The temple successfully rebuilt
Letter to Darius
To King Darius: Cordial greetings.
8 The king should know that we went to the district of Judah, to the temple of the great God. The people were building it with large stones and placing the timbers in the walls. The work is being carried on with diligence and is making rapid progress under their direction.
9 We questioned the elders and asked them, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?” 10 We also asked them their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.
11 This is the answer they gave us:
“We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished. 12 But because our fathers angered the God of heaven, he handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon.
13 “However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. 14 He even removed from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon.
“Then King Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor, 15 and he told him, ‘Take these articles and go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the house of God on its site.’ 16 So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From that day to the present it has been under construction but is not yet finished.”
17 Now if it please the king, let a search be made in the royal archives of Babylon to see if King Cyrus did in fact issue a decree to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.
When the Jewish people claimed that their project had been authorized by the Persian government, Tattenai permitted the work to continue until he received verification of their claim from the capital. Apparently, King Cyrus’ decree authorizing the Jews to rebuild the temple had been filed away and ignored. Cyrus died eight years after issuing it, and a search had to be made to find the decree.
It was due to God’s providence, his eye watching over his people, that the work was able to continue. The Lord had directed the affairs of state in such a way that the Jews at this time were blessed with a fair, impartial ruler so that their new enthusiasm for building God’s house was not stifled, and the work was able to progress until a favorable reply was received from the king. Today too it is a great blessing to Christians if they have impartial, conscientious rulers who faithfully carry out their responsibilities and do not hinder God’s people from carrying out their responsibilities.