Saturday, November 19, 2016

Ezra 6: We're Going To Build A Temple And Make The Gentiles Pay For It

In their quest to make Judah great again, the Jews got to work on rebuilding the Temple.  While not huge like Solomon's Temple, it was still pretty respectable as the central focus of worship.  When questioned about it by their enemies, they held a trump card: permission from Cyrus had been given them many years earlier.  Darius researched the Jews' contention and found that it was just like they had said.  In fact, Darius agreed that not only was the Temple to be rebuilt, but the cost for doing so was to come out of the royal revenues (vs. 8).  The opposition melted away, and the construction was finally completed.  A service of dedication was held, followed by a Passover celebration (vs. 16 and 19).  The Jews were back, and so was the Temple.

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