Ezra 6:16
And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy, And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy,
The house was finished on the third day of Adar in the sixth year of Darius, and its dedication was kept shortly afterward. Those who kept it with joy were the children of Israel, including the priests and the Levites and the rest of the returned captives. The dedication included offerings for all Israel, including twelve male goats for a sin offering, one for each tribe. On the fourteenth day of the first month after the dedication the people kept the Passover. The completion and dedication fulfilled the promise that the same hands that laid the foundation, those of Zerubbabel, would also finish it.
The temple then dedicated did not equal the first temple in magnificence and lacked its visible tokens of divine presence. No display of supernatural power marked its dedication, with no cloud of glory filling the sanctuary and no fire from heaven consuming the sacrifice. The Shekinah did not abide between the cherubim in the most holy place, for there was no ark or mercy seat or tables of testimony present, and no heavenly sign revealed the divine will to the inquiring priest. That same building was to have a greater glory than the former, not by a cloud of glory but by being honored with the personal presence of Christ, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily. When He taught and healed in its courts during His earthly ministry as the Desire of all nations, in this alone it surpassed the first temple in glory.
The verse stands in the record of the second decree for building the house, issued by Darius commanding its rebuilding. That decree shows that God still moves upon the hearts of kings and rulers on behalf of His people and has placed His resources in the hands of unbelievers to be used for His work for a fallen world. So long as the Spirit still strives with the world and the door of mercy remains open and the restraining hand remains, workers for God are to both impart and receive favors. They are to give the light of scriptural truth while accepting what God moves the world to do for His cause, without cutting off help God has moved people to give and without refusing gifts because the givers lack sympathy for the work or faith. They are to avoid building a wall of separation by personal ideas and avoid taking a course that brings conflict with authorities and brings the time of trouble before its time, but to approach others with wisdom to open avenues for the truth.