Zerubbabel won the riddle contest, but when King Darius offered him any reward up to half the kingdom, he asked for something no treasure could buy. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, Zerubbabel reminded the king of the vow he and Cyrus had made to the God of heaven: to rebuild the Temple, restore its sacred vessels, and allow the captive Jews to return home.
Darius and Cyrus issued a joint decree to every governor and prince beyond the river, commanding them to supply the builders with silver, gold, brass, wood, stones, wheat, oil, wine, and livestock for sacrifices. Even the Edomites were ordered to contribute five talents of gold yearly, because they had helped the Chaldeans destroy the first Temple.
When Darius died, Cyrus united the kingdoms of Media and Persia and renewed the decree. Ezra the scribe, Nehemiah, and the chiefs of the captivity went up to Jerusalem, built the altar, and arranged the wood for sacrifice. Then they wept. The holy fire that had burned on the original altar was gone, hidden by Jeremiah the prophet before the exile.
At that moment, an ancient priest about one hundred years old, exiled as a child in Nebuchadnezzar's time, asked his six sons to carry him near the altar. When he heard the priests crying for the lost fire, he told them he knew where Jeremiah had hidden it. They carried him across the Brook of Kedron, through the Valley of Hinnom, and over the Mount of Olives. He pointed to a large stone sunk in the earth. Beneath it the young priests found something like thick oil and mud. They brought it to the altar and placed it on the burnt-offering. Instantly a great fire erupted, so fierce that everyone fled. It licked the sacrifice, swept through the Temple to cleanse it, then settled on the altar where it burned continuously until the second captivity.
But the Ark of the Covenant was not there. Jeremiah had carried it with the tabernacle curtains to a cave on Mount Nebo. When the priests pursued him, he swore they would never find it until he and Elijah returned to restore the Tabernacle and enter the Holy of Holies.
LXXVI. (1) The king then commanded all the honours
written in the scroll to be carried out for Zerubbabel, for
he had found great favour in the eyes of the king and the
two princes, his colleagues. And the king further said to
Zerubbabel, ' Ask, in addition to what is written in the
scroll, whatever thy soul desires and I will grant it, even
230 [LXXVI. 2
to half the kmgdom.' And Zerubbabel answered and said,
' Eemember, my lord the king, the vow which thou and
King Cyrus made to the God of heaven, viz., to build His
house, and to restore His holy vessels, and to allow His
captive people to worship Him in the temple that is called
by His name, that they may pray to the great God of
heaven for the welfare of thy reign, for thou must not
delay the vow which thou madest to the heavenly God.'
(2) The king thereupon commanded the scribes to hasten
and write down Zerubbabel' s request, to rebuild the ruins
of Jerusalem. He then sent a message to Cyrus, King
of Persia, to join hands with him in this work, and thus
to fulfil their vow by establishing the house of God in
Jerusalem. And Cyrus issued a proclamation throughout
his kingdom, saying, ' Every one of God's people whose
heart prompts him to go up to Jerusalem to lay the founda-
tion of the temple and to build it, let him go, and I shall
give everyone the pay of his labour from my treasures until
the building is completed.'
(3) The king's scribes thereupon wrote down this pro-
clamation on behalf of Darius, King of Media, and Cyrus,
King of Persia, to the princes, governors, and rulers on the
other side of the river, and to the Arameans, Tyrians,
Samaritans, and to Asaph, governor of the garden of
Lebanon, ' Be it known to you that it is our pleasure to
send back to God's holy city the captives of His people,
whom Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, sent into exile;
to restore the vessels of the great and holy temple which
is called by the name of the God of heaven; to build His
altar, and to sacrifice thereon every day; to build the
temple, and the Holy of Holies; to establish the palace
according to its old form; and to restore the walls of
Jerusalem. (4) When this edict reaches you, exert your-
selves to assist them by supplying all their wants in silver
and gold, brass, wood, and stones for the builders and
hewers until the building is finished, and to give them
whatever they ask for, wheat, barley, oil, or wine, and
whatever they want for the buildings. For re-establishing
the sacrifices upon the altar ye shall give them oxen, calves,
rams, sheep, he-goats, doves, flour oil, salt, to enable them
to re-establish the altar, and to finish the whole work.'
(5) The Edomites were also commanded by these two
kings to contribute their share in the service of the house
of the Lord, because they had helped the Chaldeans to
overthrow it; they were to give a yearly tribute of five
talents of gold for strengthening the breach of the house,
to rebuild the temple and the holy city. The Sidonians,
Tyrians, and Edomites, as well as the servants of the king
in the Lebanon, under the command of Asaph, keeper of
the garden, were ordered to hew the wood from the Lebanon,
and to drag it to the sea from the Lebanon and thence
to the Sea of Joppa, to complete the work of the house of
God. No man was to hinder them until everything was
completed. Having written down all these details as the
two kings commanded, the scribes sealed it, and handed it
over to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and to Nehemiah,
the son of Hachaliah.
