Ezra 6:1 Commentary and Bible Study

The expectations of the Samaritans are not met. Permission to build is not denied. This matter was treated by Darius with the utmost seriousness. In verse 1 he makes a decree to begin a search; in the rest of the chapter he makes several other decrees connected to this letter. ‘Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls,’ and the roll was found. Even the place is named: ‘Achmetha, in the palace in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written,’ and there is a partial quotation from the decree of Cyrus. They find that Cyrus has even stated the dimensions of this temple. He had personally got deeply interested in the project: ‘The height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits; ⁴ With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber.’ It is surprising to find Darius giving such detailed instructions. Matthew Poole supposes that he obtained information from the Jews, for the construction is similar to that of the first temple (1 Kings 6:36). They didn't actually build it as large as that, but they had advance permission, in the same way that planning authorities might be given permission today to build up to a certain height and a certain length and a certain breadth. The more you see of this original Cyrus edict – in bits and pieces through Ezra and elsewhere in Scripture – the more you think he must have been given spiritual light by God. He takes a deep interest in all this: Cyrus the Mede.Every word that the elders of the Jews have spoken to Tatnai and which has been included in the letter sent to Artaxerxes is corroborated. Even this apparently implausible occurrence is confirmed: that Cyrus had indeed commanded that the vessels taken by force from the temple in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar be returned. It is not surprising that Tatnai doubted that this could be true, but the Jews have been speaking with absolute accuracy. Their account has been confirmed at the highest level, and what can their enemies say?