What is the context?
The returned exiles keep Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. The priests and Levites have purified themselves, and the Levites prepare the Passover lambs for the people, the priests and themselves.
The meal includes the returning Israelites and those who have separated themselves from the surrounding peoples’ uncleanness to seek the LORD. Seven days of Unleavened Bread follow with joy.
The closing explanation gives God credit for their joy and for turning royal power toward the work. The ruler is called the king of Assyria, even though the narrative has been describing Persian rule.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Henry emphasizes serving God with joy as worship is restored. Gill reads those joining the returnees as people leaving idolatry to seek Israel’s God.
Wesley and Gill explain the title king of Assyria through the Persian ruler’s possession of the earlier empire’s territory. Their emphasis is the reversal: power associated with past oppression now helps support the rebuilding.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Passover reaches back to God delivering Israel from Egypt in Exodus 12:1–20. After another captivity, the people again remember that deliverance as their life of worship is renewed.
The New Testament carries the Passover theme to Christ. In 1 Corinthians 5:6–8, Paul identifies Christ as the sacrificed Passover lamb and calls for lives marked by sincerity and truth. Ezra records the restored celebration; Paul shows how the feast’s language helps explain Christ’s sacrifice and the life that follows it.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.