Ezra 5:6-17--Tattenai's Letter to King Darius

Ezra 5:6-17
English Standard Version
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Tattenai's Letter to King Darius
6 This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and his associates, the governors who were in the province Beyond the River, sent to Darius the king. 7 They sent him a report, in which was written as follows: “To Darius the king, all peace. 8 Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands. 9 Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus: ‘Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’ 10 We also asked them their names, for your information, that we might write down the names of their leaders. 11 And this was their reply to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. 12 But because our fathers had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia. 13 However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. 14 And the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, these Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor; 15 and he said to him, “Take these vessels, go and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.” 16 Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been in building, and it is not yet finished.’ 17 Therefore, if it seems good to the king, let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus the king for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. And let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.”

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There is now a second letter sent by the people of the province Beyond the River, but the tone of this letter is different.  They seem more measured and careful in their words, not accusing the people of God of defying the stop work order, but to see if there really was an order not only allowing them to construct the Temple of the LORD but ordering them to do so from a previous king of the Medes and Persians (for their laws cannot be changed or undone).  This would put Darius in quite the predicament if it was true, as he would have to abide by the decree of King Cyrus, or face grave consequences for violating the laws of the Medes and the Persians.  They Jewish people also made it clear that the Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans (who were no longer in power) because the Jews had acted in a way that angered the God of heaven of earth.

They gave no names to the king other than the name of their governor in whose hands Cyrus had given the sacred objects to put in the Temple and given the silver and gold to be used to make new objects for the Temple, and the instructions to lay the foundations of the Temple.  It was enough name-dropping for these men who recognized the names of King Cyrus and Governor Sheshbazzar that they decided to share this new information with King Darius and let him search the archives to find it himself and see if he wanted to continue to oppose the construction of the Temple or wanted to side with Cyrus and aide the Jews in the rebuilding of the Temple and Jerusalem and their return to the Promised Land.  We'll see Darius's reply next time.