But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the
Jews
He in his providence looked favourably at them, smiled upon them,
encouraged them in the work by his good Spirit, and by the
prophets, and gave them success, and protected and defended them,
see ( 2 Chronicles
16:9 ) ( Zechariah
3:9 ) ( 4:10 ) ,
that they could not cause them to cease, till the matter
came to
Darius;
they were not intimidated by what the governor and those with him
said to them, but went on in their work; nor did the governor
attempt to interrupt them, they having referred him and their
cause to Darius for the truth of what they had said, and for
further information from him:
and then they returned answer by letter concerning this
matter;
that is, Tatnai and those with him sent a letter to Darius about
this affair, to which they had an answer, which are both related
in this and the following chapters.