Ezra 6:2
And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written: And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written:
A search for Cyrus's decree led to the discovery of a written roll preserved in a palace archive at Achmetha in the province of the Medes. The roll contained the written record of the decree concerning the rebuilding work. It belongs to Darius's second decree for the building of the house of the Lord at Jerusalem.
When Darius came to the throne he set aside the prohibition imposed by Smerdis the usurper and allowed the rebuilding of the Temple to go forward. The work had begun under Cyrus when God moved upon him as His agent to discern the prophecies concerning himself, to grant liberty to the Jewish people, and to furnish the necessary facilities for rebuilding, and his successor carried on the work thus begun. The record found at Achmetha supplied Darius with the evidence to confirm the order to rebuild the Jerusalem temple and to support its work.
What Cyrus decreed was continued by Darius and completed by Artaxerxes, so that the actions of the kings together count as one decree authorizing the restoration of Jerusalem. The decree issued in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, dated to 457 B.C., provides the starting point for the seventy weeks, whose prophetic specifications are fulfilled when reckoned from that date. The Lord still moves upon the hearts of kings and rulers in behalf of His people to give help for the advancement of His cause, and He has placed His goods in the hands of unbelievers to be used for a fallen world and for His cause.
As long as this world lasts and the Spirit of God strives with the world, and while the door of mercy is not yet closed, God's people are to give the world the light of truth in the Scriptures and also to receive what God moves the world to do for His cause, without cutting off divinely moved favors or withdrawing from divinely moved help, especially in the religious liberty work. They are not to build a wall of separation by their own ideas or bring on the time of trouble before the time. Gifts that open avenues for the truth to go are not to be refused even when those who give them have no sympathy with the work, no faith in Christ, and no practice of His words. Leaders are to bide their time, hide in Christ, and approach men in wisdom in order to receive far more favors for the best and greatest enterprises.