Ezra 6:20

_AND THE CHILDREN OF THE CAPTIVITY KEPT THE PASSOVER UPON THE FOURTEENTH DAY OF THE FIRST MONTH._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

13-22 The gospel church, that spiritual temple, is long in the building, but it will be finished at last, when the mystical body is completed. Every believer is a living temple, building up himself in his most holy faith: much opposition is given to this work by Satan and our own corruptions. We trifle, and proceed in it with many stops and pauses; but He that has begun the good work, will see it performed. Then spirits of just men will be made perfect. By getting their sins taken away, the Jews would free themselves from the sting of their late troubles. Their service was with joy. Let us welcome holy ordinances with joy, and serve the Lord with gladness....

Verse 20. _THE LEVITES WERE PURIFIED TOGETHER_] They were all ready at one time to observe the proper rites and ceremonies, and had no need of having a second passover, which was appointed by the law for those who had been accidentally defiled, or were at a distance from the tabernacle. See 2 Chronicles 30:3....

Some render, “And the priests were purified; and the Levites, as one man, were all of them pure.” A contrast is drawn between the universal purity of the Levites and the merely general purity of the priests 2Ch 29:34; 2 Chronicles 30:3, which made it fitting that the former should undertake the slaughter of all the Paschal lambs, even of those which the priests were to consume. In later times the ordinary practice was for each head of a family to kill for himself....

EXPOSITION Ezra 6:13 SO THEY DID SPEEDILY. Tatnai and Shethar-boznai showed no reluctance. They had no enmity against the Jews. Once clearly advertised of the king's wishes, they carried them out with zeal. The rapid completion of the temple must be in part attributed to their good-will. EZRA 6:14 AND THE ELDERS OF THE JEWS BUILDED. See above, Ezra 5:5, Ezra 5:9. Probably the same as "the chief of the fathers" of Ezra 2:68, and...

FOR THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES WERE PURIFIED TOGETHER, ALL OF THEM WERE PURE,.... They were all to a man pure, and all purified as one man; all were of one mind to purify themselves, and took care to do it, and did it with as much dispatch as if only one man was purified; so that they were more generally prepared for service now than in the times of Hezekiah, 2 Chronicles 29:34 AND KILLED THE PASSOVER FOR ALL THE CHILDREN OF THE CAPTIVITY, AND FOR THEIR BRETHREN THE PRIESTS AND FOR THEMSELVES; which seems to have been done by the Levites, for themselves and for the priests, and for all the people, who were not so pure as the priests and Levites; or otherwise they might have killed it themselves, Exodus 12:6, as Bochart n thinks. n Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 50. col

CHAPTER 6 _ 1. The search of the king and the result (Ezra 6:1)_ 2. The command of Darius (Ezra 6:6) 3. The king's command obeyed (Ezra 6:13) 4. The house finished (Ezra 6:14) 5. The dedication of the house (Ezra 6:16) 6. The feast of Passover and unleavened bread (Ezra 6:19) Ezra 6:1. King Darius had a search made in the place where the records of the empire were kept, “in t

THE CELEBRATION OF THE PASSOVER. Hebrew is resumed here. Ezra 6:19. the fourteenth day of the first month: _cf._ Exodus 12:6. The leading part taken by the Levites here is not in accordance with earlier practice; this had, however, been gradually modified (see Exodus 12:6; 2 Chronicles 30:17; 2 Chronicles 35:10). Ezra 6:21. all such. the land: _i.e._ the descendants of those who had not gone into captivity, but had remained in

The explanatory -for" means that this celebration of the Passover could take place, because the priests and Levites had duly prepared themselves for it by ceremonial purification. _the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them_were _pure_ R.V. THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES HAD PURIFIED THEMSELVES TOGETHER (Heb. _as one_); ALL OF THEM WERE PURE. -Had purified themselves": the reflexive is the accurate rendering of the original. _together_ Lit. -as one": see Ezra 2:64; Ezra 3:9. The rendering of the R.V. represents the ceremonial purification to have been jointly performed by priests and Levites, who were therefore all -pure" and capable of sacrificial acts. The only difficulty arises from the following clause. How can it be said that -the priests and Levites

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...