Ezra 6 explained: The Temple Is Finally Finished

The lost decree turns up (vv. 1-5)

Darius has the royal records searched, and King Cyrus's original order is found at Ecbatana, a Persian royal city in Media. It allowed the temple to be rebuilt at the crown's expense and the gold and silver objects taken by Nebuchadnezzar to be returned.

Darius backs the builders (vv. 6-10)

The regional officials who had questioned the work are told to stay out of the way and pay for it, and for the daily offerings, from local tax money. Persian kings often supported local temples, and Darius asks in return that the priests pray for him and his sons.

A brutal penalty (vv. 11-12)

Anyone who tampers with the order is to be impaled on a beam torn from his own house, and the house reduced to rubble. Impalement was a known Persian punishment, and Darius adds a curse calling on Israel's God against anyone who destroys the temple.

The work is completed (vv. 13-15)

The officials obey, and the builders, urged on by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, finish the temple in Darius's sixth year, around 515 BC. Artaxerxes ruled later, so many scholars think the writer is summing up Persian support as a whole here.

Dedicating the temple (vv. 16-18)

The offerings are generous but far smaller than those at Solomon's temple, fitting a small, struggling community. Twelve goats, one for each tribe, show the returnees saw themselves as standing for all Israel.

Passover in the new temple (vv. 19-22)

About six weeks later, the community keeps Passover, joined by anyone who had left local pagan worship to follow Israel's God. Calling the Persian ruler "king of Assyria" is unusual, perhaps an old title for whoever ruled the region, though scholars are not sure why it is used.

Key verse: Ezra 6:22

Something to think about

When help arrives from someone who once stood in your way, what makes it easier or harder to accept and to trust?