Ezra
Chapter 5
Upon hearing them, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, son of Jozadak, began to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were with them, supporting them.
Then Tattenai, the governor of the province on the other side of the River, and Shethar-bozenai came with their counselors and said: “Who has ordered you to build this house and its walls?”
They also asked, “Who are the men working on constructing this building?”
But the favor of God was with the leaders of the Jews, for these people did not oblige the Jews to stop the work while the matter was being referred to King Darius, and a letter could be sent back concerning this.
This is a copy of the joint letter to King Darius from Tattenai, governor of the province on the other side of the River, Shethar-bozenai and his counselors, the Persians at the other bank of the River:
“To King Darius: Peace.
We wish to inform the king that we went to the province of Judea, to the house of the great God. They are now building the temple with hewn stones and timber to reinforce the walls; the work is being done with great care and progressing quickly under their hands.
We questioned the Elders and asked them: Who has ordered you to build this house and finish this Sanctuary?
We also asked them their names and wrote down the names of their leaders for your information.
They gave us this answer: We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house built many years ago. A great king of Israel built and finished it.
But then, our ancestors angered the God of heaven, so he gave the children to the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed this house and carried the people to Babylonia.
However, in the first year of his reign, Cyrus, king of Babylon, issued a decree that the house of God should be rebuilt.
The gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple of Jerusalem and placed in the temple of Babylon, were taken from there by King Cyrus and turned over to Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor.
He said to him: Take these vessels, bring them to the temple of Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt in the same place.
Then Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From that time until now, it has been gradually rebuilt but is still not complete.
Now, if it seems reasonable to the king, inquiries be made into the royal archives there in Babylon to verify whether King Cyrus indeed issued a decree for rebuilding the house of God in Jerusalem; then may the king inform us of his will in this matter.
Commentaries
Construction Resumes.
In these chapters, we move on to the second phase of the book: rebuilding the Temple during Darius I’s reign, covering the years 520-515 B.C. The chapters include a brief narrative at the beginning and end, along with a more detailed documentary section. The first document is an informative letter explaining the responses from the Jewish authorities; the second is a letter from the emperor that includes part of Cyrus’ decree. Once the Temple is finished, Passover is celebrated, and the renewed Temple begins to promote national unity. However, the language is broad and perhaps deliberately so, as if to keep the possibility open for proselytes, which fits Zechariah’s universalist outlook (8:20-23).