Ezra 6:21
The Israelites who had returned from exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to seek the LORD, the God of Israel.
Sermons
Seeking GodS. S. ChronicleEzra 6:21
Dedicating the TempleMonday Club SermonsEzra 6:14-22
Dedicating the TempleD. J. Burrell, D. D.Ezra 6:14-22
God Requires Men to WorkEzra 6:14-22
Prophets and BuildersJ. Parker, D. DEzra 6:14-22
The Building of God's TempleGeorge S. Merrian.Ezra 6:14-22
The Dedication of the Second TempleC. Clemance, D. D.Ezra 6:14-22
The Dedication of the Temple was Characterised ByWilliam Jones.Ezra 6:14-22
The Erection of ChurchHomilistEzra 6:14-22
The Joy of Dedicating a House for the LordG. B. Brand.Ezra 6:14-22
The Second TempleE. B. Mason.Ezra 6:14-22
The True Pulpit the Best Promoter of Honest IndustryHomilistEzra 6:14-22
Church DedicationJ.S. Exell Ezra 6:16-22
Timely and Wise EnthusiasmW. Clarkson Ezra 6:16-22
The PassoverJ.A. Macdonald Ezra 6:19-22














Six memorable passovers are mentioned in Old Testament Scripture. The first was in Egypt (Exodus 12.). The second in the wilderness (Numbers 11.). The third at Gilgal (Joshua 5.). The fourth in the days of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 30.). The fifth in the eighteenth year of Josiah (2 Kings 23.). The sixth is that here mentioned. The subject is distributed into two parts: -

I. THE FEAST. This also is distributed into two parts.

1. The passover proper.

(1) This was held "upon the fourteenth day of the first month." This was the anniversary of the night before the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt, when the angel who destroyed the first-born of the Egyptians passed over the Israelites, who were protected by the blood of a slaughtered lamb.

(2) What an expressive type of the protection we derive through the sprinkling of the blood of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 5:7)! The very time of the death of Jesus was indicated in this date. He suffered not only in the first month and on the fourteenth day, but also "between the evenings" (Matthew 27:46).

2. The feast of unleavened bread,

(1) Scrupulous care was taken that no leaven should be found in their dwellings. Leaven is a salt and sour matter which is put into dough to ferment the mass for bread, and is also of a putrefying nature. Its exclusion by the ancient Israelite expressed his aversion to the abominations of the Egyptians from which he was delivered (Exodus 12:17; Exodus 13:3). These Jews would associate with the abominations of Egypt those of Babylon from which they were now delivered.

(2) The Eucharist is our feast of unleavened bread. Those who partake of this should put away all leaven of heresy (Matthew 16:16). All notorious and scandalous living (1 Corinthians 5:6, 7). All malice and wickedness of the heart (1 Corinthians 1:8).

3. The feast was kept with joy.

(1) With the joy ordinarily fitting to such an occasion. They kept it "seven days, and therefore with its "holy convocations" on the first and last days. Holy convocations to godly persons are essentially joyous. They anticipate the convocation in the heavens.

(2) But they had special reason for rejoicing. "For the Lord had made them joyful by turning the heart of the king of Assyria unto them to strengthen their hands," etc. The Persian monarchs are here collectively called the "king of Assyria" because they were rulers over the ancient Assyrian territory. (Note - May not this suggest the key to many prophecies which evidently relate in their fuller expression to the latter times, in which names of ancient kingdoms are still used?) The finishing of their temple was an occasion of great joy. There is no joy to be compared with that which the Lord makes for us.

II. THE PREPARATION.

1. The priests were purified, and the Levites were all of them pure. The state of things was now as it had been in the days of Hezekiah, when the passover had to be held in the second month because the priests had not sufficiently sanctified themselves to hold it at the more proper time (2 Chronicles 30:3). Note - When the spiritual temple is complete the priests and Levites - the saints of God - will be all morally pure.

2. All the children of the captivity were pure.

(1) This is evident from the fact that the passover was killed for them all (ver. 20). The second passover was instituted to meet the case of those who through ceremonial uncleanness were incapable of taking the first (see Numbers 9:6-11). Here there was no need of a second, for the whole nation was ceremonially clean. This was a very remarkable circumstance, and shows what a wonderful providence was over their families, for a dead body in a house was sufficient to render its inmates unfit for this feast (see Numbers 19:14). What a type of the glorified Church! The joy of the paschal feast when it is renewed in the kingdom of God will not be interrupted by death. All there will be pure in the noblest sense.

