to the God of heaven, and pray

for the life of the king, and of his sons.’Furthermore, not only were they to be given financial assistance for the building of the house of God, but also in order that all sacrifices and offerings considered necessary by the priests might be offered. They were to be provided with young bullock, rams and lambs (the most valuable first, the least valuable last) in order to make whole burnt offerings to the God of Heaven, along with all the grain, salt, wine and oil that was necessary (see Exodus 29:40; Leviticus 2:13). The king clearly had well informed advice. There are a number of examples of the kings of Persia taking such a detailed interest in the ways of worship of their subjects. These sacrificial requisites were unfailingly to be provided day by day, so that their sweet savour might reach the God of Heaven (compare Genesis 8:21; Exodus 29:23-25; Leviticus 1:9; Leviticus 1:13; Leviticus 1:17; Ezekiel 16:19; etc), ensuring the success of their prayers for the lives of the king and his sons. His generosity was not disinterested. Comparison may be made with the Cyrus Cylinder where Cyrus says, ‘may all the gods whom I have resettled in their sacred cities ask Bel and ebo daily for a long life for me’.

10 so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons.

CLARKE, "And pray for the life of the king, and of his sons - Even heathens believed that offerings made in their behalf to the God of the Jews would be available. And this principle has had considerable influence in certain states where there was even a form of religion established by the law, to induce them to tolerate other forms, that the state might have the benefit of their prayers.

GILL, "That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven,.... Such as will be acceptable to him, Gen_8:21

and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons; prayer being wont to be made at the time of the morning and evening incense; and the Jews used to pray for other people besides themselves, and especially when desired, and particularly for kings and civil magistrates, to whom they were subject, see Jer_29:7, the sons of Darius Hystaspis, for

whose life, as well as his own, he would have prayer made, were, according to Herodotus (d), three by his first wife, the daughter of Gobryas, before he began to reign, the eldest of which was Artobazanes; which sons must be here meant, since this was towards the beginning of his reign; he had afterwards four more by Atossa the daughter of Cyrus, the eldest of which was Xerxes, who succeeded him: many of the Heathens had an high opinion of the God of the Jews, and of their prayers to him for them; even the Emperor Julian (e) styles him the best of all the gods, and desired the Jews to pray to him for the welfare of his kingdom; nor need it seem strange that Darius should desire the same, since he was a devout prince; his father Hystaspes is supposed by some to be the same that was one of the most famous among the Persian Magi, or ministers in sacred things; and Darius himself had so great a veneration for the men of that sacred order, that he commanded that it should be put upon his sepulchral monument, that he was master of the Magi (f); and by his familiarity with the priests of Egypt, and learning their divinity, had the honour, while alive, to have deity ascribed to him (g).

K&D, "Ezr_6:10

The end the king had in view in all this follows: “That they (the priests) may offer sacrifices well-pleasing to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and of his

sons.” ניחוחין (comp. Dan_2:46) are sacrifices agreeable to God, ניחוחין _Lev_1:9, Lev) ריח�1:13, and elsewhere), i.e., sacrifices pleasing to God. Cyrus had commanded the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem, because he acknowledged the God of Israel to be the God of heaven, who had given him the kingdoms of the earth (Ezr_1:2). Darius was treading in his footsteps by also owning the God of the Jews as the God of heaven, and desiring that the blessing of this God might rest upon himself and his dynasty. Such an acknowledgment it was possible for the Persian kings to make without a renunciation of their polytheism. They could honour Jahve as a mighty, nay, as the mightiest God of heaven, without being unfaithful to the gods of their fathers; while the Jews could also, in the interest of their own welfare, pray and offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord for the life of the king to whom God had caused them to be subject (comp. Jer_29:7). Accordingly we find that in after times sacrifices were regularly offered for the king on appointed days: comp. 1 Macc. 7:33, 12:11; 2 Macc. 3:35, 13:23; Joseph. Antiq. xii. 2. 5, and elsewhere.

BESO, "Ezra 6:10. And pray for the life of the king and his sons — Persuaded that he, whom he once and again reverently calls the God of heaven, was ready to hear and answer his people in all things for which they called upon him, he desires an interest in their prayers for himself and family, and in order that he might obtain it, was kind to them. For though the Jews were not allowed to desire the heathen to pray to their deities for them, because they were forbidden to acknowledge any other gods but one: yet the heathen might with reason ask the Jews to pray to Jehovah for them; because they acknowledged a plurality of gods, and allowed the God of Israel to be really a God, as well as those they themselves worshipped. And the Jews were not prohibited either by reason or revelation from addressing their prayers to God for the heathen, when they were desired by them so to do. What then are we to think of the spirit of those Christians, so called, who hold it unlawful to pray for those whom they denominate heretics, though they are not heathen, but worshippers of the same living and true God, whom they themselves profess to

worship? Let them blush when they read this, to think how far the spirit of the Jewish religion excels theirs!

COKE, "Ver. 10. And pray for the life of the king, and of his sons— Though the Jews were not allowed to desire the heathens to pray to their deities for their prosperity, because they were forbidden to acknowledge any other gods than one; yet the Heathens might, if they thought fit, worship their God; nor did the Jews deny them that privilege, or refuse the offerings which they brought for that purpose, till, in the time of their wars with the Romans, the faction of the zealots grew to be predominant: "For then," as Josephus tells us, "one Eleazar, the son of Ananias the high-priest, a desperate daring young man, and the military officer then in command, pressed some of his friends among the priests to receive no offering or sacrifice but from the Jews only; by which means it came to pass, that the very offerings of Caesar, which were used constantly to be made for the welfare of the Roman people, came to be rejected, and this proved the very ground and foundation of the war with that nation. The high-priest however, and the men of best quality, declared themselves extremely dissatisfied with the novelty of this prohibition; and with great importunities desired the continuance of so pious a custom as offering up prayers for princes and governors;" but all in vain: though this place in Ezra, one would think, sets the duty in a clear light.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:10 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.

Ver. 10. That they may pray for the life of the king] For God, at his pleasure, cutteth off the spirits of princes, Psalms 76:12, he crops them off with ease, as one would do a flower; slips them off, as one would do a bunch of grapes; as he dealt by Alexander the Great, Attila, that terror of the world, and King Henry II of France, who upon the marriage of his sister to the king of Spain, was so puffed up, that he called himself by a new title, Tres-heureuse Roy, the thrice happy king. But, to confute him, in solemnizing that marriage, he was slain at tilt, by the captain of his guard (though against his will, but not without God’s determinate counsel), in the very beginning of his supposed happiness. Death is the only king against whom there is no rising up. The mortal scythe is master of the royal sceptre, saith one, and it moweth down the lilies of the crown as well as the grass of the field; pray, therefore, for the life of the king, saith this king here; let the priests shout and say, Let the king live for ever, ehemiah 2:3.

And of his sons] Some of whom had soon died, say some: he therefore calleth for prayers for the preservation of the rest.

WHEDO, "10. Offer sacrifices of sweet savours — Or, offer sweet odours.

The God of heaven — The same respectful and devout Monotheism appears in this letter of Darius as in the proclamation of Cyrus. See note on Ezra 1:2.

It is interesting to find this same Darius, in his great inscription at Behistun, declaring, “The temples which the Magian had destroyed I rebuilt. The sacred offices of the state, both the religious chants and the worship, I restored to the people which the Magian had deprived them of.” This, doubtless, refers to the state religion of the Persians, which Darius re-established in place of the Magianism which the usurper had sought to revive; but it shows how Darius, like Cyrus, would naturally have a sympathy for the religion of the Jews, and sustain the action of his great predecessor toward them.

Pray for the life of the king — The Persian monarch anticipates, by more than five centuries, the exhortations of an apostle of Christ. Comp. 1 Timothy 2:1-2.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:10. In order that they may be offering (continually) sacrifices of sweet savour for the life of the king and his sons.—ניחוחין are (comp. Daniel 2:46) sacrifices which afford God a ריח ניהוח ( Leviticus 1:9; Leviticus 1:13, etc.), and thereby gain his good will, comp. Jeremiah 29:7; 1 Maccabees 7:37; 1 Maccabees 12:11, etc.; Josephus, Arch. XII:2, 5; c. Ap. II:5. Darius thereby indicates the same recognition of the Lord to be worshipped in Jerusalem, as Cyrus, without doubt, from the same stand–point. Comp. Ezra 1:2.

11 Furthermore, I decree that if anyone changes this edict, a beam is to be pulled from his house and he is to be lifted up and impaled on it. And for this crime his house is to be made a pile of rubble.

BARES, "Being set up, let him be hanged thereon - Rather, “let him be lifted up and crucified upon it.” Crucifixion was the most common form of capital punishment among the Persians.

CLARKE, "Let timber be pulled down - Whether this refers to the punishment of hanging and gibbeting of whipping at a post, or of empaling, is not quite clear. In China they tie culprits to posts; and the executioner cuts them open while alive, takes out their bowels, etc. Empaling, thrusting a sharp stake through the body till it comes out at the

side of the neck, or hanging, seems to be intended here.

Let his house be made a dunghill - Let it be reduced to ruins, and never more used, except for the most sordid and unclean purposes.

GILL, "Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word,.... Act contrary to this command, will not obey it, but as much as in him lies changes and revokes it:

let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him, be hanged thereon; that is, let a beam be taken from it, and a gallows or gibbet made of it, and hang him on it:

and let his house be made a dunghill for this; be pulled down, and never rebuilt more; see Gill on Dan_2:2; see Gill on Dan_2:9.

HERY, ") He enforces his decree with a penalty (Ezr_6:11): “Let none either oppose the work and service of the temple or withhold the supports granted to it by the crown upon pain of death. If any alter this decree, let him be (hanged before his own door as we say), hanged upon a beam of his own house, and, as an execrable man, let his house be made a dunghill.”

JAMISO, "whosoever shall alter this word— The warning was specially directed against the turbulent and fanatical Samaritans. The extremely favorable purport of this edict was no doubt owing in some measure to the influence of Cyrus, of whom Darius entertained a high admiration, and whose two daughters he had married. But it proceeded still more from the deep impressions made even on the idolatrous people of that country and that age, as to the being and providence of the God of Israel.

K&D, "Ezr_6:11

To inculcate obedience to his command, Darius threatens to punish its transgression with death: “If any one alters this command, let a beam be torn from his house, and let him be fastened hanging thereon.” To alter a command means to transgress or abolish it.

,raised on high, is in Syriac the usual word for crucified ,זקיף .Q, a piece of wood, a beamע

and is to be so understood here. מחא, to strike, with על, strike upon, fasten to, nail to. This kind of capital punishment was customary among the Assyrians (Diod. Sic. ii. 1), the ancient Persians, and many other nations, but seems to have been executed in different manners among different people. Among the Assyrians it generally consisted in the impalement of the delinquent upon a sharp strong wooden post; comp. Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 355, and Nineveh and its Remains, p. 379, with the illustration fig. 58. According to Herod. iii. 159, Darius impaled as many as 3000 Babylonians after

the capture of their city (]νεσκολόπισε). Crucifixion proper, however, i.e., nailing to a cross, also occurred among the Persians; it was, however, practised by nailing the body of the criminal to a cross after decapitation; see the passages from Herodotus in Brissonii de regio Persarum princip. l. ii. c. 215. “And let his house be made a dunghill.” See remarks on Dan_2:5 and 2Ki_10:27.

COFFMA, "Verse 11CRUCIFIXIO WAS SET AS THE PEALTY FOR VIOLATORS

"Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and fastened thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this: and the God that hath caused his name to dwell there overthrow all kings and peoples that shall put forth their hand to alter the same, to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with all diligence."

There are two parts of this penalty: (1) the crufixion of the offender, and (2) an invocation that the God of heaven would also execute divine justice upon him.

"The extremely favorable impact of Darius' decree upon the temple project was no doubt due, in part, to the influence of Cyrus, two of whose daughters Darius had married; but it also came, no doubt, from the deep impressions made upon the idolatrous peoples of that age with regard to the being and providence of the God of Israel."[14]"Let him be hanged thereon" (Ezra 6:11). This, of course, was crucifixion, a punishment widely used by the Persians. "Keil cites a word from Herodotus as saying that Darius impaled 3,000 Babylonians when he took their city. Therefore, this was no idle threat."[15] Cook added that, "Crucifixion was the most common form of punishment among the Persians."[16

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:11 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.

Ver. 11. Let timber be pulled down from his house] 1. Let his house be pulled down for a penalty. The Popish Council of Toulouse called together against the Albigenses (those ancient Protestants) made this cruel constitution, We decree that that house, wherein is found a heretic, be pulled down to the ground. 2. Let that timber be set up for a gibbet, and let him be hanged thereon Chaldee, destroyed. Compare that of the apostle, 1 Corinthians 3:17, If any man destroy the temple of God (which temple ye are), him shall God destroy; and let those look to it who turn it into a den of thieves, into a brothel house, slaughter house, pest house of noisome lusts, qui podicem ex ore faciunt, by their unsavoury speeches, and spoil themselves worse than by tumbling in an out house..

WHEDO, "11. Let him be hanged thereon — Or, fastened thereon, that is, crucified, or impaled, a mode of execution common among many ancient nations.

See note on Esther 2:23.

Let his house be made a dunghill — A proverbial saying, indicating that the houses were to be reduced to ruinous heaps, and made receptacles for all manner of filth.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:11-12. Darius here shows as an additional sign, how earnest ho was that his will should be carried out, sealing what has been said with a penalty.—Whosoever shall alter this word.—The nom. absol. represents a protasis: if any man whatever יהשנא as in Ezra 6:12; Daniel 6:9; Daniel 6:16, change by transgression or also (comp. Ezra 6:12) by doing away with it.—Let a timber (beam) be torn from his house, let him be fastened thereon and crucified.—זקף in itself = raise on high, can just as well mean “empale” or “pierce through,” as also, like the Syriac “crucify.” Empalement or the piercing through of delinquents on a pointed wooden stake, was the usual punishment among the Assyrians and Persians, comp. Layard, ineveh and Babylon, p355, and ineveh and its remains, p379, with the plate fig58[F5] Of Darius it is said ἀνεσκολόπισε (Herod3159). Yet the fastening on a cross likewise occurred among the Persians, yet so that the head of the one to be crucified was first cut off. Vid. the passages of Herodotus in Brisonii de regni Persarum princip., ii, c215.—And let his house be made a dunghill for this, that Isaiah, let it be torn down and changed into a common sewer, comp. 2 Kings 10:27, and Hävernick, Com. on Daniel 2:5. נולו as נולי Daniel 2:5[F6]

PETT, "Ezra 6:11

‘Also I have made a decree, that whoever shall alter this word, let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and fastened on it, and let his house be made a dunghill for this,’Darius then enforces his decree by calling for severe penalties on any who seek to prevent it being carried out or who seek to water it down. The idea may be of impalement, a recognised form of Persian punishment, but the idea is more probably that the person be strung up on a beam and beaten. The taking of the beam out of his house would ensure the collapse of the house, and this is confirmed by the fact that it is to become a dunghill (compare Daniel 2:5; Daniel 3:29). Thus would he be punished for hindering the work on God’s house. Such penalty clauses were common in the Ancient ear East.

