John Gill Commentary Ezra 6

Then Darius the king made a decree
To make inquiry after the edict of Cyrus, to search the public records for it:

and search was made in the house of the rolls ;
or "books" ^F18 , in a public library or museum:

where the treasures were laid up in Babylon ;
where things of worth and value were reposited; not only gold, silver, jewels, and precious stones, and things rare and curious, but all sorts of writings relating to the monarchy, and the dominions belonging to it; but it seems it could not be found here, and therefore the king ordered search to be made elsewhere.

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: (ayrpo tybb) , (en taiv biblioyhkaiv) , Sept. "in bibliotheca", V. L. "in bibliotheca librorum", Tigurine version; "in domo librorum", Pagninus, Montanus.

And there was found at Achmetha
Which Jarchi and Aben Ezra take to be the name of a vessel in which letters and writings were put for safety; but it was no doubt the name of a place; the Vulgate Latin version has it Ecbatana; and so Josephus ^F19 ; which was the name of a city in Media, where the kings of that country had their residence in the summer time ^F20 ; for it has its name from heat ^F21 ; the Persian kings dwelt at Shushan in the winter, and at Ecbatana in the summer ^F23; hence they are compared by Aelian ^F24 to cranes, birds of passage, because of their going to and from the above places:

in the palace that is in the province of the Medes ,
here was found

a roll ;
which was the decree of Cyrus, which perhaps he took with him when he went thither:

and therein was a record thus written ;
as follows.

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: Antiqu. l. 11. c. 4. sect. 6.
• F20: Curtius, l. 5. c. 8. Vid. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 6.
• F21: Hiller. Onomastic. Sacr. p. 618.
• F23: Athen. Deipnosophist, l. 12. c. 1.
• F24: De Animal. l. 3. c. 13.

In the first year of Cyrus the king; the same Cyrus the king
made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house
be builded
See (Ezra 1:1–4) (Isaiah 44:28) ,

the place where they offered sacrifices ;
to God in times past, ever since it was built by Solomon:

and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid ;
so as to bear and support the building erected on them, as the word signifies:

the height thereof sixty cubits ;
which were thirty more than the height of Solomon's temple, (1 Kings 6:2) though sixty less than the heightof the porch, which was one hundred and twenty, (2 Chronicles 3:4) and which some take to be the height ofthe whole house; and hence it may be observed what Herod said ^F25 , that the temple then in beingwanted sixty cubits in height of that of Solomon's:

and the breadth thereof sixty cubits ;
whereas the breadth of Solomon's temple was but twenty, (1 Kings 6:2) , but since it cannot reasonably bethought that the breadth should be equal to the height, and so very disproportionate to Solomon's temple;many learned men understand this of the extension of it as to length, which exactly agrees with the length ofthe former temple, (1 Kings 6:2) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 15. c. 11. sect. 1.

With three rows of great stones
Which Jarchi interprets of the walls of it, and these stones of marble; and so Ben Melech:

and a row of new timber ;
of cedar wood upon the rows of stone, see (1 Kings 6:36) or for the lining and wainscoting the walls:

and let the expenses be given out of the king's house ;
treasury, or exchequer; but it does not appear that this part of the decree was observed, at least hitherto; but the Jews built at their own expense, and perhaps did not exactly observe the directions given as to the dimensions of the house.

And also let the golden and silver vessels
See (Ezra 1:7–11) and which confirms what the Jews said to Tatnai, (Ezra 5:14Ezra 5:15) .