3. Believing Gentiles were joined with their Jewish brethren (ver. 21). They were qualified for this holy fellowship -

(1) By "separating themselves from the filthiness of the heathen land." Some may have come with them from Babylon, as the mixed multitude came up from Egypt (see Exodus 12:38; Nehemiah 13:3). Some may have been "people of the land," descendants of Esar-haddon's importation (Ezra 4:2). But they must have become Jewish proselytes.

(2) By "seeking the Lord God of Israel." True worship and salvation are nowhere else to be found (see John 4:22). At whatever sacrifice, let us seek the fellowship of the saints (Ephesians 2:13-22). - J.A.M.

To seek the Lord God of Israel
S. S. Chronicle.
Birds are very fond of catching the last evening rays of a winter's sun, and are often to be found in the afternoon on banks facing the west, or swinging, if there is no wind, on the topmost branch of trees. On the mountains, too, all birds, as the sun gets low, take to the slopes to face the west, whilst in the morning they betake themselves to the eastern hanks and slopes to meet his rays. Golden plovers, in the evenings, ascend from elope to slope, as each becomes shaded by the intervening heights, until they are all collected on the very last ridge which the sun shines upon. God's children resemble birds in seeking light, only the light they seek is the light of goodness, and truth, and righteousness which comes from God. They seek the Source of Light, and turn away from the darkness.

(S. S. Chronicle.)

People
Apharesachites, Apharsachites, Artaxerxes, Cyrus, Darius, Haggai, Iddo, Levites, Nebuchadnezzar, Shethar, Shetharboznai, Tatnai, Zechariah
Places
Assyria, Babylon, Babylonia, Beyond the River, Ecbatana, Jerusalem, Media, Persia
Topics
Ate, Captivity, Eat, Eaten, Evil, Exile, Filthiness, Gentile, Heathen, Impurity, Join, Joined, Nations, Neighbors, Order, Passover, Peoples, Pollutions, Practices, Returned, Returning, Seek, Separated, Separating, Servants, Sons, Themselves, Unclean, Uncleanness, Worship
Outline
1. Darius, finding the decree of Cyrus, makes a new decree for building
13. By the help of Tattenai and Shethar-Bozenai the temple is finished
16. The feast of the dedication is kept
19. and the Passover

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Ezra 6:21

     7525   exclusiveness
     7530   foreigners
     7922   fellowship, with God
     8341   separation

Ezra 6:19-21

     7316   blood, OT sacrifices

Ezra 6:21-22

     7328   ceremonies

Library
God the Joy-Bringer
'They kept the feast ... seven days with joy; for the Lord had made them joyful.'--EZRA vi. 22. Twenty years of hard work and many disappointments and dangers had at last, for the Israelites returning from the captivity, been crowned by the completion of the Temple. It was a poor affair as compared with the magnificent house that had stood upon Zion; and so some of them 'despised the day of small things.' They were ringed about by enemies; they were feeble in themselves; there was a great deal to
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The New Temple and Its Worship
'And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo: and they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15. And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. 16. And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The "Fraternity" of Pharisees
To realise the state of religious society at the time of our Lord, the fact that the Pharisees were a regular "order," and that there were many such "fraternities," in great measure the outcome of the original Pharisees, must always be kept in view. For the New Testament simply transports us among contemporary scenes and actors, taking the then existent state of things, so to speak, for granted. But the fact referred to explains many seemingly strange circumstances, and casts fresh light upon all.
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Johannine Writings
BY the Johannine writings are meant the Apocalypse and the fourth gospel, as well as the three catholic epistles to which the name of John is traditionally attached. It is not possible to enter here into a review of the critical questions connected with them, and especially into the question of their authorship. The most recent criticism, while it seems to bring the traditional authorship into greater uncertainty, approaches more nearly than was once common to the position of tradition in another
James Denney—The Death of Christ

Brave Encouragements
'In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, 2. Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, 3. Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? 4. Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. By John Knox.
[In the Prospectus of our Publication it was stated, that one discourse, at least, would be given in each number. A strict adherence to this arrangement, however, it is found, would exclude from our pages some of the most talented discourses of our early Divines; and it is therefore deemed expedient to depart from it as occasion may require. The following Sermon will occupy two numbers, and we hope, that from its intrinsic value, its historical interest, and the illustrious name of its author, it
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

Ezra-Nehemiah
Some of the most complicated problems in Hebrew history as well as in the literary criticism of the Old Testament gather about the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Apart from these books, all that we know of the origin and early history of Judaism is inferential. They are our only historical sources for that period; and if in them we have, as we seem to have, authentic memoirs, fragmentary though they be, written by the two men who, more than any other, gave permanent shape and direction to Judaism, then
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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