12 May God, who has caused his ame to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem. I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence.

BARES, "Destroy all - A similar malediction is found at the end of the great inscription of this same king Darius at Behistun: If anyone injures the tablet which he has set up, he prays that Ormazd will be their enemy, and that they may have no offspring, and that whatever they do, Ormazd may curse it for them.

To alter and to destroy this house - i. e., to alter the decree, and then proceed to destroy the house.

GILL, "And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there,.... Whose name is not only called upon there, and that called by his name; but who grants his presence, and causes his Shechinah, or divine Majesty, to dwell there, as in Solomon's temple, which Darius had some knowledge of:

destroy all kings and people; let them be who they will, high or low:

that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God, which is at Jerusalem; this he said to deter from hindering the building of it now, and from attempting to destroy it hereafter:

I Darius have made a decree, let it be done with speed; be carried immediately into execution, especially with respect to the disbursement for the building of the temple, and for the sacrifices of it.

HERY, "He entails a divine curse upon all those kings and people that should ever have any hand in the destruction of this house, Ezr_6:12. What he would not do himself for the protection of the temple he desired that God, to whom vengeance belongs, would do. This bespeaks him zealous in the cause; and though this temple was, at length, most justly destroyed by the righteous hand of God, yet perhaps the Romans, who were the instruments of that destruction, felt the effects of this curse, for that empire sensibly declined ever after.

2. From all this we learn, (1.) That the heart of kings is in the hand of God, and he turns it which way soever he pleases; what they are he makes them to be, for he is King of kings. (2.) That when God's time has come for the accomplishing of his gracious purposes concerning his church he will raise up instruments to promote them from whom such good service was not expected. The earth sometimes helps the woman (Rev_12:16), and those are made use of for the defence of religion who have little religion themselves. (3.) That what is intended for the prejudice of the church has often, by the overruling providence of God, been made serviceable to it, Phi_1:12. The enemies of the Jews, in appealing to Darius, hoped to get an order to suppress them, but, instead of that, they got an order to supply them. Thus out of the eater comes forth meat. The apocryphal Esdras (or Ezra), Book 1 ch. 3 and 4, gives another account of this decree in favour of the Jews, that Darius had vowed that if ever he came to the kingdom he would build the temple at Jerusalem, and that Zerubbabel, who was one of his attendants (whereas it is plain here that he was now at Jerusalem), for making an ingenious discourse before him on that subject (Great is the truth and will prevail), was told to ask what recompence he would, and asked only for this order, in pursuance of the king's

vow.

K&D, "Ezr_6:12

Finally, Darius adds the threat: “The God who has caused His name to dwell there, destroy every king and (every) people that shall stretch forth the hand to alter (this command), to destroy this house of God at Jerusalem.” The expression, “the God who has caused His name to dwell there,” is indeed specifically Israelitish (comp. Deu_12:11; Deu_14:23; Jer_7:12; Neh_1:9), and therefore undoubtedly originated with the Jewish historian; but the matter itself, the wish that God Himself would destroy him who should injure His temple, recalls the close of the inscription of Bisitun, wherein the judgments of Ahuramazda are imprecated upon him who should dare to injure the image and inscription, and his blessing invoked upon him who should respect them (Berth.).

BESO, "Ezra 6:12. The God that hath caused his name to dwell there — Who hath willed that a temple should be built there, called the temple or house of Jehovah. Destroy all kings and people that shall put to their hand to alter, &c. —Darius was touched with such a sense of the greatness of the God of the Jews, that he prays, that He who had all power in heaven and earth, and was King of kings, would not only punish all those kings who went about to obstruct this work, but destroy both them and their people. Though this temple was at length most justly destroyed by the righteous hand of God, yet perhaps the Romans, who were the instruments of that destruction, felt the effects of this curse. For that empire sensibly declined ever after, till it was wholly destroyed.

Here let us admire, how the divine providence overruleth every thing according to its purpose, to bring about all its wise designs. The great men, we here find, stood up against the poor and shattered remnant of Judah; they took counsel together how to oppress them, and keep them down. They laid their plans, exhibited their complaints against them, and thought to overturn them: but, quite contrary to their thoughts, the steps they took for this purpose operated the contrary way, and proved the means of exalting and raising those whom they intended to ruin to a higher pitch of power and pre-eminence. The king, whose governors these men were, and to whom, undoubtedly, they represented how much it was for his interest to put a stop to the rise of Judah, instead of hearkening to their complaints, as was natural, and acting accordingly, sent back a decree, not only forbidding them to molest the Jews in any way, but also granting them the most extraordinary privileges and encouragements, as to the greatest favourites. To what can we attribute this extraordinary behaviour in the king: but to an overruling providence? which ruleth even the hearts of kings, and turneth them as it seemeth best to his sovereign wisdom.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:12 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.

Ver. 12. And the God that hath caused his name] i. e. His word and true worship, Acts 9:15, Psalms 138:2, Micah 4:5, 1 Kings 5:3; 1 Kings 5:5.

Destroy all kings and people] A dreadful curse, and such as God saith Amen to. Let all persecutors and church robbers look to themselves. God’s hand hath ever been very heavy upon such and their posterity. See Proverbs 20:25, with the note.

Let it be done with speed] It hath been too much retarded and delayed already; let it now be expedited. David made haste, and delayed not to keep God’s commandments, Psalms 119:60. And Austin crieth out, imis sere te amavi, Domine. Too late I loved you, God. It was a great burden to his good soul that he began no sooner to love God. He resolveth therefore to redeem time, and to redouble his diligence; not leaving till his soul was turned into a lump of love. Morus novissime omnium germinat; et tamen parit inter primas; the mulberry tree buds last, but fruits with the first.

WHEDO, "12. God… destroy all kings — Compare the similar execrations in Darius’s Behistun inscription, especially the following: “if seeing this tablet, and these images, thou injurest them, and preservest them not as long as my seed endures, may Ormazd be thy enemy, and mayest thou have no offspring, and whatever thou doest may Ormazd curse it for thee.”

LAGE, "Ezra 6:12. And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there, destroy all kings,etc.—ימגר corresponds with the Heb. מגר, Psalm 89:45. The expression, who has caused His name to dwell there, is so decidedly Hebrew in style (comp. Deuteronomy 12:11; Deuteronomy 12:14; Deuteronomy 12:23; Jeremiah 7:12; ehemiah 1:9), that we must suppose the author does not impart the decree verbally, or that Darius made use of Jewish help in this entire affair. Even the entire conception that God confined His especial presence to a temple building was entirely unlike the Persian conception, so that the entire proceedings toward the Jews with reference to the temple on the part of Darius, and already on the part of Cyrus, must be referred back to an accommodation of views.—Who stretches forth his hand to change, to destroy.—להשניא for which we would expect להשניא is explained by להבלה, which indicates what kind of change of the decree is here thought of. The threat itself, as we have it here, is genuine Persian; it reminds us of the conclusion of the inscription of Darius at Behistun, where the punishment of Ahuramazada is desired to descend upon him who ventures to violate the image and inscription, his blessing on the one who holds them in honor (Berth.). [Rawlinson in loco. See Beh. Ins., col. vi, part17—Tr.

PETT, "Ezra 6:12

‘And the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow all kings and peoples who will put forth their hand to alter the same, to destroy this house of God

which is at Jerusalem.’We have here a further indication of self-interest. The only kings and peoples who would put forth their hands to destroy Jerusalem, in view of his decrees, would be those who were enemies of Persia, and he is seeking God’s help in their overthrow. At the same time he is demonstrating to God his own deep concern for His house. Surely in the light of this God will look kindly on the house of Darius.

‘The God who has caused His ame to dwell there.’ This is a clear indication of Jewish advisers behind the decree. It is a typical phrase from Deuteronomy. Compare Deuteronomy 12:11; Deuteronomy 16:2; Deuteronomy 26:2; 1 Kings 8:29.

Ezra 6:12

‘I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with all diligence.’Darius ends his decree by emphasising that it is one that he has made (contrast Ezra 4:21) and that it should therefore be carried out with due diligence. The instruction is clear. There is to be no delay in carrying it out.

13 Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence.

GILL, "Then Tatnai, governor on this side the river, Shetharboznai, and their companions,.... Having received and read the above letter:

according to that which Darius the king had sent, so they did speedily; acquainted the Jews with what the king had written; were so far from hindering the work going forward, that they encouraged it; and made disbursements to them out of the king's tribute, and furnished them with everything necessary for sacrifice: and this they did immediately, without delay.

HERY, "Here we have, I. The Jews' enemies made their friends. When they received this order from the king they came with as much haste to encourage and assist the work as their predecessors had done to put a stop to it, Ezr_4:23. What the king ordered they did, and, because they would not be thought to do it with reluctance, they

did it speedily, Ezr_6:13. The king's moderation made them, contrary to their own inclination, moderate too.

JAMISO, "Ezr_6:13-15. The Temple finished.

Then Tatnai ... did speedily— A concurrence of favorable events is mentioned as accelerating the restoration of the temple and infusing a new spirit and energy into the workmen, who now labored with unabating assiduity till it was brought to a completion. Its foundation was laid in April, 536 b.c. (Ezr_3:8-10), and it was completed on February 21, 515 b.c., being twenty-one years after it was begun [Lightfoot].

K&D, "The execution of the royal decree, the completion of the building, and the dedication of the new temple. - Ezr_6:13 Tatnai and his associate diligently executed the commands of Darius. “Because Darius the king sent (i.e., despatched to them the letter, whose contents have just been given, Ezr_6:6), they speedily acted accordingly in the

manner stated” (נמאT).

BESO, "Ezra 6:13. They did it speedily — When they received this order from the king, they applied themselves with as much haste to encourage and assist the work, as their predecessors had used to put a stop to it. Thus the enemies of the Jews were suddenly made their friends.

COFFMA, "Verse 13THE TEMPLE WAS FIISHED WITHI ABOUT FOUR YEARS

"Then Tattenai the governor beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their companions, because that Darius the king had sent, did accordingly with all diligence. And the elders of the Jews builded and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they budded and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of Darius the king."

"And Artaxerxes king of Persia" (Ezra 6:14). There was a lapse of 82 years between the end of Darius' reign (486 B.C.) and the beginning of that of Artaxerxes (404 B.C.) (See p. 25, above); and some have wondered just why his name should have been mentioned along with that of Cyrus and Darius. "He was probably included here because he, at a later date, contributed to the beautifying of the temple (Ezra 7:21-28)."[17]

"The third day of the month Adar" (Ezra 6:15). "This was March 12,515 B.C., four and one half years after work had begun in earnest."[18] It will be remembered that it required over seven years in the building of Solomon's temple.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:13 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.

Ver. 13. So they did speedily] This they did, because they durst do no otherwise; their obedience was wrung out of them, as sour juice is out of a crab, or as distilled water is forced out by the heat of the fire. Thus some perform duties, aud yet hate them; part with sins, and yet love them. Show the malefactor the rack, and he will say or do anything. This is to fear God for his lions, as those mongrels did, 2 Kings 17:33-34, timore servili, non amicali, fearing slavery not God, which yet may addere alas, add to their strength, lest they fall under the lash, the correction of the law, for refusing the direction thereof (Beda).

WHEDO, "THE TEMPLE FIISHED AD DEDICATED, Ezra 6:13-18.

14. Prospered through the prophesying of Haggai… and Zechariah — The extant writings of these prophets give evidence that the Jews needed continual prompting and encouraging in their work, for they had been so long in building that many had become fainthearted and discouraged.

The commandment of… God — Given by the prophets. Compare Haggai 1:1; Haggai 1:12.

Commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes — The mention of Artaxerxes is evidently a prolepsis here, for he can be no other than the Artaxerxes of Ezra 7:1, (compare Ezra 6:12; Ezra 6:21-22,) who is generally allowed to be identical with Artaxerxes Longimanus, the son and successor of Xerxes. But because he so greatly assisted Ezra in matters pertaining to the house of God, (Ezra 7:21-27,) it was quite natural for the compiler of this book, who was doubtless Ezra himself, to mention him in this connexion.

COSTABLE, "Verses 13-15Tattenai"s compliance6:13-15

Several factors resulted in the completion of the temple, which the writer brought together in Ezra 6:14. The reference to Artaxerxes ( Ezra 6:14; cf. Ezra 4:7-23) does not mean that he had a part in completing the temple. As noted previously, he was the king who later supported the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. That action served to make the temple secure. He also contributed to the temple treasury ( Ezra 7:15-16; Ezra 7:21). Consequently, mention of him was appropriate at this point.

"The most powerful word on earth at that time was the decree of a Persian king, but silently and mysteriously the king was being directed by an even more powerful divine word." [ote: Breneman, p118.]

The builders finished the temple on Adar3 (in late February), 515 B.C. This was about four and one-half years after Haggai and Zechariah had gotten the builders moving again (in520 B.C.). It was about21years after the Jews had laid the foundation (in536 B.C.), and about23years after Cyrus had issued his decree

allowing the Jews to return to Palestine (in538 B.C.). It was70 years after ebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple (586 B.C.). Thus, God fulfilled Jeremiah"s prophecy that the captivity would last70 years ( Jeremiah 25:11; Jeremiah 29:10). ebuchadnezzar burned the temple down in the fifth month of586 B.C. ( 2 Kings 25:8-9), and the restoration Jews reopened it in the twelfth month of515 B.C. Solomon"s temple had stood for almost400 years, but the second temple lasted longer, about585 years, until Titus destroyed it in A.D70.

