2. Who evidently would get the news before King Darius I did concerning what was going on at Jerusalem, and how much time for getting a decision would be involved?

² By Shebat 24, 519 B.C.E., the word of what was going on at Jerusalem may not have reached the ears of King Darius at the distant Persian capital city. The news traveled quite slowly, even by couriers riding post-horses and covering about a hundred miles a day. (Esther 3:13-15; 8:10, 14) From Jerusalem by way of the “fertile crescent” over to Shushan would be over a thousand miles, and from Shushan up to Ecbatana to the north would be more than two hundred miles, if the roads were straight. Hence considerable time would be required for King Darius to get the startling information. Persian officials of provinces lying beyond (westward of) the Euphrates River from the king in Persia, reasonably, would get the news earlier. This is evidently what happened. The discussions that followed and the investigations that were launched must have occupied months (four or five months, according to some estimates) before a decision by King Darius on the matter in dispute could be received and enforced. Here is what took place, as recorded in Ezra 5:2 to 6:2:

4. What did the letter that the Persian governors sent to King Darius I say?

⁴ “Here is a copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and his colleagues, the lesser governors that were beyond the River, sent to Darius the king;