Ezra 6

You may recall that in Ezra 5 King Darius had received a letter asking him to search the archives to find a decree from Cyrus to rebuild the temple.  “A scroll was turned up” and Darius finds it to be true.  He gives the following instructions to Tattenai who was the governor of that area:1.  Stay out of their way2.  Help the leaders in the rebuilding3.  All construction costs are to be paid4.  Pay them on time5.  Whatever is required for worship is to be given to them daily6.  Anyone who violates this order is to be impaled…and their house made into a manure pitSo this is a big turn around from stopping the work on the temple rebuilding.  Talk about God going ahead and making the preparations for success.  This might have been considered risky business when they began rebuilding without permission and then asked for the king to rule on their work.  But with God in control, there was no risk as they obeyed in faith.  They just did what God instructed.  He took care of the rest.  This story has a lot of similarities to Nehemiah doesn’t it?  God is so awesome and good.