LAGE, "II. the completion and dedication of the temple. Ezra 6:13-18

13Then Tatnai, governor on this side the river, Shethar-boznai, 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 commandment 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 a hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin-offering for all Israel, twelve Hebrews -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.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:13. This happy turn of affairs is followed by the completion of the work, on which, as a matter of course, all depended. It is characteristic of the book that this fact should also be narrated in the Chaldee. It is as if the continued use of this language should express the accompanying fact of their dependence upon Persia, which still continued. Yet this was not so depressing in its influence as encouraging, for, according to divine providence, even the mighty princes of Persia co-operated on their part and in their way in the worship of Jehovah. The author first lets the Persian officers take part in the recognition of Jehovah: According to that which Darius the king had sent so they did speedily.—כנמא, according to the word (of the king) comp. Ezra 4:18, in consequence of the fact that Darius had sent, namely, answer and command, לקבל די properly, over against the fact that = considering that, as usually, כל־קבל־די.

14 So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the

prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.

BARES, "Artaxerxes - The Artaxerxes of marginal reference seems to be meant (i. e., Longimanus); he was one of those who together with Cyrus and Darius helped forward the completion of the work.

CLARKE, "According to the commandment of the God of Israel - He first gave the order, and stirred up the hearts of the following Persian kings to second that order.

Of Cyrus - This sovereign gave his orders for the rebuilding of the temple about A.M. 3468.

And Darius - Darius Hystaspes confirmed the above orders, A. M. 3485.

And Artaxerxes - Artaxerxes Longimanus sent Ezra to Judea with new privileges, A.M. 3547. With the permission of the same king, Nehemiah came to Judea in 3550. The writer recapitulates the different sovereigns who favored the Jews after the Babylonish captivity. See Calmet.

GILL, "And the elders of the Jews builded,.... Went on with the building of the temple:

and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo; or grandson, as before; being animated and encouraged by them; and as they foretold and promised it would, be, so it was; they had success in their work, the Lord overruling the heart of Darius the king and his council in their favour:

and they builded and finished it; that is, the temple:

according to the commandment of the God of Israel; by the above prophets, who spoke to them, and prophesied in his name:

and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia; the commandment of Cyrus is in Ezr_1:1 that of Darius in this, Ezr_6:8, but who Artaxerxes is, and his commandment, is not easy to say; he cannot be the Artaxerxes between Cyrus and Darius, but one that followed the latter; besides, he was a hinderer of the building, Ezr_4:21, some think this was Xerxes the son and successor of Darius, and who might be partner with his father in the empire at this time, and so is

joined with him in this commandment; which is more probable than that he should be his grandson Artaxerxes Longimamus, in whose reign the temple, it is supposed, was beautified and ornamented, though the exterior building of it was before finished; and so he is spoken of by anticipation; and still more plausible than that he should be, with others, Artaxerxes Mnemon, the son of Darius Nothus; but, after all, I am most inclined to think, with Aben Ezra, that he is Darius himself; and the words to be read, Darius, that is, Artaxerxes, king of Persia; Artaxerxes being, as he observes, a common name of the kings of Persia, as Pharaoh was of the kings of Egypt; though this is by some rejected (h); and who goes by this name in the continuance of this history, in whose seventh year, the year after this, Ezra went up to Jerusalem, and, in the twentieth of his reign, Nehemiah, Ezr_7:1, and I find Dr. Lightfoot (i) was of the same mind; and, according to Diodorus Siculus (k), the kings of Persia were called by the name of Artaxerxes after Mnemon; and so they might before; Cambyses is so called in Ezr_4:7. Herodotus (l) says the name signifies "a mighty warrior".

HERY, " The building of the temple carried on, and finished in a little time, Ezr_6:14, Ezr_6:15. Now the elders of the Jews built with cheerfulness. For aught I know, the elders themselves laboured at it with their own hands; and, if they did, it was no disparagement to their eldership, but an encouragement to the other workmen. 1. They found themselves bound to it by the commandment of the God of Israel, who had given them power that they might use it in his service. 2. They found themselves shamed into it by the commandment of the heathen kings, Cyrus formerly, Darius now, and Artaxerxes some time after. Can the elders of the Jews be remiss in this good work when these foreign princes appear so warm in it? Shall native Israelites grudge their pains and care about this building when strangers grudge not to be at the expense of it? 3. They found themselves encouraged in it by the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah, who, it is likely, represented to them (as bishop Patrick suggests) the wonderful goodness of God in inclining the heart of the king of Persia to favour them thus. And now the work went on so prosperously that, in four hears' time, it was brought to perfection. As for God, his work is perfect. The gospel church, that spiritual temple, is long in the building, but it will be finished at last, when the mystical body is completed. Every believer is a living temple, building up himself in his most holy faith. Much opposition is given to this work by Satan and our own corruptions. We trifle, and proceed in it with many stops and pauses; but he that has begun the good work will see it performed, and will bring forth judgment unto victory. Spirits of just men will be made perfect.

K&D, "Ezr_6:14

The elders of the Jews, moreover, built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah, who thereby effected the resumption of the work, and

promised them success. ב� is used of the rule by which, or manner in which anything is done. “They built and finished (the building) according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Artachshasta, kings of Persia.” The naming of Artachshasta presents some difficulty; for since it is impossible to conceive that a predecessor of Darius is intended by a name which follows the name of that monarch, none but Artaxerxes Longimanus can be meant, and he did not reign till long after the completion of the temple. Cleric. and J. H. Mich. explain the mention of his name by the consideration that Artaxerxes, by his edict (Ezr_7:15, Ezr_7:21), contributed to the maintenance, though not to the building, of the temple.

(Note: “Nam etsi,” remarks Calovius in J. H. Mich., adnotatt. uber. ad h. l., “non ad structuram templi conduxerit proprie edictum Artaxerxis, quae Darii secundo anno incepta et sexto absoluta fuit, Ezr_6:15 ad ornamenta tamen et additamenta eam spectasse dubium non est: quae ab ipso, ceu rege post Cyrum et Darium erga Judaeos Persarum omnium benignissimo, profecta hic celebratur.” Similarly but more briefly explained by Clericus.)

It may in this instance be questionable whether the name ארתחששתא was added by the author of the Chaldee section, or by Ezra when he introduced this into his book. We believe the latter to be the correct view, because the Chaldee section, to judge by the

Ezr_5:4, was composed by one who lived contemporaneously with the building of ,אמרנאthe temple, while from the date of the completion of the temple to the seventh year of Artaxerxes fifty-seven years elapsed.

BESO, "Ezra 6:14. They prospered through the prophesying of Haggai, &c. —This is a seasonable intimation that this great and unexpected success was not to be ascribed to chance, or to the kindness or good-humour of Darius, but unto God only, who, by his prophets, had required and encouraged them to proceed in the work, and by his mighty power disposed Darius’s heart to such kind and noble purposes. And Artaxerxes — That is, Artaxerxes Longimanus, who is here joined with Cyrus and Darius; because, though the temple was built before he came to the throne, in Darius’s reign, (Ezra 6:15,) yet it was afterward beautified and adorned in consequence of the commission he gave Ezra and ehemiah for that purpose, the latter of whom was invested with full power to take measures for the building of the city, and also the ordering of all other things that concerned the Jewish nation and religion.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:14 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 commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

Ver. 14. And Artaxerxes] This is Xerxes (called also Ahasuerus, husband of Esther), or, as some think, Artaxerxes Longimanus, the son of Xerxes by Esther; by whom the temple, finished before, might be much beautified, and, haply, enlarged also.

ELLICOTT, "(14) Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.—This verse includes all the agents in the great work with which the book deals: from Cyrus to Artaxerxes; the elders, that is, the heads of the Jews; the prophets (see Ezra 5:1); but all is from the God of Israel, whose commandment Cyrus and all others fulfilled.

Artaxerxes king of Persia.—Evidently the Artaxerxes Longimanus of the sequel, whose contributions and help did so much toward the perfecting of the general design, though the “finishing” here mentioned took place fifty years before his reign. Observe that he alone is called “king of Persia,” which shows that Ezra is writing in his time, and adds his name to the original record. Just as the later

Artaxerxes is introduced, so the earlier Cyrus is, in this comprehensive review.

EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMETARY, "ZECHARIAH THE PROPHET

Zechariah 1:1-6; Ezra 5:1;, Ezra 6:14

ZECHARIAH is one of the prophets whose personality as distinguished from their message exerts some degree of fascination on the student. This is not due, however, as in the case of Hosea or Jeremiah, to the facts of his life, for of these we know extremely little; but to certain conflicting symptoms of character which appear through his prophecies.

His name was a very common one in Israel, Zekher-Yah, "Jehovah remembers." In his own book he is described as "the son of Berekh-Yah, the son of Iddo," and in the Aramaic document of the Book of Ezra as "the son of Iddo." Some have explained this difference by supposing that Berekhyah was the actual father of the prophet, but that either he died early, leaving Zechariah to the care of the grandfather, or else that he was a man of no note, and Iddo was more naturally mentioned as the head of the family. There are several instances in the Old Testament of men being called the sons of their grandfathers; [Genesis 24:47, cf. 1 Kings 19:16, cf. 2 Kings 9:14; 2 Kings 9:20] as in these cases the grandfather was the reputed founder of the house, so in that of Zechariah Iddo was the head of his family when it came out of Babylon and was anew planted in Jerusalem. Others, however, have contested the genuineness of the words "son of Berekh-Yah," and have traced their insertion to a confusion of the prophet with Zechariah son of Yebherekh-Yahu, the contemporary of Isaiah. This is precarious, while the other hypothesis is a very natural one. Whichever be correct, the prophet Zechariah was a member of the priestly family of Iddo, that came up to Jerusalem from Babylon under Cyrus. [ehemiah 12:4] The Book of ehemiah adds that in the high-priesthood of Yoyakim, the son of Joshua, the head of the house of Iddo was a Zechariah. If this be our prophet, then he was probably a young man in 520, and had come up as a child in the caravans from Babylon. The Aramaic document of the Book of Ezra [Ezra 5:1;, Ezra 6:14] assigns to Zechariah a share with Haggai in the work of instigating Zerubbabel and Jeshua to begin the Temple. one of his oracles is dated previous to the beginning of the work in August, 520, but we have seen that among those undated there are one or two which by referring to the building of the Temple as still future may contain some relics of that first stage of his ministry. From ovember, 520, we have the first of his dated oracles; his Visions followed in January, 519, and his last recorded prophesying in December, 518.

These are all the certain events of Zechariah’s history. But in the well-attested prophecies he has left we discover, besides some obvious traits of character, certain problems of style and expression which suggest a personality of more than usual interest. Loyalty to the great voices of old, the temper which appeals to the experience, rather than to the dogmas, of the past, the gift of plain speech to his own times, a wistful anxiety about his reception as a prophet, [Zechariah 2:13;, Zechariah 4:9;, Zechariah 6:15] combined with the absence of all ambition to be

original or anything but the clear voice of the lessons of the past and of the conscience of today these are the qualities which characterize Zechariah’s orations to the people. But how to reconcile them with the strained art and obscure truths of the Visions-it is this which invests with interest the study of his personality. We have proved that the obscurity and redundancy of the Visions cannot all have been due to himself. Later hands have exaggerated the repetitions and raveled the processes of the original. But these gradual blemishes have not grown from nothing: the original style must have been sufficiently involved to provoke the interpolations of the scribes, and it certainly contained all the weird and shifting apparitions which we find so hard to make clear to ourselves. The problem, therefore, remains-how one who had gift of speech, so straight and clear, came to torture and tangle his style; how one who presented with all plainness the main issues of his people’s history found it laid upon him to invent, for the further expression of these, symbols so labored and intricate.

We begin with the oracle which opens his book and illustrates those simple characteristics of the man that contrast so sharply with the temper of his Visions.

"In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berekhyah, son of Iddo, saying: Jehovah was very wroth with your fathers."

"And thou shalt say unto them: Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts: Turn ye to Me-oracle of Jehovah of Hosts-that I may turn to you, saith Jehovah of Hosts! Be not like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying: ‘Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, Turn now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds,’ but they hearkened not, and paid no attention to Me-oracle of Jehovah. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever? But, My words and My statutes, with which I charged My servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? till these turned and said, As Jehovah of Hosts did purpose to do unto us, according to our deeds and according to our ways, so hath He dealt with us."

It is a sign of the new age which we have reached, that its prophet should appeal to the older prophets with as much solemnity as they did to Moses himself. The history which led to the Exile has become to Israel as classic and sacred as her great days of deliverance from Egypt and of conquest in Canaan. But still more significant is what Zechariah seeks from that past; this we must carefully discover, if we would appreciate with exactness his rank as a prophet.

The development of religion may be said to consist of a struggle between two tempers, both of which indeed appeal to the past, but from very opposite motives. The one proves its devotion to the older prophets by adopting the exact formulas of their doctrine, counts these sacred to the letter, and would enforce them in detail upon the minds and circumstances of the new generation. It conceives that truth has been promulgated once for all in forms as enduring, as the principles they contain. It fences ancient rites, cherishes old customs and institutions, and when these are questioned it becomes alarmed and even savage. The other temper is no whit behind

this one in its devotion to the past, but it seeks the ancient prophets not so much for what they have said as for what they have been, not for what they enforced but for what they encountered, suffered, and confessed. It asks not for dogmas, but for experience and testimony. He who can thus read the past and interpret it to his own day-he is the prophet. In his reading he finds nothing so clear, nothing so tragic, nothing so convincing as the working of the Word of God. He beholds how this came to men, haunted them and was entreated by them. He sees that it was their great opportunity, which being rejected became their judgment. He finds abused justice vindicated, proud wrong punished, and all God’s neglected commonplaces achieving in time their triumph. He reads how men came to see this, and to confess their guilt. He is haunted by the remorse of generations who know how they might have obeyed the Divine call, but willfully did not. And though they have perished, and the prophets have died and their formulas are no more applicable, the victorious Word itself still lives and cries to men with the terrible emphasis of their fathers’ experience. All this is the vision of the true prophet, and it was the vision of Zechariah.

