Ezra 5:6-17
God's people can answer opposition and inquiry with humble truth: they are servants of the God of heaven, they deserve His judgment, and they continue His work by His mercy and providence.
6 The copy of the letter that Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, and Shetharbozenai, and his companions the Apharsachites, who were beyond the River, sent to Darius the king follows.
7 They sent a letter to him, in which was written: To Darius the king, all peace.
8 Be it known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God, which is built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on with diligence and prospers in their hands.
9 Then we asked those elders, and said to them thus, “Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall?”
10 We asked them their names also, to inform you that we might write the names of the men who were at their head.
11 Thus they returned us answer, saying, “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are building the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.
12 But after our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon.
13 But in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree to build this house of God.
14 The gold and silver vessels of God’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought into the temple of Babylon, those Cyrus the king also took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor.
15 He said to him, ‘Take these vessels, go, put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let God’s house be built in its place.’
16 Then the same Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of God’s house which is in Jerusalem. Since that time even until now it has been being built, and yet it is not completed.
17 Now therefore, if it seems good to the king, let a search be made in the king’s treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether it is so, that a decree was made of Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem; and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter.”
God's people can answer opposition and inquiry with humble truth: they are servants of the God of heaven, they deserve His judgment, and they continue His work by His mercy and providence.
To record the official inquiry sent to Darius and to preserve the returned elders' testimony that the temple work rests on service to the God of heaven, confession of covenant guilt, and the prior decree of Cyrus.
This passage is the embedded text of the letter written by Tattenai (governor beyond the River), Shethar-bozenai, and their associates to Darius. It follows the narrative note that God's eye kept the officials from stopping the work while the matter was sent (Ezra 5:5) and prepares for Darius's archive search and confirming decree (Ezra 6:1-12).
The unit belongs to the Aramaic administrative section of Ezra. After Haggai and Zechariah stir the work to resume, Tattenai the governor of Beyond the River and his associates investigate the rebuilding and send a formal report to Darius. The inquiry is serious, but it differs from the hostile accusation of Ezra 4 by accurately reporting the visible progress and the elders' stated rationale.