The House Finished
13 Then Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, Shetharbozenai, and their companions did accordingly with all diligence, because Darius the king had sent a decree. 14 The elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15 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 The children of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy. 17 They offered at the dedication of this house of God one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 18 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.
The temple is completed and dedicated, and the offerings are counted for twelve tribes when only a fraction of them had returned.
The officials comply immediately and thoroughly: Tattenai... and their companions did accordingly with all diligence, because Darius the king had sent a decree. The phrase with all diligence is lifted from the decree they received Ezra 6:12 — they are quoted using the king's own words back.
Verse 14 then credits the completion to two sources at once, and the pairing is the book's whole theology in one sentence. They built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, and they finished according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
Preaching and paperwork, named in the same breath. And the three kings are collapsed into one authorization spanning three reigns, as though imperial policy had been consistent throughout — which chapter 4 has already shown it was not.
The completion is dated precisely: the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. It is the only exact completion date in the book, and it lands about four and a half years after the resumption under the prophets.
The dedication is joyful and modest. One hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs — a real quantity, and a small one measured against the thousands Solomon had offered at the first dedication.
And then the detail that carries the most weight: for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
Twelve. The register in chapter 2 had listed the households of Judah and Benjamin with some priests and Levites Ezra 2:1, and the ten northern tribes had been gone for generations. The community offering here could not produce twelve tribes and counted out twelve goats anyway — a sin offering made on behalf of people who were not in the room and would not be coming.
Verse 18 closes with the staffing put back on its old footing, as it is written in the book of Moses: priests in divisions, Levites in courses. The written pattern governs again, even where the numbers to fill it are thin Ezra 2:40.
settled What this mark means