How did Darius’s response support the temple work and worship?

King Darius issued an order to search the royal archives preserved in Babylon. During the investigation, officials discovered a scroll at the fortress of Ecbatana in the province of Media containing the official decree issued in the first year of King Cyrus. The record stated that the house of God in Jerusalem should be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, with foundations supporting a height of sixty cubits and a width of sixty cubits. The structure was to be constructed with three courses of unpolished stone with rows of new timber, with all expenses funded directly from the royal treasury. In addition, Cyrus had mandated that the gold and silver vessels carried away by Nabuchodonosor from Jerusalem to Babylon be restored to their proper place in the sacred temple.

Having verified the decree, Darius sent instructions to Thathanai the governor of the territory beyond the river, Stharbuzanai, and their administrative counselors the Apharsachites. The king ordered them to withdraw completely and permit the Jewish governor and elders to rebuild the house of God on its original foundation. Darius further commanded that the construction costs be paid promptly out of the royal revenues gathered from the tribute of the province beyond the river, so that the work would not be hindered.

Darius also ordered supplies as needed, day by day according to the custom of the Jerusalem priests, so there would be no complaint: calves, lambs, and kids for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, along with wheat, salt, wine, and oil. The priests were to present sacred oblations to the God of heaven and offer prayers for the life of the king and his sons. The monarch established a severe penalty for anyone who altered the command, decreeing that a timber beam should be pulled from the offender's house, set upright for the offender to be nailed upon it, and his property confiscated. Darius invoked a divine curse upon kingdoms and peoples that resisted and sought to destroy the temple in Jerusalem, commanding strict compliance with his royal mandate.

Thathanai, Stharbuzanai, and their fellow counselors diligently obeyed the instructions of King Darius. Supported by the prophetic preaching of Aggeus and Zacharias the son of Addo, the Jewish elders pressed forward with the building and prospered. They completed the construction in accordance with the commandment of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. The sanctuary was brought to full completion on the third day of the month of Adar, during the sixth year of King Darius's reign.

The children of Israel, including the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the dedication of the house of God with immense joy. For the dedication offerings, they presented one hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs, together with twelve he-goats as a sin offering for all twelve tribes of Israel. They arranged the priests into their assigned divisions and the Levites into their appointed courses to oversee the divine services in Jerusalem, following the ordinances set down in the book of Moses.

On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles celebrated the Passover. All the priests and Levites had purified themselves together as one body, making everyone ritually clean to slaughter the Passover sacrifice for all the returned community, for their fellow priests, and for themselves. The feast was shared by the Israelites who had returned from captivity and by all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices of the surrounding peoples to seek the Lord the God of Israel. They then observed the feast of unleavened bread for seven days with great joy, because the Lord had filled them with gladness and had moved the heart of the ruler whom the passage calls the king of Assyria to support their hands in completing the house of the Lord God of Israel.