His generation was one whose chief temptation was to adopt towards the past the other attitude we have described. In their feebleness what could the poor remnant of Israel do but cling servilely to the former greatness? The vindication of the Exile had stamped the Divine authority of the earlier prophets. The habits, which the life in Babylon had perfected, of arranging and codifying the literature of the past, and of employing it, in place of altar and ritual, in the stated service of God, had canonized Scripture and provoked men to the worship of its very letter. Had the real prophet not again been raised, these habits might have too early produced the belief that the Word of God was exhausted, and must have fastened upon the feeble life of Israel that mass of stiff and stark dogmas, the literal application of which Christ afterwards found crushing the liberty and the force of religion. Zechariah prevented this-for a time. He himself was mighty in the Scriptures of the past: no man in Israel makes larger use of them. But he employs them as witnesses, not as dogmas; he finds in them not authority, but experience. He reads their testimony to the ever-living presence of God’s Word with men. And seeing that, though the old forms and figures have perished with the hearts which shaped them, the Word itself in its bare truth has vindicated its life by fulfillment in history, he knows that it lives still, and hurls it upon his people, not in the forms published by this or that prophet of long ago, but in its essence and direct from God Himself, as His Word for today and now. "The fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But My words and My statutes, with which I charged My servants the prophets, have they not overtaken your fathers? Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, Be ye not like your fathers, but turn ye to Me that I may turn to you."

The argument of this oracle might very naturally have been narrowed into a credential for the prophet himself as sent from God. About his reception as Jehovah’s messenger Zechariah shows a repeated anxiety. Four times he concludes a prediction with the words. "And ye shall know that Jehovah hath sent me," as if after his first utterances he had encountered that suspicion and unbelief which a prophet never failed to suffer from his contemporaries. But in this oracle there is no

trace of such personal anxiety. The oracle is pervaded only with the desire to prove the ancient Word of God as still alive, and to drive it home in its own sheer force. Like the greatest of his order Zechariah appears with the call to repent: "Turn ye to Me-oracle of Jehovah of Hosts-that I may turn to you." This is the pivot on which history has turned, the one condition on which God has been able to help men. Wherever it is read as the conclusion of all the past, wherever it is proclaimed as the conscience of the present, there the true prophet is found and the Word of God has been spoken.

This same possession by the ethical spirit reappears, as we shall see, in Zechariah’s orations to the people after the anxieties of building are over and the completion of the Temple is in sight. In these he affirms again that the whole essence of God’s Word by the older prophets has been moral-to judge true judgment, to practice mercy, to defend the widow and orphan, the stranger and poor, and to think no evil of one another. For the sad fasts of the Exile Zechariah enjoins gladness, with the duty of truth and the hope of peace. Again and again he enforces sincerity and the love without dissimulation. His ideals for Jerusalem are very high, including the conversion of the nations to her God. But warlike ambitions have vanished from them, and his pictures of her future condition are homely and practical. Jerusalem shall be no more a fortress, but spread village-wise without walls. Full families, unlike the present colony with its few children and its men worn out in middle life by harassing warfare with enemies and a sullen nature; streets rife with children playing and old folk sitting in the sun; the return of the exiles; happy harvests and spring-times of peace; solid gain of labor for every man, with no raiding neighbors to harass, nor the mutual envies of peasants in their selfish struggle with famine.

It is a simple, hearty, practical man whom such prophesying reveals, the spirit of him bent on justice and love, and yearning for the un-harassed labor of the field and for happy homes. o prophet has more beautiful sympathies, a more direct word of righteousness, or a braver heart.

"Fast not, but love truth and peace. Truth and wholesome justice set ye up in your gates. Be not afraid; strengthen your hands! Old men and women-shall yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand for the fullness of their years; the city’s streets shall be rife with boys and girls at play."

LAGE, "Ezra 6:14. The author here reminds us of all those to whom the congregation were especially indebted for the new temple. They were encouraged by the prophesying of the prophets; but it was the command of God, and then that (ב )of Cyrus, Darius, Artaxerxes, that had been the source or origin (מן) of all that happened. God is mentioned here, and indeed before Cyrus and Darius, since the author goes forth from the fact, that there would have been no command of Cyrus and Darius without God’s command. If we had here a simple account of the final completion of the building, it would seem strange that here the author should go back even to Cyrus, still more that the much later Artaxerxes is taken into consideration, who had nothing to do with the building here under consideration. The author, however, instead of giving a simple narrative, would rather express

recognition and thanks, and hence could forget none who were deserving of mention. Artaxerxes came into consideration only on account of the gifts which he caused to be brought to Jerusalem by Ezra 7:15; Ezra 7:19.

PETT, "Ezra 6:14

‘And the elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.’And the consequence was that the elders of the Jews both built and prospered (succeeded admirably) as a result of the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah. The writer concludes where he began (Ezra 5:1). In the end the construction of the Temple was the result of the activities of God’s prophets, and the commandment of God, whatever assistance might have been given by the Persians. However, that was not to be overlooked, and so he concludes with the fact that it was ‘in accordance with the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.’ All three therefore worked in harmony, the prophets of God, the God of Israel Himself, and the kings of Persia. God was in control.

At first sight the mention of Artaxerxes might appear unusual. It was Cyrus and Darius who had made the decrees that were carried out. But it was Artaxerxes who made the decree (Ezra 7:13) which resulted in Ezra himself arriving in Jerusalem, with further provision for the Temple (Ezra 7:15-23; Ezra 8:24-30), establishing the Law of Moses (Ezra 7:25; compare Ezra 7:1; Ezra 7:6; Ezra 7:10). The writer rightly saw that as the seal on the building of the Temple. Indeed, if it was Ezra who collected together the information in 1-6 and wrote it down, we can perfectly understand why he would want to include mention of his patron and his generosity to the Temple. The order in which the names of the kings are written makes quite clear that the writer knew that Artaxerxes came subsequent to Cyrus and Darius.

15 The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

BARES, "“Adar” was the twelfth or last month of the Jewish year, corresponding nearly with our March. The sixth year of Darius was 516-515 B.C.

CLARKE, "This house was finished - The sixth year of Darius mentioned here was about A.M. 3489, twenty years after the foundation had been laid by Zerubbabel, under the reign of Cyrus.

GILL, "And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar,.... The twelfth month of the year with the Jews, and answers to part of our February and part of March:

which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king; four years after the decree came forth.

K&D, "Ezr_6:15

And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar (the twelfth month),

which is the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. שיציא, according to the Keri שיצי, with

the א dropped, is the Shaphel of יצא, to bring a thing to an end, to finish it. The form

,משיציא is not a participle pass. formed from the Shaphel (Gesen.), for this would be שיציאbut a Hebraized passive form of the Shaphel in the meaning of the Targumistic

Ishtaphal, like חיתיו, Dan_3:13, and חיתית, Dan_6:18, with the active היתיו, Dan_6:17. In

the Targums שיצי has mostly an active, and only in a few passages the intransitive meaning, to end, to be at the end; comp. Levy, chald. Wörterbuch, s.v.

(Note: Instead of the “third day,” which the lxx also has, in accordance with the Hebrew text, 1 Esdr. 7:5 gives the three-and-twentieth day of the month Adar, - a statement which Bertheau arbitrarily insists upon regarding as the original reading, because “the view that the compiler altered the third into the twenty-third day, because it seemed to him more fitting to assume an eight days' celebration of the dedication (comp. 1Ki_8:60; 2Ch_29:18), and to fill up therewith also the eight last days of the year, is rather far-fetched.” Such a view, however, would be entirely consistent with the whole spirit of 1 Esdras.)

BESO, "Ezra 6:15. This house was finished in the third day of the month Adar — The tenth of March, in the year of the world 3489, in little more than four years after the Jews had returned to the work, and engaged heartily in it, in consequence of the reproofs and exhortations of Haggai and Zechariah; in something more than two years after the forementioned decree of Darius had been given forth; in about twenty years after the return from captivity; and five hundred and fifteen before the coming of the Messiah.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:15 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.

Ver. 15. And this house was finished] About fifteen years after that the foundation had been laid, or twenty at most. The Jews therefore either were out in their account, John 2:20, Forty and six years was this temple in building; or else they meant it of Herod’s temple, which was long in building and beautifying, whereby he sought to ingratiate with the Jews, which yet he could never do.

ELLICOTT, "(15) The third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year.—The event around which this part of the history revolves is dated with due care; it was on the third day of the last month of the ecclesiastical year, B.C. 516-515. Haggai (Haggai 1:15) gives the exact date of the re-commencement: the time therefore was four years five months and ten days. But, dating from the first foundation (Ezra 3:10), no less than twenty-one years had elapsed.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:15. For a work of such importance the date is properly given.—.so Luzatto, Gram, § 45] יצא is the Shaphel of ,שיצי for which the Qeri gives ,שיציאTr.]; in the Targum שיצי has mostly an active sense, yet at times also an intransitive sense, so that it corresponds with our “end;” now transitive and then intransitive. Thus it is hardly necessary to regard שיציא as a Hebraistic passive formation of the Shaphel (Berth. and Keil). By the third day of the month Adar, that is the last month of the year, was the temple finished, since it is probable that they made haste to have time left in this year for a worthy dedication; whilst the Sept. agrees with our text in respect to the third day, Ezra 7:5 has instead of it the twenty–third day, but probably, only because the author held that the dedication immediately followed the completion, and that it lasted eight days, after the example of the temple of Song of Solomon, 1 Kings 8:60, and 2 Chronicles 29:18, and filled up the last eight days of the year. [The sixth year of Darius, according to Rawlinson, was B. C516–515.—Tr.]

PETT, "Ezra 6:15

‘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.’And the building of the house was finally completed on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius. Adar was the twelfth month (roughly February/March). The date was presumably on record (it was from the point of view of the Jews a world shaking event), and may well have been engraved on the stones of the Temple. The sixth year of Darius was 516 BC. So the Temple had taken four and a half years in building, commencing from the first preaching of Haggai (Haggai 1:1), a remarkable achievement.

Some have sought to see in this event the end of the ‘seventy years’ of Jeremiah 25:12 (destruction of the Temple 587 BC to restoration of the Temple 516 BC) but that was not what Jeremiah said. He was speaking of the destruction of the Babylonian empire. The seventy years was a divinely perfect round number. But if it is to be applied ‘literally’ it is far more likely that it was referring to the length of the rule of the Babylonian empire over ‘the nations’ including Judah, viz c.605 BC to 539 BC.

16 Then the people of Israel--the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles--celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy.

GILL, "And the children of Israel,.... Those of the ten tribes that remained after the body of the people were carried captive, or came with the Jews at their return:

the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity; those of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin:

kept the dedication of this house of God with joy; they set it apart for sacred use and service, with feasting and other expressions of joy and gladness, as follows.

JAMISO, "Ezr_6:16-18. Feasts of the dedication.

the children of Israel ... kept the dedication ... with joy— The ceremonial was gone through with demonstrations of the liveliest joy. The aged who had wept at the laying of the foundation [Ezr_3:12] were most, if not all of them, now dead; and all rejoiced at the completion of this national undertaking.

K&D, "Ezr_6:16-17

The sons of Israel, more exactly the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the sons of

the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy. הTחנ the Hebrew = עבד

חנTה .see Neh_8:10 ;3שמחה Hebrew ,3חדוה .to celebrate the dedication (2Ch_7:9) ,עשהThey brought for the dedication a hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs as burnt-offerings, and twelve he-goats for a sin-offering for all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, because the temple was intended for the entire covenant people, whose return to the Lord and to the land of their fathers, according to the predictions of the prophets, was hoped for (comp. e.g., Eze_37:15., Jer_31:27.), not, as older expositors thought, because certain families of the ten tribes, who had before settled in Judah, were also among those who returned (J. H. Mich. ad h. l.).

BESO, "Ezra 6:16. The children of Israel — Probably some out of each of the

twelve tribes; the priests and Levites, &c., kept the dedication of the house of God with joy — When it was built, being designed only for sacred uses, “they now showed by an example how it should be used,” which, says Bishop Patrick, is the proper and simple sense of dedicating. They entered upon it with solemnity, and probably with a public declaration of the separating it from common uses, and the surrendering it to the honour of God, to be employed in his service.

COFFMA, "Verse 16THE DEDICATIO OF THE SECOD TEMPLE

"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. And they offered at the dedication of this house a 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. 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."

Critical scholars are very sensitive about any mention of the book of Moses, and their usual knee-jerk reaction is to challenge the passage as being from a different editor or some later hand. However, there is no reason whatever to believe such challenges. They are not scientific, they are founded upon scholarly imagination, and not upon any fact. The silly reason for such a challenge, according to Hamrick, was that the word Jews was the author's usual term for Israel; but here he referred to them as the children of Israel.[19] What a foolish assumption it must be that Ezra was not familiar with both expressions and that he would never have used both. At this glorious moment when God's people had been returned from captivity and their temple restored, the more formal term children of Israel, was not only appropriate, it was required.

As Hamrick noted, "This story indicates that there was a conscious attempt to imitate the ceremony associated with the dedication of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 8, and 2 Chronicles 5-7)."[20] However, the relative poverty of the people made it impossible to duplicate it. "Solomon offered over two hundred times as many oxen and sheep at the dedication of his temple as were offered on this occasion (1 Kings 8:63)."[21

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:16 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,

Ver. 16. Kept the dedication … with joy] So they did at the dedication of the first temple, 2 Chronicles 7:10. God had required all his worships to be celebrated with joy, Deuteronomy 12:7, and made it a condition of an acceptable service, Deuteronomy 26:14. Sacrifices offered with mourning were abomination, Hosea 9:4, yea, accursed by God, Deuteronomy 28:47. What a general joy was there at Samaria when Christ first was preached and believed on among them, Acts 8:8, when they

first became God’s building, 1 Corinthians 3:9, a temple for God to dwell in and walk in, 2 Corinthians 6:16! The like was at Bern, at Geneva, at Zurich, when the reformed religion was first received among them. They caused (for joy thereof) the day and year to be engraven in a pillar in letters of gold, for a perpetual memory to all posterity. Like as at Heidelberg, A.D. 1617, on the first of ovember, they kept, for three days time, an evangelical Jubilee, for joy of the Reformation begun by Luther, a hundred years before (Vita Parei, operib, praefix.).

