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1 Esdras vi.
Notes & Commentary:
Ver. 1.
Library. Protestants, "house of the rolls, where the treasures were," &c. --- Babylon. In the city, the
search was fruitless: (Vatable) but in the kingdom, the record was discovered. (Menochius)
Ver. 2.
Ecbatana. Chaldean achmetha, signifies "a jug, or chest." (Calmet) --- "They found in the chest of the
palace, under the inscription of Media." (Munster) (Pagnin) --- "And a roll was found (some add, in Amatha) in the
city, in a chest, (or tower; Barei) and this memorial was written in it." (Septuagint) Protestants style the
place, "Achmetha." (Haydock) --- Arabic, "Athana." Syriac, "Ahmathane." The memoirs of Cyrus had probably been conveyed to
Ecbatana, which was built by Dejoces, the first king of the Medes, and greatly enlarged by his successor, Phraortes. (Calmet)
--- Province. Media now only formed a province of the empire. (Tirinus)
Ver. 3.
And....foundations is not found in Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic, but it is in Chaldean. The temple was thus of larger
dimensions than that of Solomon, which was only 30 cubits high, and 20 broad inside, 3 Kings vi. 2. The Rabbins assign 100
for each, (Tr. Middot. iv. 6.) speaking perhaps of the temple rebuilt by Herod, with still greater magnificence. Josephus
allows 100 in height, and 60 in breadth. But the Scripture only speaks of 54 cubits breadeth, and 99 in length including the
adjoining edifices. (Calmet) --- Breadth, from the front to the end of the holy of holies, which we should call the
length. (Tirinus) --- This temple was lower than Solomon's by one half, (2 Paralipomenon iii. 4.; Menochius) unless those
120 cubits refer only to a tower. (Haydock)
Ver. 4.
Unpolished, to correspond with the polished stones and cedar employed by Solomon, 3 Kings vi. 36. (Menochius) --- Protestants,
"great stones." See chap. v. 8. --- Charges. It appears that the Jews furnished money and meat to pay for the wood,
chap. i. 4., and iii. 7. Some annual sum might be assigned by Cyrus, either for the building, or for the daily holocausts.
(Calmet)
Ver. 5.
Placed formerly, before the destruction of the temple. Protestants, "and place them in the house of God."
Ver. 8.
Hindered. Thus Darius trod in the footsteps, or perhaps exceeded the liberality of Cyrus. (Haydock)
Ver. 9.
Complaint. Protestants, "without fail," (Haydock) or "delay." (Montanus) (Calmet)
Ver. 11.
Nailed. Protestants, "hanged." Septuagint, "covered with wounds, or fastened on it." (Haydock) --- Some think
that the criminal was to be scourged. (De Dieu) --- "Let him be hanged on the wood, which shall stand upright, after his house
shall have been demolished." (Vatable) --- Such was the custom of the Persians. (Grotius) --- Aman perished on the gallows,
which he had erected in his own house for Mardocheus, Esther vii. 9. --- Confiscated. Protestants, "be made a dunghill
for this." (Haydock) (Syriac, &c.) --- We find some examples of such a treatment, 4 Kings x. 27., and Daniel iii. 5.,
and ix. 6. The effects of those who were condemned to die, in Persia, were generally confiscated, Esther iii. 13., and viii.
11., and ix. 14.
Ver. 14.
Artaxerxes, one of the seven who overturned the power of the magi; (Usher, the year of the world 3483) or rather the
king of Persia, who lived some time after this, and was very favourable to the Jews. He sent Esdras (the year of the world
3537) and Nehemias (the year of the world 3550) with great powers into the country. (Calmet)
Ver. 15.
Adar, corresponding with our February and March. (Menochius) --- In the latter month they celebrated the Passover,
ver. 19. --- Darius. Hence twenty years had elapsed from the first foundation. They might continue to embellish the
temple other twenty-seven years, as the Jews assert; (John ii. 20,) unless they speak of the repairs made by Herod, (Baronius;
Tirinus) or exaggerate, (Grotius) being under a mistake. (Salien, the year of the world 3537.)
Ver. 17.
Goats, which had not left off sucking. (Menochius) (Numbers vii. 87.) --- Israel. The Samaritan Chronicles assert
that the tribes returned, as the prophets had foretold, and the sacred history seems to suppose: (Calmet) which may be true
of many, (Haydock) though the greatest part remained in captivity. (Calmet)
Ver. 18.
