Ezra 6:1-12 - Exposition

The application made by the satrap of Syria to Darius received his immediate attention. A search was instituted—in the first instance, at Babylon, but afterwards at the other capitals also; and in Ecbatana, the Median metropolis, where the Persian kings always resided during a portion of the year, a copy of the original decree was found, which is considerably fuller and more definite, though in some respects covering less ground, than the "proclamation'' with which Ezra opens his history. The decree not merely provided for the rebuilding of the temple, but gave directions for its dimensions and for the style of its construction, points on which the proclamation said nothing; it also provided that the whole cost (of the materials) should be defrayed out of the royal revenue; and it concluded with an express command that all the gold and silver vessels carried off by Nebuchadnezzar should be restored. We may account for the decree not being found at Babylon, or Susa, by the Pseudo-Smerdis having destroyed it when he was accomplishing his religious reforms, though accidentally he omitted to destroy the copy laid up at Ecbatana; thus, as so often happens with wicked men, by a slip of memory frustrating his own intention.