Then ceased the work of the house of God; for they neither could nor might proceed in that work against their king's prohibition, without a special command from the King of heaven, which they had, Ezra 5:1,2. Darius king of Persia, to wit, Darius the son of Hystaspes, successor of Cambyses; not, as some would have it, Darius Nothus, the son of Artaxerxes Longimanus, who was not emperor till above one hundred years after Cyrus, and consequently from the beginning of the building of the temple to the finishing of it must be about one hundred and thirty years, which is not credible to any one that considers,
1. That the same Zerubbabel did both lay the foundations and finish the work, Malachi 4:9.
2. That some of the same persons who saw the finishing of this second house, had seen the glory of the first house, Haggai 2:3.