Thursday 14th May
Read Ezra 6:1-7
“King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon. 2 A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:
Memorandum:
3 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 sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide, 4 with three courses of large stones and one of timber. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury. 5 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.
6 Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you other officials of that province, stay away from there. 7 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.” (NIVUK)
Independent records verify the amazing accuracy of these words. In the first year Cyrus ruled over Babylon, the year in which this edict was made, it is known that he summered in Ecbatana. The proclamation made in Babylon, and recorded in Ezra 1, was also minuted and stored at Ecbatana and able to be sourced years later. (‘Tattenai’ also shows up in archaeological records from this period…)
The extra details are entirely consistent with the desire of Cyrus to win favour with the gods of the people under his rule. It is, in short, simple, best-practice, ancient governance. It accounts for the ‘large stones’, the observation that it was being rebuilt in the same way as it was originally built by Solomon, and the instruction to return the vessels of the temple, as far as was possible, ‘to their place’.
The outcome of the request could not have proved more beneficial for the speedy rebuilding of the temple. The leaders in Jerusalem now not only had state endorsement, but approval without state interference! This divine miracle is likely not repeated in such a comprehensive manner until Constantine. It is unsurprising the records were kept.
Derek Kidner observes that no passage more truly reflects the truth found in William Cowper’s great poem ‘God moves in a mysterious way’:
““Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.”
