The Israelites had faced nosy neighbors before. This time, it would cost Syria’s governor dearly.
As we saw in the last episode, Tattenai, the Persian governor of Syria, on the other side of the Jordan, had heard about this building project. He came to see and inquire about it. When he had the facts, he felt it necessary to send a report to Darius. It seemed incredulous to him that these Jews would have permission to be rebuilding their capital city, “which is being built with heavy stones, and timber is being laid in the walls” (Ezra 5:8), as he reported in his letter to the Persian emperor. This looked more like a fort than a temple! However, Zerubbabel (called in the letter by his Persian name, Sheshbazzar) had explained: “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago” (v 11). He told how their great king [Solomon] had built it, how the people had later turned from it, how God in wrath had allowed Nebuchadnezzar to destroy it and take its treasures. Then remarkably, “in the first year of Cyrus” (v 13), he decreed the rebuilding of the temple and the return of its treasures. Could this fantastic story be true? “Therefore, if it seems good to the king,” wrote Tattenai, “let a search be made…whether it is so that a decree was issued by King Cyrus to build this house of God at Jerusalem” (v 17). The search proved the Jews’ story to be true. On top of that, Darius instructed Tattenai (tatnay = “gift”) to live up to his name. He decreed, “Let the cost be paid at the king’s expense from taxes on the region beyond the River…And whatever they need—young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven…let it be given them” (6:8-9). Thus the proverb proves true: “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Prov 16:7).