LXXVIL (1) About this time Darius, King of Media,
was taken very ill, and, being about to die, he called Cyrus,
King of Persia, his son-in-law, his daughter's husband, and
made him king in his stead, so that the kingdoms of Media
and Persia were united into one; and wdien Darius the
Mede was gathered to his people, Cyrus reigned over Media
and Persia and the remainder of the country. He then
issued a proclamation in all his kingdom, saying, 'Who-
ever of you among the people of the Lord God of heaven
is willing to go up to Jerusalem to the footstool of the great
and mighty God, to build His house and His temple W'hich
the wicked Nebuchadnezzar, who was more wicked than all
his predecessors, overthrew, let him go up and assist in the
building, and may His God be with everyone whose heart
prompts him to do so. And I, Cyrus, servant of the living
God, who set me upon this throne, shall provide from my
riches and my treasury all the wants of the house of this
mighty God who made me King of Media and Persia, and
who assisted me to destroy the kingdom of the Chaldeans.'
232 [Lxxvii. 2
(2) Thus all the elders of the captivity, Ezra the scribe,
Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah, with the other chiefs of
the captivity and the priests, went up to Jerusalem and
built the temple of God and His altar, and arranged the
wood and placed the flesh of sacrifice upon the altar.
(3) Then they lifted up their voices and wept, while Ezra
and Nehemiah, with the other chiefs of the captivity,
prayed to God, and said: ' 0 Lord of the whole universe,
Thou hast put it into the heart of the King of Persia
to do honour to Thy house, and to send Thy servants
and priests to make sacrifices to Thee and to offer Thy
burnt-offerings as Thy servants, our pious forefathers, did
before Thee. Behold we, also Thy servants, have come to
this place, and have rebuilt Thy altar after the same
pattern, and we offer sacrifices to Thee, and arrange the
wood beneath the burnt-offering. But how can it be
pleasing to Thee, 0 God, seeing that we offer strange fire,
for the holy fire is no more, since it has been hidden by
Jeremiah the prophet, Thy servant, and the other chiefs
of the captivity whom Nebuchadnezzar sent into exile.
What shall we do, 0 God of heaven? Give us counsel and
help, for to Thee belongs dominion, to help us and to
strengthen our hands.'
(4) Now, it happened while they were praying to the
Lord in this wise, a very old man about 100 years of age,
belonging to those priests who were exiled in the days of
Nebuchadnezzar, was heard calling. Being rather deaf
through old age, he summoned his six sons before him, and
said, ' 0 my sons, if I have found favour in your eyes, carry
me near the altar and place me opposite it that I may
inhale the sweet-smelling frankincense of the altar, for I
have not been deemed worthy of that pleasure for many
years now. Let your kindness be extended to me that ye
may hearken to me this once, that I may be enabled to
smell it once more before I die. Ye shall be rewarded hy
the holy God, for I have been a great burden to you.'
(5) His sons forthwith carried him into the midst of the
assembled priests opposite the altar. When he heard the
noise of the multitude and the priests crying to God for the
holy fire, the old man said to his sons, ' What ails the
people that they cry?' And they replied, 'The priests
are seeking the holy fire which is no longer to be found, as
it has been hidden from them.' ' Carry me, then, near the
priests and the heads of the fathers, and I shall tell them
where it is, and where Jeremiah the prophet and the other
priests who went into exile had concealed it.' (6) His sons
carried him in the midst of the chiefs of the fathers, who
asked him about it, and he told them where it was. Then,
carrying the old man, and crossing the Brook of Kedron
and the Valley of Hinnom, they ascended Mount Olives; and
during their descent, when they faced the valley in the
plain, the old man showed them a large stone sunk in the
earth. Digging up the dust round about the stone, they
rolled the stone away, and removing the lime beneath it,
they opened the pit.
(7) Then said he to the young priests, ' Descend thither
and take the fire, for there it was placed.' He repeated
his command, whereupon they descended, and found there
at the bottom of the pit something like the lees of oil, and
like mud and honey. When they related this to Ezra and
the priests, they replied, ' Bring up whatever ye find, and
no stranger touch you until ye come to the altar. Then
place what ye have carried away upon the altar, upon the
burnt -offering, and upon the wood.' They went down and
did as they were commanded; (8) and as soon as they
did this a great fire suddenly burnt upon the altar, and
grew into such huge flames that the priests and the people
fled from before it, for they could not endure it. It licked
the burnt-offering, and, travelling round the temple, cleansed
it, after which it got considerably smaller, so that it re-
mained only on the altar, as usual. From that day thence-
forward a continual fire burnt upon the altar, as they
placed the wood regularly upon it until the second cap-
tivity.
(9) But the ark was not there, because Jeremiah took the
ark with all the curtains which Moses, the servant of God,
234 [Lxxvii. 10
made in the wilderness, and he carried them up to Mount
Nebo and placed them in a cave. The priests of that
time pursued him to find out the place of the ark, and of
the tablets, of the curtains of the tabernacle, and of the tent
of the congregation. When Jeremiah looked behind him
and saw the priests, he became angry with them, and swore
to them ' you shall never discover the place you desired to
know until I and Elijah appear. Then we shall restore the
tabernacle and the tent of the congregation to its original
place, as well as the ark of the testimony and the two tables
of stone which it contains. Then we shall enter the Holy
of Holies.'
(10) From that day our ancestors offered their sacrifices
and burnt-offerings and continual offerings every day, for the
kings of Persia had assisted them with gold and silver,
with wheat, oil and wine, with oxen, sheep and rams,
everything that they desired, year after year, for the kings
of Persia loved the temple of our God, and its sanctuary
they greatly honoured.
