unfiniahed? only God ca.n tell. How long, 0 Lord? 3. The reproach. With so mnny workmen, a.nd with the aid received, the work of the Church ought to be more advanced. The half finished walls a.re a rebuke to us. 4. The requirement. We must go with new determination and ~ore fervent praye: t~ c_ompl~te the work of the Church. 5. Caution. We cannot Judge the temple till 1t 1s fimshed; the work of God will appear beet at the end. 6. The anticipation. When the top stone of the great temple shall be brought on with joy. Let us build to completion.-E,
EXPOSITION.
by the worJ translated "laid up," which CHAPTER VI. means " made to descend." Ver. 2.-There was fo11Ild at Achmethe.. DISCOVERY OF THE DECREE OF CYRUS ON Not "in a coffer," as our translators suggest THE SUBJEOT OF THE TEMPLE, AND RECITA· in the margin, and as Aben Ezra and Jarchi TION OF ITS EXACT TERMS (eh. vi. 1-5). interpret ; but "a.t Ecbatana," which is ex- The application made by the satrap of Syria to pressed letter for letter by the word used Darius received his immediate attention. A in the original, except that the final n is <hopped. Compare for this omission the search was instituted-in the first instance, at passage of Harran into Carrhai, and of Shu- Babylon, but afterwards at the other capitals shan in to Susa. In the palace that is in the also; and inEcbatana, the Median metropolis, province of the Medes. The palace of Ecba- where the Persian kings always resided during tana was very famous. Heroaotus says that a. portion of the year, a copy of the original it was built by Defoces, the first Median king, occupied the centre of the town, and decree was found, which is considerably fuller was defended by seven circles of walls, one and more definite, though in soma respects inside the other (i. 98). Polybins states covering less ground, than the " proclama- that the building covered an area 14 20 yards tion" with which Ezra. opens his history. in circumference, and consisted of a number The decree not merely provided for the re- of halls and cloistered courts, supported by wooden pillars, of cypress or of cedar, both building of the temple, but gave directions of which were coated with a plating of gold for its dimensions a.nd for the style of its con- or silver, and supported roofs sloped at an struction, points on which the proclamation angle, consisting of silver plates instead of said nothing; it also provided that the whole the customary tiling (v. 27, § 10). This cost (of the materials) should be defrayed grand building was the residence of the old Median monarchs, and also of Cyrus and out of the roy11l revenue ; and it concluded Cambyses. Darius built him.self still more with an express command that all the gold magnificent residences at Susa and Persepolis; o.nd silver vessels carried off by Nebuchad- but both he and the later Achaimenian nezzar should be restored. We may account monarchs continued to use the Median palace for the decree not being found at Babylon, as a summer residence, and it maintained its celebrity till the close of the empire (see or Susa, by the Pseudo-Smerdis having de- Arrio.n, 'Exp. Alex.,' iii.19). A roll. Accord- stroyed it when he wa.s accomplishing his ing to Ctesias('Diocl. Sic. ,'iL 32), the Persians religious reforms, though accidentally he em)'loyed parchment or vellum for the ma- omitted to destroy the copy laid up at Ecbe.- ter1e.l of their records, not baked clo.y, like tana ; thus, as so often happens with wicked the Assyrians and Babylonians, or paper, like the Egyptians. Parchment would be a men, by a slip of memory frustrating his suitable material for rolls, and no doubt was own intention. anciently used chiefly in that shape. Therein was a record thus written. The decre, Ver. 1.-Darius the king made a decree. would no doubt be written, primarily, in the Rather, "gave an order" (Vulg., pra:cepit). Persian langua~e and the Persian cuneiform A " decree " would not be necessary. And ch11racter; but 1t may have been accompanied ■earch was made in the houBB of the rolls. by a Chaldai11n transcript, of which Ezra may Literally, "in the house of the books," i. e. have obtained a copy. Public documents in the royal library, or record chamber. were commonly set forth by the Persians in Where the treasures were laid up. The same more than one language (see 'Herod.,' iv. repository was, apparently, used fordocument.e 87; and comp. the 'Inscriptions,' .e_assim, of value and for the precious metals. An which a.re almost universally either b1lingnal lmderground apartment is perhaps indicated or trilingual). 80 THE BOOK OF EZRA. [CH. VI. 1-12.