The Second Temple

Ezra 6:1-12

Ezra 6:1-6 details how the search was made and the scroll was found. The record is related in verses 3-5, and it is more detailed than the decree that Ezra presented in 1:2-4. This may be because 1:2-4 was a public proclamation and 6:3-5 was a royal record. At any rate, 6:4 adds the significant detail, “The cost is to be paid from the royal treasury.” In view of both the opposition to the rebuilding and the decree that Darius issues in response to this in verses 7-12, it does not appear that the rebuilding effort had previously been financed by the royal treasury. Stop and consider what brought that part of Cyrus’s orders to light: opposition! The opponents to the rebuilding of the temple succeeded only in getting the work financed.

50The Bible teaches that God turns Satan’s efforts against God’s people into blessings for them. Satan succeeds in having Jesus the Messiah crucified, fulfilling God’s plan to save those who believe. Satan sends a messenger to afflict the apostle Paul, accomplishing God’s purpose of keeping Paul from becoming conceited (2 Cor 12:7). God will do this in your life, too. There is no setback, no failure, no tragedy, no disappointment, and no defeat that God can’t use to bless you.

Look at that detail in Ezra 6:5 about the temple vessels being restored “where they belong.” This indicates that Cyrus intended the temple to be rebuilt and to resume its function, with the worship being conducted the right way. This supports the returnees in their refusal to compromise God’s instructions by allowing the peoples of the land to influence the rebuilding project.

The blessings that God brings out of the letter of opposition in chapter 5 are now seen in the response of Darius in 6:6-12. Darius first addressed those who were opposing the rebuilding of the temple: “Therefore, you must stay away from that place, Tattenai governor of the region west of the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and your colleagues, the officials in the region” (v. 6). These guys have been intimidating and bullying the Jews, and the king of all Persia tells them to clear out of Jerusalem. Next he addresses their relationship to the effort to rebuild the temple: “Leave the construction of the house of God alone. Let the governor and elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its original site” (v. 7).

So they are to stay away, allow the temple to be rebuilt, and they are not to inject themselves into the rebuilding effort but let the Jews do it. Darius goes on to make them pay for it—not just the rebuilding but the resumption of worship—in verses 8-9:

Darius seems to think that if he keeps all the minor local deities placated, he will have peace in his realm. This appears to be reflected in 51the statement of self-interest in verse 10: “so that they can offer sacrifices of pleasing aroma to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.”

This generosity is replete with threats that are reminiscent of Nebuchadnezzar (cf. Dan 2:5; 3:29):

Having stated this curse that reminds Ezra’s audience of the book of Daniel, Darius then makes statements that use language frequent in the narratives from Deuteronomy through 1 and 2 Kings:

That first statement may indicate that Darius had Jewish advisors, men who served him as Daniel had served earlier kings, who had told him of Yahweh’s relationship to Jerusalem in the same terminology used in earlier Old Testament narratives.

Before we go on to look at the completion of the work on the temple, let me invite you to put yourself in the sandals of those who were being intimidated and threatened back in Ezra 5:1-4, when the inhabitants of the land came asking questions and taking names. If you had been there then, when they left with a list of names, how would you have responded? What would have been the character of the things coming out of your mouth?

I think most Christians would have responded well: their grave concern would have provoked prayer. They would call on God, believing that He cares for His people, believing that the task was what God wanted done, believing that He would enable faithfulness, even if He didn’t take all the problems away.

Maybe some of us, however, would have said things that we would later regret, expressing unwarranted pessimism, despair, and hopelessness, as though we don’t know God. Let me encourage you: The next time you are about to say something pessimistic, remember that God uses even opposition to bless His people. Remember that God used the 52opposition of these inhabitants from the land as a way to get the building of the second temple funded. God causes those who keep His Word to prosper in all they do.

Maybe you’re reading this and you don’t know God. To this point in your life you have been unaware of His purposes, unaware of His power, unaware of His instructions, and you have no idea what you need to do to know this God. Let me encourage you to think about this story that we’re studying here in Ezra 5-6. The Bible presents this God who loves His people and always does what is right. The Bible teaches that those who trust this God and believe what He says are blessed in all they do. The Bible teaches that those who have failed to trust, failed to believe, and failed to do what God has said can be made right with Him. As we proceed through the rest of this passage, it will point us to how people can be reconciled to God.

Ezra 6:13-22

The local officials obey Darius in Ezra 6:13, and the first part of verse 14 states, “And the elders of the Jews were building and prospering through the prophecy of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo” (my trans.). Notice the connection here between the prospering of the work and the prophesying of the prophets. Those who heed the Lord’s Word prosper (again we have the same root—though in Aramaic—that we have in Ps 1:3 and Josh 1:8).

The rest of verse 14 tells us of the relationship between God’s purpose and the decrees of these pagan kings: “And they built and finished by the decree of the God of Israel, and by the decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia” (my trans.). God accomplishes His decrees through the decrees of the kings. The decrees of the kings are what they are because God has purposed to cause the temple to be rebuilt. Notice how this statement doesn’t say that the temple was rebuilt. It says “they built and finished.” This is because, while Cyrus and Darius decreed that the temple be built, Artaxerxes is also mentioned here; he was the king who reigned in Ezra’s day, when a different building project was underway.

