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9. Then asked we those elders. Zerubbabel, as governor of Judea, was the appointed representative of the Persian Government and probably received Tatnai and his staff in his own official mansion. Zerubbabel seems not to have revealed to Tatnai his own part in the rebuilding of the Temple, and to have referred Tatnai with all his questions to the “elders” of the people (see ch. 2:2, 68). That Zerubbabel is not the spokesman of the elders in the investigation is evident from their references to him as governor (vs. 14-16) by the name under which he was known to the Persian administration in Cyrus’ time (see on ch. 1:8). When Tatnai came none of the Jews knew what his attitude might prove to be, and the elders may have felt it the part of wisdom that Zerubbabel should remain in the background if an investigation were to be conducted. They may have reasoned that if Tatnai should stop the work, and perhaps send the responsible leaders to Persia to give an account of their doings, the state would thus not be deprived of Zerubbabel, whose leadership apparently meant much to them at this time.