Evidently Darius also saw the Jerusalem temple as a monument to his own success. He instructed Tattenai to allow the Jewish governor, Zerubbabel, and his people to proceed unobstructed. Darius seems to have viewed Zerubbabel as the leader of the Jews who lived under the authority of Tattenai who governed the whole province that included Palestine and Jerusalem. Darius further specified that the provincial treasury should pay all costs (v. 8) and that the provincial governor should provide the items required for sacrifice in the temple. The king also wanted the Jews to pray for him and his family (v. 10).
"Although Darius revered Ahuramazda especially, it is understandable that in a world of polytheism he would want to make sure that he was in the favor of every god in his empire."90
One wonders if stories about Daniel (ca. 605-536 B.C.), who served under Cyrus (Dan. 6:28), might have had some influence on Darius. The Darius that the book of Daniel mentions, by the way, was Darius the Mede, not this Darius, who was a Persian.
". . . Darius [the Persian] himself was a monotheist and an adherent of the new faith of Zoroastrianism, but it is not known whether this religious orientation had any effect on his policies this early in his reign."91
Impaling (v. 11) was a common method of execution in the Persian Empire (cf. Esth. 7:9-10) that Darius practiced. After he subdued a rebellion in Babylon, Darius impaled 3,000 rebels there.92
"Impalement was a well-known kind of punishment in the ancient Near East for grave offenses. One side [end?] of a beam was sharpened and the other side planted in the ground. The sharp point was inserted under the chest of a person and pushed through his esophagus and lungs. He was then left to hang until he died."93
The king closed his decree by calling down Yahweh's curse on anyone who might attempt to change it (v. 12).
"Darius' curse on anyone who would destroy the temple was fulfilled in: (a) Antiochus Epiphanes, who desecrated it in 167 B.C., and died insane three years later; (b) Herod the Great (37-4 B.C.), who added extensively to the temple to glorify himself, and who had domestic trouble and died of disease; and (c) the Romans, who destroyed the temple in A.D. 70, and later had their empire destroyed."94
