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Study Ezra 6:13-22 Dedication of the House of God Questions and answers below. TIME: 516 B.C. PLACE: Jerusalem Ezra 6:13-22 13 Then Tatnai, governor on this side the river, Shethar-boznai, and their companions, according to that which Darius the king had sent, so they did speedily. 14 And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15 And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. 16 And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy, 17 And offered at the dedication of this house of God a hundred bullocks, 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, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses. 19 And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. 20 For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. 21 And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the Lord God of Israel, did eat, 22 And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the Lord had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. Lesson Background The temple of Solomon, which had stood for over 360 years, had been burned by the troops of Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. The Jews have been without their temple for over seventy years. But that is just part of the story. The people who had returned from exile in Babylon had been back in Jerusalem for twenty years—since about 536 B.C. Enemies without and selfishness within have combined to delay the project. The people have provided well for their own homes, but the temple of God has been neglected (Haggai 1:4, 9). Finally, the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah had motivated the people again to put first things first—to give first place to the things of God. As a result they resumed building on September 21, 520 B.C. (Ezra 5:1, 2; Haggai 1:14, 15). That action brought questions from the Persian officials in the area. The situation was explained to the regional governor, and he was told that permission for the construction had been received from Cyrus shortly after he conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. (Ezra 5:3-17). The new king, Darius, upon hearing the report, ordered that a search be made for the original decree. It was located in the summer home of the Persian rulers, in Achmetha (Ecbatana in modern versions; Ezra 6:2), in the mountains of Media, almost three hundred miles northeast of Babylon. Darius then ordered that the work must continue and that the royal revenues of the area be used to assist in the project (Ezra 6:6–12). Previous lessons have dealt with laying the temple's foundation and the prophets' urging of the people to complete the work they had started.
Approximate Word count = 2502
Approximate Pages = 10
(250 words per page double spaced)
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