WHEDO, "16. Kept the dedication… with joy — It was surely an occasion for joy and thanksgiving, for it marked the close of a long and bitter period of calamity and dangers, of persecution and trouble. Like the vast assembly that had celebrated the dedication of the former house, nearly five hundred years before, they were “joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had done for Israel.” 1 Kings 8:66.

COSTABLE, "Verses 16-22The Jews" celebration6:16-22

Compared with the dedication of the first temple, this one was very modest. Solomon had offered more than200 times as many animals. The Jews offered one sin offering, which involved slaying a goat, for each of the12tribes ( Ezra 6:17). The reference to the number of Israel"s tribes being12shows that none of the tribes were "lost" during the captivity, as some modern cults claim. The people still considered the nation to be a confederation of12tribes, and they called it "Israel" ( Ezra 2:2; Ezra 2:59).

"The remnant who had returned make solemn confession of sin in the name of the whole scattered and dispersed race. They acknowledge the essential unity of Israel"s tribes alike in the consequences of sin, in the possibilities of restoration, and in the renewed consecration to God"s service." [ote: H. E. Ryle, The Books of Ezra and ehemiah , p83.]

The Passover celebration took place five weeks after the temple dedication. The Feast of Unleavened Bread began on the day after Passover and lasted seven days ( Leviticus 23:6-8). ote that some Gentile converts had evidently accompanied the remnant from Babylon to Jerusalem ( Ezra 6:21).

The reference to Darius (cf. Ezra 6:6-12) as the "king of Assyria" ( Ezra 6:22) is unusual but not unique. In some ancient ear Eastern king lists, the rulers of territories that were previously independent are referred to as kings of those countries. [ote: Fensham, The Books . . ., p96.]

"Perhaps, however, it is meant to awaken memories of the traditional oppressor (cf. ehemiah 9:32), whose empire first Babylon and then Persia had inherited, but whose policies were now dramatically reversed." [ote: Kidner, p60. See also Dumbrell, p68.]

aturally the restoration Jews rejoiced greatly that their national worship of Yahweh could continue again as the Mosaic Covenant specified. Since life in Israel rested on the worship of Yahweh, the Revelation -establishment of life under the Mosaic Law depended on the Revelation -establishment of Mosaic worship. Thus the record of the completion of the temple and the resumption of worship is the climax of this first part of Ezra (chs1-6).

LAGE, "Ezra 6:16-17. The great significance of that which had been attained, and the consciousness of it in the congregation at the time, the author very beautifully shows by what he says respecting the dedication. All observed it (עבד as עשה with

2, )חנכה Chronicles 7:9), with joy, and indeed with the offering of a number of sacrifices which, whilst small in comparison with the multitude in Solomon’s time ( 1 Kings 8:5; 1 Kings 8:63), thus in accordance with the limited relations of the time, yet might ever be regarded as a glad beginning, showing by the twelve goats for sin-offerings, that they would act in the name of entire Israel, and regain the divine grace for the whole body of the people. Comp. Ezra 2:2; Ezra 8:35. Whether then already remnants of the northern tribes had returned and settled themselves in Juda, or whether there were from former times representatives of these tribes, scattered about in the land, does not come properly into consideration here. The principal thing Isaiah, that the new congregation, without doubt in consequence of former prophecies, had no other thought than that those so long separated from them had retained their privilege of being the people of God, and would realize it in some way or other as in olden times. Besides, the offerings prescribed in umbers 7:11 sq. were here offered in the manner of the law. Comp. 1 Kings 8:63; 2 Chronicles 29:20 sq.

PETT, "Ezra 6:16

‘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.’At the completion of the Temple, a symbol to them that YHWH’s rule was once again firmly established over them, the ‘children of Israel’ (compare Ezra 3:1; and see Ezra 2:2), who consisted of the priests, the Levites and the rest of the former exiles, observed the day of the dedication of the Temple as a holy day, a day of great joy. YHWH once again ruled in His land, over His people. It should be noted that they saw this as the restoration of the whole of Israel. This is made clear in the next verse where sin offerings are offered for the twelve tribes of Israel. For the equivalent of ‘the priests, the Levites and the rest of the people’ compare Ezra 1:5; Ezra 2:70; Ezra 3:8; Ezra 7:7-13; Ezra 9:1; Ezra 10:5; ehemiah 8:13; ehemiah 10:28; ehemiah 10:34.

17

For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel.

BARES, "Compare with this modest sacrifice, which suits well “the day of small things” Zec_4:10, the lavish offering of Solomon (see the marginal reference “n”).

CLARKE, "Twelve he-goats - This was a sin-offering for every tribe.

GILL, "And offered, at the dedication of this house of God, an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs,.... Hecatombs of various sorts, which were always reckoned grand sacrifices, even among Heathens, of which Homer sometimes speaks; some of these were for burnt offerings, and others peace offerings, by way of thankfulness to God for the finishing of the temple; part of which belonging to the offerers, they feasted upon it with great gladness of heart:

and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel; for though the ten tribes were carried captive by Shalmaneser, yet, as before observed, there were some of them that remained in the land, and others that went and returned with the two tribes; and therefore a sin offering was made for them all, for the typical expiation of guilt contracted since they had been in an Heathen land, and, temple service had ceased.

HERY 17-18, "The dedication of the temple. When it was built, being designed only for sacred uses, they showed by an example how it should be used, which (says bishop Patrick) is the proper sense of the word dedicate. They entered upon it with solemnity and probably with a public declaration of the separating of it from common uses and the surrender of it to the honour of God, to be employed in his worship. 1. The persons employed in this service were not only the priests and Levites who officiated, but the children of Israel, some of each of the twelve tribes, though Judah and Benjamin were the chief, and the rest of the children of the captivity or transportation, which intimates that there were many besides the children of Israel, of other nations, who transported themselves with them, and became proselytes to their religion, unless we read it, even the remnant of the children of the captivity, and then, we may suppose, notice is hereby taken of their mean and afflicted condition, because the consideration of that helped to make them devout and serious in this and other religious exercises. A sad change! The children of Israel have become children of the captivity, and there appears but a

remnant of them, according to that prediction (Isa_7:3), Shear-jashub - The remnant shall return. 2. The sacrifices that were offered upon this occasion were bullocks, rams, and lambs (Ezr_6:17), for burnt-offerings and peace-offerings; not to be compared, in number, with what had been offered at the dedication of Solomon's temple, but, being according to their present ability, they were accepted, for, after a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy, and their deep poverty, abounded to the riches of their liberality, 2Co_8:2. These hundreds were more to them than Solomon's thousands were to him. But, besides these, they offered twelve he-goats for sin-offerings, one for every tribe, to make atonement for their sins, which they looked upon as necessary in order to the acceptance of their services. Thus, by getting iniquity taken away, they would free themselves from that which had been the sting of their late troubles, and which, if not removed, would be a worm at the root of their present comforts. 3. This service was performed with joy. They were all glad to see the temple built and the concerns of it in so good a posture. Let us learn to welcome holy ordinances with joy and attend on them with pleasure. Let us serve the Lord with gladness. Whatever we dedicate to God, let it be done with joy that he will please to accept of it. 4. When they dedicated the house they settled the household. Small comfort could they have in the temple without the temple service, and therefore they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their courses, Ezr_6:18. Having set up the worship of God in this dedication, they took care to keep it up, and made the book of Moses their rule, to which they had an eye in this establishment. Though the temple service could not now be performed with so much pomp and plenty as formerly, because of their poverty, yet perhaps it was performed with as much purity and close adherence to the divine institution as ever, which was the true glory of it. No beauty like the beauty of holiness.

JAMISO, "twelve he-goats— as at the dedication of the tabernacle (Num_7:87; Num_8:17).

BESO, "Ezra 6:17. And offered a hundred bullocks, &c. — Few in number in comparison of those which Solomon had offered at the dedication of his temple. But, being according to their present ability, their offering was accepted, for it was made after a great trial of affliction, and in the midst of deep poverty, as the apostle speaks in another case, 2 Corinthians 8:2. Indeed, these hundreds were more to them than Solomon’s thousands to him. And they offered them willingly and cheerfully, for this service was performed with joy, all being glad to see the temple built, and the concerns of it in so good a posture. For a sin-offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats — One for every tribe, to make atonement for their sins, which they looked upon as necessary in order to the acceptance of their services. It appears from many passages of Scripture, that though Shalmaneser had carried captive the ten tribes, yet many of them had remained in their country, and were carried away by ebuchadnezzar, together with Judah and Benjamin, with whom they returned out of Babylon, as many others of the ten tribes did, who were carried away at the taking of Samaria.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:17 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.

Ver. 17. An hundred bullocks, &c.] This little (in comparison of what was done at Solomon’s dedication, 1 Kings 8:63) was highly accepted in heaven: as was likewise oah’s sacrifice, which yet could not be great: because that after a great trial of affliction, "the abundance of their joy, and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality," 2 Corinthians 8:2; which, saith Aristotle, is not to be measured by the worth of the gift, but by the will of the giver, Oυ τω πληθει των διδοµενων, αλλα τη του διδοντος εξει (Arist. Ethic. lib. 4). {See Trapp on "Ezra 2:6"}

Twelve he-goats] A fit creature for a sin offering, because nasty, unruly, &c.

According to the number of the tribes of Israel] All whom (wheresoever dispersed) they remember in their prayers; as we should likewise do all the Israel of God, in all places.

WHEDO, "17. A hundred bullocks — Compare the far larger offering of Solomon at the dedication of the first temple. 1 Kings 8:63. But the present offering was large and liberal, according to the circumstances of the worshippers.

According to the number of the tribes — The chastisements of the exile had thoroughly subdued these Jews, and the Israelites that had returned with them, and now, at this feast of dedication, they seek to wipe out their ancient schism, making an atonement for it by a sin offering, and, by the offering of twelve he goats, present themselves before Jehovah as the representatives of all the tribes who had been one people and one nation at the dedication five hundred years before. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah, (l, 4, 5,) that Judah and Israel should return together, going and weeping, and join themselves in a perpetual covenant.

PETT, "Ezra 6:17

‘And they offered at the dedication of this house of God a 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.’The offerings may appear large, but we must remember that they would be used to provide for the feasting of the people. It was to be a time of great celebration. Bullocks, rams and lambs were the regular sacrificial offerings in Israel (see Leviticus 1-7). It will be noted that seven hundred in all are offered, the number of divine perfection intensified. And together with these were offered as a sin offering for ‘all Israel’ (which would probably not be eaten, and would certainly not be eaten by the people) twelve he-goats representing a sin offering for the twelve tribes of Israel. ‘All Israel’ were seen as being present at the dedication.

We can compare how at the dedication of the tabernacle in the days of Moses twelve he-goats were offered as a sin offering (each for one tribe of Israel over a twelve day

period), along with twelve he-goats for the dedication of the altar (umbers 7:87). The same would be offered by Ezra on behalf of those who returned with him to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:35).

18 And they installed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God at Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.

CLARKE, "And they set the priests - With this verse the Chaldee or Aramitic part of this chapter ends.

GILL, "And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God which is at Jerusalem,.... All in their proper classes and courses, to do the work of the temple at Jerusalem in their turns:

as it is written in the book of Moses; see Num_3:6, from hence it is plain the Pentateuch was not written by Ezra, as suspected by Spinosa (m), but by Moses; see the argument of the book of Genesis. See Gill on Gen_1:1.

JAMISO, "they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses ... as it is written in the book of Moses— Although David arranged the priests and Levites in courses according to their families, it was Moses who assigned to the priests and Levites their rights and privileges, their stations and several duties.

K&D, "Ezr_6:18

At the same time, the priests and Levites were appointed, according to their classes and divisions, to the service of the temple, that they might henceforth fulfil their office,

each class in its week (2Ch_23:4; 2Ki_11:9). והקימו corresponds with the Hebrew עמידו ,וEzr_3:8, and elsewhere. As Bertheau justly remarks, “The services of public worship, which after the completion of the temple were to be performed by the priests and Levites, according to ancient ordinance, are here spoken of.” With these words the Chaldee section closes.

BESO, "Ezra 6:18. They set the priests in their divisions, &c. — When they had dedicated the house, they settled the household: they would have had small comfort in the temple, however solemnly dedicated, without the temple- service: and therefore having set up the worship of God in it, in this dedication of it, they took measures for keeping it up, and in doing so made the book of Moses their rule, to which they had a regard in this establishment. Though the temple-service could not be performed with so much pomp, and such a multitude of sacrifices, and other oblations, as formerly, because of their poverty; yet perhaps it was performed with as much purity, and close adherence to the divine institution, as ever, which was the true glory of it.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:18 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.

Ver. 18. For the service of God] According to that, Exodus 12:25, Ye shall keep this service, where the same word (Gnabhodah) is used that elsewhere serveth to set forth their servile service, their bondage in Egypt. God lets them know that they must serve still, though another master, and after another manner. So Christ calleth upon his, to take his yoke upon them: free though they be, yet they must not look to be yokeless, lawless, aweless, but to serve God with reverence and godly fear, Hebrews 12:28.

As it is written in the book of Moses] Moses then was the penman of the Pentateuch, and not Ezra, as some have said; grounding upon that Apocryphal Esdras.

WHEDO, "18. Priests in their divisions — As described in 1 Chronicles 24.

Levites in their courses — As described in 1 Chronicles 23.

As it is written in the book of Moses — Especially in umbers 3, 4, , 8. See the note on Ezra 3:2.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:18. Thus there was again a legal worship, so likewise a legal body of persons to conduct the worship.—They set up.—והקימו as ויעמידו. Ezra 3:8, namely, to perform the business of the divine worship.—The priests in their classes, and the Levites in their divisions (comp. 2 Chronicles 35:5; 2 Chronicles 35:12; 1 Chronicles 27:4), since every class and division had its week. Comp. 2 Kings 11:9,

and 2 Chronicles 23:4. That it is expressly added, as it is written in the book of Moses (comp. umbers 3:6; umbers 8:14), may be in accordance with the legal disposition, which became very soon characteristic of these times, comp. Ezra 3:2; 2 Chronicles 23:18; but at the same time this likewise might well come into consideration, that it was so important, that, whilst still so many other things might be dispensed with, yet at least they should again have a worship in accordance with the law.

