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Table of Contents
Key Verse
- Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” 2 Chronicles 20:20 NKJV
Sequence of Events
1. Work Begins
- Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the LORD. Ezra 3:8 NKJV
2. Accusation
- In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. Ezra 4:6 NKJV
3. Response
- Now issue a decree to make those men stop work, so that this city will not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me. Ezra 4:21 NASB
4. Work Stopped
- Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ decree was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in a hurry to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by military force. Ezra 4:6 NKJV
5. Prophesy
- Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophets, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. Ezra 5:1 NKJV
6. Work Restarts
- then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to rebuild the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them. Ezra 5:2 NKJV
7. Second Accusation
- But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, so that they could not make them cease till a report could go to Darius. Then a written answer was returned concerning this matter. Ezra 5:5 NKJV
8. Second Response
Therefore Darius decreed: To Tattenai governor of the region west of the Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and your associates and officials in the region: You must stay away from that place! Leave this work on the house of God alone. Let the governor and elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its original site. Ezra 6:6&7 BSB
9. Work Completed
So the Jewish elders built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. Ezra 6:14 NKJV