We read about what Artaxerxes decreed in Ezra 7, where he sends Ezra back, decreeing that Jews who wish may go with Ezra (7:13) and that funds are to be provided for them (7:21). Artaxerxes later allowed 53Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem to rebuild city and wall. Once again, Ezra has tied the efforts of his own generation to the efforts of the first generation of returnees. God’s work on behalf of Ezra’s generation is like His work on behalf of the first generation that returned and built the temple. God is for Ezra’s generation just as He was for those who rebuilt the temple. God is carrying forward His purposes in the world through Israel. Verse 15 tells us that the temple was completed in the sixth year of Darius, which we refer to as 516 bc.

Ezra 6:16-18 tells us about the dedication of the temple and the ordering of the priests and Levites. Verse 17 refers to the 12 male goats for the tribes of Israel. This mention of 12 goats has in view the restoration of the 12 tribes of Israel.

I mentioned just above that this passage would tell us how people who have transgressed against God might be reconciled to Him. God gave the temple to Israel under the old covenant for this purpose. God is holy. People are sinful. God makes a way for Israel to be cleansed of sin by giving them the temple, in which He dwells, where Israel can offer sacrifices to atone for their sin. Look at the reference to “a sin offering” there in verse 17. In order to sacrifice a valuable animal, these Israelites had to believe God’s word, recognize God’s holiness against their sin, and believe that if they offered the sacrifice they would be pleasing to God. Look at verse 10, which mentions “sacrifices of pleasing aroma to the God of heaven.”

We no longer offer sacrifices to atone for sin because Jesus died to make a complete and full atonement for sin. His death makes it possible for those who recognize that God’s holiness is against their sin to be reconciled to God by trusting in Jesus. Would you like to be reconciled to God? You need only believe His Word and trust in Jesus.

Ezra 7-10 move from these who returned to the land and rebuilt the temple to those who returned to the land in Ezra’s time. This first unit of the book of Ezra, chapters 1-6, closes with the first generation of returnees celebrating the Passover at the rebuilt temple in 6:19-22. The Passover commemorates God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt. As Jeremiah and other prophets warned of the coming exile, they promised a new deliverance that would eclipse the exodus from Egypt in significance (e.g., Jer 16:14-15). Isaiah prophesied that when God restored His people, non-Israelites would worship the Lord with Israel (Isa 66:18-21).This celebration of the Passover in Ezra 6 anticipates the fulfillment of those prophecies. This returned community is hoping to experience 54the new deliverance that will be greater than the exodus. Hope is alive, and by celebrating the Passover, this returned community is acting on hope and stoking its flames.

The returned community might have seemed rude in Ezra 4:3 when they refused the offer of help from the peoples of the land. Many people are troubled by what will take place in chapters 9-10, when we see those who have married foreign wives forced to put them away. What we see here in 6:21 helps us understand both the refusal of help and the putting away of foreign wives. Israel can accept outsiders if those outsiders will join with Israel. Look at who gets to celebrate the Passover:

This shows us that the returned community is not into racism. No, they’re into holiness.

Holiness gives joy—they celebrated the festival with joy, “because the Lord had made them joyful” (v. 22). The first part of Ezra closes with a note of God’s power over the foreign rulers: the Lord “turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel” (6:22b; my trans.). Ezra does not refer to the king “of Assyria” because he is confused about the identity of the king (cf. 1:2 “of Persia,” 3:7 “of Persia,” 4:3 “of Persia,” 5:13 “of Babylon,” 6:14 “of Persia,” 7:1 “of Persia”). Ezra deliberately references Assyria to link Assyria, Babylon, and Persia, all of which represent the evil empire over against the kingdom of God. Those who oppose Israel are identified with one another, just as Ezra identifies his own generation with the generation who returned to the land and successfully rebuilt the temple. God causes those who keep His Word to prosper in whatever they do.

I began this section with the story of that impossibly difficult theme that was given to Johann Sebastian Bach to improvise into a three-part fugue on the spot in the presence of Frederick the Great. The story continues: “When Bach had finished the three-part fugue, while his audience of virtuosi was still ‘seized with astonishment,’ Frederick asked Bach if he could go himself one better, this time making the theme into a fugue for55 six voices. Knowing instantly that he had no hope of doing such a vastly more complex improvisation (Bach had never even written a six-part fugue for keyboard) ... he said he would have to work it out on paper and send it to Frederick later” (Gaines, Evening in the Palace of Reason, 9-10).

Later writers have suggested that Bach recognized that a trap had been set for him, and thus he entitled the piece he composed “Musical Offering,” the word “offering” in German carrying the connotation of “sacrifice” and “victim.” Gaines writes,

Timothy Smith writes,

God causes those who keep His Word to prosper in all they do.