PETT, "Ezra 6:18

‘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.’Servicing of ‘the service of God’ which is in Jerusalem in readiness for the coming Passover now being required the priests were separated into their divisions and the Levites into their courses for this very purpose. The idea is that the priests and Levites were set apart for the service of God in the same way as they had been by Moses.

The Hebrew equivalent of ‘divisions’ only occurs once in 2 Chronicles 35:5 where it refers to the ‘the divisions of the fathers’ houses’ to which groups of Levites would be allocated in preparation for the Passover under king Josiah. Its application to the priests is therefore unique in Scripture. The Levites were ‘set in their courses’, that is, in their families, by David in 1 Chronicles 23:6 ff. Moses had done the same thing with the Levites in umbers 3:6-9; umbers 3:15-39; umbers 4:1-49.

‘As it is written in the book of Moses’. This mainly has in mind the ‘setting -- for the service of God’ (and explains the unusual phrase). The new service of God being required the priests and Levites were ‘set for’ it as they had been in the book of Moses. The Levites were set apart ‘to do their service in the Tent of Meeting’ in umbers 8:19; umbers 8:22. They were separated into their courses for their specific tasks in umbers 3:6-9; umbers 3:15-39; umbers 4:1-49. Moses separated the priests to ‘minister in the priests office’ in Exodus 28:1; Exodus 29:1. He spoke to the priests of ‘your service in the Tent of Meeting’ in umbers 18:31. The tasks of the priests were also allocated in umbers 4:16; umbers 4:28; umbers 4:33. Thus in a more refined way they were now doing the same thing.

Some suggest that ‘house’ should be ‘restored’ here reading ‘for the service of the house of God in Jerusalem’, but it is not only unnecessary but also takes away somewhat from the pregnant meaning of the phrase. They were appointed to the service of God, not to the service of the Temple, something which in the spiritual thrill of the moment they were fully aware of. And they were so set apart in readiness for the Passover which was to follow.

19

On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the Passover.

BARES, "With this verse the writer resumes the use of the Hebrew language, which he had discarded for the Chaldee from Ezr_4:8. With the exception of the letter of Artaxerxes Ezr_7:12-26, all the remainder of the book is in Hebrew.

GILL, "And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. The month Nisan or Abib, which was the month following that in which the temple was finished, Ezr_6:15, this passover was kept at the exact time the law commanded, Exo_12:2.

HERY 19-22, "The celebration of the passover in the newly-erected temple. Now that they were newly delivered out of their bondage in Babylon it was seasonable to commemorate their deliverance out of their bondage in Egypt. Fresh mercies should put us in mind of former mercies. We may suppose that they had kept the passover, after a sort, every year since their return, for they had an altar and a tabernacle. But they were liable to frequent disturbances from their enemies, were straitened for room, and had not conveniences about them, so that they could not do it with due solemnity till the temple was built; and now they made a joyful festival of it, it falling out in the next month after the temple was finished and dedicated, Ezr_6:19. Notice is here taken, 1. Of the purity of the priests and Levites that killed the passover, Ezr_6:20. In Hezekiah's time the priests were many of them under blame for not purifying themselves. But now it is observed, to their praise, that they were purified together, as one man (so the word is); they were unanimous both in their resolutions and in their endeavours to make and keep themselves ceremonially clean for this solemnity; they joined together in their preparations, that they might help one another, so that all of them were pure, to a man. The purity of ministers adds much to the beauty of their ministrations; so does their unity. 2. Of the proselytes that communicated with them in this ordinance: All such as had separated themselves unto them, had left their country and the superstitions of it and cast in their lot with the Israel of God, and had turned from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, both their idolatries and immoralities, to seek the Lord God of Israel as their God, did eat the passover. See how the proselytes, the converts, are described. They separated themselves from the filthiness of sin and fellowship with sinners, joined themselves with the Israel of God in conformity and communion, and set themselves to seek the God of Israel; and those that do so in sincerity, though strangers and foreigners, are welcome to eat of the gospel feast, as fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God. 3. Of the great pleasure and satisfaction wherewith they kept the feast of unleavened bread, Ezr_6:22. The Lord had made them joyful, had given them both cause to rejoice and hearts to rejoice. It was now about twenty years since the foundation of this temple was laid, and we may suppose the old men that then wept at the remembrance of the first temple were most of them dead by this time, so that now there were no tears mingled with their joys. Those that are, upon good grounds, joyful, have therefore reason to be thankful, because it is God that makes them to

rejoice. He is the fountain whence all the streams of our joy flow. God has promised to all those who take hold of his covenant that he will make them joyful in his house of prayer. The particular occasion they had for joy at this time was that God had turned the heart of the emperor to them, to strengthen their hands. If those that have been, or who we feared would have been, against us, prove to be for us, we may rejoice in it as a token for good, that our ways please the Lord (Pro_16:7), and he must have the glory of it.

K&D 19-22, "Celebration of the feast of the passover, and of the feast of unleavened bread, in the year following the dedication, as an historical testimony to the fact that the worship of God with its festivals was regularly carried on in the new temple.

Ezr_6:19-20

The feast of the passover, on the fourteenth day of the first month, took place only a few weeks after the dedication of the temple. The reason given in Ezr_6:20 - for the

priests and Levites had purified themselves without exception (אחדT, like Ezr_3:9); they were all clean, and they killed the passover for all the sons of the captivity (i.e., the laity who had returned from exile), and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves -has in this connection the meaning: Then the congregation celebrated the passover, and they were able to keep and to eat the passover, because the priests had purified themselves that they might be qualified for performing the office incumbent upon them of sprinkling the blood; and the Levites were also clean, that they might be able to kill the lambs for the whole congregation (comp. the remarks on 2Ch_30:17, etc., and 2Ch_35:11, 2Ch_35:14). From the days of Josiah, it seems to have been customary for the Levites to take the place of the heads of families (Exo_12:6, etc.) in slaughtering the passover lambs for the whole community, both priesthood and laity: for the laity, that no person who was unclean might kill the paschal lamb; for the priests, that their labours might be lightened, the sprinkling of blood and the offering of sacrifices occupying them far into the night (2Ch_35:11, 2Ch_35:14-15). And this custom was followed at this time

also. The priests are called אחיהם, brethren of the Levites, as in 2Ch_29:34; 2Ch_35:15.

BESO, "Ezra 6:19. And the children, of the captivity kept the passover — ow they were newly delivered out of their bondage in Babylon, it was seasonable to commemorate their deliverance out of their bondage in Egypt. Fresh mercies should put us in mind of former mercies. We may suppose that they had kept the passover, after a sort, every year since their return; for they had an altar and a tabernacle. But they were liable to frequent disturbances from their enemies, were straitened for room, and had not conveniences about them, so that they could not do it with due solemnity, till the temple was built; and now they made a joyful festival of it, it falling out in the next month after the temple was finished and dedicated.

COFFMA, "Verse 19THE CHILDRE OF ISRAEL KEPT THE PASSOVER

"And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were pure: and they killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. And the children of Israel

that were come again out of the captivity, and all such as had separated themselves from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, did eat, and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for Jehovah had made them joyful, and had 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."

"With Ezra 6:19, the writer resumes the Hebrew language, which he had discarded for the Chaldee, beginning at Ezra 4:8. With the exception of the letter of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:12-26), the remainder of the book is in Hebrew."[22]

"All of them were pure" (Ezra 6:20). It is not exactly clear, as the translation reads, but Cook assures us that a contrast is drawn between the universal purity of the Levites and the more general purity of the priests. "This made it fitting that the Levites should slaughter all the consume."[23]

"And all such as had separated themselves from the filthiness of the nations of the land" (Ezra 6:21). Here, these are contrasted with the returnees from captivity. "These were those who were left in Palestine by ebuchadnezzar and had become mixed with the heathen population."[24]

"Jehovah ... turned the heart of the king of Assyria" (Ezra 6:22). This is a reference, of course, to Darius I the king of Persia. However it is definitely not "a scribal error"[25] as charged by Cundall. Darius was king of Persia and also king of Babylon, but as the ruler of the former Assyrian Empire, he was also "King of Assur,"[26] as Keil stated it.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:19 And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth [day] of the first month.

Ver. 19. And the children of the captivity] So the returned captives are called, first, to keep still afoot the remembrance of their late misery, lest they should despise the chastening of the Lord, Hebrews 12:5. Secondly, to remind them of that signal mercy of their return to their own country. Hence doth the evangelist Matthew so oft mention their transportation to Babylon, and rings it in the ears of his ungrateful countrymen, Matthew 1:11-12; Matthew 1:17.

Kept the passover] In remembrance, that the punishing angel passed over their ancestors in Egypt, Exodus 12:12-14, and for confirmation of their faith in Christ, the true paschal Lamb. Hast thou escaped a danger? offer a passover. Hath Christ delivered thee from the wrath to come? keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth 1 Corinthians 5:8.

Upon the fourteenth day of the first month] See Exodus 12:2, with the note.

WHEDO, "THE PASSOVER OBSERVED, Ezra 6:19-22.

19. The fourteenth day — The day of old appointed for the killing of the paschal lamb. Exodus 12:6.

The first month — isan, which followed immediately after Adar. Compare Ezra 6:15. The year is not mentioned, but it was, doubtless, the very next month after the feast of dedication, which the writer had just described. As Israel improved the first opportunity after they entered Canaan to celebrate the passover, (Joshua 5:10,) so now they do the same at the earliest opportunity after they have returned from exile and finished the house of God. Then the reproach of Egypt had just been rolled away, (Joshua 5:9,) now the reproach of Babylon had ceased.

LAGE, "III. celebration of the first passover-feast. Ezra 6:19-22

19And 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.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:19-22. It is very significant that the author here at the close of this entire section adds an account of the first celebration of the passover after the completion of the temple. This came into consideration certainly not merely as an evidence that in the new temple the divine worship had its regular course with the cycle of feasts (Keil), but before all as a feast, by which the congregation might again show itself so appropriately as the redeemed and favored people of the covenant of the Lord, also again more and more assure itself of the covenant relation, as a conclusion, which at the same time was a beginning assuring a new and glorious continuance and progress. This is quite clear from the confirmation given in Ezra 6:22, by which nothing less than the proper end of the entire previous period of affliction itself is designated as the foundation of this Passover feast. So then the circumstance that the author now returns to the Hebrew language is likewise appropriate—one might say very significant. If the Chaldee language has been used because Chaldee documents had to be placed in order—that Isaiah, because the restoration depended first of all on the world power, and that by it the covenant people had been deprived for a while of their covenant jewels, the temple, and divine worship—so now, when the congregation was again constituted as such, and also provided with their temple and their divine worship, and where the narrative might be occupied with this exclusively, there was at least nothing in the way of a return to the Hebrew tongue.

PETT, "Verses 19-22The Writer ow Commences Again In Hebrew.

The writer now changes back from using Aramaic to using Hebrew. This is in order that the whole passage from Ezra 4:1 to Ezra 6:22, although written mainly in Aramaic, might be enveloped in Hebrew. In the opening and closing passages, which are in Hebrew (Ezra 4:1-7 and Ezra 6:19-22) the emphasis is on what God’s people were doing. In the Aramaic section the emphasis is on the activities of the Persians, even though in relation to the people of God. It was partly necessary, and more convenient, because the primary documents cited were in Aramaic.

The Celebration Of The Passover (Ezra 6:19-22).

This would not have been the first Passover celebrated since the return, it would have been observed every year. But this was an unusually joyous one, for it was the first Passover that they had celebrated in connection with their new Temple. ow they really felt that Israel was established in the land. We can compare how Israel had first observed the Passover on entering the land after the Exodus (Joshua 5:10-11). They now met as a pure people free from the taints of foreign surroundings, and with their worship established. It was now over a month since the Temple had been dedicated.

Ezra 6:19

‘And the children of the captivity kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.’As was required in the book of Moses they who had returned from exile observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of isan, the first month of their religious calendar, along with all in the land who had maintained their pure worship of YHWH (Ezra 6:21).

20 The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their brothers the priests and for themselves.

BARES, "Some render, “And the priests were purified; and the Levites, as one man, were all of them pure.” A contrast is drawn between the universal purity of the Levites and the merely general purity of the priests 2Ch_29:34; 2Ch_30:3, which made it fitting that the former should undertake the slaughter of all the Paschal lambs, even of those which the priests were to consume. In later times the ordinary practice was for each head of a family to kill for himself.

CLARKE, "The Levites were purified together - They were all ready at one time to observe the proper rites and ceremonies, and had no need of having a second passover, which was appointed by the law for those who had been accidentally defiled, or were at a distance from the tabernacle. See 2Ch_30:3.

GILL, "For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure,.... They were all to a man pure, and all purified as one man; all were of one mind to purify themselves, and took care to do it, and did it with as much dispatch as if only one man was purified; so that they were more generally prepared for service now than in the times of Hezekiah, 2Ch_29:34

and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests and for themselves; which seems to have been done by the Levites, for themselves and for the priests, and for all the people, who were not so pure as the priests and Levites; or otherwise they might have killed it themselves, Exo_12:6, as Bochart (n) thinks.

BESO, "Ezra 6:20. The priests and Levites were purified together — Hebrew, cheechad, as one man, so the word signifies. They were unanimous, both in ,כאחדtheir resolutions, and in their endeavours, to make and keep themselves ceremonially clean for this solemnity: and they joined together in their preparations, that they might help one another; so that all of them were legally pure, and, in this respect, excelled the priests and Levites in Hezekiah’s time, who were many of them under blame for not purifying themselves according to the law. The purity of ministers adds much to the beauty and honour of their ministrations, as doth their unity also.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:20 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.

Ver. 20. Were purified together] Misery had framed them to unanimity. See 2 Chronicles 29:34.

All of them were pure] Ritually at least, if not really.

And killed the passover] i.e. The paschal lamb, whereof see Exodus 12:1-51 with the notes.

