BACKGROUND FOR THE LESSON.
During the reign of the Persian King Cyrus, he allowed many Jews to return to Jerusalem who laid the foundation of the temple (about 536 B.C.). However, work had stopped on the temple until the second year of King Darius which was about 520 B.C., about 16 years later. There was both outside and inside opposition that caused this delay. The opposition from outside came from Judah’s enemies who’s request to help in the building project was denied (see Ezra 4:1-5). The delay in completing the temple also had opposition from within Israel as the people put their own interests first and became lax in finishing the work (see Haggai 1:2-11). Because of this, the LORD sent a famine throughout Judah draining the people of their resources. When the building project was resumed some sixteen years after the foundation was finished (see Ezra 5:2; Haggai 1:12-15), the Persian officials placed in Israel wanted to know who gave the returning captives the authority to rebuild the temple. They sent a letter to King Darius and asked him to investigate this (see Ezra 5:3-17) and when he did. He found the decree that King Cyrus had made authorizing the rebuilding project along with the specific instructions for rebuilding the temple (see Ezra 6:1-5). Then King Darius issued his own decree commanding his officials in Israel to stop hindering the work (see Ezra 6:6-7). In addition, he also ordered them to use tax money for building supplies as well as for sacrifices (see Ezra 6:8-10). Darius even issued a decree of capital punishment for anyone who changed his decree and hindered the work (see Ezra 6:11-12). This is where our lesson begins.