Ezra 6, What the Archives Reveal

During the reign of Darius there is been local opposition to rebuilding the temple. Prophets Haggai and Zechariah have insisted that the work continue. Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, has then written to King Darius in Babylon asking for a search of Babylonian royal archives to see if there was indeed a previous decree by Cyrus, as claimed by the Jewish leaders.

Ezra 6: 1-5, Archives searched

King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it: 

Memorandum:

 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 high and ninety feet wide, with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury. Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar 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.

Darius searches the archives and the original edict by Cyrus is discovered!

Ezra 6: 6-7, "Stay away from there!"

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

Darius instructs Tattenai then to let the Jews build the temple and to not hinder them.

Ezra 6: 8-12, Treasury to be used

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

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. May God, who has caused his Name 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.

 

Furthermore, Tattenai is to support the temple rebuilding! This is a strong message from King Darius in support of "the God of heaven", leaning on previous rulings by Cyrus. We note the "curses" that follow the decree, the punishment to be meted out to anyone who opposes Darius's edict.

Ezra 6: 13-16, Completed!

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. 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.
 

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

With the support of Darius and Tattenai, the temple is finished in the sixth year of the reign of Darius.

The Hebrew word translated dedication" here is chanukkah. It appears only four times in the Old Testament, twice here and twice in Daniel 3, where Nebuchadnezzar has a golden image of himself dedicated. A later dedication of the temple in the second century BC gives us the modern holiday of Hanukkah.

Ezra 6: 17-18, Second temple dedicated

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. 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.

After the temple is completed, the sacrifices are made.  Among the sacrifices are twelve male goats, one each for the twelve tribes of Israel.  (It is not clear where those twelve tribes are at this time.)

The passage from Ezra 4: 8 through 6: 18 has been in Aramaic. Now the writing in Ezra switches back to Hebrew. 

Ezra 6: 19-22, Passover

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

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.

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.

 

The people celebrate the Passover again. It is a rare event, to celebrate the Passover, and has only been done a few times since the days of the judges.  Yamauchi dates this Passover event to around 515 BC.

The exiles who had returned to the land shared the feast with locals who had separated themselves from the practices of the Canaanites around them.