View Ezra 6 in the note window.
Darius's answer, ver. 1 - 7.
His decree, ver. 8 - 12.
The temple is finished, ver. 13 - 15.
The dedication of it, ver. 16 - 18.
The passover kept, ver. 19 - 22.
1: A decree - To search the rolls in Babylon, where search was
first made; but not finding the edict there, they searched in Achmetha,
or Ecbatana, and found it.
2: Achmetha - The royal city of the Medes and Persians.
3: Cubits - Those 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, may 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.
12: Destroy - Tho' 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.
14: Through the prophesying - 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.
21: Children of Israel - Probably some out of each of the twelve
tribes.
22: Joyful - He had given them both cause to rejoice, and hearts to
rejoice. God is the fountain whence all the streams of true joy flow.
Of Assyria - Of the king of Persia, who was now king of Assyria
also, here so called emphatically, to note the great power and
goodness of God in turning the hearts of these great monarchs,
whose predecessors had been the chief persecutors and oppressors
of God's people.