For all the children] {See Trapp on "Ezra 6:1"}

And for themselves] For they also were sinners, and needed a Saviour, Hebrews 7:27. That Popish expositor was utterly out when, from Exodus 30:31-32, he will needs infer that priests, when once anointed with the holy oil, were thenceforth angels, spirits, not having human flesh, or infirmities.

WHEDO, "20. For — This introduces the reason why they were able to celebrate the passover so soon after the dedication — they were not obliged to wait for the purifying of the priests and the Levites.

All of them were pure — They had already attended to that matter: unlike the time when Hezekiah held the passover in the second month instead of the first, because the priests had not properly sanctified themselves by ceremonial ablutions, according to the law. See 2 Chronicles 29:34; 2 Chronicles 30:2-3; 2 Chronicles 30:15-18, and notes there.

ELLICOTT, "(20) Purified together.—This verse should be translated as follows, contrary to the present accentuation: “The priests were purified; and the Levites were purified as one man: all were pure; and killed.” In this fact the present Levitical and official purity of both orders surpassed that of Hezekiah’s celebration (2 Chronicles 29:34; 2 Chronicles 30:3). It had come to be the practice that the Levites slaughtered all the paschal lambs.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:20. For the priests and Levites had purified themselves as one man (without exception, comp. Ezra 3:9), they were all clean.—This has reference not to the cause of the celebration, but its possibility. Priests and Levites had sufficiently prepared themselves, and were now in the condition to fulfil the duties devolved upon them. Defilements, as Leviticus 22:4 sq. makes them especially prominent with reference to the priests, occurred again and again, and had been certainly more frequent under previous circumstances, where the priests as such had come but little into consideration, but they must now be put aside ere they could fulfil their priestly functions. At any rate, the author means to point out a noble readiness, yea, a holy zeal, on their part. The subjects of ישחטו are, as is clear from the following context, those who were to do the slaughtering, e.g. of the Levites. Properly, it is true, every father of a family had himself to slay the Paschal lamb, Exodus 12:6 sq.; but after the time of Hezekiah, when the Levites had undertaken the slaying for all who had not purified themselves ( 2 Chronicles 30:11), it seems to have been more and more the custom for the Levites to do the slaughtering for all (comp. 2 Chronicles 35:4; 2 Chronicles 35:14)—for the priests, because they were so busy elsewhere; and for the rest of the people, because it was so easy for a defilement to happen to them. As in 2 Chronicles 29:34; 2 Chronicles 35:15, the

priests are designated as their = the Levites’ brethren, probably in connection with the increasing importance of the Levites. ולהם = “and for themselves,” as in 2 Chronicles 35:14.

PETT, "Ezra 6:20

‘For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together. All of them were pure. And they killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brothers the priests, and for themselves.’It had become the custom at this time for the Levites to have a part to play in the celebration of the Passover. This comes out in 2 Chronicles 35 where Josiah called on them to sanctify themselves in readiness for their service at the Passover (see 2 Chronicles 35:6). In readiness for this service the priests and Levites here purified themselves together. This would partly be through avoiding all that was unclean, and partly by washing their clothes and abstaining from sex. The result was that all of them were pure. Thus they were in a position to kill the passover lambs for all those who had returned from exile, and for any of their brothers the priests who were not in a state to be able to kill the lambs, for example the ones who had not been able to prove their ancestry, and those who were disabled. They were also able to kill then for themselves.

21 So the Israelites who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek the LORD, the God of Israel.

CLARKE, "And all such as had separated themselves - These were the proselytes who had embraced the Jewish religion by having mingled with the Jews in their captivity. This proves that there the poor captives had so acted according to the principles of their religion, that the heathens saw it, and walked in the light of the Lord with them. A good example is very persuasive; and particularly so when founded on pure

principles.

GILL, "And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity,.... The tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with some of the ten tribes mixed with them:

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; such of the Gentiles in the dominions of Babylon, and came with the Jews from thence, who were enlightened into the knowledge and worship of the true God, and not only renounced their idolatry, here called filthiness, but were circumcised, and embraced the religion of the Jews, and so were proselytes of righteousness, as they call them; or otherwise they would not have been allowed to eat of the passover, as they did, Exo_12:48.

JAMISON, "all such as had separated themselves ... from the filthiness of the heathen of the land— that is, who had given satisfactory evidence of being true proselytes by not only renouncing the impure worship of idolatry, but by undergoing the rite of circumcision, a condition indispensable to a participation of the Passover.

K&D, "Ezr_6:21

Thus the sons of Israel who had returned from captivity, and all that had separated themselves unto them from the uncleanness of the heathen of the country to seek Jahve

the God of Israel, could eat the passover. רץQה הQרץ = Oויי Ezr_10:2, Ezr_10:11, are ,עWיthe heathen races dwelling in Palestine. The expression is not essentially different from

הארצות Ezr_9:1., Ezr_3:3, and is only distinguishable therefrom, inasmuch as the ,עWיlatter appellation includes not merely the heathen inhabitants of Palestine, but also the heathen of other lands, as the Moabites, Ammonites, Egyptians, etc. (Ezr_9:1.). Those who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the heathen to them (the Jews) to seek Jahve, are not proselytes from heathenism (Aben Ezra, Rashi, Clericus, and others), but Israelites, who had till now lived in Palestine, and mingled with the heathen inhabitants of the land. They were descended from those Israelites whom the kings of Assyria and Babylon had not carried away from the realms of Israel and Judah, and who with respect to religion had combined heathenism and the worship of Jahve (2Ki_17:32, etc.), and thus defiled themselves with heathen impurity, but who now, after the erection of the temple, joined themselves to the new community, for the purpose of worshipping with them the God of their fathers in His temple, according to the law of Moses. For, as Bertheau rightly remarks, “in the days of Ezra the princes of the new community complain that the laity, the priests, and Levites do not separate from the people of the lands (Ezr_9:1); reference is made to the dangers which threaten the Israelites, because they dwell in the holy land among the unclean (Ezr_9:10). To separate from the uncleanness of the nations means to renounce intermarriage and other connection with them. Ezr_10:2, Ezr_10:10. They are Israelites who are summoned, Ezr_10:11, to separate from the peoples of the land; the seed of Israel is, in Neh_9:2, separated from the sons of the stranger, and in Neh_10:29 they who separate from them are evidently Israelites, for, when they bind themselves to walk according to the law of God, they are said to join their brethren, i.e., their fellow-countrymen.” Hence in this passage also we cannot but regard those who separated themselves as Israelites, dissolving their

connection with the heathen for the sake of the God of Israel.

BESO, "Ezra 6:21. All such as had separated themselves unto them, &c. — Had left their country, and the superstitions and vices of it; had become proselytes to the Jewish religion, and cast in their lot with the Israel of God, professing an entire subjection to the law of Moses. Such, and only such, might eat of the passover, Exodus 12:48-49. From the manner in which the sacred writer expresses himself here, it would seem as if there were many proselytes, who forsook their heathenish customs, and were brought to the knowledge and worship of the true God, influenced, probably, by the encouragement which Cyrus and Darius had given to the Jewish religion. People of all nations, it must be observed, till proselyted, were accounted by the Jews polluted both in body and mind, because of their worshipping false gods, and not abstaining from the things which were accounted unclean by the law of Moses. The description here given of proselytes to Judaism may serve to characterize converts to the true religion in every age: they separate themselves from the filthiness of sin, and fellowship with sinners; join themselves to the Israel of God in conformity and communion, and set themselves to seek the God of Israel: and those that do so in sincerity, though strangers and foreigners, are welcome to eat of the gospel-feast, as fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:21 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,

Ver. 21. And the children of Israel] The whole community, of what tribe soever.

And all such as had separated themselves] Who were the better to like, because not prosperity proselytes, such as came in (not a few) in Solomon’s time; but the Jews were very careful how they received them, as Josephus relateth.

From the filthiness of the heathen] Who had filled the land from one end to the other with their uncleannesses, Ezra 9:11. Great sins do greatly pollute.

To seek the Lord God of Israel] To seek not his omnipresence (for that none need to do, since he is not far from any one of us, Acts 17:27), but his gracious presence. And such a seeker is every good soul: Psalms 24:6, This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, that is, Jacob.

Did eat] Edebant, id est, credebant, They were eating, it is, they were believing, for even Christ their passover was sacrificed for them, 1 Corinthians 5:7.

WHEDO,"21. Such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen — Blackslidden and apostate Israelites who had remained in the land when others went into exile, and had corrupted themselves by idolatry and by intermarriage with the heathen. Also, perhaps, some non-Israelitish dwellers in the land who had adopted the Jewish faith, and had become proselytes of the new community.

ELLICOTT, "(21) Separated themselves . . .—ot proselytes from the heathen are intended, but the remnant of the Jews in the land who had consorted with the foreign populations introduced by the conquerors. Their intermarriages and other acts of conformity are constantly referred to throughout Ezra and ehemiah.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:21. This fair conclusion of the previous times of trial, and this promising beginning of the new congregation was all the grander that the returned did not eat the Passover alone, but also such persons united with them who would separate themselves from the impurities of the people of the land, and seized with a new and holy zeal, would henceforth hold to the Lord.—And all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land.— גויי Ezra 10:2; Ezra 10:11, are the heathen nations dwelling in ,עמי הארץ as ,הארץPalestine, whilst the heathen in neighboring lands belong to the 9:1עמי הארצות , Ezra 9:2; Ezra 3:3. Those Who separated themselves from these heathen are not proselytes from heathenism (Aben Ezra, Raschi, Clericus. et al.), but descendants of the Jews and Israelites who had remained in the land when the rest of the nation had been carried captive, as all the parallel passages show, comp. Ezra 9:1; Ezra 9:10; Ezra 10:2; Ezra 10:11; ehemiah 9:2; ehemiah 10:29. They had without doubt intermarried with the heathen, and the more they had entered into communion with them, the less were they in a position to observe the Mosaic laws respecting food and purification. To Separate themselves from the impurities of the heathen meant for them to forsake altogether communion with the heathen, and seek communion with the Jewish congregation. For לדרש comp. Ezra 4:2.

PETT, "Ezra 6:21

‘And the children of Israel who were come again out of the captivity, and all such as had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek YHWH, the God of Israel, did eat,’Thus all the returned exiles partook of the Passover, along with all in the land who had either remained faithful to YHWH, and all, either Jew or Gentile, who had forsaken their unclean ways and their idolatry in order to seek YHWH, the God of Israel. All such ate of the Passover

22

For seven days they celebrated with joy the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because the LORD had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria, so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

BARES, "The king of Assyria - i. e., Darius. Assyria had so long been the great monarchy of western Asia that the sacred writers continue the title to those who had inherited the old Assyrian power, as first to the Babylonians 2Ki_23:29, and secondly to the Persians. With similar inexactness we find Herodotus calling Cyrus “king of the Medes.”

CLARKE, "And all such as had separated themselves - These were the proselytes who had embraced the Jewish religion by having mingled with the Jews in their captivity. This proves that there the poor captives had so acted according to the principles of their religion, that the heathens saw it, and walked in the light of the Lord with them. A good example is very persuasive; and particularly so when founded on pure principles.

GILL, "And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy,.... Which immediately followed upon the passover, Exo_12:18,

for the Lord had made them joyful; the building of the temple being finished, and the service of it restored to its original purity:

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; by giving them leave to go on in building the temple, and by encouraging and assisting them in it till they had finished it; this was Darius Artaxerxes, who, though called king of Persia, was also king of Assyria, being possessed of the Assyrian monarchy, as his predecessors were upon the taking of Babylon, and the same is therefore called also the king of Babylon, Neh_13:6. God, the God of Israel, who has the hearts of all men in his hands, and so the hearts of kings, and can turn them at his pleasure, inclined his heart to do them good, which was matter of joy unto them, see Ezr_7:27.

HERY, " Of the proselytes that communicated with them in this ordinance: All such as had separated themselves unto them, had left their country and the superstitions of it and cast in their lot with the Israel of God, and had turned from the filthiness of the

heathen of the land, both their idolatries and immoralities, to seek the Lord God of Israel as their God, did eat the passover. See how the proselytes, the converts, are described. They separated themselves from the filthiness of sin and fellowship with sinners, joined themselves with the Israel of God in conformity and communion, and set themselves to seek the God of Israel; and those that do so in sincerity, though strangers and foreigners, are welcome to eat of the gospel feast, as fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God. 3. Of the great pleasure and satisfaction wherewith they kept the feast of unleavened bread, Ezr_6:22. The Lord had made them joyful, had given them both cause to rejoice and hearts to rejoice. It was now about twenty years since the foundation of this temple was laid, and we may suppose the old men that then wept at the remembrance of the first temple were most of them dead by this time, so that now there were no tears mingled with their joys. Those that are, upon good grounds, joyful, have therefore reason to be thankful, because it is God that makes them to rejoice. He is the fountain whence all the streams of our joy flow. God has promised to all those who take hold of his covenant that he will make them joyful in his house of prayer. The particular occasion they had for joy at this time was that God had turned the heart of the emperor to them, to strengthen their hands. If those that have been, or who we feared would have been, against us, prove to be for us, we may rejoice in it as a token for good, that our ways please the Lord (Pro_16:7), and he must have the glory of it.

JAMISO, "kept the feast ... with joy: for the Lord ... turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them— that is, king of the Persian empire, which now included the possessions, and had surpassed the glory, of Assyria. The favorable disposition which Darius had evinced towards the Jews secured them peace and prosperity and the privileges of their own religion during the rest of his reign. The religious joy that so remarkably characterized the celebration of this feast, was testified by expressions of lively gratitude to God, whose overruling power and converting grace had produced so marvelous a change in the hearts of the mighty potentates, and disposed them, pagans though they were, to aid the cause and provide for the worship of the true God.

