Ezra 4:5

Hired counsellors. Although Ezra 4:5 leaves a number of questions unanswered, it is clear that certain royal advisers were bribed by the Samaritans to influence the king against the Jews. Daniel had presumably died—his last vision is dated in the 3rd year of Cyrus (Daniel 10:1)—and his enemies (see Daniel 6:4) may have had more success influencing Cyrus against the Jews following his death. However, Cyrus seems to have neither revoked his decree nor issued one prohibiting the building of the Temple, because if such a counterdecree had been issued, the enemies of the Jews would have used it in the time of Darius. Moreover, Persian kings had a strong aversion to revoking a decree (see Daniel 6:8, 12, 15; Esther 8:8).