Ezra 6:1-5
6:2 a The fortress at Ecbatana, the king’s summer home, was located about 300 miles northeast of Babylon. This suggests that Cyrus wrote the scroll in the summer of 538 BC.• Media was a mountainous area north of Persia and east of Assyria. This area is now inhabited by the Kurds (descendants of the Medes).
• Texts introduced by the term Memorandum tended to be summaries that listed the main facts of an event for the royal archives (cp. 1:9-10 b).
6:3 c This decree is recorded in Ezra 1:2-4 d.
• The Temple’s height will be ninety feet, and its width will be ninety feet: The emendations given in the NLT textual note would make these measurements match those of Solomon’s Temple (1 Kgs 6:2 e, 17 f, 20 g). But the larger measurements given here might represent the maximum size that the Persians would fund.
6:4 h All expenses will be paid by the royal treasury. Although it seems surprising that the Persians would do this, it was consistent with Persian practice elsewhere (e.g., at Sais and Elephantine in Egypt, and at Ur in Mesopotamia). Such generosity was designed to ensure loyalty to Persia.
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