K&D, "Ezr_6:22

Hereupon they kept the feast of unleavened bread for seven days with joy; for the Lord had made them joyful, and turned to them (i.e., had made them joyful by turning to them) the heart of the king of Assyria. With regard to the expression, comp. 2Ch_20:27; Neh_12:43. The king of Assur is the Persian king Darius, who as ruler of the former realm of Assyria is thus designated. The turning of this king's heart to them consisted in this, that their hands were strengthened for the work of the house of God, i.e., that through the goodwill of the king they were enabled to complete the building of their

temple, and to restore the worship of the God of Israel. On �3 ידיהם .comp. 1Sa_23:19 ,חbק

BESO, "Ezra 6:22. And kept the feast with joy: for the Lord had made them joyful — Had given them both cause to rejoice, and hearts to rejoice. “It was now near twenty years,” says Henry, “since the foundation of this temple was laid, and it is probable that most of the old men, who then wept at the remembrance of the first temple, were dead by this time, so that now there were no tears mingled with their

joys.” Those that are upon good grounds joyful, have therefore reason to be thankful, because it is God that makes them to rejoice. He is the fountain from whence all the streams of our joy flow. And turned the heart of the king of Assyria — Of the king of Persia, called the king of Assyria, as now reigning over all the kingdoms which were formerly under the power of the Assyrians; and to signify the great power and goodness of God in turning the hearts of these great monarchs, whose predecessors in empire and dominion, in these parts of the world, had formerly been the chief persecutors and oppressors of the people of God. Darius, as we have seen, was now on the throne, of whom Dr. Prideaux gives this character: “He was a prince of great wisdom, clemency, and justice; and has the honour to be recorded in holy writ for a favourer of God’s people, a restorer of his temple at Jerusalem, and a promoter of his worship therein. For all this God was pleased to make him his instrument; and with respect to this, I doubt not, it was, that he blessed him with a numerous issue, a long reign, and great prosperity.”

WHEDO, "22. Turned the heart of the king of Assyria — The Persian monarch is here called king of Assyria, because he ruled over all the provinces that were comprised in the former Assyrian empire, and these provinces now constituted the greater part of the Persian empire. For the same or a similar reason, Cyrus is called in Ezra 5:13, and Artaxerxes in ehemiah 13:6, king of Babylon, whereas they also like Darius, were kings of Persia. The king of Assyria may here be understood of both Cyrus and Darius, for they both took measures to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God. Both being adherents of the comparatively pure monotheism of the ancient Persians, they had a natural sympathy for the religious system of the Jews. Compare notes on Ezra 1:2.

COKE, "Ver. 22. The king of Assyria— Darius is called the king of Assyria, as now reigning over all the kingdoms which were formerly under the power of the Assyrians. And from hence Archbishop Usher infers, that Babylon, which in the beginning of his reign had revolted, must necessarily have been reduced by Darius before this time; otherwise he thinks he could not have been styled king of Assyria, whereof Babylon was the metropolis. Dr. Prideaux gives this character of Darius: "He was a prince of great wisdom, clemency, and justice; and has the honour to be recorded in holy writ for a favourer of God's people, a restorer of his temple at Jerusalem, and a promoter of his worship therein. For all this God was pleased to make him his instrument; and with respect to this, I doubt not, it was, that he blessed him with a numerous issue, a long reign, and great prosperity."

REFLECTIOS.—1st, We have in this chapter,

1. Search made, in consequence of the application, after the original record in the house of the rolls; and it was found in Achmetha, thought to be Ecbatana, the summer residence of the kings of Babylon; and it contained not only a commission for building the house, but a command to the governors to furnish out of the revenue all necessary materials; which privilege, it seems, the Jews either generously waved, or the change of affairs at court prevented their receiving the benefit of this order. ote; (1.) Diligent inquiry after truth is necessary, in order to administer

impartial justice. (2.) It is often prudent to decline making use of those offers which the generosity of our friends may put in our power.

2. Darius, hereupon perfectly satisfied, confirms the edict in its full extent. As, probably, the interruption the work had met with from the malice of the former governors now appeared, he charges them to give the Jews no hindrance or molestation; commands them to furnish all necessary materials for the building, and the sacrifices and offerings which they needed, out of the revenues; speaks with deep respect of Israel's God, and puts a high value on the prayers of this favoured people, low as they were now reduced. He enforces the decree with the penalty of death on any man who dared counteract it; "Let him be hanged on the beams of his own house, and let it be made a dunghill to perpetuate the infamy:" and, as highly zealous for the honour of that glorious God, whose presence had formerly so distinguished this house, and he supposes would again, he denounces a curse on the king or people who should ever after attempt to alter the worship, or destroy the temple. He concludes with commanding immediate execution of his orders. ote. (1.) The Lord can over-rule the malice of the church's enemies, and bring good out of their evil designs. (2.) They are, through God's good providence, often made instrumental in carrying on the work of God, who have themselves neither part nor lot in the matter. (3.) While we are enabled to trust all our concerns with God, he has the hearts of the greatest in his power, and will over-rule them for the purposes of his own glory. (4.) If kings knew the efficacy of the prayers of God's people, they would be careful to secure an interest in them. (5.) Those whom God has set in authority over us, we are bound to pray for, though heathens or oppressors; and how much more, when truly defenders of the faith, and really nursing fathers to the church! (6.) The curse denounced will surely fall on all the enemies of God's spiritual temple. They who fight against that, destroy their own souls.

2nd, When the obstacles were removed, and the encouragements to labour so many, the work went on briskly. We have here,

1. The finishing of the temple. The governors dared no longer obstruct the work; but, though it may be with reluctance, were immediately obliged to comply with the king's orders; while the prophets Haggai and Zechariah pleaded those mercies which they enjoyed as an argument of God's blessing, and an obligation diligently to improve them; so that in four years the temple was completely finished. ote; (1.) Every mercy that we enjoy should be improved, as an argument for increasing diligence in God's service. (2.) The grand means which God makes use of for the perfecting of the saints, is the ministry of the word.

2. The solemn dedication of it. The priests and Levites, being set in their several courses, according to the law of Moses, offered liberal sacrifices to God on the occasion. As there were many, not only of Benjamin and Judah, but of other tribes joined with them, a sin-offering of twelve he-goats was offered for the congregation; and now, having through the blood of atonement obtained reconciliation, though some marks of bondage still continued upon them, yet with great gladness they rejoiced to see the long discontinued temple-worship once more happily revived.

ote; (1.) The great concern of the returning sinner is, to obtain remission of sin. (2.) When the atoning blood is sprinkled on the conscience, the soul is filled with peace and joy in believing. (3.) Revivals of God's blessed worship and service are the heart-felt rejoicing of every faithful Israelite.

3. The next month they kept the passover with great solemnity and exactness; as a memorial of their escape from Egypt, and now of their repeated deliverance from Babylon, the second house of their bondage. The priests and Levites, unanimous to purify themselves, to a man were ready for their functions, and killed the passover for their brethren, as well as themselves. ot only the people who had returned from Babylon, but many proselytes from the heathen, who had renounced their idolatry, and were circumcised, joined with them; and seven days with universal gladness they kept the feast of unleavened bread; God comforting their hearts, and making them happy in the protection and encouragement which they received from the king. ote; (1.) All true converts to Christ fail not to feed upon him in the feast that he has instituted in memory of the deliverance wrought for them by his dying love. (2.) Purity in the ministers of God's ordinances is most conducive to the comfort and profiting of them: under such ministrations a blessing may be expected. (3.) When we draw near to God, we are called to put off all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness; to separate ourselves from the ways of a wicked world; to renounce our former company, and join ourselves to God's people. (4.) Those who wait upon God in his ways, he causes to rejoice: He is the well-spring of all spiritual comfort, and out of his fulness we shall receive. (5.) When God becomes our portion, he can make those whom we feared as enemies our fast friends.

TRAPP, "Ezra 6:22 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.

Ver. 22. And kept the feast of unleavened bread] See 1 Corinthians 7:8, Exodus 12:35, with the notes.

Seven days] This began on the fifteenth day, and lasted till the one and twentieth day, umbers 28:16-17, Exodus 34:25.

With joy] {See Trapp on "Ezra 6:16"}

For the Lord had made them joyful] Given them cause of joy, and a heart enlarged accordingly, a mind right set for the purpose. St James’s word, ευθυµειν, James 5:13, shows that all true mirth is from the rectitude of a man’s mind, which God only giveth.

And turned the heart of the king] It is he alone that gives favour, that frameth

men’s opinions and affections, that maketh a good man’s enemies to be at peace with him.

To strengthen their hands] As Ezra 6:8. And this did more ennoble him than all his warlike achievements.

ELLICOTT, "(22) And kept the feast.—The Mazzoth, or week of unleavened bread, was the symbol of entire separation from evil, to the service of that God whom on the Passover they accepted as their God. The special joy of this feast was the feeling that the Lord had “turned the heart of the king of Assyria.” The king of Persia is so called as a remembrancer of their oppression by his forerunners.

PARKER, ""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" ( Ezra 6:22).

Then came joy. The children of Israel had come out of captivity, and those who had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land sought the Lord God of Israel, and did eat their bread with religious thankfulness. The joy was very great during the feast of unleavened bread; for seven days the song of joy never ceased: for the Lord himself 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. The one joy of the true saint is to build God"s house. The building of that house is not limited to stone and wood: in human hearts we build God"s house, so that the life is renewed, and the whole outlook and purpose of existence are brought under the influence of regeneration. God"s house is also builded in public policies, so that politics can no longer be regarded as the game of adventurers, but as the science of social existence. The house of God, too, may be built in families, so that the father and the mother and all the children and every member of the household may be as living stones built up into a holy edifice, reared for the habitation of God. The house of the Lord may also be built in commerce, so that business shall no longer be a strife of the strong against the weak, a foolish competition, an ambition for that which is vain, ostentatious, and spiritually useless; commerce itself should become the means of honestly obtaining bread, and living a useful life, even within the limits of Song of Solomon -called earthly circumstances. Woe betide us when we imagine that politics and commerce cannot be sanctified, or when we regard them as mere instruments for the attainment of selfish purposes or the gratification of selfish wishes. Too long have we supposed that religion must be confined to buildings which we denominate by sacred terms, and to days which are set apart for the observance of certain ceremonies. Christianity has done nothing for us until it has cleansed the family circle, rekindled the family fire, set up a family altar, passed into the marketplaces, cleansing and renewing all commercial relations and standards; and passing into politics, there subduing the spirit of selfishness by the spirit of love, the spirit of party by the spirit of patriotism. We shall lose much of holy meaning and holy stimulus if we suppose that building the house of the Lord

relates to the putting-up of the four-cornered building, the roofing-in of a mere locality,—it means the setting-up of great principles, the erection of standards of righteousness, the proclamation of words of incorruptible purity, and the elevation of the whole level of human thinking and human sentiment. Who will take part in this holy edification? Each man can bring a stone to the building, but he can do this only in proportion as he himself is a living stone in the living temple. Long persecution we may have, great discouragement may fall upon us; at times we may be inclined to abandon the work, for we cannot see in the darkness, and we are no match for the resources that are arrayed against us. Under such depressing influences we must grope for the altar, and there with tender heart plead with God that our hope may be brought back again, and that we may be able with steadfastness and loyalty to himself to do what we can to put up the temple which he himself will accept as his dwelling-place.

LAGE, "Ezra 6:22. If eating the passover (namely, in the narrow sense, not in the broader sense, which means to eat the festival offerings in general, comp. Deuteronomy 16:3) as a means of appropriating the covenant grace, closely combines seriousness and joy, so the eating of the unleavened bread ministered exclusively to joy and gave full expression to their joyous and elevated feelings. The concluding clause—for then had the Lord made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them—means to say: for after all the hard sufferings of the exile, and after all the severe trials which had come upon them since the time of Cyrus, the Lord had now, by the Revelation -establishment of the temple, exactly seventy years after its destruction, caused a real and great change of affairs to take place. There was now a new foundation for the celebration of redemption, a second redemption, which was hardly less than the previous one out of Egypt, a redemption out of the firm bonds of Assyria. Darius, the king of Persia, is here called king of Assyria, not only “as ruler of the territory of the previous Persian empire (Keil), or because Assyria from ancient time had been the usual name for all that region (Clericus),[F7] which cannot be proved from Judith 2:1; but above all, likewise, because Darius, as head of the great empire of the world, properly took the same relative position over against the people of God as the Assyrian and Chaldean kings had once had, because it was properly only a continuation or renewal of the same, and because the thought was now to be expressed that finally that very enemy who had once so fearfully and destructively oppressed the people of God had been changed by the grace of God into a friend, so that he had even himself strengthened the hands of the congregation in Revelation -establishing the destroyed temple (as I have already shown in my article, Studien und Kritiken, 1858, S51). [Fהזק יד[8with ב as 1 Samuel 23:6.

PETT, "Ezra 6:22

‘And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy. For YHWH had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.’And following the Passover they observed the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread as was the usual practise (Leviticus 23:4-8). And they did it with especial joy

because they had been enabled to complete the building of the Temple, and were now able to use it for worship. And this was because YHWH had ‘turned the heart of the king of Assyria’, namely Darius.

But why should he be called the King of Assyria here? We have seen Cyrus called, in this book, the King of Persia (Ezra 1:1-2). And he is also called King of Babylon (Ezra 5:13) because he righted what the former king of Babylon had done. And this did, of course, mean that he was the King of Assyria, for he ruled over the former Babylonian empire which had conquered Assyria. He was also in non-Biblical records called King of Egypt, King of Sumer and Akkad, and King of Anshan to name but three. However, we still have to ask the question, why the writer should use this title of Darius here? One probable reason is that it was the kings of Assyria who had initially defiled the Temple. It was they who had ‘persuaded’ Ahaz to introduce a false altar into it, certainly connected with false gods (2 Kings 16:10-15; 2 Chronicles 28:23; 2 Chronicles 28:25). Equally certainly it was the Assyrians who had caused Manasseh to install the worship of the host of heaven in the Temple (2 Kings 21:3-5; 2 Chronicles 33:3). Furthermore the kings of Assyria are mentioned in ehemiah as ones who had initially ‘brought trouble on Israel’ (ehemiah 9:32). Thus, comparing the situation with that of Babylon in Ezra 5:13, it would have been seen as only poetic justice that a king who was ‘King of Assyria’, should be the one who assisted in the building of a new pure Temple. It revealed the hand of God.

There are also grounds for thinking that at this time Assyria had become the symbol of great and proud empire (as Babylon would later), and certainly the Persian kings saw themselves as successors to both the Assyrian and the Babylonian empires. This would tie in with what is said above.