Albert Barnes Commentary Ezra 6

A “house of the rolls” was discovered at Koyunjik, the ancient Nineveh, in 1850 - a set of chambers, that is, in the palace devoted exclusively to the storing of public documents. These were in baked clay, and covered the floor to the depth of more than a foot. Such a “house” was probably that at Babylon.

“Achmetha” is the “Ecbatana,” or “Agbatana,” of the Greeks, the Persian name for which, as we find in the Behistun Inscription, was HaGMaTANa.

We must suppose that when Babylon had been searched in vain, the other cities which possessed record-offices were visited, and the decree looked for in them. Ecbatana was the capital of Cyrus.

It is difficult to reconcile the dimensions here with expressions in Zechariah (Zechariah 4:10), Haggai (Haggai 2:3), and even Ezra (Ezra 3:12), which imply that the second temple was smaller than the first (compare 1 Kings 6:2). Perhaps the dimensions here are those which Cyrus required the Jews not to exceed.

The word translated “row” occurs only in this passage. Some regard it as a “course,” and suppose that after every three courses of stone there followed a course of timber. Others understand three “storeys” of stone, with a fourth “storey” of woodwork on the summit (compare to 1 Kings 6:5–6). Others consider that Cyrus intended to limit the thickness of the walls, which were not to exceed a breadth of three rows of stone, with an inner wooden wainscoting.

Let the expenses be given out of the king’s house - that is, “out of the Persian revenue,” a portion of the decree which was probably not observed during the later years of Cyrus and during the reign of Cambyses, and hence the burden fell upon the Jews themselves (Ezra 2:68–69).

This verse gives the words of the decree of Darius, which was founded on, and probably recited, the decree of Cyrus.