Darius Hystaspes caused a search to be made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon, and there was found in the capital of Great Media a record of decree of Cyrus, specifying the height and breadth of the reconstructed temple, and giving other directions which, under God, settled the mind of Darius.
The governor and his associates were therefore told to let the work alone, and further, that they were to supply means to carry it on, as well as animals, salt, wine and oil for the appointment of the priests at Jerusalem. Anyone who should alter this decree should be hanged, and his house be made a dung hill for doing so.
And so the temple was at length restored and finished, about twenty years after the work was started under the authority of Cyrus. There was again a season of rejoicing.
We observe in the dedication, what showed the leading of the Spirit of God, a sin offering for "all Israel", twelve he-goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
This was like what Elijah had done on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:30-3230And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. 31And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: 32And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. (1 Kings 18:30‑32)) four hundred years before, but much had happened during those four centuries to humble the heart of one who feared God, and the twelve tribes, if known at this time were, except for fifty thousand,—mostly of Judah and Benjamin,—far from the land God gave to their forefathers.
There was none the less only one scriptural ground upon which to gather,—that of the whole body, however sin and self-will had ruined it practically. So it is today, with reference to the Church of God.
Once more the Word of God is seen as the authority for what was done: priests and. Levites according to their set tasks, were put at work as it was written in the book of Moses, (verse 18). The passover, too, was held on the scriptural day, and the Word of God had a cleansing effect upon many (upon all such as had separated themselves to the returned Israelites from the filthiness of the nations in the land), and they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy.
It was a day of small things, indeed. No son of David was their king; they were but vassals of the Gentile power. Something of their condition, in addition to what Haggai tells, may be learned from the hook of Esther who became queen of Xerxes (called Ahasuerus in that book; the name is supposed to be a title, as Pharaoh was in Egypt), the sun of Darius Hystaspes.
The book of Esther, historically, belongs between Ezra chapters 6 and 7.