Ezra 5:6-16

6 Here is the text of the letter which Tatnai the governor of the territory beyond the River, Sh'tar-Boznai and their fellow officials beyond the River sent to Daryavesh the king;

7 they sent him a letter in which it was written: "To Daryavesh the king, "Complete shalom!"

8 "Let the king know that we went to the province of Y'hudah, to the house of the great God. It is being rebuilt with large stones, and timber is being set in the walls. This work is being done energetically, and it is making good progress under the direction

9 of their leaders. We asked them, 'Who gave you permission to rebuild this house and finish this wall?'

10 We also asked them their names, so that we could write you the names of the men in charge of them.

11 "They gave us this answer: 'We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, built and finished by a great king of Isra'el.

12 But because our ancestors provoked the God of heaven, he handed them over to N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel, the Kasdi; he destroyed this house and carried the people off to Bavel.

13 But in the first year of Koresh king of Bavel, Koresh the king gave authorization to rebuild this house of God.

14 Moreover, the gold and silver articles belonging to the house of God, which N'vukhadnetzar had removed from the temple in Yerushalayim and brought to the temple of Bavel, Koresh the king took out of the temple in Bavel; they were turned over to a man named Sheshbatzar, whom he had appointed governor.

15 He said to him, "Take these articles, go, put them in the temple in Yerushalayim, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its original site."

16 So this same Sheshbatzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Yerushalayim; it has been under construction ever since, and it isn't finished yet.

Ezra 5:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 5

This chapter relates, how that the people of the Jews were stirred up by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah to set about the building of the temple again, notwithstanding the orders to the contrary from the deputy governors of the king of Persia; nor could the present ones cause them to cease from it; though it must be owned they behaved towards them in a better manner than the former ones did, Ezr 5:1-5, and who, upon the answers received from the Jews, wrote a letter to Darius, to know the truth of things; and in which they seem to state fairly the case of the Jews, as they had it from them, so far as they understood it, Ezr 5:6-17.

\\son of Iddo\\ The grandson of Iddo; for he was the son of Berechiah, Zec 1:1,

\\prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name\\ \\of the God of Israel\\; this they both did in the second year of Darius; the one began in the sixth month, and the other in the eighth month of the year, Hag 1:1, Zec 1:1, even "unto them"; or "against them", as De Dieu; reproving them for their sloth and neglect of building the temple, when they were careful enough to raise up goodly houses for themselves to dwell in; and for being intimidated by the command of the king of Persia, which only forbid the building of the city, that is, the walls of it, but not the temple any more than their own houses; and besides, there was now a new king, from whom they had not so much to fear. 20094-950306-0810-Ezr5.2