Ezra 6:19

THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL KEPT THE PASSOVER

"And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were pure: and they killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. And the children of Israel that were come again out of the captivity, and all such as had separated themselves from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, did eat, and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for Jehovah had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel."

"With Ezra 6:19, the writer resumes the Hebrew language, which he had discarded for the Chaldee, beginning at Ezra 4:8. With the exception of the letter of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:12-26), the remainder of the book is in Hebrew."[22]

"All of them were pure" (Ezra 6:20). It is not exactly clear, as the translation reads, but Cook assures us that a contrast is drawn between the universal purity of the Levites and the more general purity of the priests. "This made it fitting that the Levites should slaughter all the consume."[23]

"And all such as had separated themselves from the filthiness of the nations of the land" (Ezra 6:21). Here, these are contrasted with the returnees from captivity. "These were those who were left in Palestine by Nebuchadnezzar and had become mixed with the heathen population."[24]

"Jehovah ... turned the heart of the king of Assyria" (Ezra 6:22). This is a reference, of course, to Darius I the king of Persia. However it is definitely not "a scribal error"[25] as charged by Cundall. Darius was king of Persia and also king of Babylon, but as the ruler of the former Assyrian Empire, he was also "King of Assur,"[26] as Keil stated it.