As they were rebuilding the temple, opposition arose from their enemies. Their opponents complained to king Xerxes and followed up with a letter to Artaxerxes. The letter began with a statement about what the king should know about the "Jews" (this is the first time I've seen this name of the children of Israel in the Bible. I've wondered if this was a slang name of the Babylonians for the Judites, or maybe it's a name they gave themselves?) In the letter they told the king that the rebellious and wicked city of Jerusalem was being rebuilt. They also told him that the royal revenues would suffer since no more taxes would be collected. Well the king didn't want that, so he wrote a letter to the people in Jerusalem, telling them that because they are so rebellious and wicked, they must stop rebuilding the city until he said so. So they did.
Two prophets came to the Jews and told them to continue building the temple, so they did. The governor sent a letter to king Darius explaining the situation, about how they questioned the Jews and what their reply was. They retold the story of their deportment into Babylon as well as the gold and silver things from the temple that Nebuchadnezzar had taken. They told of the decree of king Cyrus to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple and return the gold and silver things. So they searched the records for the decree by king Cyrus and sure enough, they found it. The memo from king Cyrus told of the temple's dimensions as well as the gold and silver things to be restored. It's a good thing he wrote it down! So Darius not only upheld the memo, he added that they were to be given money to pay for the construction, and whatever was needed for sacrifices to please God. He threatened death by house (read it) if they didn't carry out his orders.
So the temple was completed, dedicated, and the Passover celebrated.
In a footnote in my Bible, I read that there is a 60 year silence between chapters 6&7 and that this was when the events of Esther took place.
The first 6 verses of chapter 7 tell us that Ezra was a direct descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses. Also that these events take place during the reign of Artaxerxes. Ezra had devoted himself to learning and understanding God's law, and was a teacher. Ezra carried a letter of recommendation from Artaxerxes. The king had been impressed to the point of total trust in Ezra. Ezra knew it was God who had put it all into the king's heart.
Tomorrow finish Ezra and read Nehemiah 1
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