Ezra 6:19-22

4. The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread observed

TEXT, Ezra 6:19-22

19

And the exiles observed the Passover on the fourteenth of the first month.

20

For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were pure. Then they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, both for their brothers the priests and for themselves.

21

And the sons of Israel who returned from the exile and all those who had separated themselves from the impurity of the nations of the land to join them, to seek the LORD God of Israel, ate the Passover.

22

And they observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had caused them to rejoice, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to encourage them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

COMMENT

Ezra 6:19 takes us to the next major event at the Temple: the observance of the Passover in the following month, after the pattern of Exodus 12. We see the appropriateness of the feast for the occasion as it is a reminder of the event which gave birth to their nation; now they were celebrating its rebirth.

Ezra 6:20 reports a deviation from previous practice relating to the Passover: the Levites now slaughtered the lambs as a service to the people and even the priests.

In Ezra 6:21, it is not clear whether the sons of Israel and those who had separated themselves from the impurity of the nations are the same or two different groups. This could refer to Israel and to the Gentile proselytes or else Jewish backsliders. Or it could be commenting on the fact that Israel was now at last cleansed from her impure associations with the heathen. Since the second group joined the first, to seek Israel's God, it would be more reasonable to see here a host of foreigners, similar to the mixed multitude (Exodus 12:38) when Israel left Egypt, who joined with them now in the worship of the true God.

In Ezra 6:22, the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread followed and was a continuation of the Passover. As the removal of all leaven from their houses symbolized the purging out of all their old sins, so now they were wiping the slate clean of heathen involvement going all the way back to the Canaanites and the conquest under Joshua, and which had reached its logical end in their being led away by foreigners.

The prayer of Solomon (1 Kings 8:50) was now answered, as God turned the heart of the king in sympathy toward them.

One problem remains: what is the king of Assyria doing here? This may be a way of referring to the king of the Persian empire, which had conquered the conquerors of Assyria and whose empire now succeeded and encompassed theirs. This loose kind of reference was common in that day, so it is possible. But why would the author choose the confusing term, king of Assyria, in place of the simple term which he. had been using previously, i.e., the king of Persia? It may be a deliberate effort to remind the reader of that series of events that began with the Assyrian invasion of Israel, and that the entire era had now come to a welcome close. What one king of Assyria had begun to destroy; God caused another king over the land of Assyria to repair.

One. further comment on the chapter: note the joy in Ezra 6:16; Ezra 6:22. This we are assured was the result of their keeping the Lord's commands, and will be the result equally of our attention to His Word.

WORD STUDIES

DARIUS: Preserver, conservator. His name very aptly describes the character of his reign. Cyrus had brought the nation to greatness, and Darius preserved and extended that which Cyrus had begun.
BURNT OFFERING: that which ascends. (The base of this word appears in the second component of the name of the Israeli airline, EL AL.) Two ideas may be present: (1) the total offering ascended in smoke to God, or (2) the priest ascended to the altar with the offering.

PASSOVER: (Pasach: the word, Paschal, comes from this.) To leap over, or pass over (a stream, for example). When God passed over the doors of the Israelites, they were spared, or delivered (Exodus 12:13; Exodus 12:27). Therefore the word almost always refers to this sparing or deliverance.

UNLEAVENED: (The word, matzoth, comes from this): the word imitates the sound of sucking something out with relish: hence, something sweet, i.e., unleavened or unfermented.

SUMMARY

Darius initiated a search that turned up Cyrus-' original order for the rebuilding of the Temple with government funds, He therefore ordered the co-operation of the officials in the total Beyond-Euphrates area, of which Israel was a part, in collecting funds and in permitting the reconstruction.
Violators were to be punished with the full severity of which the law was capable. All ranks of leaders in Israel, religious and secular, institutional (priests) and individual (prophets), got behind the project and speeded it to completion in a little more than four years. With joy the citizens of Israel celebrated at the dedication ceremonies, sin offerings, and renewal of the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. All of these were done to follow the pattern of worship handed down by Moses.
Because this chapter marks the end of an era, some regard it as the end of the seventy years of captivity prophesied by Jeremiah. The beginning would be counted from 586 B.C., when Jerusalem was finally overthrown and the last of the captives carried off.