Moses. (Numbers iii. 8.) David had perfected the plan, 1 Paralipomenon xxiii., &c. (Haydock)
Ver. 19.
And. Here the author resumes the Hebrew language. (Calmet) --- Captivity, from which they were released, ver.
17. (Haydock)
Ver. 20.
One man, with zeal and unanimity; so that a second Phase was not to be celebrated, 2 Paralipomenon xxx. 3.
Ver. 21.
To them, becoming proselytes, and receiving circumcision, Exodus xii. 48.
Ver. 22.
Assyria. The successors of Cyrus now ruled over those countries, (Calmet) which had belonged to the most potent Assyrian
and Chaldean monarchs; and therefore the titles are given to them indiscriminately. (Tirinus)
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Bible Text & Cross-references:
King Darius favoureth the building and contributeth to
it.
1 Then *king Darius gave orders, and they searched in the library of
the books that were laid up in Babylon.
2 And there was found in Ecbatana, which is a castle in the province
of Media, a book in which this record was written.
3 In the first year of Cyrus, the king: Cyrus, the king, decreed, that
the house of God should be built, which is in Jerusalem, in the place where they may offer sacrifices, and that they lay the
foundations that may support the height of threescore cubits, and the breadth of threescore cubits,
4 Three rows of unpolished stones, and so rows of new timber: and the
charges shall be given out of the king's house.
5 And, also, let the golden and silver vessels of the temple of God,
which Nabuchodonosor took out of the temple of Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be restored, and carried back to the temple
of Jerusalem, to their place, which also were placed in the temple of God.
6 Now, therefore, Thathanai, governor of the country beyond the river,
Stharbuzanai, and your counsellors, the Apharsachites, who are beyond the river, depart far from them.
7 And let that temple of God be built by the governor of the Jews, and
by their ancients, that they may build that house of God in its place.
8 I also have commanded what must be done by those ancients of the Jews,
that the house of God may be built, to wit, that of the king's chest, that is, of the tribute that is paid out of the country
beyond the river, the charges be diligently given to those men, lest the work be hindered.
9 And if it shall be necessary, let calves, also, and lambs, and kids,
for holocausts to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the custom of the priests that are in Jerusalem,
be given them day by day, that there be no complaint in any thing.
10 And let them offer oblations to the God of heaven, and pray for the
life of the king, and of his children.
11 And I have made a decree: That ii any, whosoever, shall alter this
commandment, a beam be taken from his house, and set up, and he be nailed upon it, and his house be confiscated.
12 And may the God, that hath caused his name to dwell there, destroy
all kingdoms, and the people that shall put out their hand to resist, and to destroy the house of God, that is in Jerusalem.
I, Darius, have made the decree, which I will have diligently complied with.
13 So then Thathanai, governor of the country beyond the river, and Stharbuzanai,
and his counsellors, diligently executed what Darius, the king, had commanded.
14 And the ancients of the Jews built, and prospered, according to the
prophecy of Aggeus, the prophet, and of Zacharias, the son of Addo: and they built and finished, by the commandment of the
God of Israel, and by the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of the Persians.
15 And they were finishing this house of God, until the third day of
the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of king Darius.
16 And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the
rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of the house of God with joy.
17 And they offered at the dedication of the house of God, a hundred
calves, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and for a sin-offering, for all Israel, twelve he-goats, according to the number
of the tribes of Israel.
18 And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites, in their
courses, over the works of God, in Jerusalem, *as it is written in the book of Moses.
19 And the children of Israel, of the captivity, kept the Phase, *on
the fourteenth day of the first month.
20 For all the priests and the Levites were purified as one man: all
were clean to kill the Phase for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren, the priests, and themselves.
21 And the children of Israel that were returned from captivity, and
all that had separated themselves from the filthiness of the nations of the earth to them, to seek the Lord, the God of Israel,
did eat.
22 And they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days, with joy;
for the Lord had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, that he should help their hands
in the work of the house of the Lord, the God of Israel.
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*
1: Year of the World 3485, Year before Christ 519.
18: Numbers iii. 6. and viii. 9.
19: Year of the World 3489, Year before Christ 515.
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