The Times of the Persians

 

Cyrus the Great was succeeded by his son, Cambyses II.  In his short, eight year reign, Cambyses added the kingdom of Egypt to the vast empire assembled by his father.

In 525 BC, Cambyses defeated Pharaoh Psammetichus III first on the Nile Delta and then at the key city of Memphis.  He continued south destroying the Egyptian temples along the way knowing full well that men were demoralized by the desecration of their gods.

In 522 BC, a sword wound inflicted to Cambyses’ leg became infested with gangrene and he died an untimely death.  That same year Cambyses was succeeded by his third cousin, Darius the Great, who seized control of the Persian throne.

Now the Jews began to rebuild Jerusalem's temple in 536 BC, during the reign of Cyrus the Great.  The reconstruction was halted due to the harassment of the Samarians coupled with their own lack of dedication to the project.  Encouraged by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, they resumed the temple's reconstruction in the second regnal year of Darius the Great. 

While the Samarians lobbied Darius to prohibit the reconstruction project, the Jews claimed they were working under an edict proclaimed by Cyrus in 538 BC.  

To clarify the issue, Darius searched the archives at the treasury in Babylon but could find no such edict.  After checking the royal itinerary, he discovered that Cyrus left Babylon in 538 BC to summer in Ecbatana.  So he searched the fortress in Ecbatana, in the province of Media, where he found the scroll containing Cyrus' decree.

Then Darius resolved the disagreement with his own decree which was sent to the governor of Samaria:

“Leave this work on the house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site.

“And I issued a decree that any man who violates this edict, a timber shall be drawn from his house and he shall be impaled on it and his house shall be made a refuse heap on account of this.

“And may the God, who has caused His name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who attempts to resist, so as to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem.  I Darius have issued this decree, let it be carried out with all diligence.”

The temple was completed on March 12, 515 BC in the 6^th regnal year of Darius the Great.