Don’t be like those who never start serving because they’re always getting ready to get ready.
King Darius had a vested interest in the temple reconstruction being continued and completed. In his reply to Tattenai, governor in Syria, he wrote, “Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on its site.…that they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his sons” (Ezra 6:7, 10). And here is a good place in the narrative to notice the meaning of the Persian name given to Zerubbabel. Sheshbazzar means “worshipper of fire.” And in this, the poor ignorant Persians came remarkably close to the truth. Zerubbabel obviously wasn’t a worshipper of idols. The Most Holy Place of his temple looked like it was empty, but the fire of his God seemed to be the conduit that linked him with heaven. As Darius described it, if the temple site was restored, “they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the God of heaven,” and with it their prayers. The fire that had come down from heaven turned the meat into smoke and aroma, transferring it—in symbol—back to heaven. And it would be beneficial, wouldn’t it, if some Jews in faraway Jerusalem were praying for the king and his family? The apostle Paul thought so, too (1 Tim 2:1-3). With this practical encouragement, “the temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar…in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius” (Ezra 6:15). By whose command? “They built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia” (v 14). Behind the decrees of three Gentile kings, acting on their own volition, was the overarching will of an all-wise, gracious, and sovereign God.