First light on the temple site in Jerusalem: the walls of the second temple rising again in great stone courses with a layer of cedar beams, rough scaffolding poles lashed with rope, a few builders arriving with baskets, the plain altar of rough stones smoking beside it, under a calm pale dawn sky.

The Book of

Ezra 5

Sixteen years of silence at the building site. Then two prophets speak, and the builders rise up.

17 verses≈ 4 min6 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–2The returnCyrus lets them go up
3The altarFoundations laid
4OppositionThe work stopped
5–6The templeFinished and dedicatedChapter 5
7–8Ezra comesThe good hand of God
9–10RepentanceFaithless marriages confessed

Temple Rebuilding Resumes

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Afternoon at the half-built walls of the second temple: the Persian governor Tattenai in a deep-red pleated robe and fluted felt cap, with Shethar-bozenai, a scribe and two guards, questions a few calm gray-bearded elders of the Jews while builders keep working behind.

At that time Tattenai the governor of the region west of the Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates went to the Jews and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?”

They also asked, “What are the names of the men who are constructing this building?”

Ezra 5:5

Reflect

Helping them

Nothing had changed in Persia. What changed was that God’s word was spoken and believed, and “the prophets of God were with them, helping them.” Who has God put beside you to strengthen your hands? And whose hands could you strengthen this week, with a word or with your own work beside them?

Tattenai’s Letter to Darius

Morning on a dusty road east out of the hill country of Judah: a Persian royal courier on a small sturdy horse rides away at a canter, a leather letter case at his belt, brown hills and stone terraces behind, under a wide empty sky.

This is the text of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the region west of the Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates, the officials in the region, sent to King Darius.

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Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

From TattenaiTo King Darius

The report they sent him read as follows: To King Darius: All peace.

Let it be known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. The people are rebuilding it with large stones and placing timbers in the walls. This work is being carried out diligently and is prospering in their hands.

Ezra 5:7–8

Tattenai

So we questioned the elders and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?”

We also asked for their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.

The elders of the Jews

And this is the answer they returned: “We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed.

But since our fathers angered the God of heaven, He delivered them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean who destroyed this temple and carried away the people to Babylon.

We are servants of the God of heaven and earth

Ezra 5:11

Morning in the court of the royal treasury in Babylon: Mithredath the treasurer, a Persian official in a deep-blue pleated robe, counts gold and silver bowls one by one at a low cedar table into the hands of Judean servants, while Sheshbazzar, an older Judean leader in a dark-red robe, stands across the table watching; the vessels lie in rows on reed mats.

In the first year of his reign, however, Cyrus king of Babylon issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. He also removed from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles belonging to the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken and carried there from the temple in Jerusalem. King Cyrus gave these articles to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he appointed governor and instructed, ‘Take these articles, put them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its original site.’

So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundation of the house of God in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been under construction, but it has not yet been completed.”

From TattenaiTo King Darius

Now, therefore, if it pleases the king, let a search be made of the royal archives in Babylon to see if King Cyrus did indeed issue a decree to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.

Ezra 5:17

Question

Quick question

Tattenai did not stop the work. He wrote to the king and asked him to look it up.

Where did Tattenai ask King Darius to search for Cyrus’s decree?

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Ezra 5

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A verse to carry with you

But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, so that they were not stopped until a report was sent to Darius and written instructions about this matter were returned.

Ezra 5:5

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